Screening vs. individual detection of industrial fluorosis: a decision analysis model

In preventive medicine and occupational health, decision-makers face uncertainty, divergent opinions, and varying needs. In the Swiss aluminum industry, screening for industrial fluorosis illustrates how decision analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis can provide rational and explicit models of decision-making in such contexts. Data on fluoride-exposed potroom workers are used to compare the cost-effectiveness of two strategies: mass screening of fluorosis versus individual detection of the disease on the basis of the worker's symptoms. A decision-analysis and a sensitivity analysis are performed to assess the impact of the screening program for different levels of expected prevalence of the disease. The optimal decision, in economic terms, is the one that minimizes the pension and screening-related costs and maximizes the number of years of full working capacity. Swiss data suggest that a diagnosis of clinical fluorosis is unlikely before 10 years of exposure to fluoride. Between 10 and 30 years of exposure to fluoride, mass screening may be more cost-effective than individual detection of the disease, even when the expected prevalence of the disease in a given industrial setting is less than 10%.     

Report of the Canadian Hypertension Society Consensus Conference: 2. Nonpharmacologic management and prevention of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy

OBJECTIVE: To provide Canadian physicians with comprehensive, evidence-based guidelines for the nonpharmacologic management and prevention of gestational hypertension and pre-existing hypertension during pregnancy. OPTIONS: Lifestyle modifications, dietary or nutrient interventions, plasma volume expansion and use of prostaglandin precursors or inhibitors. OUTCOMES: In gestational hypertension, prevention of complications and death related to either its occurrence (primary or secondary prevention) or its severity (tertiary prevention). In pre-existing hypertension, prevention of superimposed gestational hypertension and intrauterine growth retardation. EVIDENCE: Articles retrieved from the pregnancy and childbirth module of the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; pertinent articles published from 1966 to 1996, retrieved through a MEDLINE search; and review of original randomized trials from 1942 to 1996. If evidence was unavailable, consensus was reached by the members of the consensus panel set up by the Canadian Hypertension Society. VALUES: High priority was given to prevention of adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes in pregnancies with established hypertension and in those at high risk of gestational hypertension through the provision of effective nonpharmacologic management. BENEFITS, HARMS AND COSTS: Reduction in rate of long-term hospital admissions among women with gestational hypertension, with establishment of safe home-care blood pressure monitoring and appropriate rest. Targeting prophylactic interventions in selected high-risk groups may avoid ineffective use in the general population. Cost was not considered. RECOMMENDATION: Nonpharmacologic management should be considered for pregnant women with a systolic blood pressure of 140-150 mm Hg or a diastolic pressure of 90-99 mm Hg, or both, measured in a clinical setting. A short-term hospital stay may be required for diagnosis and for ruling out severe gestational hypertension (preeclampsia). In the latter case, the only effective treatment is delivery. Palliative management, dependent on blood pressure, gestational age and presence of associated maternal and fetal risk factors, includes close supervision, limitation of activities and some bed rest. A normal diet without salt restriction is advised. Promising preventive interventions that may reduce the incidence of gestational hypertension, especially with proteinuria, include calcium supplementation (2 g/d), fish oil supplementation and low-dose acetylsalicylic acid therapy, particularly in women at high risk for early-onset gestational hypertension. Pre-existing hypertension should be managed the same way as before pregnancy. However, additional concerns are the effects on fetal well-being and the worsening of hypertension during the second half of pregnancy. There is, as yet, no treatment that will prevent exacerbation of the condition. VALIDATION: The guidelines share the principles in consensus reports from the US and Australia on the nonpharmacologic management of hypertension in pregnancy.     

Preoperative care of infants with nephroblastoma. The International Society of Pediatric Oncology 6 experience.

The International Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOP) recommends preoperative treatment in the management of eligible patients with Wilms' tumor. Until 1980, children younger than 12 months of age (infants) at diagnosis had been excluded from the SIOP trials. SIOP 6, conducted from 1980 to 1987, was the first SIOP study to include infants older than 6 months of age. This retrospective analysis of 145 infants registered to SIOP 6 demonstrates that in infants older than 6 months and having favorable histology (FH), a two-drug preoperative chemotherapy (CT) regimen of 4 weeks significantly ameliorated stage distribution as determined at delayed surgery but did not affect a good outcome. However, the CT dose utilized in SIOP 6 resulted in an unacceptable toxicity in this age group, and SIOP 9, the new SIOP study of Wilms' tumor, recommends a reduced dose of CT in infants. Preoperative CT is not recommended in infants younger than 6 months of age. Specifically, the high incidence (29%) of mesoblastic nephroma in this age group does not justify such an approach. Histopathologic diagnosis should be obtained in these patients before any treatment.     

Pulmonary vascular disease in secundum atrial septal defect in childhood: an unusual evolution

Reported is a case of a 16-month-old girl with an isolated atrial septal defect in whom severe pulmonary hypertension has developed in 26 months in spite of an important functional gradient across the pulmonic valves at a first catheterization. Individual susceptibility to an increased pulmonary blood flow is evoked.