Children's eating attitudes test: validation in a sample of Spanish schoolchildren.

OBJECTIVE: To validate the Spanish version of the Children's Eating Attitudes Test (ChEAT). METHOD: The factor structure and other psychometric characteristics of the questionnaire were examined using the answers of 38,554 schoolchildren. Diagnostic efficiency was based on a standardized clinical interview of 968 schoolchildren who had previously completed the questionnaire. RESULTS: Five factors ("preoccupation with thinness," "dieting," "social pressure to eat," "purging," and "preoccupation with food and oral control") explained 46% of the variance. Cronbach's α was .858 for the total scale. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was .851. Sensitivity (SE) was 27% and specificity (SP) 96% for a cut-off of 20. A more appropriate cut-off was 15, where SE and SP were 62% and 90% respectively, and the positive and negative predictive values 27 and 98%. DISCUSSION: The ChEAT psychometric characteristics are adequate. The questionnaire is valid. A cut-off point of 15 is recommended for adolescents.

Survival of mycosis fungoides in patients in the Southeast of England.

BACKGROUND: Mycosis fungoides (MF) is the most common skin lymphoma. The aetiology of MF remains unknown, and no therapy has to date significantly altered patient survival. OBJECTIVE: The present study examines trends in survival of MF patients in a well-defined population-based disease group, namely patients registered over a 40-year period at the Thames Cancer Registry, Southeast England. METHODS: The Thames Cancer Registry is a population-based registry, covering a population of approximately 14 million people. Data were taken from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results cancer registry programme and the National Centre for Health Statistics. The database was used to identify cases of MF diagnosed between 1961 and 2000. A total of 985 records were identified, 821 (83%) of which had complete information on age, sex, year of diagnosis and area of residence. The observed and relative survivals of patients diagnosed during the periods 1971-1975, 1981-1985 and 1991-1995 were examined over a 5-year period of follow-up, using the relsurv Stata program to perform Cox proportional hazard analysis. RESULTS: A total of 821 MF eligible patients were available with a median follow-up of 4.3 years and a maximum follow-up of 30 years. The overall 5-year relative survival rate was 80%, and there was marked improvement between 1971 and 1981. The prognostic factors leading to a significantly poorer survival were high age, male sex, the presence of the Sézary syndrome, the use of hormone treatment and radiotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: A statistically significantly better survival over the last 20 years was found. The prognosis is generally good for most patients but not all. The best survival was seen for the female patients under 45 years of age without the presence of the Sézary syndrome. This difference in survival may be partly due to a difference in the disease stage or different treatment, or to both.

Micetomas: problemas de salud pública en el Noroeste Argentino / Mycetomas: a public health issue in Northwestern Argentina

Desde 1972 a junio de 1995 hemos detectado 81 enfermos con micetomas; el diagnóstico se confirmó por la clínica, estudios micológicos e histopatológicos. La mayoría de los pacientes realizaba tareas rurales. Predomina el sexo masculino con el 77,78 por ciento; la forma clínica Nocardia brasiliensis es la más numerosa con el 74,08 por ciento. Algunos casos presentaban lesiones muy avanzadas con compromisos óseos severos. Los micetomas constituyen en el Noroeste Argentino un problema de Salud Pública y de interés en medicina laboral

Micetomas: problemas de salud pública en el Noroeste Argentino / Mycetomas: a public health issue in Northwestern Argentina

Desde 1972 a junio de 1995 hemos detectado 81 enfermos con micetomas; el diagnóstico se confirmó por la clínica, estudios micológicos e histopatológicos. La mayoría de los pacientes realizaba tareas rurales. Predomina el sexo masculino con el 77,78 por ciento; la forma clínica Nocardia brasiliensis es la más numerosa con el 74,08 por ciento. Algunos casos presentaban lesiones muy avanzadas con compromisos óseos severos. Los micetomas constituyen en el Noroeste Argentino un problema de Salud Pública y de interés en medicina laboral (AU)