Page 711 - 16Neonatal Jaundice_compressed

Abbreviations, glossary and references

Patent ductus arteriosus A condition in which the connection ( the ductus) between
pulmonary artery and aorta, which is open normally before birth, fails
to close after birth
Peer review Review of a study, service or recommendations by those with similar
interests and expertise to the people who produced the study findings
or recommendations. Peer reviewers can include professional and/or
patient/carer representatives.
Phototherapy This is treatment which consists of exposure to specific wavelengths
of light using light-emitting diodes, fluorescent lamps, dichroic lamps
or very bright, full-spectrum light,
Physiological jaundice Term used to describe common, generally harmless, jaundice seen in
babies in the first 2 weeks of life
Pilot study A small scale ‘test’ of the research instrument. For example, testing
out (piloting) a new questionnaire with people who are similar to the
population of the study, in order to highlight any problems or areas of
concern, which can then be addressed before the full scale study
begins.
Placebo Placebos are dummy or inactive treatments received by participants
allocated to the control group in a clinical trial which are
indistinguishable from the active treatments being given in the
experimental group. They are used so that participants are ignorant of
their treatment allocation in order to be able to quantify the effect of
the experimental treatment over and above any placebo effect due to
receiving care or attention.
Placebo effect A beneficial (or adverse) effect produced by a placebo and not due to
any property of the placebo itself.
Power See Statistical power.
Preterm Less than 37 weeks gestational age (see key terms 1.1)
Primary care Healthcare delivered to patients outside hospitals. Primary care
covers a range of services provided by GPs, nurses and other
healthcare professionals, dentists, pharmacists and opticians.
Primary Care Trust A Primary Care Trust is an NHS organisation responsible for
improving the health of local people, developing services provided
by local GPs and their teams (called Primary Care) and making sure
that other appropriate health services are in place to meet local
people's needs.
Prognostic factor Patient or disease characteristics, e.g. age or co-morbidity, which
influence the course of the disease under study. In a randomised trial
to compare two treatments, chance imbalances in variables
(prognostic factors) that influence patient outcome are possible,
especially if the size of the study is fairly small. In terms of analysis
these prognostic factors become confounding factors. See also
Prognostic marker.
Prognostic marker A prognostic factor used to assign patients to categories for a
specified purpose – e.g. for treatment, or as part of a clinical trial,
according to the likely progression of the disease. For example, the
purpose of randomisation in a clinical trial is to produce similar
treatment groups with respect to important prognostic factors. This
can often be achieved more efficiently if randomisation takes place
within subgroups defined by the most important prognostic factors.
Thus if age was very much related to patient outcome then separate
randomisation schemes would be used for different age groups. This
process is known as stratified random allocation.

505