Background: Little is known about costs and effects of vision screening strategies to detect amblyopia. Aim of this study was to compare costs and effects of conventional (optotype) vision... Show moreBackground: Little is known about costs and effects of vision screening strategies to detect amblyopia. Aim of this study was to compare costs and effects of conventional (optotype) vision screening, photoscreening or a combination in children aged 3-6 years. Methods: Population-based, cross-sectional study in preventive child health care in The Hague. Children aged 3 years (3y), 3 years and 9 months (3y9m) or 5-6 years (5/6y) received the conventional chart vision screening and a test with a photoscreener (Plusoptix 512C). Costs were based on test duration and additional costs for devices and diagnostic work-up. Results: Two thousand, one hundred and forty-four children were included. The estimated costs per child screened were (sic)17.44, (sic)20.37 and (sic)6.90 for conventional vision screening at 3y, 3y9m and 5/6y, respectively. For photoscreening, these estimates were (sic)6.61, (sic)7.52 and (sic)9.40 and for photoscreening followed by vision screening if the result was unclear (combination) (sic)9.32 (3y) and (sic)9.33 (3y9m). The number of children detected with amblyopia by age were 9, 14 and 5 (conventional screening), 6, 13 and 3 (photoscreening) and 10 (3y) and 15 (3y9m) (combination), respectively. The estimated costs per child diagnosed with amblyopia were (sic)1500, (sic)1050 and (sic)860 for conventional vision screening, (sic)860, (sic)420 and (sic)1940 for photoscreensic)ing and (sic)730 (3y) and (sic)450 (3y9m) for the combination. Conclusions: Combining photoscreening with vision screening seems promising to detect amblyopia in children aged 3y/3y9m, whereas conventional screening seems preferable at 5/6y. As the number of study children with amblyopia is small, further research on the effects of these screening alternatives in detecting children with amblyopia is recommended. Show less
Dommelen, P. van; Zoonen, R. van; Vlasblom, E.; Wit, J.M.; Beltman, M.; Expert Comm 2020
Aim To develop a guideline for preventive child healthcare professionals in order to improve early detection of pathological disorders associated with short stature (or growth faltering) or tall... Show moreAim To develop a guideline for preventive child healthcare professionals in order to improve early detection of pathological disorders associated with short stature (or growth faltering) or tall stature (or accelerated growth).Methods We updated the previous Dutch guideline for short stature in children aged 0-9 years and extended it to adolescents (10-17 years), and added a guideline for tall stature, based on literature and input from an expert committee. Specificities were calculated in a cohort of healthy Dutch children aged 0-9 years (n = 970). We investigated the impact of a late onset of puberty on height standard deviation score based on the Dutch growth charts.Results Growth parameters of the guideline include height, the distance between height and target height and change of height over time. Other parameters include diagnostic clues from medical history and physical examination, for example behavioural problems, precocious or delayed puberty, body disproportion and dysmorphic features.Conclusion Preventive child healthcare professionals now have an updated guideline for referring short or tall children to specialist care. Further research is needed on the diagnostic yield after referral and specificity at field level. Show less
Wang, L.; Grieken, A. van; Velde, L.A. van der; Vlasblom, E.; Beltman, M.; L'Hoir, M.P.; ... ; Raat, H. 2019
Developmental milestones are commonly used in child health care, although from many milestones the predictive validity has not been adequately assessed. We aimed to determine the predictive... Show moreDevelopmental milestones are commonly used in child health care, although from many milestones the predictive validity has not been adequately assessed. We aimed to determine the predictive validity of 75 developmental milestones for detecting limited intellectual functioning that can be obtained before the age of 4 years. We performed a case-control study with 148 children aged 5–10 years with limited intellectual functioning (IQ 50–69), who were in special education (cases) and a random sample of 300 children aged 5–10 years who were in regular elementary education (controls). Developmental milestones scores were retrieved from Child Healthcare files. We calculated sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratios (LR+) and diagnostic odds ratios (DOR) for limited intellectual functioning. The LR+ determines whether a test result changes the probability that a condition exists. Given the prevalence of intellectual disability (1–3%), we considered that an LR+ > 10 would be clinically useful, as it increases the a priori probability of limited intellectual functioning from 2% to a posteriori probability of at least 17%. Out of 75 assessed milestones, 50 were included in the analysis. We found nine milestones to have a significant adjusted (for socio-economic status and prematurity) DOR > 1 and a significant LR+ > 10 (assessment age in months between brackets): ‘says "dada-baba‴ (9), ‘balances head well while sitting’ (9), ‘sits on buttocks while legs stretched’ (9), ‘babbles while playing’ (12), ‘sits in stable position without support’ (12), ‘walks well alone’ (24), ‘says "sentences" of 3 or more words’ (36), ‘places 3 forms in form-box’ (36) and ‘copies circle’ (48). Sensitivities of these 9 milestones varied from 8–54%, specificities of these 9 milestones varied from 95–100%. Combining these milestones at 9, 12, and 36 months respectively resulted in sensitivities of 27–60% and specificities of 94–99%. These nine developmental milestones have substantial predictive validity for limited intellectual functioning. Show less
Background: The aim of this study is to understand the determinants of adherence to wrap-around care (WAC) by professional care providers working in child and family services. WAC is a care... Show moreBackground: The aim of this study is to understand the determinants of adherence to wrap-around care (WAC) by professional care providers working in child and family services. WAC is a care coordination method targeting families with complex needs. The core components of WAC involve activating family members and the social network, integrating the care provider network, and assessing, planning and evaluating the care process. WAC was introduced in the Netherlands using two approaches: the network approach (NA) and the team approach (TA). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a digital questionnaire targeted at care providers. After imputation of missing data, univariate and multilevel regression analyses were conducted to study the associations between adherence to the core components of WAC, the determinants of adherence and background characteristics. Results: In total 145 out of 275 care providers (52.7%) responded to the questionnaire. Multilevel regression analysis showed that self-efficacy of the care providers and the way WAC is organised (NA versus TA region) were significantly associated with adherence to core components of WAC. Self-efficacy was significantly associated with all WAC core components (activating family members and the social network: β (95% confidence interval, CI)=.27(.04–.50), integrating the network of care providers: β (95% CI)=.27(.05–.50) and assessing, planning and evaluating the care process: β (95% CI)=.30(.08–.52)). The way WAC is organised was significantly associated to two core components (activating family members and the social network: β (95% CI)=.18(0.1–.37) and integrating the network of care providers: β (95% CI)=.25(.09–.42)). Conclusion: The way WAC is organised and the self-efficacy of care providers who use WAC are factors that are relevant for the redesign of the strategy for introducing WAC. Longitudinal research into the predictive value of determinants of adherence to WAC is advised. Show less
