Morphine prescription to terminally ill patients with lung cancer and dyspnea: French physicians' attitudes.

This study aimed to investigate factors associated with analgesic use of morphine in end-of-life care. French general practitioners (GPs) and oncologists (N = 719) were asked whether they would prescribe morphine as first-line therapy to patients with terminal lung cancer suffering from dyspnea associated with cough and great anxiety. Overall, 54 percent of oncologists and 40 percent of GPs stated that they would prescribe morphine in the presented case.

Unsafe sex with casual partners and quality of life among HIV-infected gay men: evidence from a large representative sample of outpatients attending French hospitals (ANRS-EN12-VESPA).

Introduction: The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy has relaunched the debate on risky sexual behavior among HIV-infected gay men. It was proposed to study the influences of lifestyle characteristics and health-related quality of life (HRQL) on unsafe sex with casual partners in a representative sample of HIV-infected gay men.

Methods: In 2003, a national survey based on face-to-face interviews was conducted among a representative sample of patients selected in a random stratified sample of 102 French hospital departments delivering HIV care.

Drug use patterns and adherence to treatment among HIV-positive patients: evidence from a large sample of French outpatients (ANRS-EN12-VESPA 2003).

Purpose: To study the relationship between drug use and adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) among HIV-positive people, with two alternative measures of drug use: a set of drug uses considered independent and patterns capturing combinations of drug uses.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey conducted among a nationally representative sample of 4963 HIV-positive people randomly recruited in 102 French hospital departments delivering HIV care. The researchers modelled non-adherence to HAART with a set of binary indicators of drug use (model I) or comprehensive patterns obtained with a cluster analysis (model II).

The prescription of opioid analgesics to terminal cancer patients: impact of physicians' general attitudes and contextual factors.

Objective: This study aimed to examine factors associated with the prescription of opioid analgesics to terminal cancer patients, including physicians' general attitudes toward morphine and contextual factors.

Methods: A survey was conducted among a sample of French general practitioners (GPs) and oncologists. Respondents were asked to describe the last three terminally ill patients they had followed up to death.

Management of HIV-related stigma and adherence to HAART: evidence from a large representative sample of outpatients attending French hospitals (ANRS-EN12-VESPA 2003).

This study investigated patterns of HIV disclosure to significant others (parents, siblings, children, other relatives, friends and colleagues) and describe them in terms of socio-demographic background and other characteristics, including experiences of AIDS-related discrimination. It also assessed the relationship between disclosure patterns and adherence to HAART. We used a cross-sectional survey conducted among a national representative sample of 2,932 HIV-infected people recruited in French hospitals.

Understanding risk behaviours: how the sociology of deviance may contribute? The case of drug-taking.

This paper argues that the sociology of deviance can be used to improve our understanding of some difficulties and unintended effects of health-promotion interventions designed to change risk behaviours, especially drug-taking. Firstly, many people engaged in 'risk behaviours' tend to deny the 'risky' label just as delinquents neutralise the 'deviant' label, and preventive information itself may be used by individuals in shaping risk denial. Secondly, deliberate risk-taking may be an 'innovative deviance',which is related to difficulties of conforming to the dominant 'risk culture'.

Vulnerability, unsafe sex and non-adherence to HAART: evidence from a large sample of French HIV/AIDS outpatients.

Current socio-behavioural research in HIV-infected people has tried to identify patients with "high-risk" profiles, i.e. who simultaneously exhibit non-adherence to highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) and unsafe sex with serodiscordant partners.

French general practitioners' attitudes and prescription patterns toward buprenorphine maintenance treatment: does doctor shopping reflect buprenorphine misuse?

This study investigated attitudes toward buprenorphine maintenance treatment (BMT) among general practitioners (GPs) and their maintained patients' propensity to turn to several prescribers (doctor shopping), among a sample of 345 GPs prescribing BMT in South-Eastern France. Survey data were anonymously matched to administrative data that provided information about GPs' patients. A simultaneous equation model suggests that GPs' attitude influenced doctor shopping, not the reverse.

Opinions toward pain management and palliative care: comparison between HIV specialists and oncologists.

Despite the introduction of HAART, pain is still a common symptom in people living with HIV/AIDS. For these persons, pain management supplied by palliative care teams may support standard HIV care. This study compares opinions toward palliative care of 83 HIV specialists and 217 oncologists (French national survey: Palliative Care 2002).

Cannabis use, sport practice and other leisure activities at the end of adolescence.

Purpose: To study the relationship between cannabis use, sports practice and other leisure activities during adolescence, as a test for the sociological theory of deviant opportunities.

Methods: A sample of 12,512 French adolescents aged 18 responded to an anonymous self-reported questionnaire in March 2001. Three logistic models (for occasional, recent and regular cannabis use) were estimated for girls and boys separately.

Sporting activity and drug use: Alcohol, cigarette and cannabis use among elite student athletes.

Aims: To study the relationship between sporting activity and alcohol, cigarette and cannabis use among adolescents and young adults, by focusing on elite student athletes (ESAs).

Design, Setting, Subjects: Cross-sectional survey (Spring 2002), in a sample of 460 ESAs (ages 16-24 years) recruited at 40 public centres gathering the young sporting elite from 30 different sports in South-Eastern France, comparison with samples of the general population of adolescents in South-Eastern France.

Measures: Respondents were asked confidentially by a self-administered questionnaire about their use of licit and illicit drugs, their sporting activity and other aspects of their life-style.

Neutralization theory and the denial of risk: some evidence from cannabis use among French adolescents.

In contemporary societies, risk culture and risk profiling lead to the stigmatization of unhealthy behaviours as 'risky'. Risk denial theory refers to a cognitive way to deal with risky behaviours and can be considered as an updated variant of Sykes and Matza's neutralization theory. People neutralize the 'risky' label using specific techniques that must be added to those previously enlisted by Sykes and Matza.

Highly active antiretroviral treatment does not increase sexual risk behaviour among French HIV infected injecting drug users.

Study Objective: This study examined the impact of highly active antiretroviral therapies (HAART) on sexual risk behaviours of HIV infected injecting drug users (IDUs) included in the French MANIF 2000 cohort study.

Design: Longitudinal analysis including baseline and last follow up characteristics using generalised estimating equations (GEE).

Setting: Hospital departments for specialist AIDS care in south eastern France and inner suburbs of Paris.

Investigation of a slaughterhouse-related outbreak of Q fever in the French Alps.

The aim of the study presented here was to describe the different epidemiological methods used to investigate an outbreak of Q fever that occurred in the spring of 1996 among inhabitants of Briançon, a small town in the French Alps. Three approaches were used: (i) a comparison between a 2-month exhaustive serological survey among blood donors and a retrospective serological survey performed on frozen plasma collected by the transfusion centre in the spring of 1995; (ii) a serological survey performed in the general population by cluster sampling, using dried blood on blotting paper; and (iii) a case-control study. A total of 29 cases of acute Q fever were diagnosed by physicians during hospitalisations of the patients or ambulatory care.