Spotlight on measles 2010: Measles outbreak in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, France, January to November 2010 - substantial underreporting of cases

Binary file ES_Abstracts_Final_ECDC.txt matches

Validation of the French 'multidimensional fatigue inventory' (MFI 20)

Fatigue has become an important symptom in research and also for clinical diagnosis and follow up. Many physical illnesses, in particular chronic ones such as cancer, are highly associated with fatigue. Various questionnaires for measuring fatigue have been developed, but currently no validated questionnaire exists in French language. We selected the 'Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory' (MFI) which has been validated in its English version and then translated into French by the designers. This study describes the validation step of the French version of MFI and presents the psychometric properties of this instrument. A sample of 225 patients was divided into three groups 'Tired' (82 subjects), 'Moderately tired' (36) and 'Not tired' (107). The analysis of the structure validity found four dimensions: 'General Fatigue', 'Mental Fatigue', 'Reduced Activities' and 'Motivation'. The convergent validity showed highly significant correlation (P < 0.001) with a visual analogue scale. The French MFI has been able to distinguish patients with different fatigue levels. Cronbach's alpha measurement of the scale and the subscales are good, cronbach alpha > 0.70. The reproducibility and sensitivity to change in patients who were followed up one month later show satisfactory results. This validation study of the French version of MFI shows that this instrument is valid for clinical application and allows different dimensions of fatigue to be assessed which is of particular interest for physicians, especially for cancer carers, where fatigue assessment is an important aspect of the follow up.

[Evaluation of the quality of life in children and adolescents]

HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE: Personal perception of health is proposed as an innovating assessment alternative for making medical and therapeutic choices on an individual and population basis. Standardized questionnaires have been developed to assess health-related quality of life (HRQL). ASSESSMENT OF HRQL IN ADOLESCENTS AND CHILDREN: Several approaches have been used. Some questionnaires assess health status in specific diseases or populations. More general instruments developed for the general population are useful for comparing between programs involving different diseases.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

We present here the criteria of quality required for HRQL instruments and examine the difficulties encountered when applying these instruments to children and adolescents. We reviewed the main general instruments in the literature as well as those specifically designed for asthmatic children. None of the self-administered questionnaires available in France are fully satisfactory for children or adolescents in terms of robustness, sensitivity and discriminative power. The French versions of the Childhood Asthma Questionnaire developed in Great Britain and the Paediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire developed in Canada were tested in a transcultural validation scheme.

[Dependence on psychotropic drugs and substitution treatment: recent trends. The OPPIDUM study of the Centers for Evaluation and Information on Drug Dependence (CEIP), October 1997]

The aim of this study was to identify the latest trends in psychotropic drug use and the effect of the increase of maintenance treatments for serious opioid addiction. The results are based on data from OPPIDUM, an annual survey primarily concerned with the consumption of licit and illicit drugs. The study involved 1066 drug addicts recruited during the month of October 1997 from 38 French health centres connected with the Centres for Evaluation and Information on Drug Addiction (CEIP). The most frequently reported drugs were benzodiazepines (n = 323), some of which, especially flunitrazepam (Rohypnol, n = 123), are extremely addictive. The data showed a slight decrease in heroin consumption as well as a marked increase in the use of maintenance treatments. The association between benzodiazepines and buprenorphine (Subutex) should consequently be studied, whether buprenorphine is being used illicitly or prescribed as a maintenance treatment.