Risk factors for falls of older citizens.

OBJECTIVE: Fall prevention is a major issue in the ageing society. This study provides an overview of all risk factors for falls of older citizens. METHOD: A literature search was conducted to retrieve studies of the past 25 years. All participants from the studies lived in the community or institutions and were aged 60 or older. The following key word combinations were used, limited to the title: elderly or older people or older adults and fall and risk. The risk factors were categorised as relevant and amendable, relevant but non amendable, inconclusive or unsupported. RESULTS: In total 30 publications were studied in 2013 in Enschede, the Netherlands. The relevant intrinsic risk factors are muscle strength, balance capacity, reactive power, dual tasking and sleep disturbance. Relevant extrinsic risk factors are home hazards, wrong use of assistive devices and bad footwear. Behaviour-related risk factors are hurrying, risk taking, physical inactivity and fear of falling. Relevant symptoms that could be caused by underlying risk factors are mobility problems, gait problems, vertigo, use of assisting devices and history of falls. CONCLUSIONS: Several risk factors are determined to be relevant and amendable. The provided overview could be used to create fall preventive measures for elderly.

[Trends in the prevalence of caries in Dutch children]. / Trends in de prevalentie van tandcariës bij de Nederlandse jeugd.

Have there been changes in the trend of caries experience among Dutch children in the late 1990s? To answer this question a meta-analysis was carried out on epidemiological data collected in 5-, 6-, 11- and 12-year-old children living in the Netherlands between 1980 and 1999. From results of the present analysis it appears that after the mid 1980s a halt in the decline of caries experience among 5- and 6-year-olds occurred whereas among 11- and 12-year-olds, the earlier decrease in mean DMFS-scores stopped in the mid nineties. No significant trend in the caries experience among children of Turkish or Moroccan origin was found.

Carcino-embryonic antigen activity in urine of patients with bladder carcinoma. Clinical evaluation of carcino-embryonic antigen. II.

This paper deals with the study of CEA levels in urine from healthy control subjects, of patients with bladder carcinoma or previous bladder carcinoma, and other groups of patients. In 53% of the patients with bladder carcinoma and without urinary infection, urinary CEA was increased. There were no false positive results. It is concluded that urinary CEA is a valuable aid in the detection of malignant tumour growth in the bladder. The results are compared with several tumour parameters, e.g. tumour size, stage of disease and histological parameters. Evidence is presented that CEA in infected urine is not produced by bacteria and that, like soluble vaginal excretory products, this substance has antigenic groupings in common with CEA from bladder tumours.