Christelle Senterre

Discrepancies in cancer incidence and mortality and its relationship to health expenditure in the 27 European Union member states

BACKGROUND The European Union (EU) is a confederation of 27 member states, the institutions of which work according to negotiated decisions. The EU has implemented similar legislation and a common market, and has adopted the same currency in most of its member states. Although financing health systems is a responsibility of the national governments, the EU has enacted the Charter of Fundamental Rights to standardize public health policies. However, for historical reasons, health policy and health expenditure is not uniform across the 27 EU member states (EU-27). MATERIAL AND METHODS We hypothesized that increased health expenditure would be associated with better cancer outcome and that this would be most apparent in breast cancer, because of the availability of effective screening methods and treatments. Using publically available data from the World Health Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, we assessed associations between cancer indicators and wealth and health indicators. To do so, we constructed scatter plots and used the Spearmans rank correlation coefficient. RESULTS A marked difference in wealth and health expenditure indicators was observed between Eastern and Western European countries, with Western European being the higher. Higher wealth and higher health expenditures were associated both with increased cancer incidence and decreased cancer mortality. In breast cancer, the association with incidence was stronger. We created mortality/incidence ratios and observed that the more spent on health, the fewer the deaths after a cancer diagnosis. CONCLUSION Despite the initiatives to standardize public health policies of the EU-27, health expenditure continues to be higher in Western European countries and this is associated with better cancer outcome in these countries.

Newborn hearing screening programme in Belgium: a consensus recommendation on risk factors.

BackgroundUnderstanding the risk factors for hearing loss is essential for designing the Belgian newborn hearing screening programme. Accordingly, they needed to be updated in accordance with current scientific knowledge. This study aimed to update the recommendations for the clinical management and follow-up of newborns with neonatal risk factors of hearing loss for the newborn screening programme in Belgium.MethodsA literature review was performed, and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system assessment method was used to determine the level of evidence quality and strength of the recommendation for each risk factor. The state of scientific knowledge, levels of evidence quality, and graded recommendations were subsequently assessed using a three-round Delphi consensus process (two online questionnaires and one face-to-face meeting).ResultsCongenital infections (i.e., cytomegalovirus, toxoplasmosis, and syphilis), a family history of hearing loss, consanguinity in (grand)parents, malformation syndromes, and foetal alcohol syndrome presented a ‘high’ level of evidence quality as neonatal risk factors for hearing loss. Because of the sensitivity of auditory function to bilirubin toxicity, hyperbilirubinaemia was assessed at a ‘moderate’ level of evidence quality. In contrast, a very low birth weight, low Apgar score, and hospitalisation in the neonatal intensive care unit ranged from ‘very low’ to ‘low’ levels, and ototoxic drugs were evidenced as ‘very low’. Possible explanations for these ‘very low’ and ‘low’ levels include the improved management of these health conditions or treatments, and methodological weaknesses such as confounding effects, which make it difficult to conclude on individual risk factors. In the recommendation statements, the experts emphasised avoiding unidentified neonatal hearing loss and opted to include risk factors for hearing loss even in cases with weak evidence. The panel also highlighted the cumulative effect of risk factors for hearing loss.ConclusionsWe revised the recommendations for the clinical management and follow-up of newborns exhibiting neonatal risk factors for hearing loss on the basis of the aforementioned evidence-based approach and clinical experience from experts. The next step is the implementation of these findings in the Belgian screening programme.

Hurdles and delays in access to anti-cancer drugs in Europe

Demographic changes in the world population will cause a significant increase in the number of new cases of cancer. To handle this challenge, societies will need to adapt how they approach cancer prevention and treatment, with changes to the development and uptake of innovative anticancer drugs playing an important role. However, there are obstacles to implementing innovative drugs in clinical practice. Prior to being incorporated into daily practice, the drug must obtain regulatory and reimbursement approval, succeed in changing the prescription habits of physicians, and ultimately gain the compliance of individual patients. Developing an anticancer drug and bringing it into clinical practice is, therefore, a lengthy and complex process involving multiple partners in several areas. To optimize patient treatment and increase the likelihood of implementing health innovation, it is essential to have an overview of the full process. This review aims to describe the process and discuss the hurdles arising at each step.

