A.J.P. Boeke

Effectiveness of corticosteroid injections versus physiotherapy for treatment of painful stiff shoulder in primary care: randomised trial

Abstract Objective : To compare the effectiveness of corticosteroid injections with physiotherapy for the treatment of painful stiff shoulder. Design : Randomised trial. Setting : 40 general practices. Subjects : 109 patients consulting general practitioners for shoulder pain were enrolled in the trial. Interventions : Patients were randomly allocated to 6 weeks of treatment either with corticosteroid injections (53) or physiotherapy (56). Main outcome measures : Outcome assessments were carried out 3, 7, 13, 26, and 52 weeks after randomisation; some of the assessments were done by an observer blind to treatment allocation. Primary outcome measures were the success of treatment as measured by scores on scales measuring improvement in the main complaint and pain, and improvement in scores on a scale measuring shoulder disability. Results : At 7 weeks 40 (77%) out of 52 patients treated with injections were considered to be treatment successes compared with 26 (46%) out of 56 treated with physiotherapy (difference between groups 31%, 95% confidence interval 14% to 48%). The difference in improvement favoured those treated with corticosteroids in nearly all outcome measures; these differences were statistically significant. At 26 and 52 weeks differences between the groups were comparatively small. Adverse reactions were generally mild. However, among women receiving treatment with corticosteroids adverse reactions were more troublesome: facial flushing was reported by 9 women and irregular menstrual bleeding by 6, 2 of whom were postmenopausal. Conclusions : The beneficial effects of corticosteroid injections administered by general practitioners for treatment of painful stiff shoulder are superior to those of physiotherapy. The differences between the intervention groups were mainly the result of the comparatively faster relief of symptoms that occurred in patients treated with injections. Adverse reactions were generally mild but doctors should be aware of the potential side effects of injections of triamcinolone, particularly in women.

Do disease specific characteristics add to the explanation of mobility limitations in patients with different chronic diseases? A study in The Netherlands.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To determine whether disease specific characteristics, reflecting clinical disease severity, add to the explanation of mobility limitations in patients with specific chronic diseases. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross sectional study of survey data from community dwelling elderly people, aged 55-85 years, in the Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: The additional explanation of mobility limitations by disease specific characteristics was examined by logistic regression analyses on data from 2830 community dwelling elderly people. MAIN RESULTS: In the total sample, chronic non-specific lung disease, cardiac disease, peripheral atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus, stroke, arthritis and cancer (the index diseases), were all independently associated with mobility limitations. Adjusted for age, sex, comorbidity, and medical treatment disease specific characteristics that explain the association between disease and mobility mostly reflect decreased endurance capacity (shortness of breath and disturbed night rest in chronic non-specific lung disease, angina pectoris and congestive heart failure in cardiac disease), or are directly related to mobility function (stiffness and lower body complaints in arthritis). For atherosclerosis and diabetes mellitus, disease specific characteristics did not add to the explanation of mobility limitations. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide evidence that, to obtain more detailed information about the differential impact of chronic diseases on mobility, disease specific characteristics are important to take into account.

Which source should we use to measure quality of life in children with asthma: the children themselves or their parents.

This study compares the reproducibility, construct validity and responsiveness of self-report and parent-report quality of life questionnaires How Are You (HAY) for 8–12-year-old children with asthma. A total of 228 Dutch children with asthma and their parents completed the HAY and daily recorded the childs asthma symptoms in a diary. Additionally 296 age- and -gender matched healthy children and their parents completed the generic part of the HAY. Reproducibility and responsiveness were examined in a sub-group of 80 children with asthma. In this group, three measurements were carried out, at baseline, after one week and once during the following 6 month when the clinical asthma status had changed. The within-subject standard deviations (SD) of three dimensions (physical activities, social activities, self-management) differed significantly (p < 0.05) in favour of the parent-version, indicating that the reproducibility of the parent version was better than that of the child version. The mean score-differences between children with asthma and healthy children as reported by parents did not significantly differ from those reported by children, except for cognitive activities (e.g. be able to concentrate on school work). The mean differences with regard to children with a different actual asthma status (symptom analysis), as reported by both informants, did not differ. Compared to the child-version, the parent-version showed greater ability to detect changes in childrens quality of life over time for all but one dimension, indicating better responsiveness. The results indicate that in discriminative studies child and parents reports can be substituted on a group-level. In longitudinal studies data have to be obtained from parents. Consequently, caregivers collecting quality of life data for longitudinal purposes in daily practice should collect these data simply from parents.

