Public health and healthcare

Pragmatic clinical trial

A pragmatic clinical trial is a randomized trial testing whether an intervention works in routine care settings with broad eligibility, measuring real-world effectiveness rather than efficacy under ideal conditions.

PRAM-in-HYPO study

PRAM-in-HYPO (NCT05960604) is a recruiting Turkish observational trial of 660 hypertensive surgical patients testing Pressure Recording Analytical Method (MostCare) hemodynamic parameters, including cardiac reserve and efficiency, against hypotension using passive leg raising.

PRECANU study

PRECANU (NCT05684432) is a Danish prospective observational study of acute radiation-induced diarrhoea during curative pelvic EBRT for prostate and rectal cancer; its 40-patient prostate cohort found patient stool diaries captured Grade 2/3 diarrhoea that CTCAE clinician grading missed entirely.

PRECEDE-PROCEED model

The PRECEDE-PROCEED model, also known as the PRECEDE model, is an eight-phase framework for planning, implementing, and evaluating community health promotion programs, developed by Lawrence W. Green in 1974.

PRECISION study

PRECISION (Pain Registry for Epidemiological, Clinical, and Interventional Studies and Innovation) is a University of North Texas Health Science Center registry, established 2016, enrolling chronic low back pain cases and pain-free controls with a saliva and blood biobank for pharmacogenetic opioid-versus-NSAID research.

PREDICTIVE™ study

PREDICTIVE™ study (Predictable Results and Experience in Diabetes through Intensification and Control to Target); multinational prospective observational study of insulin detemir in over 30,000 type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients, showing reduced hypoglycaemia, lower HbA1c, and weight neutrality.

Premarital Examinations

Premarital examinations, also called premarital screening or testing, are medical tests before marriage for genetic blood disorders (sickle cell, thalassemia) and infections (hepatitis B, C, HIV), mandatory in countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE and voluntary elsewhere.

Prenatal care

Prenatal care (antenatal care) is health care during pregnancy, including screening, monitoring, and health promotion. Key facts: traditional 12-14 visit US model, WHO eight-contact guideline, ACOG 2025 tailored care, declining first-trimester initiation (75.5% in 2024).

PREPARE trial (NCT03073317)

PREPARE (NCT03073317), Prematurity Reduction by Pre-eclampsia Care: a Brazilian stepped-wedge cluster-randomized trial of fullPIERS plus sFlt-1/PlGF risk stratification in 1250 women with preterm preeclampsia; it showed no statistical reduction in preterm deliveries.

PREPARED study

PREPARED study (NCT00743613), Predicting Peripheral Arterial Disease in Men With Erectile Dysfunction: completed 2005-2008 observational trial by Bruton Avenue Family Practice using SHIM and ankle-brachial index; distinct from the UK PREPARED PAD registry.

PRESSURE study

PRESSURE study (NCT07059520): Erasmus MC-led prospective observational cohort of 125 chronic mesenteric ischemia patients testing whether vasodilator-stimulated translesional Pd/Pa pressure measurements predict benefit from mesenteric stenting, building on a retrospective study with 86% sensitivity and 83% specificity.

Prevalence

Prevalence is an epidemiological measure of how many people in a population have a disease at a given time, including both new and existing cases.

Prevalence of circumcision

The prevalence of circumcision, also called circumcision worldwide, is about 38.7% of males aged 15 and older in 2016, varying mainly with religion and region.

Preventive chemotherapy (public health)

Preventive chemotherapy is a WHO public health strategy that delivers safe, single-dose medicines at regular intervals to entire at-risk populations for parasitic neglected tropical diseases, without prior individual diagnosis.

Preventive healthcare

Preventive healthcare: preventing disease or its consequences through primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention, immunization, screening, USPSTF-style evidence review, ACA coverage, and limits like overdiagnosis.

Preventive medicine

Preventive medicine is the medical specialty focused on the health of individuals, communities, and defined populations, aiming to prevent disease through screening, immunizations, counseling, and preventive medications.

Primary care

Primary care is essential first-contact, community-based health care, a subset of primary health care (PHC). Defined by Starfield's 4Cs, rooted in Alma-Ata 1978 and Astana 2018; linked to lower costs, fewer avoidable hospitalizations, and longer life expectancy.

Primary health care

Primary health care (PHC) is WHO's whole-of-society approach to health, first defined at Alma-Ata (1978) and renewed at Astana (2018), spanning primary care, multisectoral action, and empowered communities as the foundation for universal health coverage.

Primary nursing

Primary nursing is a nursing care delivery model in which one nurse is accountable for a patient's care from admission to discharge, with associate nurses covering absences.

Primary Prevention

Primary prevention: interventions that stop disease before it occurs by reducing causal exposures and raising resistance, through vaccination, smoking cessation, blood pressure control, and health promotion, distinct from secondary, tertiary, primordial, and quaternary prevention.

Primarycare trial

Primarycare (NCT05336019) is a Queen's University-sponsored single-blind mixed-methods feasibility randomized controlled trial of a 12-week Diabetes Self-Management Coaching Program for 40 adults with type 2 diabetes in Gondar, Ethiopia, reporting 70% recruitment, 90% retention, and 85% adherence rates.

PRIME trial (NCT07125625)

PRIME (NCT07125625) is a University of Bari randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial testing Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG plus L. plantarum 299V drops for abdominal pain in 124 children aged 4-18 with Rome IV irritable bowel syndrome.

Prior Authorization

Prior authorization (preauthorization, precertification): health plan approval required before a service, drug, or equipment is covered. Used across Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and commercial plans; CMS-0057-F sets 72-hour/7-day decision deadlines.

Pristina2/TR trial

Pristina2/TR (NCT04009278) was a Reggio Emilia, Italy randomized trial of patient self-compression versus radiographer compression in mammography: 495 women; stronger compression and similar image quality but no glandular dose reduction or change in pain or follow-up attendance.

Private Hospitals

Private hospitals: hospitals controlled by non-government entities, for-profit or not-for-profit, including proprietary, religious, and voluntary hospitals; covers ownership history, funding, regulation, and performance versus public hospitals.

Private Practice

Private practice is a medical practice wholly owned by physicians rather than a hospital or health system; only 42.2% of US physicians worked in one in 2024.

PRO-BAC study

PRO-BAC (NCT03148769) is a Spanish prospective multicentre cohort of bloodstream infections in adults from 26 hospitals, October 2016 to March 2017, source of the PROBAC mortality score and many pathogen-specific analyses.

PROBIT-F trial

PROBIT-F (NCT03199820) was a UK open-label feasibility RCT comparing Propess dinoprostone with a cervical ripening balloon catheter for outpatient labour induction; only 38 women randomized, a full trial judged not feasible.

PROCaRe study

PROCaRe (Patient Reported Outcomes following Cancer of the Rectum), NCT04936581, is an international prospective cohort study comparing bowel, sexual, urinary function and quality of life after open, laparoscopic, robotic, or transanal TME for mid-low rectal cancer.