Symptoms and signs of urogenital cancer in primary care.

Background: Urogenital cancers are common, accounting for approximately 20% of cancer incidence globally. Cancers belonging to the same organ system often present with similar symptoms, making initial management challenging. In this study, 511 cases of cancer were recorded after the date of consultation among 61,802 randomly selected patients presenting in primary care in six European countries: a subgroup analysis of urogenital cancers was carried out in order to study variation in symptom presentation.

Clinical prediction models for serious infections in children: external validation in ambulatory care.

Background: Early distinction between mild and serious infections (SI) is challenging in children in ambulatory care. Clinical prediction models (CPMs), developed to aid physicians in clinical decision-making, require broad external validation before clinical use. We aimed to externally validate four CPMs, developed in emergency departments, in ambulatory care.

Impact of a postpartum care rehabilitation program to prevent postpartum depression at a secondary municipal hospital in Qingdao China: a cross-sectional study.

Background: The emerging postpartum rehabilitation (PPR) program in Chinese hospitals characterized by applying ongoing medical care through traditional cultural practices shows a protective effect in early puerperium in China. This study explores the benefit of PPR program practices to postpartum depression (PPD) and the influencing factors for PPD among Chinese women during the first postnatal six weeks.

Methods: The cross-sectional study included 403 participants and was conducted in a Secondary Municipal Hospital in Qingdao, China, from 01 to 2018 to 31 December 2021.

Study characteristical and regional influences on postpartum depression before vs. during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: While the public is under serious pressure from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the final impact and possible contributing factors to postpartum depression symptoms (PPDS) remain unknown. Therefore, a meta-analysis to investigate the association between PPDS and the COVID-19 pandemic was carried out by comparing the data between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic timeframes and exploring the influencing factors.

Methods: This systematic review was prospectively registered and recorded in a study protocol (Prospero CRD42022336820, http://www.

Inhibitors and facilitators to the utilization of postpartum care in China: an integrative review.

Background: Postpartum care is an expanding concept in China, and it is gaining vast attention in Chinese society. However, due to some Chinese traditions and rituals during the postpartum period, the utilization of modern postpartum care should be improved on both individual and community levels from different aspects. This integrative review outlined the inhibitors and facilitators of postpartum care utilization in China.

Point-of-care C-reactive protein test results in acute infections in children in primary care: an observational study.

Background: Acute infections are a common reason for children to consult primary care. Serious infections are rare but differentiating them from self-limiting illnesses remains challenging. This can lead to inappropriate antibiotic prescribing.

Nursing home residents with suspected urinary tract infections: a diagnostic accuracy study.

Background: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common infections in nursing homes (NHs). A high error rate of a UTI diagnosis based solely on clinical criteria is to be expected in older persons as they often present infections in an atypical way. A study was set up to assess the diagnostic value of signs/symptoms and urine dipstick testing in identifying UTIs in NH residents and to explore whether C-reactive protein (CRP) measured by point-of-care testing (POCT) can help in the diagnosis.

Healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use in Belgian nursing homes: results of three point prevalence surveys between 2010 and 2016.

Background: Belgium monitors the burden of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and antimicrobial use in nursing homes (NHs) by participating in the European point prevalence surveys (PPSs) organised in long-term care facilities (HALT surveys). We present the main findings of the three national PPSs conducted in NHs participating in at least one of these surveys, and in a cohort that participated in all three consecutive surveys.

Methods: All NHs were invited to voluntarily participate and conduct the survey on one single day in May-September 2010 (HALT-1), in April-May 2013 (HALT-2) or in September-November 2016 (HALT-3).

Supporting an informal care group - Social contacts and communication as important aspects in the psychosocial well-being of informal caregivers of older patients in Belgium.

Background: Increasingly, informal caregivers in Belgium care in group for an older patient. This study aimed to decrease the caregiver burden and to increase the well-being of caregivers and patients by supporting the needs of informal care groups of older patients (≥70 years).

Method: Through an online self-management tool, the groups were supported to make informed choices concerning the care for the older patient, taking into account the standards, values, concerns and needs of every caregiver and patient.

Symptoms and signs of colorectal cancer, with differences between proximal and distal colon cancer: a prospective cohort study of diagnostic accuracy in primary care.

Background: In an abdominal symptom study in primary care in six European countries, 511 cases of cancer were recorded prospectively among 61,802 patients 16 years and older in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium and Scotland. Colorectal cancer is one of the main types of cancer associated with abdominal symptoms; hence, an in-depth subgroup analysis of the 94 colorectal cancers was carried out in order to study variation in symptom presentation among cancers in different anatomical locations.

Method: Initial data capture was by completion of standardised forms containing closed questions about symptoms recorded during the consultation.

Changes in social, psychological and physical well-being in the last 5 years of life of older people with cancer: a longitudinal study.

Background: older people with cancer are at risk of complex and fluctuating health problems, but little is known about the extent to which their well-being changes in the last years of life.

Objective: to examine changes in physical, psychological and social well-being in the last 5 years of life of older people with cancer.

Design: prospective cohort study.

Diagnosis, prevention and control of urinary tract infections: a survey of routine practices in Belgian nursing homes.

Background: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most frequently reported infections in older adults and the most common reason for antimicrobial prescribing in nursing homes (NHs). In this vulnerable population, both a good diagnosis and prevention of these infections are crucial as overuse of antibiotics can lead to a variety of negative consequences including the development of multidrug-resistant organisms.

