Prior to any information being collected, the principal investigator (CW) or study coordinator completes the informed consent process.
By allowing the sport's own governing bodies to decide what, if any, information is collected, and to determine the laws of the game and therefore the risks for children, the UK government has abdicated its responsibilities to children under the UN convention on the Rights of the Child, and exposed itself to potentially costly legal actions in the future.
No names or personal information was collected from any participant.
Minimal demographic information was collected and any information that could identify specific individuals was not included in the analysis.
Information was collected on any attempt to quit smoking: number of attempts and time of first attempt.
At each follow-up visit, clinical information was collected, including any adverse events, blood samples were taken, and an electrocardiogram was recorded.
No identifiable information was collected about any patient except the National Health Index unique identifier and all data used for the study was handled by the primary health organisation which routinely handles such data sets for contractual reporting purposes.
In addition, information was collected regarding any clinical signs or symptoms in the worker up to 10 days after exposure, including fever, cough, shortness of breath, or radiographically confirmed pneumonia.
At the end of the 6-month follow-up period, patients were asked to repeat the HR-QOL and clinical status questionnaires and information was collected about any treatment combinations and the reasons for withdrawal, where applicable; the objective severity of the condition was re-evaluated using the PASI score, and the pain and itching VAS scores were used to acquire a subjective evaluation.
Demographic information was collected.
