Relation of arterial stiffness with postural control in older people.

Purpose: Arterial stiffness generates vascular alterations that may cause balance disorders and falls. This study aimed to investigate the possible link between arterial stiffness and postural control under different sensorial conditions in patients over 65 years.

Methods: Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) was measured in 47 participants aged over 65 years to evaluate their arterial stiffness (high PWV).

Comparison of high-frequency intensive balneotherapy with low-frequency balneotherapy combined with land-based exercise on postural control in symptomatic knee osteoarthritis: a randomized clinical trial.

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) can generate postural control impairments which can increase fall risk. Land-based exercise (LBE) and balneotherapy are two modalities currently prescribed, but the impact of the latter on balance control has not been studied. This study aimed to compare two programs of balneotherapy with or without LBE to improve postural control, looking at frequency and duration of treatment.

Comparison of an Innovative Rehabilitation, Combining Reduced Conventional Rehabilitation with Balneotherapy, and a Conventional Rehabilitation after Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction in Athletes.

Background: Instability of the knee, related to anterior cruciate ligament injury, is treated by surgical reconstruction. During recovery, a loss of proprioceptive input can have a significant impact. Few studies have evaluated the benefits of rehabilitation of the knee in aquatic environment on functional outcomes.

Influence of meteorological elements on balance control and pain in patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis.

This study aimed to determine if pain and balance control are related to meteorological modifications in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). One hundred and thirteen patients with knee OA (mean age = 65 ± 9 years old, 78 women) participated in this study. Static posturography was performed, sway area covered and sway path traveled by the center of foot pressure being recorded under six standing postural conditions that combine three visual situations (eyes open, eyes closed, vision altered) with two platform situations (firm and foam supports).

The epidemiology of vertigo, dizziness, and unsteadiness and its links to co-morbidities.

Vertigo, dizziness, and unsteadiness (VDU) are common symptoms traditionally considered to result from different kinds of vestibular and non-vestibular dysfunctions. The epidemiology of each symptom and how they relate to each other and to migraine, agoraphobia, motion sickness susceptibility (MSS), vaso-vagal episodes (VVE), and anxiety-depression was the object of this population-based study in north-eastern France. A self-administered questionnaire was returned by 2987 adults (age span 18-86 years, 1471 women).

Relationship between the achievement of successive periodic health examinations and the risk of dying. Appraisal of a prevention scheme.

Background: In the field of Periodic Health Examination (PHE), few studies brought information on their efficiency, both on morbidity and mortality.

Objective: The association between the reduction of mortality and a regular participation in PHE has been estimated.

Methods: This study concerned 50,116 persons 40-59 years old, of European origin, examined at the Centre of Preventive Medicine, Nancy, France, between 1 January 1980 and 31 December 1985 with a maximum duration of follow-up reaching 25 years.

Potentially inappropriate drug prescription in the elderly in France: a population-based study from the French National Insurance Healthcare system.

Background: Inappropriate prescribing is a known risk factor for adverse drug event occurrence in the elderly. In various countries, several studies have used insurance healthcare databases to estimate the national prevalence of potentially inappropriate medications (PIM) in the elderly, as defined by explicit PIM lists. Recently, a representative sample of the French National Insurance Healthcare database, known as the "Echantillon Généraliste des Bénéficiaires" (EGB), was created, making it possible to assess the quality of drug prescription in France.

A simple clinical scale to stratify risk of recurrent falls in community-dwelling adults aged 65 years and older.

Background: Correct identification of people at risk for recurrent falls facilitates the establishment of preventive and rehabilitative strategies in older adults.

Objective: The purposes of this study were: (1) to develop and validate a simple clinical scale to stratify risk for recurrent falls in community-dwelling elderly people based on easily obtained social and clinical items and (2) to evaluate the added value of 3 clinical balance tests in predicting this risk.

Design: This was a prospective measurement study.

Prevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus infections in France in 2004: social factors are important predictors after adjusting for known risk factors.

To monitor the prevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C a cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2004 among French metropolitan residents. A complex sampling design was used to enroll 14,416 adult participants aged 18-80 years. Data collected included demographic and social characteristics and risk factors.

Trends of the potentially inappropriate medication consumption over 10 years in older adults in the East of France.

Purpose: To describe the trends of potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use in older adults from 1995 to 2004 in the East of France, by using the 1997 Beers criteria and its French update, and to assess risk factors for this PIM use.

Methods: We carried out a repeated cross-sectional study using data collected among people aged >/=65 years, examined in the Center for Preventive Medicine. Studied variables were socio-demographic, clinical data, medication consumption and the self-health status.

Prevalence of factor V Leiden and prothrombin G20210A mutation in a large French population selected for nonthrombotic history: geographical and age distribution.

Among inherited risk factors for venous thrombosis, the most common are the FV-G1691A and FII-G20210A polymorphisms. The FV-G1691A polymorphism is preferentially observed in Europe, with differences between European countries. The FII-G20210A polymorphism is observed all over the world.

New growth charts for Libyan preschool children.

To draw up new growth charts for Libyan children under 5 years of age, a cross-sectional survey was carried out in urban and rural areas in 2 regions of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from June 1999 to February 2000. Using WHO cluster sampling methodology, 1473 infants and children of both sexes aged between 0 and 59 months were selected from residential areas, maternal and child health centres, kindergartens and the delivery section of hospitals. Growth charts for weight-for-age, height-for-age and weight-for-height were plotted and smoothed, to provide reference curves for clinical, epidemiological and research purposes.

