About the Authors

Helen Close

Affiliation School of Medicine, Pharmacy and Health, Durham University, Stockton-on-Tees, United Kingdom

James M. Mason

Affiliation School of Medicine, Pharmacy and Health, Durham University, Stockton-on-Tees, United Kingdom

Douglas W. Wilson

Affiliation School of Medicine, Pharmacy and Health, Durham University, Stockton-on-Tees, United Kingdom

A. Pali S. Hungin

Affiliation School of Medicine, Pharmacy and Health, Durham University, Stockton-on-Tees, United Kingdom

Roger Jones

Affiliation Department of General Practice and Primary Care, King’s College, London, United Kingdom

Greg Rubin

g.p.rubin@durham.ac.uk

Affiliation School of Medicine, Pharmacy and Health, Durham University, Stockton-on-Tees, United Kingdom

Competing Interests

APSH was a member of the Independent Advisory Committee of the General Practice Research Database (GPRD) for the duration of the study.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: GR JMM APSH RJ. Performed the experiments: HC JMM. Analyzed the data: HC JMM DW. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: DW. Wrote the paper: GR HC JMM DW APSH RJ.