Evaluation of systematic assessment of asthma-like symptoms and tobacco smoke exposure in early childhood by well-child professionals: A randomised trial

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of systematic assessment of asthma-like symptoms and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure during regular preventive well-child visits between age 1 and 4 years by wellchild professionals. Methods: Sixteen well-child centres in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, were randomised into 8...

The Netherlands twin register biobank: A resource for genetic epidemiological studies

In 2004 the Netherlands Twin Register (NTR) started a large scale biological sample collection in twin families to create a resource for genetic studies on health, lifestyle and personality. Between January 2004 and July 2008, adult participants from NTR research projects were invited into the study. During a home visit between 7:00 and 10:00 am...

Evaluation of 280 000 cases in Dutch midwifery practices: A descriptive study

Objective: To assess the nature and outcome of intrapartum referrals from primary to secondary care within the Dutch obstetric system. Design: Descriptive study. Setting: Dutch midwifery database (LVR1), covering 95% of all midwifery care and 80% of all Dutch pregnancies (2001-03). Population: Low-risk women (280 097) under exclusive care of a...

De standaard 'Vroegtijdige opsporing van aangeboren hartafwijkingen 0-19 jaar' van de jeugdgezondheidszorg [The Dutch Child Health Care guideline 'Early detection of congenital heart disease in the age group 0-19 years']

The Dutch Child Health Care guideline on the early detection of congenital heart disease was developed according to the principles for evidence-based guideline development and contains recommendations for the conduct of the examination during routine check-ups and for referral criteria. Most congenital heart diseases can be detected in the first...

Current PTCA practice and clinical outcomes in the Netherlands: The real world in the pre-drug-eluting stent era

Aims To document the practice of interventional cardiology and the clinical restenosis rate, as well as the risk factors for clinical restenosis in an unselected population of patients in daily practice and to provide a perspective for the need of new devices such as drug-eluting stents. Methods and results A total of 3177 consecutive patients,...

Selecting an indicator set for monitoring and evaluating perinatal health in Europe: Criteria, methods and results from the PERISTAT project

The PERISTAT project was charged with developing an indicator set for monitoring and describing perinatal health in Europe as part of the European Commission's Health Monitoring Programme, run by the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection (DG-SANCO), which is working towards the establishment of a comprehensive health monitoring...

Dutch occupational physicians and general practitioners wish to improve cooperation

Objectives - To investigate cooperation between occupational physicians (OPs) and general practitioners (GPs). Methods - Literature review; structured interviews; questionnaires sent to randomised samples of OPs (n = 232) and GPs (n = 243). Results - Actual cooperation is poor. However, more than 80% of both groups responded that they want to...

Implications for hospitals, health workers, and patients

Minimally invasive surgery is one of the great innovations of health care in the 20th century. It promises to revolutionise surgery by allowing many more operations to be performed with minimal hospitalisation. Pressure from patients has caused many techniques to spread rapidly before they have been adequately assessed. This must be resisted,...