Quality of life, daily functioning, and symptoms in hypothyroid patients on thyroid replacement therapy: A Dutch survey.

Objective: To explore the nature and extent of possible residual complaints among Dutch hypothyroid patients using thyroid replacement therapy, we initiated a comprehensive study measuring health-related quality of life (QoL), daily functioning, and hypothyroidism-associated symptoms in patients and control persons.

Methods: An online survey measuring thyroid-specific QoL (ThyPRO), daily functioning, and hypothyroidism-associated symptoms (ThySHI) was distributed among treated hypothyroid patients and control individuals. The advertising text was formulated in an open-ended manner.

Antidepressant use in pregnancy: knowledge transfer and translation of research findings.

Rationale: Knowledge transfer and translation (KT) has become an important component in health care systems worldwide. Antidepressant use in pregnancy has become a controversial subject for a number of reasons, including differing interpretations of study results.

Methods: Selected key articles were indentified and retrieved from the literature.

A European community pharmacy-based survey to investigate patterns of prescription fraud through identification of falsified prescriptions.

Aim: To identify prescription drugs involved in falsified prescriptions in community pharmacies in 6 European countries.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey among 2,105 community pharmacies in Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden was carried out to collect all suspect prescription forms. For each reported drug, the number of reported falsified prescriptions per thousand inhabitants was estimated.

Ineffectiveness and adverse events of nitrofurantoin in women with urinary tract infection and renal impairment in primary care.

Purpose: To determine whether treatment with nitrofurantoin in women with urinary tract infection (UTI) and renal impairment in primary care is associated with a higher risk of ineffectiveness and/or serious adverse events than in women without renal impairment.

Methods: A cohort of 21,317 women treated with nitrofurantoin and a cohort of 7,926 women treated with trimethoprim, identified from the Pharmo Record Linkage System, were analysed. The primary outcome was ineffectiveness of treatment of nitrofurantoin defined as the start of a second antibacterial within 1 month after the start of nitrofurantoin.

Unpredictable bias when using the missing indicator method or complete case analysis for missing confounder values: an empirical example.

Objective: Missing indicator method (MIM) and complete case analysis (CC) are frequently used to handle missing confounder data. Using empirical data, we demonstrated the degree and direction of bias in the effect estimate when using these methods compared with multiple imputation (MI).

Study Design And Setting: From a cohort study, we selected an exposure (marital status), outcome (depression), and confounders (age, sex, and income).

Trends in incidence and characteristics of children, adolescents, and adults initiating immediate- or extended-release methylphenidate or atomoxetine in the Netherlands during 2001-2006.

Background: Previous Dutch studies showed increasing psychostimulant use, especially methylphenidate immediate-release (MPH-IR), between 1995 and 2003. In 2003 the extended-release (ER) formulation of MPH and in 2005 atomoxetine (ATX) were introduced in The Netherlands, which increased treatment options.

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the change in incidence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs and the prescription profiles of patients younger than 45 years starting treatment with these medicines between 2001 and 2006.

The use of driving impairing medicines: a European survey.

Aim: To analyse the consumption of a number of medicines with a known potential for increasing the risk of road traffic accidents in the general population of Europe.

Methods: Questionnaires were distributed through the European Drug Utilization Research Group (EuroDURG) and Post-Innovation Learning through Life-events of drugs (PILLS) networks. A total of 30 countries (the current EU Member States, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) were asked to supply data on the use of driving impairing medicines for the period 2000-2005, aggregated at the level of the active substance and presented in Defined Daily Doses (DDDs) per 1000 inhabitants per day.

Furthering patient adherence: a position paper of the international expert forum on patient adherence based on an internet forum discussion.

Background: As the problem of patient non-adherence persists and a solution appears hard to be found, it continues to be important to look for new ways to further the issue. We recently conducted a meta-review of adherence intervention studies which yielded a preliminary agenda for future research, practice and theory development in patient adherence. The objective of the present project was to find out to what extent adherence experts consider this agenda relevant and feasible.

Patient adherence to medical treatment: a review of reviews.

Background: Patients' non-adherence to medical treatment remains a persistent problem. Many interventions to improve patient adherence are unsuccessful and sound theoretical foundations are lacking. Innovations in theory and practice are badly needed.