Cost-Effectiveness of Including a Nurse Specialist in the Treatment of Urinary Incontinence in Primary Care in the Netherlands.

OBJECTIVE: Incontinence is an important health problem. Effectively treating incontinence could lead to important health gains in patients and caregivers. Management of incontinence is currently suboptimal, especially in elderly patients. To optimise the provision of incontinence care a global optimum continence service specification (OCSS) was developed. The current study evaluates the costs and effects of implementing this OCSS for community-dwelling patients older than 65 years with four or more chronic diseases in the Netherlands. METHOD: A decision analytic model was developed comparing the current care pathway for urinary incontinence in the Netherlands with the pathway as described in the OCSS. The new care strategy was operationalised as the appointment of a continence nurse specialist (NS) located with the general practitioner (GP). This was assumed to increase case detection and to include initial assessment and treatment by the NS. The analysis used a societal perspective, including medical costs, containment products (out-of-pocket and paid by insurer), home care, informal care, and implementation costs. RESULTS: With the new care strategy a QALY gain of 0.005 per patient is achieved while saving €402 per patient over a 3 year period from a societal perspective. In interpreting these findings it is important to realise that many patients are undetected, even in the new care situation (36%), or receive care for containment only. In both of these groups no health gains were achieved. CONCLUSION: Implementing the OCSS in the Netherlands by locating a NS in the GP practice is likely to reduce incontinence, improve quality of life, and reduce costs. Furthermore, the study also highlighted that various areas of the continence care process lack data, which would be valuable to collect through the introduction of the NS in a study setting.

Frequency and relevance of positive patch tests to cyclohexylthiophthalimide, a new rubber allergen.

Cyclohexylthiophtalimide (CTP) is currently the most widely used vulcanization retarder in the rubber industry. Little is known about sensitization to CTP, although positive tests to it do occur in patients exposed to rubber objects. A retrospective study of 350 patients who were patch tested with the standard rubber chemical series was conducted in two departments of dermatology, one in Nancy, France, and one in Leuven, Belgium. Sixteen (4.6%) out of the 350 patients had clear and 6 (1.7%) had doubtful positive reactions to CTP. Cross-sensitivity with other molecules could not be determined. The source of sensitization in most cases seems to have been protective rubber gloves at work. In the other cases, sensitization was suspected to have been caused by rubber shoes, elastic bands in underwear, or other rubber objects. The determination of the relevance of positive tests remains difficult, especially since little is known about the components of rubber products.

Fluticasone propionate: a rare contact sensitizer.

Fluticasone propionate is the first of a new generation of fluorinated corticosteroids that have been synthesized with a view to separating local activity from undesirable side effects. In recent years, contact allergy to the newer topical corticosteroids has received increasing attention. The results of patch testing with fluticasone propionate, even in patients with a known contact allergy to corticosteroids, argue for a low sensitization and cross-sensitization potential.

An update on airborne contact dermatitis.

This review is an update of 2 previously published articles on airborne contact dermatoses. Because reports in the literature often omit the term 'airborne', 18 volumes of Contact Dermatitis (April 1991-June 2000), 8 volumes of the American Journal of Contact Dermatitis (1992 1999) and 4 volumes of La Lettre du Gerda (1996-1999) were screened, and the cases cited were classified as to history, lesion locations, sensitization sources, and other factors. Reports on airborne dermatitis are increasingly being published, sometimes in relation to specific occupational areas.