Burden of paediatric Rotavirus Gastroenteritis (RVGE) and potential benefits of a universal Rotavirus vaccination programme with a pentavalent vaccine in Spain.

BACKGROUND: Rotavirus is the most common cause of gastroenteritis in young children worldwide. The aim of the study was to assess the health outcomes and the economic impact of a universal rotavirus vaccination programme with RotaTeq, the pentavalent rotavirus vaccine, versus no vaccination programme in Spain. METHODS: A birth cohort was followed up to the age of 5 using a cohort model. Epidemiological parameters were taken from the REVEAL study (a prospective epidemiological study conducted in Spain, 2004-2005) and from the literature. Direct and indirect costs were assessed from the national healthcare payer and societal perspectives by combining health care resource utilisation collected in REVEAL study and unit costs from official sources. RotaTeq per protocol efficacy data was taken from a large worldwide rotavirus clinical trial (70,000 children). Health outcomes included home care cases, General Practioner (GP)/Paediatrician, emergency department visits, hospitalisations and nosocomial infections. RESULTS: The model estimates that the introduction of a universal rotavirus vaccination programme with RotaTeq (90% coverage rate) would reduce the rotavirus gastroenteritis (RVGE) burden by 75% in Spain; 53,692 home care cases, 35,187 GP/Paediatrician visits, 34,287 emergency department visits, 10,987 hospitalisations and 2,053 nosocomial infections would be avoided. The introduction of RotaTeq would avoid about 76% of RVGE-related costs from both perspectives: euro22 million from the national health system perspective and euro38 million from the societal perspective. CONCLUSIONS: A rotavirus vaccination programme with RotaTeq would reduce significantly the important medical and economic burden of RVGE in Spain.

Validity and clinical applicability of the acromegaly quality of life questionnaire, AcroQoL: a 6-month prospective study.

OBJECTIVE: Validate the acromegaly quality of life (AcroQoL) questionnaire as a disease-generated questionnaire, which analyses physical and psychological domains, the latter subdivided into appearance and personal relationship sub-scales, to evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in acromegaly. DESIGN: Prospective, observational multicenter study. METHODS: One hundred and six patients with acromegaly, 42 with active disease studied basally and 6 months after treatment ('sensitivity to change' group), and 64 with treated, stable disease, studied twice within 1 month ('reliability' group) were included. As controls, a reference Spanish population (n=12,245 for the EuroQoL questionnaire) and 157 obese patients (body mass index>30 kg/m2) were studied basally. Socio-demographic data, clinical activity, co-morbidity, GH, IGF-I, and HRQoL (overall perception of health state, EuroQoL and AcroQoL in the obese controls and acromegalic patients) were evaluated. RESULTS: Globally, AcroQoL scored worse in the 'sensitivity to change' group than in the 'reliability' group (56+/-20 vs 65+/-18, P<0.05), but did not discriminate between patients and obese controls. The psychological domain was worse in the 'sensitivity to change' group than obese controls (P<0.05). Appearance was the most affected sub-scale in acromegaly and significantly worse than in obese controls. The sub-scale personal relationships of AcroQoL were less affected in the 'reliability' group than in obese controls (P<0.05). Patients with acromegaly and obese controls showed more problems on the EuroQoL than general Spanish population. Significant correlations were observed globally and for each dimension between AcroQoL and the generic questionnaires. On re-testing, no change was observed in the 'reliability' group in any questionnaire, demonstrating good test-re-test reliability. In the 'sensitivity to change' group after 6 months of treatment, there was improvement in the generic questionnaires and in AcroQoL score (P<0.01). Internal consistency of AcroQoL was good (Cronbach's alpha>0.7). No correlation between AcroQoL and GH or IGF-I was observed. CONCLUSION: AcroQoL questionnaire is a valid tool for the assessment of HRQoL in clinical practice in patients with acromegaly.

Physician and patient management of type 2 diabetes and factors related to glycemic control in Spain.

The objective of this study was to assess current treatment patterns, blood glucose test strip usage, and treatment compliance in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in primary care centers in Spain, and to assess factors related to glycemic control. We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients with T2DM and measured treatment compliance using the Morisky-Green questionnaire. 294 patients were included in the study from a population of patients attending 30 primary care centers throughout Spain. Results showed that the majority of patients were treated with oral monotherapy (36%) and oral combination therapy (35%). Less than half of the patients had good glycemic control (HbA(1c)