Oligofructose and experimental model of neonatal necrotising enterocolitis

The gut of preterm neonates is colonised with a paucity of bacterial species originating more from the environment than from the mother. Furthermore, a delayed colonisation by bifidobacteria promotes colonisation by potentially pathogenic bacteria. This may contribute towards the development of neonatal necrotising enterocolitis (NEC). The physiopathology of NEC is still unclear but immaturity of the gut, enteral feeding and bacterial colonisation are all thought to be involved. None of the current preventive treatments are considered satisfactory. Modulating the autochthonous microflora by probiotics or prebiotics could be a more reliable approach to prevention. Using gnotobiotic quails as an experimental model of NEC we have shown that onset of intestinal lesions requires a combination of low endogenous lactase activity, lactose in diet, and colonisation by lactose-fermenting bacteria such as the clostridia. The protective role of bifidobacteria was demonstrated in this model through a decrease in clostridial populations and in butyric acid. Oligofructose dietary supplementation was shown to enhance this effect with an increase in the bifidobacterial level and consequently a greater decrease in clostridia. However, oligofructose was unable to promote a bifidobacterial acquisition when the microflora was initially deprived of this group. Nevertheless, oligofructose can act as an anti-infective agent and decrease the occurrence or severity of the lesions depending on the bacteria involved. According to these results and to the fact that oligosaccharides are a major component of breast milk, the addition of oligofructose in formula milks may be a nutritional approach to favouring colonisation by a beneficial flora.     

Variation of the rates of necrotising enterocolitis in the neonatal networks in England

Necrotising enterocolitis is an oft‐fatal disease of the intestinal tract in neonates born prematurely and with low birthweight. We study the variation of its rates across the neonatal networks (groups of hospital‐based neonatal care units) in England. We illustrate the problematic nature of hypothesis testing for a key decision, which an analysis is meant to inform, and apply an approach based on decision theory. We emphasise the role of sensitivity analysis in dealing with the ambiguity encountered in the process of eliciting information about the perspective of the client or sponsor for whom the analysis is conducted. In the application based on a fiducial distribution, the likelihood is approximated by a linearising transformation of the score function. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Epidemiology of psychological distress: a population-based cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence and distribution of psychological distress in an urban adult population. METHODS: A total of 3,942 individuals over 20 years old in the city of Pelotas, Brazil, were studied. Psychological distress was defined using an indicator of well-being, the Faces Scale, and self-perception of nervousness. Chi-square test was performed to assess the association with sociodemographics. RESULTS: Prevalence of psychological distress was 14% when using the Faces Scale and 31.8% through self-perception of nervousness. CONCLUSIONS: Older, poor, and lower education women groups were the ones that showed a higher prevalence of distress.     

The prognostic value of a risk score for necrotising enterocolitis

Summary. Necrotising enterocolitis is the most common severe acquired gastrointestinal disorder in the neonate yet there remains disagreement on predictive and prognostic factors. A previously published risk score purports to predict infants at greater risk of the disease. Fifty-nine cases and 59 matched controls were evaluated using data from the first 24 h after birth to determine the predictive and prognostic value of the score for necrotising enterocolitis. In simple models the risk score was significantly, but inversely, associated with necrotising enterocolitis, primarily due to greater respiratory problems among controls. This finding contrary to the premise is clarified by a significant interaction of the risk score with feeding variables. Odds ratios for the risk score varied at different levels of daily feeding increments. However, the risk score was not statistically significant in any models which controlled for feeding increment and the interaction. The risk score was significantly associated with mortality among necrotising enterocolitis cases. Though the score was not statistically significant when the outcome was disease stage or surgery, trends were in the expected direction. The data suggest that the risk score itself may not be an independent predictor of necrotising enterocolitis, but may indicate infants more vulnerable to other potential risk factors and, in addition, may be related to prognosis for those who do develop necrotising enterocolitis.     

Birthweight-specific risk factors for necrotising enterocolitis.

In a multicentre case-control study of necrotising enterocolitis risk factors were found to vary with birthweight of cases. In very low birthweight cases the risk factors identified were those associated with prolonged or recurrent hypoxia (recurrent apnoea, respiratory distress, assisted ventilation, and umbilical artery catheterisation). In heavier birthweight infants the risk factors were, in contrast, related to hypoxia at birth (low 1 minute Apgar score and endotracheal intubation at birth) and umbilical vessel catheterisation used in exchange transfusions. Contradictory findings in published case-control studies carried out in the USA may be due to differences in patient populations and management policies. Hypoxia and umbilical vessel catheterisation should still be considered as risk factors for necrotising enterocolitis.     

