Using a basic and accepted method to investigate dietary intake and energy expenditure in Guadeloupian adults, this study shows that energy intake and expenditure are higher in more corpulent persons, who were consequently not identified as less active.

This article focusses on the importance of prevention (including secondary prevention) as a component of healthcare of older persons. The research findings show relatively inadequate levels of prevention-care practices, as well as barriers to prevention-related activities for older persons in the primary healthcare system. Training in age-related prevention activities for health centre staff is advocated.

Patient satisfaction has become an increasingly important component of quality assessment. This paper assessed the psychometric properties of a Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire modified for use in the Sickle Cell Unit, Jamaica.

The referral patterns to one of the centres in the Caribbean offering definitive surgery for Hirschsprung’s disease is outlined and the surgical outcome reported. Factors responsible for the lack of use of more advanced surgical techniques are discussed as well as factors that may contribute to earlier diagnosis.

This paper presents for the first time the incidence and mortality rates of cancer in Bermuda. Age-adjusted incidence rates were also compared to those of the United States of America. Differences existed in specific cancer sites but global rates were similar in both countries.