Musculoskeletal pain in Malaysia: a COPCORD survey.

Objective: To assess the nature and extent of rheumatic complaints in a semirural area in a multiracial (Malay, Indian, Chinese) community in Malaysia using the Community Oriented Program for the Control of Rheumatic Diseases (COPCORD) protocol initiated by ILAR and the WHO.

Methods: All members of a community of 2700 persons over the age of 15 years were offered a questionnaire based interview in Phase 1 of the study. Those with rheumatic complaints (pain in the last 1 week) were invited for a physical examination by a rheumatologist in Phase 2.

Determinants of locomotor disability in people aged 55 years and over: the Rotterdam Study.

Locomotor disability, as defined by difficulties in activities of daily living related to lower limb function, can be the consequence of diseases and impairments of the cardiovascular, pulmonary, nervous, sensory and musculoskeletal system. We estimated the associations between specific diseases and impairments and locomotor disability, and the proportion of disability attributable to each condition, controlling for age and comorbidity. The Rotterdam Study is a prospective follow-up study among people aged 55 years and over in the general population.

Assessing joint pain complaints and locomotor disability in the Rotterdam study: effect of population selection and assessment mode.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of self-assessed and physician-assessed disability and joint pain, their association, and the effect of cohort reduction and mode of assessment.

Design: Cross-sectional population survey.

Setting: General population, age 55 years and older.

Heritabilities of radiologic osteoarthritis in peripheral joints and of disc degeneration of the spine.

Objective: To estimate the genetic influence on the occurrence of radiologic osteoarthritis (ROA) in the knees, hips, and hands and disc degeneration of the spine in the general population.

Methods: A random sample of 1,583 individuals was drawn to estimate the prevalence of ROA and disc degeneration in the general population. Of 118 probands with multiple affected joint sites who were derived from this sample, we were able to recruit 257 siblings.

Effect of a logopedic instruction program after adenoidectomy on open mouth posture: a single-blind study.

The effect of adenoidectomy (controls) on habitual open mouth posture was compared with adenoidectomy in combination with a logopedic instruction program (cases). One hundred and fifty-nine children were included (aged 2-10 years, mean age 4.6 years).

Exercise testing in patients with chest pain to sumatriptan.

Objectives: In order to assess whether chest pain attributed to sumatriptan is associated with abnormalities on cardiac exercise testing, we performed a case-control study.

Subjects: Cases were selected as consumers of sumatriptan who reported sumatriptan associated chest pain. A reference group was selected randomly from consumers of sumatriptan with the same GP as the case, who reported no chest pain after use of sumatriptan.

A genetic association study of the IGF-1 gene and radiological osteoarthritis in a population-based cohort study (the Rotterdam Study).

Objective: A genetic association study was performed to investigate whether radiographical osteoarthritis (ROA) was associated with specific genotypes of the insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-1) gene.

Methods: Subjects aged 55-65 years were selected from a population-based study of which ROA at the knee, hip, spine, and hand was assessed. Genotypes were determined of a polymorphism in the promoter region of the IGF-1 gene.

Differences in perceived and presented adverse drug reactions in general practice.

Background: Postmarketing surveillance (PMS) studies are frequently based on data from general practitioners (GPs). Patients, however, do not always report to their GP suspected adverse drug reactions.

Setting: A postmarketing cohort study on adverse reactions to sumatriptan, performed with assistance of drug dispensing GPs in The Netherlands.

Associations of radiological osteoarthritis of the hip and knee with locomotor disability in the Rotterdam Study.

Objective: To assess the contribution of radiological osteoarthritis of the hips and knees to disabilities in the activities of daily living related to lower limb function.

Methods: During a home interview 1156 men and 1739 women, randomly chosen from the source population of all independently living residents aged 55 years and over living in a district of Rotterdam (the Rotterdam Study) were asked about locomotor disability by six questions of the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) and about pain in the hips and knees in the past month. Radiographs of hips and knees were scored according to the Kellgren grading system for osteoarthritis.

Depression and depressive symptoms in rheumatoid arthritis patients: an analysis of their occurrence and determinants.

The objectives were to determine the differences in depressive symptoms and depression between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) patients, and to analyse the contribution of sociodemographic and clinical variables to depression in RA patients. The responses of 60 Egyptian RA patients and 40 patients with OA of the knees to the Symptom Checklist-90-R Depression subscale were compared. The proportions of patients from both groups confirmed by a psychiatric interview to be clinically depressed according to the DSM-III-R criteria were also compared.

Characteristics and determinants of sumatriptan-associated chest pain.

Background: Serious cardiac adverse reactions, including myocardial infarction, have been attributed to the antimigraine drug sumatriptan succinate. Chest pain is considered to be a relatively common adverse reaction to sumatriptan.

Design: Postmarketing study.

Epidemiological and clinical aspects relating to the variability of rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To review epidemiological studies dealing with the temporal and geographic variability in the occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and clinical studies that address the variability of severity and manifestations among populations.