Epidemiology of leisure-time physical activity: a population-based study in southern Brazil

We aimed to measure the prevalence of physical inactivity (PI) during leisure time and to identify variables associated with it in a southern Brazilian adult population. A population-based cross-sectional study was carried out, covering a multiple-stage sample of 1,968 subjects aged 20-69 years. Weekly participation in leisure-time physical activity was addressed. For each activity, energy expenditure was calculated using data on duration, metabolic equivalent, and body weight. Energy expenditures of individual activities were summed to give a weekly total. PI was defined as fewer than 1,000 kilocalories per week. The prevalence of PI was 80.7% (95%CI: 78.9-82.4). After adjusted analyses, the following variables were positively associated with the outcome: female gender, age, living with a partner, and smoking. Schooling and economic status were inversely associated with PI. Chronically undernourished individuals were significantly more likely to be inactive. We found no differences according to skin color or alcohol consumption. In conclusion, the prevalence of PI in this adult population was higher than in populations from developed countries, but the associated variables were similar.     

Epidemiology and costs of gastroesophageal reflux disease in Switzerland: a population-based study

Summary Objectives: Assessment of the prevalence, health care resource use and cost of gastroesophageal reflux disease in Switzerland.Methods: A population-based telephone survey was conducted in German and French speaking Switzerland. Reflux cases were defined using a questionnaire proposed by the German Gastro League and answered additional questions on their personal characteristics and resource use.Results: 1274 out of 7222 participants were positively screened. The prevalence of reflux disease in Swiss adults was estimated at 17.6% (95% CI: 15.6%–19.7%) or 993000 individuals. Regular treatment with medication was reported by 38.0% of the reflux positive sample. Reflux-induced general practitioner consultations during the last year were reported by 25.9%. On average, there were 0.84 general practitioner consultations, 0.19 specialist consultations, 0.08 gastroscopies and 0.01 hospitalisations annually. Mean direct medical costs, dominated by medication costs, were CHF 185 per patient-year (95 % CI: CHF 140–230) or 0.5% of Switzerlands total health care expenditures. Total costs were CHF 234 (95% CI: CHF 185–284) per patient-year.Conclusions: The prevalence of reflux disease in Switzerland is similar to that in other industrialised countries. Reflux disease causes considerable costs, in the medical system and at the societal level.     

Epidemiology and costs of gastroesophageal reflux disease in Switzerland: a population-based study

Objectives: Assessment of the prevalence, health care resource use and cost of gastroesophageal reflux disease in Switzerland.Methods: A population-based telephone survey was conducted in German and French speaking Switzerland. Reflux cases were defined using a questionnaire proposed by the German Gastro League and answered additional questions on their personal characteristics and resource use.     

Epidemiology and diagnosis of meningitis: results of a five-year prospective, population-based study

Implementation of the advice to give penicillin prior to admission, a fall in the lumbar puncture rate and the introduction into routine use of the meningococcal polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test are factors that have led us to reassess the way meningitis is diagnosed. We examined data for the period 1994-98 from a health district of 800,000 population. Of the 355 cases of meningitis reported, 258 (73%) had either confirmed, probable or possible meningococcal disease. Only 28% of meningococcal cases had received pre-admission benzylpenicillin. The proportion of suspected meningitis cases undergoing lumbar puncture fell over the period. It was 79% in 1994 and 61% in 1998 (p < 0.001). After meningococcal PCR was introduced in 1996, 73 (68%) meningococcal cases were microbiologically confirmed, compared to 72 (48%) before 1996 (p = 0.001). In all cases, age was an independent predictor of meningitis mortality, and for meningococcal cases, age and serogroup were independent predictors. Advice to general practitioners (GPs) to give preadmission benzylpenicillin to any suspected case of meningitis or meningococcal septicaemia should be reinforced regardless of age or whether a rash is present.     

Inter-observer reliability of radiological signs of necrotising enterocolitis in a population of high-risk newborns