Hyperarousal during sleep in untreated primary insomnia sufferers: A polysomnographic study

Because some evidence favors the hyperarousal model of insomnia, we sought to learn more about the dynamics of this phenomenon during sleep. Polysomnographic data from 30 normative subjects and 86 untreated primary insomnia sufferers recruited from the database of the sleep laboratory were studied for whole nights and in terms of thirds of the night. Untreated primary insomnia sufferers had an increased sleep latency and excess of WASO, together with a deficit in REM and NREM sleep during the entire night. In terms of thirds of the night, they presented a major excess of WASO during the first and last thirds of the night but an excess of lesser importance during the middle third. A deficit in SWS was found during the first third of the night, but for REM, the deficit was present during both the first and last thirds. Primary insomnia sufferers had no SWS or REM deficit during the second third of the night. We found that the hyperarousal phenomenon occurs mainly during the sleep-onset period of the first and last thirds of the night and is less important during the middle third. These results open new avenues for understanding the pathophysiology of primary insomnia.

Hyperarousal during sleep in untreated, major depressed subjects with prodromal insomnia: A polysomnographic study

In primary insomnia, specific dynamics of hyperarousal are evident during the night. Similarly, in major depression, many elements also favor of the presence of hyperarousal. Thus, it would be interesting to investigate if hyperarousal presents the same dynamic in major depression. Polysomnographic data from 30 healthy controls, 66 patients with major depression and prodromal insomnia, and 86 primary insomnia sufferers recruited from the sleep laboratory database were studied for whole night and thirds of the night. Insomnia sufferers and patients with depression exhibit a similar polysomnographic pattern both for whole night (increased sleep latency and WASO and reduced SWS and REM) and thirds of night (increased WASO at first and last thirds, reduced SWS in first third, and reduced in REM in first and last third). No alterations were detected during the second third of the night. Just as in primary insomnia, the hyperarousal phenomenon is found mainly in major depression with prodromal insomnia during the sleep-onset period and the first and last thirds of the night, but lesser during the second third of the night. These specific dynamics of hyperarousal may aid in the understanding of the particular relationship between insomnia and depression.

Epidemiology of Injuries in Belgium: Contribution of Hospital Data for Surveillance

Objectives. Investigating injuries in terms of occurrences and patient and hospital stay characteristics. Methods. 17370 stays, with at least one E code, were investigated based on data from 13 Belgian hospitals. Pearsons chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to assess the variations between distributions of the investigated factors according to the injurys types. Results. Major injuries were accidental falls, transport injuries, and self-inflicted injuries. There were more men in the transport injuries group and the accidental falls group was older. For the transport injuries, there were more arrivals with the support of a mobile intensive care unit and/or a paramedic intervention team and a general practitioner was more implicated for the accidental falls. In three-quarters of cases, it was a primary diagnostic related to injury and poisoning which was made. The median length of stay was nearly equal to one week and for accidental falls, this value is three times higher. The median cost, from the social security point of view, for all injuries was equal to €1377 and there was a higher median cost within the falls group. Conclusion. This study based on hospitals data provides important information both on factors associated with and on hospital costs generated by injuries.