Methods: An extensive search of the literature, including a Medline search, was completed. Studies addressing the origin, history, and trends in the occurrence of RA were reviewed first.

Investigation of the association of the CRTM and CRTL1 genes with radiographically evident osteoarthritis in subjects from the Rotterdam study.

Objective: To investigate whether radiographically evident osteoarthritis (ROA) in 55-65-year-old men and women is associated with specific alleles or genotypes of the cartilage matrix protein (CRTM) and cartilage link protein (CRTL1) genes.

Methods: Cases were selected from a population-based study on the presence of ROA of the knee or hip. Further radiographic analysis included scoring for spine and hand ROA.

Long-term effects of neonatal sodium restriction on blood pressure.

In 1980, a randomized trial was conducted among 476 Dutch newborn infants to study the effect of a low or normal sodium diet on blood pressure during the first 6 months of life. At the end of the trial, systolic blood pressure in the low sodium group (n = 231) was 2.1 mm Hg lower than in the control group (n = 245).

The association of abnormalities on physical examination of the hip and knee with locomotor disability in the Rotterdam Study.

To assess the influence of abnormalities found on physical examination of the hips and knees on disability 1156 men and 1739 women aged > or = 55 yr (the Rotterdam Study) were asked about locomotor disability (LD) using six questions of the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ). The prevalence of LD was 20.2% for men and 31.

Pattern of sumatriptan use and overuse in general practice.

Objective: To investigate the frequency of use and misuse of sumatriptan, and to explore the characteristics of patients reporting overuse.

Setting: A postmarketing cohort study on adverse reactions to sumatriptan, performed with the assistance of drug-dispensing general practitioners in the Netherlands.

Methods: Questionnaires were sent to patients on sumatriptan of drug-dispensing general practitioners in the Netherlands.

Association of radiographically evident osteoarthritis with higher bone mineral density and increased bone loss with age. The Rotterdam Study.

Objective: To investigate the relationship of osteoarthritis (OA) to bone mineral density (BMD) and rate of bone loss.

Methods: The study group consisted of 2,745 persons (1,624 women) from the general elderly population. Disability was assessed by the Health Assessment Questionnaire.

[Locomotor disability in the elderly; the ERGO Study (Erasmus Rotterdam Health and the Elderly). ERGO Study Group].

Objective: Determination of the prevalence of locomotor disability and its association with signs and symptoms of the hips and knees in a Dutch general population aged 55 years and over.

Design: Cross-sectional population-based study.

Setting: Rotterdam-Ommoord, the Netherlands.

Prevalence and determinants of glucose intolerance in a Dutch caucasian population. The Hoorn Study.

Objective: To study the prevalence and determinants of glucose intolerance in a general Caucasian population.

Research Design And Methods: A random sample of 50- to 74-year old Caucasians (n = 2,484) underwent oral glucose tolerance tests. Multiple regression analyses were performed to study the association of 2-h postload plasma glucose values with potential determinants.

Association of locomotor complaints and disability in the Rotterdam study.

Objective: To determine the association between joint complaints and locomotor disability.

Methods: During a home interview survey 1901 men and 3135 women aged 55 years and over (the Rotterdam Study) were asked about joint pain and morning stiffness in the past month, and locomotor disability was assessed by six questions from the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ).

Results: The prevalence of locomotor disability was 24.

Classification criteria: methodological considerations and results from a 12 year following study in the general population.

In a 12 year followup study on knee osteoarthritis (OA) in the general population, several methodological aspects of the development and choice of classification criteria were studied. It cannot be assumed that the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria sets developed in a clinical setting with comparable sensitivity and specificity will give comparable results in the general population. Moreover, validity needs to be studied in the general population to show whether there is consistency of research findings in the study of the prevalence and the relationship with putative risk factors.

The prevalence of soft tissue rheumatism. A who-ilar copcord study.

The prevalence of various forms of soft tissue rheumatism, including painful low back syndrome (PLBS), painful restricted shoulder syndrome (PRSS), and epicondylitis without an underlying specific rheumatic disease, and the resultant loss of time from work were determined in a total population of 4,683 rural and 1,103 urban subjects aged 15 years and over in Central Java, Indonesia. In the rural study, 763 respondents with, and 355 respondents without complaints were examined. The urban survey evaluated 925 subjects.

Lipo-oligosaccharide immunotyping of Neisseria meningitidis by a whole-cell ELISA with monoclonal antibodies.

To assess the applicability of a whole-cell ELISA (WCE) with monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) for lipo-oligosaccharide (LOS) immunotyping of Neisseria meningitidis, 675 meningococcal isolates obtained in 1989 and 1990 in the Netherlands and 57 isolates collected in 1974, of which the immunotype had been determined previously by microprecipitation, were analysed. Despite the lack of specific MAbs for L2 and L4, an algorithm was developed for the assignment of immunotypes on the basis of the reaction patterns of the reference strains and these isolates to a combination of 14 MAbs. The immunotypes found by WCE were in accordance with those obtained by microprecipitation and the results from WCE were reproducible.