Period prevalence of epilepsy in children in BC: a population-based study.

Background: Most estimates of the prevalence of seizure disorders in Canada derive from national surveys which differ in sampling and case-finding methods. This study used health care utilization data to make a population-based estimate of the prevalence of epileptic seizures and of epilepsy in children in British Columbia (BC).

Methods: All BC residents between 0-19 years-of-age in 2002-3 enrolled in the Medical Services Plan were included.

Caregiver-reported health outcomes of preschool children born at 28 to 32 weeks' gestation.

Objective: We conducted a population-based survey of caregivers of all preschoolers at 42 months of age who had been admitted at birth in 1996-1997 to a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit in British Columbia (BC), Canada.

Methods: In this paper, we examine health status (measured by Health Status Classification System [HSCS-PS]), health-related quality of life (HRQL) (measured by Infant and Toddler Quality of Life Questionnaire), and behavioral outcomes (measured by Child Behavior Checklist) of the preschoolers in the sample who were born at 28-32 weeks gestational age (GA) in comparison to those born at <28 weeks GA. In addition, we compare these outcomes to health status, HRQL, and behavioral outcomes of a cohort of healthy full-term infants identified from the primary care practices at two of the hospital sites in BC in 1996-1997.

Chorioamnionitis with a fetal inflammatory response is associated with higher neonatal mortality, morbidity, and resource use than chorioamnionitis displaying a maternal inflammatory response only.

Objective: This study was undertaken to evaluate whether the proximity of infection of the chorion/amnion and fetal vessels affects neonatal outcomes.

Study Design: We examined all (n=2012) infants admitted to the British Columbia's Children's Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, from January 1996 to October 1997. We included infants with a placental examination (n=1296), and stratified those with histologic chorioamnionitis into cases displaying a maternal inflammatory response only and cases also displaying a fetal inflammatory response (funisitis and/or fetal surface vessel angiitis).

A search for guidance: examining prenatal substance exposure protocols.

Objectives: To describe key elements of a set of hospital prenatal substance exposure protocols, and to relate variations in protocol content to the state legislative environment and hospital characteristics.

Methods: Nurse managers and hospital administrators with responsibility for perinatal care were asked to provide their hospital's prenatal substance exposure protocol. Using a structured coding form, two independent coders read and abstracted information from the 87 protocols received.