Radiological examination of the abdomen is critical to the diagnosis of necrotising enterocolitis (NEC). Previous studies on the reproducibility of radiological findings have been limited in size and based only on infants with the disease. We conducted a study among a sample of high-risk infants with and without the diagnosis of NEC: (1) to measure the degree of inter-observer agreement of NEC radiological diagnosis and signs and (2) identify a profile of radiological signs which led the observers to make a diagnosis of NEC. We collected 297 X-rays from a sample of 57 newborns admitted in 1999 to neonatal intensive care and neonatal surgery units in Rome, Italy. Three specialists in paediatric radiology examined the films independently and without any clinical information about patients. The analyses were conducted on a total of 891 forms filled in by the observers. Kappa values were calculated to measure the inter-observer reliability. To identify the profiles of radiological signs, a multidimensional analysis, binary segmentation, was carried out. The reproducibility of radiographic signs was 0.55 (P < 0.01) for diffuse gaseous intestinal distention, 0.22 (P < 0.01) for bowel wall thickening, 0.10 (P < 0.01) for presence of portal venous gas and 0.29 (P < 0.01) for pneumatosis intestinalis. The agreement for radiographic diagnosis suspected/confirmed of NEC was 0.31 (P < 0.01). Among the 23 possible combinations of radiographic signs, the three radiologists indicated four profiles that produced a diagnosis of NEC containing, respectively, two, three, four and five signs. Our study found, in a large sample of radiographs selected from a population of infants with and without NEC, a poor reliability for NEC diagnosis and individual radiological signs among three expert radiologists. Clinical information and the presence of more than one radiological sign can reduce the margin of observer's error that inevitably exists when dealing with a diagnosis as difficult as NEC.     

A prospective survey of necrotising enterocolitis in very low birthweight infants

Necrotising enterocolitis is the most common gastrointestinal complication of pre-term infants. In order to determine the strength of the association of hypoxia/ischaemia and infection as causative factors in necrotising enterocolitis, we evaluated all liveborn pre-term infants with a birthweight less than 1500 g and/or gestational age less than 32 weeks in The Netherlands in 1983. The factors related to hypoxia/ischaemia included: asphyxia, respiratory distress syndrome, ventilatory assistance, persistent fetal circulation, persistent ductus arteriosus, apnoea, bradycardia, exchange transfusion and peri/intraventricular haemorrhage; those related to infection were: congenital infections, pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis. Of the 1338 infants enrolled, 1187 survived for more than 24 hours and had complete data. Mean (+/- s.d.) birthweight was 1278 (+/- 297) g and mean (+/- s.d.) gestational age 30.7 (+/- 2.6) weeks. Seventy-three (6.1%) infants developed necrotising enterocolitis: 46 (63.0%) stage I disease (clinically very suspect), 11 (15.1%) stage II (pneumatosis intestinalis) and 16 (21.9%) stage III (intestinal perforation). Mean +/- s.d. birthweight of the infants with necrotising enterocolitis (1197 +/- 284 g) was lower (P less than 0.02) than in those without necrotising enterocolitis (1283 +/- 297 g). Gestational ages were comparable. Mortality in the group with necrotising enterocolitis was 21.9% versus 15.8% in the non-necrotising enterocolitis group (NS). Stepwise logistic regression analysis indicated that among those factors studied, only sepsis and birthweight were truly associated with the occurrence of necrotising enterocolitis.     

Epidemiology of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis in a central Canadian province: a population-based study.

The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy and utility of administrative health data in identifying persons with inflammatory bowel disease on a population basis and to determine the incidence and prevalence of this disease in the Canadian province of Manitoba. The data from Manitoba Health (the province's single insurer) were used to identify residents with physician and/or hospital contacts for Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis based on International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification, codes between 1984 and 1995. Of 5,182 eligible individuals, 4,514 were mailed questionnaires and 2,725 responded. Cases were defined as individuals with five or more separate medical contacts with one of these diagnoses or three or more such contacts if they were resident for less than 2 years. The accuracy of the study case definitions was high when compared with either self-report or chart review. The 1989-1994 age- and sex-adjusted annual incidence was 14.6/100,000 for Crohn's disease and 14.3/100,000 for ulcerative colitis. The prevalence of Crohn's disease in 1994 was 198.5/100,000, and that of ulcerative colitis was 169.7/100,000. In conclusion, the authors have successfully established and validated a population-based database of inflammatory bowel disease based on administrative data. The high incidence rates and dynamic epidemiology of inflammatory bowel disease in Manitoba indicate the presence of important environmental risk factors, which warrants further investigation.     

新生儿坏死性小肠结肠炎相关研究现状

新生儿坏死性小肠结肠炎(NEC)是新生儿期的一种严重威胁新生儿生命的疾病。NEC临床症状可从轻微腹胀、喂养困难,迅速进展为爆发性、感染性休克,全肠段坏死,甚至导致患儿死亡。NEC远期可导致短肠综合征、肠狭窄、生长发育迟缓、神经系统不良结局等。NEC既是难治性新生儿疾病,也是导致新生儿死亡的重要原因之一。然而,对于NEC的发病机制,迄今尚未完全阐明。积极预防,早发现、早诊断、早治疗,可降低NEC的致残率及其导致的死亡率。