Selectie van ziekten en aandoeningen voor de Volksgezondheid Toekomst Verkenningen

A major goal of RIVM's regularly updated Public Health Status and Forecasts (PHSF) is to describe the health status of the population in the Netherlands on the basis of the health indicator 'presence of diseases and disorders'. The main concern in the preparation of this document was whether or not to change the selection of diseases and disorders used for the 1997 PHSF. We therefore set about examining diseases and disorders that had been included in other public health reports from the Netherlands and abroad, afterwhich we made an inventory of subjects proposed by health policy-makers and others during the production and evaluation of PHSF 1997. We also studied Dutch mortality statistics. The diseases and disorders selected for PHSF 1997 were indeed concluded to be the best point of departure for the following PHSF report. Important subjects now outside the selection of diseases and disorders will, however, also be candidates for adding to the selection. These are (1) worrying, emerging infections and zoonoses, (2) disorders with a high mortality and regarded as serious diseases (some neoplasms and chronic renal diseases) and (3) disorders with a large influence on a patient's quality of life and environment (chronic fatigue syndrome, personality disorders, decubitus and chronic incomprehensible pain). Furthermore, we proposed to pay (more) attention to disorders related to one's occupation, to allergic disorders and to infectious diseases predisposing chronic diseases. Final decisions on additional diseases to be selected can be determined in consultations with policy-makers and experts.