Impact of the 2009 influenza A(H1N1) pandemic on public health workers in the Netherlands.

A cross-sectional study was undertaken to analyse the impact of the 2009 influenza A(H1N1) pandemic on frontline public health workers in the Netherlands and to consider its implications for future pandemics. A structured, self-administered questionnaire was made available online (26 March to 26 May 2010) for frontline public health workers employed by the communicable disease departments of the public health services in the Netherlands (n=302). A total of 166 questionnaires (55%) were completed.

Prevalence of hypertension in adults with intellectual disability in the Netherlands.

Background: Literature on the prevalence of hypertension in people with intellectual disability (ID) is mostly based on file studies or on measurements limited to the age group below 50 years. We measured and calculated the prevalence of hypertension in adults with ID and studied the distribution of hypertension in relation to age, gender, diagnosis of Down's syndrome and level of ID.

Methods: In an observational cross-sectional study, standardized blood pressure measurements were obtained from 258 randomly selected adult clients of three Dutch care providers for people with ID.

Work schedules in health care in France: very few changes between 1991 and 1998, according to national data.

It is important to know whether working time schemes offer, following the adoption of the 1990 ILO Night Work Convention, a better use of the actual knowledge in moderating the adverse effects of shiftwork for both sexes. The last two national studies on a representative sample, about working conditions in France (1991, 1998), show an increase of night work among female nursing staff. Long hours of work are becoming more common for nurses.