Sun Exposure and Sun Protection at Primary Schools in The Netherlands: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: In The Netherlands, skin cancer incidence rates have dramatically increased during the last decades. Exposure to ultraviolet radiation is the most important environmental risk factor for developing skin cancer.

Aims: The present study aimed to determine the level of sun exposure and sun protection of children at Dutch primary schools.

Prognostic factors for outcome after median, ulnar, and combined median-ulnar nerve injuries: a prospective study.

Background: A major problem in the surgical treatment of peripheral nerve injuries of the upper extremities is the unpredictable final outcome. More insight and understanding of the prognostic factors is necessary to improve functional outcome after repair of the peripheral nerves. The objective of this study was to identify prognostic factors for the functional recovery of peripheral nerve injury of the forearm and their independent contribution in the outcome in the first year after reconstruction.

Early posttraumatic psychological stress following peripheral nerve injury: a prospective study.

Background: Psychological symptoms frequently accompany severe injuries of the upper extremities and are described to influence functional outcome. As yet, little knowledge is available about the occurrence of posttraumatic psychological stress and the predictive characteristics of peripheral nerve injuries of the upper extremity for such psychological symptoms. In this prospective study, the incidence of different aspects of early posttraumatic stress in patients with peripheral nerve injury of the forearm is studied as well as the risk factors for the occurrence of early psychological stress.

Difficulties in conducting a prospective outcome study.

The success of an outcome study depends largely on the number of recruited patients, the loss of followup, and the response rate to postal questionnaires. In this article, different strategies were proposed to increase the aforementioned items. Most presented strategies were developed because of failure of measures used earlier.