Dutch DALYs, current and future burden of disease in the Netherlands.

Background: The Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY) is a measure to prioritize in the public health field. In the Netherlands, the DALY estimates are calculated since 1997 and are included in the Public Health Status and Foresight studies which is an input for public health priority setting and policy making. Over these 20 years, methodological advancements have been made, including accounting for multimorbidity and performing projections for DALYs into the future.

Accuracy of specific IgE in the prediction of asthma: development of a scoring formula for general practice.

Background: For the diagnosis of asthma in young children, GPs have to rely on history taking and physical examination, as spirometry is not possible. The additional diagnostic value of specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) to inhalent allergens remains unclear.

Aim: To assess the predictive accuracy of specific IgE to cat, dog, and/or house dust mites in young children for the subsequent development of asthma at the age of 6 years.

Coughing in pre-school children in general practice: when are RAST's for inhalation allergy indicated?

To identify patterns of clinical history associated with extreme (high or low) probabilities of allergic sensitization in coughing children so as to restrict allergy testing to those with an intermediate probability of sensitization. A total of 752 children, aged 1-4, visiting their GPs for coughing (>or=5 days), were tested for IgE-antibodies to house dust mite, cat and dog [RadioAllergoSorbent Test (RAST)]. Parents completed a questionnaire on family history of atopy, breastfeeding, smoking, pets, and floor covering.

IgE testing in capillary blood.

Serologic IgE testing is generally performed using serum, obtained by venepuncture. We tested whether paper-absorbed and eluted capillary blood, obtained by a less invasive method (finger prick) could be used for allergy testing in young children. This was performed by comparative IgE testing, using paper-absorbed blood/serum and serum.