Are life-saving anticancer drugs reaching all patients? Patterns and discrepancies of trastuzumab use in the European Union and the USA

Background The development of trastuzumab is considered to be one of the greatest improvements in breast cancer treatment in recent years. This study aims to evaluate changes in the uptake of trastuzumab over the last 12 years and to determine whether its use is proportional to patient needs in the European Union and the USA. Methods Using national registry data, the number of new cases of HER2-positive breast cancer patients per year was estimated. The number of likely trastuzumab treatments per year was estimated using trastuzumab procurement data for each country. Results Western Europe and the USA show increasing procurement level of trastuzumab over the years studied, reaching proportional of use of trastuzumab few years after its marketing authorization in the early 2000’s. After the approval in the adjuvant setting, in the year 2006, it was observed underuse of trastuzumab given the increase of the number of patients in need of treatment. Proportional use was shortly met after a couple of years. Few countries in Eastern Europe acquired the needed quantity of trastuzumab, with procurement levels starting to increase only after approval in the adjuvant setting in 2006. Conclusion Significant differences in trastuzumab procurement are observed between Western Europe, the USA and Eastern Europe, with the latter geographic region acquiring insufficient amounts of the drug required to treat all patients in need.

Assessment of medication adherence and responsible use of isotretinoin and contraception through Belgian community pharmacies by using pharmacy refill data

Purpose The aims of the study were to evaluate medication adherence and the influencing factors for isotretinoin and contraception (oral, patches, and rings) and to evaluate the concomitant use of contraception and isotretinoin. Methods Reimbursed prescription data from January 2012 to August 2015 of all patients in Belgium were received from Pharmanet–National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance. Medication adherence was measured according to the medication possession ratio. The influence of gender and age was analyzed using the Mann–Whitney test and the Spearman coefficient correlation. The independence between adherence to contraception and adherence to isotretinoin was analyzed using the Pearson chi-square test of independence. Persistence was defined as the number of days between initiation and presumed end of treatment. The Kaplan–Meier method was used to plot the medication persistence curves, and the log-rank test was used to compare the curves. The concomitant use of contraception and isotretinoin was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results The medication possession ratio was ≥0.8 for 46.1% of patients receiving isotretinoin and for 74.0% of women using contraception. For isotretinoin, this percentage decreased as the number of attempts increased (29.8% for the second attempt and 19.8% for more than two attempts). Men seemed more adherent than women, and a weak negative correlation between adherence and age was observed. The adherence data of isotretinoin and contraception were independent. The median persistence for isotretinoin treatment was 139 days (interquartile range 71–209) and was higher for men. Among women between 12 and 21 years old taking isotretinoin, 63.8% received at least one contraceptive prescription. However, 15.7% of women taking isotretinoin adhered to the use of contraception 1 month before, during, and 1 month after treatment. Conclusion Medication adherence to isotretinoin and contraception and compliance with the isotretinoin safety recommendation could be improved. Health service interventions, using pharmacy refill data, should be delivered to ensure patient safety and strict adherence to contraception when under isotretinoin treatment.

Evaluation of compliance with isotretinoin PPP recommendations and exploration of reasons for non-compliance: Survey among French-speaking health care professionals and patients in Belgium

To evaluate awareness of and compliance in Belgium by French‐speaking health care professionals and patients with the isotretinoin safety recommendations regarding its teratogenic risk.

Pilot study of risk factors associated with cardiovascular diseases in Northern and Southern Cameroonians.

Summary Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate whether the risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) are similar in the northern and southern regions of Cameroon. Methods: The participants answered a questionnaire concerning their lifestyle. Anthropometric and blood pressure measurements were evaluated in 192 individuals and biochemical parameters in 50 randomly selected volunteers. Results: Northerners displayed low alcohol and tobacco consumption, little practice of sport but physically demanding professions, and consumption of soybean, refined palm and other polyunsaturated oils. Southerners consumed alcohol, practiced sport, had intellectually based professions, and consumed crude and refined palm oils. Waist circumference and body mass index were higher in the southerners compared to the northerners. Blood glucose levels, and systolic and diastolic blood pressures were higher among the northerners than the southerners. Among the southerners, there were positive correlations between total cholesterol levels and systolic or diastolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and blood glucose levels or diastolic blood pressure, triglyceride levels and systolic blood pressure. Conclusion: Providing region-adapted, health-related advice for northern and southern Cameroonians would contribute to reducing risk factors for CVD.