Impact of influenza exposure on rates of hospital admissions and physician visits because of respiratory illness among pregnant women.

Background: Excess deaths have occurred among pregnant women during influenza pandemics, but the impact of influenza during nonpandemic years is unclear. We evaluated the impact of exposure during nonpandemic influenza seasons on the rates of hospital admissions and physician visits because of respiratory illness among pregnant women.

Methods: We conducted a 13-year (1990-2002) population-based cohort study involving pregnant women in Nova Scotia.

Screening for colorectal cancer using the fecal occult blood test: an actuarial assessment of the impact of a population-based screening program in Canada.

Objectives: A series of randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) using the fecal occult blood (FOB) test can decrease mortality from this disease. These findings were used to develop an actuarial model to estimate the impact that a FOB screening program for colorectal cancer would have on the Canadian population.

Methods: The mortality experience of the year 2000 cohort of Canadians fifty to seventy-four years of age, with follow-up extending to 2010, was modelled according to three scenarios: no screening, annual screening, biennial screening.

Potential impact of population-based colorectal cancer screening in Canada.

Randomized controlled trials (RCT) have shown the efficacy of screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) using the faecal occult blood test (FOBT) with follow-up by colonoscopy. We evaluated the potential impact of population-based screening by FOBT followed by colonoscopy in Canada: mortality reduction, cost-effectiveness, and resource requirements. The microsimulation model POHEM was adapted to simulate CRC screening using Canadian data and RCT results about test sensitivity and specificity, participation, incidence, staging, progression, mortality and direct health care costs.