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Biomedical subjects

L J Boomsma

Publications and source records attributed to L J Boomsma.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

['Number needed to screen': a tool for assessment of prevention programs].

The number needed to screen (NNS) is defined as the number of people that need to be screened for a given period to prevent one death or adverse event. The NNS is one of the criteria with which the efficacy of a screening programme can be determined. This article introduces the NNS to Dutch literature. The NNS may be calculated with mortality figures and the absolute risk reduction obtained by a prevention programme. Another method is to multiply the number needed to treat (NNT) with the number of people that have to be screened in order to find one patient with the disease. Based on published figures, the NNS's per year to prevent one death in current screening programmes within general practice in the Netherlands are approximately 2560 for cervical cancer screening, about 1000 for breast cancer screening, and circa 2340 for the detection of hypertension in patients aged 55-75 years.

Data Interpretation, Statistical↗
PubMed1998

[The frequency of hearing impairment in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2].

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of hardness of hearing in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 and to compare the diabetes characteristics between diabetic patients with and without hardness of hearing. SETTING: Computerized general practitioners office in Nijverdal, the Netherlands. DESIGN: Descriptive, cross-sectional study. METHOD: In all patients aged 55 years and over, registered at the general practitioners (n = 1184), diabetes mellitus type 2 and hardness of hearing were determined. Hardness of hearing was defined as use of a hearing aid or an audiometrically determined hearing loss of at least 40db. RESULTS: A hearing aid was three to four times more prevalent in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 (n = 86) than in subjects without diabetes of the same age (p < 0.001). Of the diabetic patients 48% had impaired hearing. Patients with hardness of hearing had a longer duration of diabetes than diabetic patients with a normal hearing (10.5 years (SD: 6.9) versus 6.9 years (6.8); p = 0.06, adjusted for age). They suffered less hypertension and had a lower level of glycated haemoglobin. CONCLUSION: Hardness of hearing is frequent in elderly patients with diabetes mellitus type 2. It may be due to diabetic neuropathy.

Age Distribution↗
PubMed1989

Peripartum cardiomyopathy in a rural Nigerian hospital.

In a rural hospital in Northern Nigeria in 1985 seventeen patients were admitted who met with the criteria of peripartum cardiomyopathy. Local habits played an important part in the course of the disease. Physical examination with an emphasis on bloodpressure and the condition of the heart was most reliable in establishing the diagnosis and assessing the treatment. Electrocardiography (ECG) was introduced, but proved of low value. Treatment consisted of bedrest and diuretics. One patient died, eight patients made a full clinical recovery but eight patients did not improve. Unfortunately all patients withdrew from follow-up.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Value of the Widal test in the diagnosis of typhoid fever in an endemic area and suggestions for a modification. A preliminary study.

The Widal test for detection of typhoid fever was introduced in two rural hospitals in Nigeria. Because of undetectably low O agglutination titers, 74 sera were sent overseas for further determination by means of passive haemagglutination with O 9, 12-antigen, Vi-antigen and slide agglutination with H-d antigen suspensions. This full test showed discrepancies with the normal Widal test i.e. a false negative Widal H agglutination in 6 out of 17 patients in West Nigeria and a false positive Widal H test in 28 out of 49 patients in Central Nigeria. The full test should be applicable in a small laboratory, but its value has yet to be established.

Antigens, Bacterial↗
PubMed1988

Clinical aspects of typhoid fever in two rural Nigerian hospitals. A prospective study.

During a prospective study among 234 patients admitted with fever in two rural hospitals in West and Central Nigeria 38 cases of typhoid fever were found. The diagnosis was based on extensive serological testing in the Netherlands. The diazotest was introduced but appeared not helpful. The ordinary Widal test was not fully reliable. Eighty five percent of the patients responded to chloramphenicol. The course of typhoid fever in West Nigeria was more severe than in Central Nigeria. The findings are compared with those of similar studies of typhoid fever.

Adolescent↗