Several European countries have timely all-cause mortality monitoring. However, small changes in mortality may not give rise to signals at the national level. Pooling data across countries may overcome this, particularly if changes in mortality occur simultaneously. Additionally, pooling may increase the power of monitoring populations with small numbers of expected deaths, e.g. younger age groups or fertile women. Finally, pooled analyses may reveal patterns of diseases across Europe. We describe a pooled analysis of all-cause mortality across 16 European countries. Two approaches were explored. In the ‘summarized’ approach, data across countries were summarized and analysed as one overall country. In the ‘stratified’ approach, heterogeneities between countries were taken into account. Pooling using the ‘stratified’ approach was the most appropriate as it reflects variations in mortality. Excess mortality was observed in all winter seasons albeit slightly higher in 2008/09 than 2009/10 and 2010/11. In the 2008/09 season, excess mortality was mainly in elderly adults. In 2009/10, when pandemic influenza A(H1N1) dominated, excess mortality was mainly in children. The 2010/11 season reflected a similar pattern, although increased mortality in children came later. These patterns were less clear in analyses based on data from individual countries. We have demonstrated that with stratified pooling we can combine local mortality monitoring systems and enhance monitoring of mortality across Europe.

Immigrants have a lower morbidity burden compared with their fellow countrymen living in the origin country. However, living conditions during the journey, in transit countries and after arrival can influence their health status. The present study provides a comprehensive picture of this growing population that is in need for health promotion, mental health services and fair policy planning.

Aims To describe the occurrence of pseudoexfoliation in three Gozitan families. Methods Three families with a high incidence of pseudoexfoliation were identified. All members of the three families who agreed to participate were interviewed and underwent a full ophthalmologic examination. The pseudoexfoliation status was classified as present, absent, or unknown. Results A total of 55 individuals from three separate family probands and with a male : female sex ratio of 5 : 4 were examined. In all, 18 had definite evidence of pseudoexfoliation, 17 of them bilaterally and one showing only unilateral signs. Age was the main risk factor, with 18 out of the 20 individuals who were over the age of 60 years having pseudoexfoliation, while none of the 35 who were below the age of 60 years had pseudoexfoliation. The ophthalmological findings varied in different families. Family I had a high incidence of both cataract and glaucoma, family II had mainly glaucoma, while in family III all individuals had cataract but none had evidence of glaucoma. The first generation of these three families were deceased but their hospital and clinical records revealed that in all three families the father was affected and there was no evidence of maternal involvement. Conclusions In all three families, pseudoexfoliation appeared to be genetically transmitted as a late onset autosomal dominant trait of variable expression. Maternal transmission could not be confirmed in these families.