Social class, ethnicity and other risk factors for small for gestational age and preterm delivery in The Netherlands.

Social class and ethnicity are important risk factors for small-for-gestational-age and preterm delivery in many countries. This study was performed to assess whether this is also the case in the Netherlands, a country with a high level of social security, relatively small income differences and easy access to medical care for all its inhabitants. Other risk factors that were taken into account were smoking, drinking, occupation, age and height.

Congenital hypothyroidism screening and the cutoff for thyrotropin measurement: recommendations from The Netherlands.

Objectives: There is little agreement as to the optimal cutoff point for thyrotropin testing in primary thyroxine screening programs for congenital hypothyroidism. Most programs in the United States use a cutoff point of 10% of the lowest thyroxine values, whereas in the Netherlands a cutoff point of 20% is used. Therefore, the results of the Dutch program may provide valuable information about the optimal cutoff point.

Caries experience of 15-year-old children in The Netherlands after discontinuation of water fluoridation.

In 1973 the fluoridation of drinking water in the Dutch town of Tiel was discontinued. In order to monitor the effect of this measure, the caries experience in 15-year-old children was investigated annually from 1979 to 1988, both in Tiel and in Culemborg. In the latter town the drinking water had never been fluoridated.

A retrospective cohort study on the incidence of hand dermatitis in nurses.

Data on the incidence and induction time of hand dermatitis are not available from the literature. To assist the planning of a prospective study on risk factors for hand dermatitis, a retrospective cohort study was performed in nurses and office employees to obtain a rough estimate of the incidence and induction time of hand dermatitis in these occupational groups. Data were collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire with validated questions on symptoms of hand dermatitis.

Use of fluoride tablets and effect on prevalence of dental caries and dental fluorosis.

A study was executed to investigate the relation between the use of fluoride tablets by children in the age period 1.5-6 yr on the one hand and the caries experience at the age of 6 and 15 yr and the prevalence of fluorosis at the age of 15 yr on the other hand. The year of birth of the child, the motivation of the mother to engage in preventive dental behavior, the level of her school education and her place of birth were taken into account as possible confounding factors.

Non-differential underestimation may cause a threshold effect of exposure to appear as a dose-response relationship.

It is generally believed that non-differential misclassification will lead to a bias toward the null-value. However, using one graphical and one numerical example, we show that in situations where underestimation more than overestimation is the problem, non-differential misclassification may lead to a bias away from the null-value for intermediate categories of exposure variables. We show that a true threshold level for an exposure may, subsequently, appear as a dose-response relationship.

The incidence of male childhood type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus is rising rapidly in The Netherlands.

This study evaluates the cumulative incidence of Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus in male army conscripts 0-18 (inclusive) years of age in the Netherlands (birth cohorts) over 10 years. Data from 2136 cases were retrieved from files of the conscript registry of the Royal Dutch Army. Ascertainment was sought by the capture-recapture method, achieving an average ascertainment rate of 89.

Tooth loss and dental caries in Dutch adults.

As part of a nationwide dental survey in 1986 a caries study was executed in 3526 adults, aged 15-74 yr, living in 40 residential areas in The Netherlands. Marked differences were found between the social classes distinguished (more edentates in the lower classes) and between the different regions. It is supposed that these differences reflect the lack of dental manpower in the past.