Proactive and Integrated Management and Empowerment in Parkinson's Disease: Designing a New Model of Care.

Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative condition after Alzheimer's disease. The number of patients will rise dramatically due to ageing of the population and possibly also due to environmental issues. It is widely recognised that the current models of care for people with Parkinson's disease or a form of atypical parkinsonism lack continuity, are reactive to problems rather than proactive, and do not adequately support individuals to self-manage.

The past, present, and future of telemedicine for Parkinson's disease.

Travel distance, growing disability, and uneven distribution of doctors limit access to care for most Parkinson's disease (PD) patients worldwide. Telemedicine, the use of telecommunications technology to deliver care at a distance, can help overcome these barriers. In this report, we describe the past, present, and likely future applications of telemedicine to PD.

Increased risk of infectious disease requiring hospitalization among patients with psoriasis: a population-based cohort.

Background: Immunologic alterations caused by psoriasis and/or its therapies may affect the risk of serious infections.

Objective: For patients with psoriasis, we explored the overall and therapy-related risk of contracting an infectious disease (ID) requiring hospitalization in a large population-based cohort.

Methods: The incidence of ID was compared between patients with psoriasis and a randomly selected cohort (ratio 1:5) using hospital and pharmacy databases covering 2.

Prevalence and incidence of acute and chronic comorbidity in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Background: Limited data exist on the burden of comorbidity among patients with squamous cell head and neck cancer (SCCHN) before and during cancer treatment.

Methods: The precancer prevalence and incidence rates of 8 comorbid conditions were estimated among a population-based cohort of 1499 patients with SCCHN in the Netherlands. Patients with cancer, treatments, and comorbidities were identified in the PHARMO Record Linkage System (RLS) using hospital admissions and/or dispensing codes.

Quality of life in relation to constipation among opioid users.

Objective: Opioid users often experience constipation. In this study the impact of constipation on QoL was assessed in patients using opioids either for non-advanced illness or advanced illness.

Methods: Patients using opioids, recruited via public pharmacies, were asked to complete questionnaires on opioid use, constipation and the EuroQol five-dimension questionnaire (EQ-5D).

Determination of non-treatment with statins of high risk patients in The Netherlands.

Objective: To determine in the Netherlands what proportions of high risk patients with established cardiovascular disease (CVD) or diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) who were not treated with statins on 1 January 2007 and which characteristics were associated with non-treatment.

Methods: From the IPCI GP database patients were selected who were registered with a GP on 1 January 2007 who had a history of either CVD (CVD patients), DM2 (diabetics) or both (diabetics with CVD). The proportion of patients using statins around 1 January 2007 was determined.