Are there reliable predictors of postoperative pain?

Background: The purpose of this study was to identify the preoperative determinants of severe postoperative pain.

Methods: Potential predictors were assessed using a questionnaire submitted on the day before surgery. Pain at rest, and pain during coughing/mobilization, were measured using visual analog scales on the day of surgery and on the following 2 days.

Definition and prevalence of sedentarism in an urban population.

Objectives: The present study sought to formulate a precise definition of sedentarism and to identify activities performed by active people that could serve as effective preventive goals.

Methods: A population-based sample of 919 residents of Geneva, Switzerland, aged 35 to 74 years, completed a 24-hour recall. Sedentary people were defined as those expending less than 10% of their daily energy in the performance of moderate- and high-intensity activities (at least 4 times the basal metabolism rate).

Data-based approach for developing a physical activity frequency questionnaire.

Measurement of total energy expenditure may be crucial to an understanding of the relation between physical activity and disease and in order to frame public health intervention. To devise a self-administered physical activity frequency questionnaire (PAFQ), the following data-based approach was used. A 24-hour recall was administered to a random sample of 919 adult residents of Geneva, Switzerland.

Appropriateness of indications for surgery of lumbar disc hernia and spinal stenosis.

Study Design: This prospective study examines the appropriateness of indications for surgery of herniated intervertebral disc and spinal stenosis in patients undergoing surgery in a university hospital setting.

Objective: To evaluate the appropriateness of surgery using explicit criteria developed by an expert panel in the United States.

Summary Of Background Data: The use of surgery for herniated intervertebral disc and spinal stenosis varies widely within and among countries.

Importance of albumin, 25(OH)-vitamin D and IGFBP-3 as risk factors in elderly women and men with hip fracture.

The relative importance of vitamin D deficiency, secondary hyperparathyroidism, nutritional deficiency and low bone mineral density (BMD) as risk factors for hip fracture is not definitely established. In the framework of a case-control study of risk factors for hip fractures, biochemical markers of bone metabolism and nutrition and femoral BMD data were compared in 136 female and 43 male hip fracture patients, 136 female and 44 male age-matched hospitalized controls, and 47 healthy elderly women (8 men). Patients with hip fracture had lower albumin (-10%) and 25(OH)-vitamin D (25(OH)D; -19%) compared with hospitalized controls, and lower albumin (-28%) and 25(OH)D levels (-52%) compared with the elderly controls.

[Consumption of calcium-rich food in the adult population of French-speaking Switzerland and of Tessin].

Food intake high in calcium content is important in the development of skeleton and the prevention of osteoporosis. From a public health perspective, it is therefore important to know the dietary calcium intake of a population. Two population surveys in the French and Italian parts of Switzerland (MONICA, 1988-1989, and Geneva, 1991), were combined to study nutritional habits related to calcium intake.

Hypnosis and self-hypnosis, administered and taught by nurses, for the reduction of chronic pain: a controlled clinical trial.

Hypnosis is a technique whereby an individual can reach a particular state, quite unrelated to sleep, characterized by aroused, attentive and focused concentration. Although there are numerous clinical applications of hypnosis, there are virtually no controlled clinical trials to support its effectiveness. We propose a controlled randomized clinical trial comparing a "control" group of chronic pain patients treated by a programme including conventional oral medication combined with various nerve blocks and/or spinal administration of drugs, with a "treatment" group having a similar treatment programme plus hypnosis carried out by nurses.

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D: distribution and determinants in the Swiss population.

The serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentration was measured in a representative sample of the general adult population in Switzerland (n = 3276). The median concentration was 46 nmol/L and no significant difference was found between men and women. Between the ages of 25 and 74 y, 25(OH)D was not significantly correlated with age (r2 = 0.

Thiazide diuretics and the risk of hip fracture. Results from the Framingham Study.

Thiazide diuretics may preserve bone mass and prevent elderly women's osteopenic fractures, but studies have not distinguished between thiazide preparations or examined former users. We performed a case-control study looking at thiazide use and subsequent hip fracture in postmenopausal female members of the Framingham Study cohort. Cases who had experienced a first hip fracture (n = 176) were compared with age-matched controls (n = 672).