New obesity body mass index threshold for self-reported data.

Background: Since subjects included in population studies tend to underreport their weight and overestimate their height, obesity prevalence based on these data is often inaccurate. A reduced obesity threshold for self-reported height and weight was proposed and evaluated for its accuracy.

Methods: Self-reported heights and weights were compared with measured heights and weights in a Swiss city adult population representative sample.

Standardization of gamma-glutamyltransferase assays by intermethod calibration. Effect on determining common reference limits.

Background: The improvement of the consistency of gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) activity results among different assays after calibration with a common material was estimated. We evaluated if this harmonization could lead to reference limits common to different routine methods.

Methods: Seven laboratories measured GGT activity using their own routine analytical system both according to the manufacturer's recommendation and after calibration with a multi-enzyme calibrator [value assigned by the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) reference procedure].

Clinical determinants of failure in balance tests in elderly subjects.

We assessed the role of clinical and biological parameters on performance in four balance tests in elderly subjects. An observational study was conducted in the Center for Preventive Medicine of Nancy (France) in 2368 community-living elderly subjects aged 60 and older. Body mass index (BMI), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), clock test, "Health score" and use of psychotropic drugs (UPD) were assessed.

[Alcohol, tobacco and colorectal adenomas and cancer. Case-control study in a population with positive fecal occult blood tests].

Objective: To analyze the associations between lifestyle factors and colorectal adenomas or cancers in a population 50-74 years old.

Method: The study population underwent colonoscopy after positive fecal occult blood test in Health examination centers of the French general health insurance. The two sets of cases (n= 674 cancers, n=2618 adenomas) were compared with controls (n=5456).

[Comparison of the individual deprivation index of the French Health Examination Centres and the administrative definition of deprivation].

In French Health Examination Centres, populations in deprived situation were usually defined by administrative criteria The aim of the study was to investigate whether EPICES, a new individual index of deprivation, was more strongly related to health status than an administrative classification. The EPICES score was calculated on the basis of 11 weighted questions related to material and social deprivation. Participants were 197, 389 men and women, aged over 18, encountered in 2002 in French Health Examination Centres.

Posturography and risk of recurrent falls in healthy non-institutionalized persons aged over 65.

Background: A poor postural stability in older people is associated with an increased risk of falling. The posturographic tool has widely been used to assess balance control; however, its value in predicting falls remains unclear.

Objective: The purpose of this prospective study was to determine the predictive value of posturography in the estimation of the risk of recurrent falls, including a comparison with standard clinical balance tests, in healthy non-institutionalized persons aged over 65.

Colorectal cancer screening in Health Examination Centers.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe the results of colorectal cancer screening performed in the Health Examination Centers of the French general health insurance system.

Methods: The population consisted of 1,262,833 subjects (52.6% men) aged 50 to 74 years old who attended periodic health consultations from 1998 to 2003 in 89 Health Examination Centers in France.

[Epidemiological study of oral dental health of 4-year-old children in french nursery schools].

Unlabelled: The departmental service of maternal and infantile protection (PMI) of Moselle (Lorraine region), together with the Paediatric Dentistry Department from Nancy University, organized a study of the dental health of 4-year-old children.

Aims Of The Study: To assess the children dental health; to evaluate parental knowledge of dental health; to identify the factors associated with caries amongst children.

Material And Methods: The study was a cross sectional observation.

Determinants of arterial stiffness in an apparently healthy population over 60 years.

Arterial stiffness assessed by the pulse wave velocity (PWV), a non-invasive and reproducible method, predicts cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The main determinants of arterial stiffness are well established in younger and middle-aged populations, but much less in the elderly. The aim of this study was to describe the determinants of arterial stiffness in elderly apparently healthy subjects.

Stepwise strategies in analysing haematuria and leukocyturia in screening.

The aim of the present work was to compare in a supposed healthy population of 680 subjects several algorithms for positive selection of urine samples requiring microscopic examination for erythrocytes and leukocytes after screening by automated test-strip measurement and particle counting on a Sysmex UF-50 flow cytometer. Four strategies have been formulated and the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, false positive rate, false negative rate, and microscopic review rate were measured. The strategy combining test strip analysis and automated counting on all samples, followed by microscopic examination of only discordant samples gave the best results.

[Blood pressure control by antihypertensive agents in people older than 60].

Purpose: The prevalence or hypertension increases with aging, reaching more than 50% in people aged 60 years and older. The increase of systolic blood pressure is a major risk of cardiovascular event.

Methods: With the aim of assessing risk factors in old people "in apparent good health", we analysed blood pressure and treatments in people aged 60 years and older who had a periodic check-up that was adapted to older people.

[Determination of glucose, proteins, blood and leucocytes in urines: evaluation of automated analyzer Aution Max AX 4280].

The aim of this study was to evaluate the automated urine test strip analyzer Aution Max AX 4280 which uses strips able to measure 12 urinary parameters. For precision study, we considered glucose, protein, blood, leukocytes, nitrite, and pH and the four first were compared with usual methods: chemical measurement or microscopic examination. Reproducibility of the semi quantitative results was determined as the proportion of results falling into the same concentration range.