Cost effectiveness analysis of a population based screening programme for asymptomatic Chlamydia trachomatis infections in women by means of home obtained urine specimens

Objectives: To evaluate the cost effectiveness of a systematic screening programme for asymptomatic Chlamydia trachomatis infections in a female inner city population. To determine the sensitivity of the cost effectiveness analysis to variation in the probability of developing sequelae. Methods: A decision tree was constructed to evaluate health effects of the programme, such as averted sequelae of chlamydial infection. Cost effectiveness from a societal perspective was estimated for screening by means of a ligase chain reaction on mailed, home obtained urine specimens, in a population with a C trachomatis test prevalence of 2.9%. An extensive sensitivity analysis was performed for the probability of sequelae, the percentage of preventable pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), and the discount rate. Results: The estimated net cost of curing one woman, aged 15–40 years, of a C trachomatis infection is US

Low diagnostic accuracy of selective screening criteria for asymptomatic Chlamydia trachomatis infections in the general population

1210. To prevent one major outcome (PID, tubal factor infertility, ectopic pregnancy, chronic pelvic pain, or neonatal pneumonia), 479 women would have to be screened. The net cost of preventing one major outcome is

Does family support buffer the impact of specific chronic diseases on mobility in community-dwelling elderly?

15 800. Changing the probability of PID after chlamydial infection from 5% to 25% decreases the net cost per major outcome averted from

Chlamydia trachomatis prevalence and sexual behaviour among female adolescents in Belgium.

28 300 to

Disappointing performance of literature-derived selective screening criteria for asymptomatic Chlamydia trachomatis infection in an inner-city population

6380, a reduction of 78%. Results were less sensitive to variations in estimates for other sequelae. The breakeven prevalence of the programme ranges from 6.4% for the scenario with all probabilities for complications set at the maximum value to a prevalence of 100% for probabilities set at the minimum value. Conclusions: Systematic screening of all women aged 15–40 years for asymptomatic C trachomatis infections is not cost effective. Although the results of the analyses are sensitive to variation in the assumptions, the costs exceed the benefits, even in the most optimistic scenario.

12 Mond en tong

Objectives: To develop and validate selective screening criteria for asymptomatic Chlamydia trachomatis infections in the general population. Methods: 11 505 people, aged 15–40 years, registered in 16 general practices in Amsterdam were invited to return by mail a home obtained first void urine sample and a questionnaire. Participants were randomly allocated into a development group (75%) or a validation group (25%). C trachomatis infection was determined by the ligase chain reaction. In the development group a set of criteria was identified by means of stepwise logistic regression analysis. The diagnostic accuracy (area under the ROC curve; AUC) and sensitivity, and the corresponding percentage of people selected for screening were calculated. The criteria developed in this study were applied to the validation group. Results: The prevalence of asymptomatic C trachomatis infections among men was found to be 2.4% (1.7–3.0), and among women 2.8% (2.2–3.4). Screening men, based on Surinam/Antillean origin and painful micturition, yielded an AUC of 0.58 (0.55–0.60). Screening women, based on Surinam/Antillean origin, new sex partner in the previous 2 months, and unmarried/not cohabiting, yielded an AUC of 0.67 (0.65–0.69). Application of the criteria for men to the validation group yielded an AUC of 0.53 (0.48–0.57); by screening 10% of the men, 15% of the cases were detected. The AUC of the criteria for women in the validation group was 0.58 (0.54–0.61); by screening 51% of the women, 63% of the cases were detected. Conclusion: The prevalence of asymptomatic C trachomatis infections in Amsterdam is less than 3%. No suitable selective screening criteria for the general population could be identified.

Notice of Redundancy

The present study explores whether different structural (presence of partner and children) and functional (amounts of instrumental and emotional support provided by partner and children) family characteristics buffer the influence of chronic diseases on physical functioning. Logistic regression analyses were performed in a population-based sample of 2830 community-dwelling elderly people with chronic diseases as independent variable, and mobility difficulties as dependent variable, for separate strata of family characteristics. The presence of buffer effects was ascertained by comparing the associations between disease variables and mobility difficulties across the strata of family characteristics, using the odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Living together with a partner appears to buffer the association between the presence of one chronic disease and mobility difficulties, but no such effect is present among subjects with more than one disease. Regarding specific chronic diseases, partner presence has a beneficial influence only on the association between stroke and mobility difficulties, regardless of whether the partner provides little or much support. For patients with chronic non-specific lung disease (asthma, chronic bronchitis or pulmonary emphysema), a small amount of instrumental support (help with daily chores in and around the house) received from the partner is associated with a higher risk for mobility difficulties, compared to patients who receive a large amount of instrumental support and to patients who are not living with a partner. Neither the presence of children, nor the amounts of support received from them, influences associations between specific chronic diseases and mobility difficulties. The present study provides limited evidence supporting a buffer effect of family characteristics on the association between chronic diseases and mobility. Only in elderly people with a relatively low burden of disease does family support mitigate the adverse effects of disease on physical functioning.