LEADING ARTICLE

Surveillance

Surveillance for rare disorders by the BPSU

C Verity¹, M Preece²

¹ Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, UK (ex-chair, BPSU Executive Committee)
² Institute of Child Health, London, UK (current chair, BPSU Executive Committee)

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr C M Verity, Child Development Centre, Box 107, Addenbrookes Hospital, Hills Rd, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK;
christopher.verity@addenbrookes.nhs.uk

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Why is it worthwhile?

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Keywords: surveillance; BPSU

Abbreviations: BPSU, British Paediatric Surveillance Unit; CJD, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease; HUS, haemolytic uraemic syndrome; MCAD, medium chain acyl coenzyme A dehydrogenase; PIND, progressive intellectual and neurological deterioration

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The British Paediatric Surveillance Unit (BPSU) was set up in 1986 and has involved paediatricians in a pioneering mechanism for the surveillance of rare but important conditions that affect the health of children. Judged by its output the Unit has been very successful. By the end of 2001, 49 projects had been completed, resulting in over 150 publications in peer reviewed journals. The aim of this article is to examine the reasons for the success of the BPSU and to consider whether or not the activities of the Unit are worthwhile.

The basic idea behind the Unit is simple enough.¹ Investigators who want to perform surveillance studies apply to the BPSU Executive Committee for places on the BPSU surveillance card. Each month the BPSU office sends the orange surveillance card to over 2000 consultant paediatricians in the United Kingdom and Eire. The card lists the disorders currently under surveillance. . . . [Full text of this article]

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