Search

Purpose To examine factors associated with Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE) results in patients with painful musculoskeletal conditions, with focus on social factors across multiple countries. Methods International cross-sectional study was performed within care as usual. Simple and multiple multilevel linear regression analyses which considered measurement's dependency within clinicians and country were conducted: FCE characteristics and biopsychosocial variables from patients and clinicians as independent variables; and FCE results (floor-to-waist lift, six-minute walk, and handgrip strength) as dependent variables. Results Data were collected for 372 patients, 54 clinicians, 18 facilities and 8 countries. Patients' height and reported pain intensity were consistently associated with every FCE result. Patients' sex, height, reported pain intensity, effort during FCE, social isolation, and disability, clinician's observed physical effort, and whether FCE test was prematurely ended were associated with lift. Patient's height, Body Mass Index, post-test heart-rate, reported pain intensity and effort during FCE, days off work, and whether FCE test was prematurely ended were associated with walk. Patient's age, sex, height, affected body area, reported pain intensity and catastrophizing, and physical work demands were associated with handgrip. Final regression models explained 38‒65% of total variance. Clinician and country random effects composed 1-39% of total residual variance in these models. Conclusion Biopsychosocial factors were associated with every FCE result across multiple countries; specifically, patients' height, reported pain intensity, clinician, and measurement country. Social factors, which had been under-researched, were consistently associated with FCE performances. Patients' FCE results should be considered from a biopsychosocial perspective, including different social contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The baseline economic model for upper gastrointestinal (UGI) disease was developed in the context of patterns of care and resource use within the UK. It provided the opportunity to evaluate the extent to which an economic model developed in one country could be applied to meet the pharmacoeconomic information needs of decision makers in another. The choice of countries for analysis was restricted to countries within the International Gastro Primary Care Group (IGPCG) who had previously agreed on the appropriateness of the basic clinical algorithm to their domestic healthcare environment. This provided a potential sample of 9 countries (Australia, Austria, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA) of which the UK, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland were chosen as providing a broad spectrum of strategic and operating environments in which to test the international transferability of the economic model. The process and results obtained provide valuable evidence of the extent to which economic analyses can be transferred across national borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper extends previous work on the information content of the term structure of interest rates using a newly constructed dataset for the United States, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands (1982-1991). Results significantly differ from Jorion and Mishkin (1991). Apparently, the relation between the term structure of interest rates and future inflation is highly period- and country-dependent. We provide new evidence that these results may be due to the inability of financial markets to accurately predict a term structure of inflation in combination with the conduct of monetary policy. This probably accounts for large variation in ex post real interest rate levels and the term structure of real interest rates. Consequently, it is unlikely that the term structure of nominal interest rates wilt serve as a good indicator of future inflationary developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]