Improving early audiological intervention via newborn hearing screening in Belgium.

Background: Newborn hearing screening programs aim to lower the ages at audiological intervention among hearing-impaired children. In Wallonia and Brussels (Belgium), audiological intervention data are not collected in the screening program, and the ages at initiating audiological care have never been assessed. This study aimed to assess the evolution in the ages at initiating audiological intervention in the context of a newborn hearing screening program implementation.

Alcohol consumption and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome: a meta-analysis of observational studies.

Background: In the past two decades, the metabolic syndrome has given rise to much clinical and research interest. The broad overlap of alcohol consumption with different components of metabolic syndrome makes alcohol-metabolic syndrome relationship a controversial topic.

Objectives: To support the evidence available about the relationship between alcohol consumption and metabolic syndrome as a comprehensive clinical entity, as well as to identify the gender-specific dose-response, by performing a meta-analysis based on information from published data.

Birthweight differences among infants of North African immigrants and Belgians in Belgium.

Background: Infants of North African immigrants are reported to have higher birthweights than their Belgian counterparts. It is unclear what mechanism contributes to this difference.

Methods: Analyses were based on a hospital-based cohort of 1,162 women.

Barriers to prenatal care in Europe.

Background: In Europe, it is sometimes assumed that few barriers to prenatal care exist because extensive programs of health insurance and initiatives to promote participation in prenatal care have been established for many decades.

Methods: A case-control study was performed in ten European countries (Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden). Postpartum interviews were conducted between 1995 and 1996.

Depressive symptoms are often unrecognized in gynaecological practice.

We performed a study on depressive symptoms in gynaecological practice in Belgium, identifying depressive symptoms according to both practitioners' opinions and the scores on a scale developed to detect depression in general medical settings. According to the 170 participating gynaecologists, 12% of the 2174 women they interviewed had symptoms of depression. However, 35% had two or more positive answers on the Depression Scale, and 19% had four or more positive answers.