Health and health care utilisation among asylum seekers and refugees in the Netherlands: design of a study

Background  

This article discusses the design of a study on the prevalence of health problems (both physical and mental) and the utilisation of health care services among asylum seekers and refugees in the Netherlands, including factors that may be related to their health and their utilisation of these services.     

Self-limiting extravasation in the unused urinary bladder

Patients being evaluated as potential renal transplant recipients routinely undergo voiding cystourethrography. Eight patients were encountered in whom extraperitoneal extravasation was noted from the region of the ureterovesical junction during voiding (seven patients) or during filling (one patient). Extravasation was bilateral in six patients and unilateral in two. The patients neither experienced symptoms related to the extravasation, required treatment, nor had sequelae. Five of the eight patients have subsequently received renal transplants and their bladders were observed to be normal at surgery. Cystoscopy was also performed in two of these five patients and was unremarkable. After transplantation, these patients' bladders functioned normally and gave rise to no symptoms.     

Cost-effectiveness of counseling and pedometer use to increase physical activity in the Netherlands: a modeling study

Background

Counseling in combination with pedometer use has proven to be effective in increasing physical activity and improving health outcomes. We investigated the cost-effectiveness of this intervention targeted at one million insufficiently active adults who visit their general practitioner in the Netherlands.

Methods

We used the RIVM chronic disease model to estimate the long-term effects of increased physical activity on the future health care costs and quality adjusted life years (QALY) gained, from a health care perspective.

Results

The intervention resulted in almost 6000 people shifting to more favorable physical-activity levels, and in 5100 life years and 6100 QALYs gained, at an additional total cost of EUR 67.6 million. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was EUR 13,200 per life year gained and EUR 11,100 per QALY gained. The intervention has a probability of 0.66 to be cost-effective if a QALY gained is valued at the Dutch informal threshold for cost-effectiveness of preventive intervention of EUR 20,000. A sensitivity analysis showed substantial uncertainty of ICER values.

Conclusion

Counseling in combination with pedometer use aiming to increase physical activity may be a cost-effective intervention. However, the intervention only yields relatively small health benefits in the Netherlands.     

Design of the sex hormones and physical exercise (SHAPE) study

Background  

Physical activity has been associated with a decreased risk for breast cancer. The biological mechanismn(s) underlying the association between physical activity and breast cancer is not clear. Most prominent hypothesis is that physical activity may protect against breast cancer through reduced lifetime exposure to endogenous hormones either direct, or indirect by preventing overweight and abdominal adiposity. In order to get more insight in the causal pathway between physical activity and breast cancer risk, we designed the Sex Hormones and Physical Exercise (SHAPE) study. Purpose of SHAPE study is to examine the effects of a 1-year moderate-to-vigorous intensity exercise programme on endogenous hormone levels associated with breast cancer among sedentary postmenopausal women and whether the amount of total body fat or abdominal fat mediates the effects.     

Comorbidity,limitations in activities and pain in patients with osteoarthritis of the hip or knee

Background  

This study aims to contribute to the knowledge of the influence of comorbidity in OA. The objectives of the study were (i) to describe the prevalence of comorbidity and (ii) to describe the relationship between comorbidity (morbidity count, severity and the presence of specific diseases) and limitations in activities and pain in elderly patients with knee or hip OA using a comprehensive inventory of comorbidity.     

The Treatment of Septicemia in Pacemaker Patients

The authors analyzed the data of seven patients who had undergone open heart surgery because of pacemaker endocarditis in the past 4 years. Repeated surgical interventions on the pacemaker system were found to be the most common predisposing factors. Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis were the most common causative organisms. Two-dimensional echocardiography was important in the diagnosis of cases with atypical clinical picture and negative blood cultures. We concluded that: (1) any pacemaker patient with fever should be considered to have a pacemaker endocarditis; (2) all of these patients should be examined by two-dimenensional echocardiography; and (3) the total removal of the infected hardware seems to be the only way to achieve complete recovery.     

Cerebral Embolism Due to a Retained Pacemaker Lead: A Case Report

There are only a few reported cases of a pacemaker lead migrating inadvertently into the left atrium or ventricle. An unusual complication of unremoved, unwanted pacemaker lead is presented. The free tip of the lead caused cerebral embolism after perforating the interatrial septum.     

Recent trends in breast cancer incidence in US white women by county-level urban/rural and poverty status

Background  

Unprecedented declines in invasive breast cancer rates occurred in the United States between 2001 and 2004, particularly for estrogen receptor-positive tumors among non-Hispanic white women over 50 years. To understand the broader public health import of these reductions among previously unstudied populations, we utilized the largest available US cancer registry resource to describe age-adjusted invasive and in situ breast cancer incidence trends for non-Hispanic white women aged 50 to 74 years overall and by county-level rural/urban and poverty status.