Objective: To determine infection prevention and control (IPC) and diagnostic practices for UTIs in Belgian NHs.

Added value of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing in a Flemish nursing home during an acute COVID-19 outbreak in April 2020.

Objectives: To examine the added value of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing in a nursing home during an acute COVID-19 outbreak. RT-PCR is the gold standard, but can be false-negative.

Methods: 119 residents and 93 staff members were tested with RT-PCR test and/or a rapid IgM/IgG test.

Caregiver burden: An increasing problem related to an aging cancer population.

This prospective cohort study identified risk factors for the development of caregiver burden and included older cancer survivors, middle-aged cancer survivors, older patients without cancer and their caregivers. Overall, more than 16 per cent of caregivers experienced high-to-severe burden at baseline. This proportion remained stable after 1 and 3 years.

Using Liminality and Subjunctivity to Better Understand How Patients With Cancer Experience Uncertainty Throughout Their Illness Trajectory.

Uncertainty is a central theme in the illness experiences of older cancer patients throughout their illness trajectory. Mishel's popular theory on uncertainty during illness approaches uncertainty as an outcome and is characterized by the patient's inability to find meaning in illness events. This study used the concepts of liminality and subjunctivity to explore uncertainty throughout the illness trajectory of cancer patients.

Evaluating possible acute coronary syndrome in primary care: the value of signs, symptoms, and plasma heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP). A diagnostic study.

Background: Additional diagnostic means could be of added value when evaluating possible acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in primary care.

Aim: To determine whether heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP)-based point-of-care (POC) biomarker testing, embedded in a clinical decision rule (CDR), is helpful to the GP when evaluating possible ACS.

Design & Setting: A prospective, non-randomised, double-blinded, diagnostic derivation study was undertaken, with a delayed-type cross-sectional diagnostic model among GPs in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Long-term distress in older patients with cancer: a longitudinal cohort study.

Background: Receiving a cancer diagnosis can be a major life event which causes distress even years after primary treatment.

Aim: To examine the prevalence of distress in older patients with cancer (OPCs) up until 5 years post-diagnosis, and identify predictors present at time of diagnosis. Results are compared with reference groups of middle-aged patients with cancer (MPCs) and older patients without a cancer diagnosis (OPs).

Cancer events in Belgian nursing home residents: An EORTC prospective cohort study.

Objectives: This prospective multicenter cohort study aimed to describe new cancer events in nursing home residents (NHR).

Materials And Methods: The study was performed in 39 nursing homes from the Armonea network in Belgium, covering 4262 nursing home beds. All NHR in these homes were prospectively followed during 1 year for occurrence of cancer events (diagnosis or clinical suspicion of a new cancer or progression of a known cancer).

Time trends in statin use and incidence of recurrent cardiovascular events in secondary prevention between 1999 and 2013: a registry-based study.

Background: The current study evaluated time trends of statin use and incidence of recurrent CVD in secondary prevention from 1999 to 2013 and investigated which factors were associated with statin use in secondary prevention.

Methods: Intego is a primary care registration network with 111 general practitioners working in 48 practices in Flanders, Belgium. This retrospective registry-based study included patients aged 50 years or older with a history of CVD.

Point-of-care CRP matters: normal CRP levels reduce immediate antibiotic prescribing for acutely ill children in primary care: a cluster randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Antibiotics are prescribed too often in acutely ill children in primary care. We examined whether a Point-of-Care (POC) C-reactive Protein (CRP) test influences the family physicians' (FP) prescribing rate and adherence to the Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) practice guidelines.

Design: Cluster randomized controlled trial.

Prevalence and predictors of psychosocial problems in informal caregivers of older cancer survivors - A systematic review: Still major gaps in current research.

Despite the abundance of studies concerning caring for patients with cancer, less is known about caring for an older cancer survivor (≥65 years). We aimed to systematically gather literature about the psychosocial well-being of caregivers of older cancer survivors and to identify possible risk factors for developing psychosocial problems. Fourteen articles met the following inclusion criteria: articles about (a) cancer, (b) informal caregivers, (c) older survivors and a (d) curative setting.

Managing chest pain patients in general practice: an interview-based study.

Background: Assessment of chest pain in general practice is challenging. General practitioners (GPs) often feel uncertainty when dealing with chest pain. The role of new diagnostic tools is yet unclear.

Patient- and tumor-related predictors of chemotherapy intolerance in older patients with cancer: A systematic review.

Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to investigate patient-related factors (e.g. depressive symptoms, cognition, mobility, activities of daily living (ADL)) as well as tumor-related factors (e.

Abdominal symptoms and cancer in the abdomen: prospective cohort study in European primary care.

Background: Different abdominal symptoms may signal cancer, but their role is unclear.

Aim: To examine associations between abdominal symptoms and subsequent cancer diagnosed in the abdominal region.

Design And Setting: Prospective cohort study comprising 493 GPs from surgeries in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Scotland, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

A systematic literature review on the association between loneliness and coping strategies.

Loneliness is an emerging and important public health concern associated with increased risk for health disorders and even mortality. Interventions targeting coping strategies might be effective in alleviating feelings of loneliness. However, the relationship between loneliness and coping strategies is not well understood.