ABSTRACT
As Greece moves during the last two decades toward a national health care system, which gives emphasis to the development of a primary care system, many worry how to ensure that the quality of care is assessed. This is more apparent in the rural populations, in which health care is served to a large extent by physicians without formal training in general practice. This article explores the level of knowledge of primary care physicians in relation to Alzheimer's disease in geographically defined areas of Crete, Greece, in comparison with that of general practitioners in Ostergötland, Sweden, and in Iceland. It emphasizes the need for better education and training for primary care physicians in Crete in both the early diagnosis and management of Alzheimer's disease.
Subject(s)
Alzheimer Disease/diagnosis , Alzheimer Disease/therapy , Clinical Competence , Physicians, Family/standards , Primary Health Care/standards , Greece , Humans , Iceland , Physicians, Family/education , Primary Health Care/methods , Quality Assurance, Health Care , Surveys and Questionnaires , SwedenABSTRACT
The possible role of environmental aluminium exposure in the pathogenesis of various diseases has highlighted the need for methods by which the long-term exposure to aluminium can be assessed. Therefore, we have further developed a method to determine aluminium in human deciduous teeth and applied this method for studying populations in Sweden, Crete and Iceland.
Subject(s)
Aluminum/analysis , Tooth, Deciduous , Greece , Humans , Iceland , Regression Analysis , Spectrophotometry, Atomic , SwedenABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of adverse reactions to food and food allergy in Icelandic and Swedish 18-month-old children. DESIGN: Prospective multicentre comparative study. SETTING: Primary health care centres in Sweden and Iceland. SUBJECTS: A total of 324 children in Iceland and 328 in Sweden who attended for regular 18-month check-up. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Adverse reaction to food according to questionnaire, and food allergy according to skin prick tests and double blind food challenge tests. RESULTS: Adverse reactions to food were reported in 27% of children in Iceland and 28% in Sweden. Food allergy was confirmed in 2.0% in both countries. Allergy among other family members was reported in 45% of the Icelandic children and 62% in the Swedish (p < 0.001). Indoor smoking was reported by 30% of the Icelandic families and 3% of the Swedish. Respiratory infections were reported significantly more often in Icelandic children than Swedish. CONCLUSION: Adverse reactions to food and food allergy were similar in Icelandic and Swedish children. At the age of 18 months one can expect to confirm food allergy in approximately one out of 15 children with reported adverse reactions to food.
Subject(s)
Food Hypersensitivity/epidemiology , Humans , Iceland/epidemiology , Infant , Prevalence , Prospective Studies , Risk Factors , Sweden/epidemiologyABSTRACT
This study compares the 30-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and the psychiatric section of the Cornell Medical Index Health Questionnaire (CMI-MR) using normative data from a sample of the general population and data from general practice patients where clinical assessment by a psychiatrist is used as a criterion of psychiatric caseness. In this study the CMI-MR has a slightly better overall performance as a screening test. It appears that the CMI-MR errs in the direction of false negatives when the symptoms are recent and related to situational stress, but the GHQ has a tendency to miss cases with symptoms of long standing.
