Adherence to clinical practice guidelines for coronary heart disease (CHD) reduces morbidity, mortality and treatment costs. We aimed to describe and compare adherence to prescription guidelines for persons with CHD, and explore its association with treatment goal achievement.
We included all participants reporting myocardial infarction, angina, percutaneous coronary intervention and/or coronary artery bypass surgery in the seventh wave of the Tromsø Study (2015-2016, n?=?1483). Medication use and treatment goal measures (blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol and HbA1c) were compared to clinical practice guidelines on secondary CHD prevention. Propensity score matched logistic regression was used to assess the association between the use of antihypertensive drugs and achievement of treatment goal for blood pressure, and the use of lipid-lowering drugs (LLDs) and achievement of treatment goal for LDL-cholesterol.
The prevalence of pharmacological CHD treatment was 76% for LLDs, 72% for antihypertensive drugs and 66% for acetylsalicylic acid. The blood pressure goal (
It is known that self-reported health (SRH) declines with increasing age and that comorbidity increases with age. We wished to examine how age transfers its effect to SRH through comorbid disease and mental illness and whether these processes remained stable from 1994 until 2008. The hypothesis is that ageing and/or the increased age-related burden of pathology explains the declining SRH.
The Tromsø Study (TS) is a cohort study using a survey approach with repeated physical examinations. It was conducted in the municipality of Tromsø, Norway, from 1974 to 2008.
A total of 21 199 women and 19 229 men participated.
SRH is the outcome of interest. We calculated and compared the effect sizes of age, comorbidity and mental health symptoms using multimediator analysis based on OLS regression.
Ageing had a negative impact on SRH, but the total effect of age decreased from 1994 to 2007. We assessed the direct effect of age and then the proportion of indirect age-related effects through physical illness and mental health symptoms on the total effect. The direct effect of age represented 79.3% of the total effect in 1994 and decreased to 58.8% in 2007. Physical illness emerged as an increasingly important factor and increased its influence from 15.7% to 41.2% of the total effect. Age alone had a protective effect on mental health symptoms and this increased (2.5% to 17.3%), but we found a stronger association between mental health symptoms and physical disease in the later waves of the study (increasing from 3.7% to 14.8%).
The results suggest that the effect on SRH of mental health symptoms caused by physical illness is an increasing public health problem. Treatment and care for specific medical conditions must therefore focus more strongly on how these conditions affect the patient's mental health and address these concerns accordingly.
Division of Cardiothoracic and Respiratory Medicine, Department of Heart Disease, University Hospital of Northern Norway, Tromsö, Norway, gry.eveborn@unn.no.
To disclose risk factors of incident aortic stenosis (AS) and progression of established AS. A prospective cohort study. The Tromsø Study, a population based health survey. Over a 14 years span we performed three repeated echocardiographic examinations (1994, 2001 and 2008) of a random sample of initially 3,243 participants. Data from the only hospital serving this population were included in the follow up. Throughout the study 132 participants were diagnosed with incident AS, defined as mean aortic valve gradient =15 mmHg. Cox proportional hazards regression disclosed age (HR 1.11, 95 %CI 1.08-1.14), systolic blood pressure (BP) (HR 1.01, 95 % CI 1.00-1.02), active smoking (HR 1.71, 95 % CI 1.09-2.67), and waist circumference (HR 1.02, 95 % CI 1.00-1.03) as independent predictors of incident AS. Analysis of risk factors for progression of AS disclosed a higher mean aortic gradient at first measurement (p = 0.015), weight (p = 0.015), a low haemoglobin (Hgb) (p = 0.030) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) (p = 0.032) as significant independent predictors. Age, systolic BP, smoking and waist circumference were independent predictors of incident AS, whereas cholesterol was not. Mean aortic gradient at first measurement, weight, an elevated HDL and low Hgb increase the progression rate of the disease. Our data indicate that calcific aortic valve disease is a distinct pathophysiological process, with age, smoking and "wear and tear" of the valve being major contributors to the disease development.
To investigate the association between echocardiographic measurements with emphasis on diastolic dysfunction and risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) in a population-based cohort study.
We followed 2406 participants from the Tromsø Study from 1994 to 2010. Left atrial (LA) size and mitral Doppler indices as measured by echocardiography were used for evaluating diastolic dysfunction. Information concerning age, systolic blood pressure, height, heart rate, body mass index, total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, self-reported use of alcohol, smoking, coffee, physical activity, antihypertensive treatment, prevalent coronary heart disease, valvular heart disease, heart failure, hypertrophy, diabetes and palpitations were obtained at baseline. The outcome measure was clinical AF, documented by an ECG.
AF was detected in 462 subjects (193 women). Mean age at baseline was 62.6 years. Incidence rate of clinical AF was 12.6 per 1000 person-years. In multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, moderately enlarged LA was associated with 60% (95% CI 1.2 to 2.0) increased risk of AF. Severely enlarged LA had HR for AF of 4.2 (95% CI 2.7 to 6.5) with p value for linear trend
To test the hypothesis that lower endogenous testosterone levels are associated with higher blood pressure, left ventricular mass, and left ventricular hypertrophy.
Population-based cross-sectional study.
Sex hormone levels, measured by immunoassay, anthropometric measurements and resting blood pressure were studied in 1548 men aged 25-84 Years; echocardiography was completed in 1264 of these men. Partial correlations and multiple regressions were used to estimate the associations between sex hormones, blood pressure and left ventricular mass by height. Analyses of variance and covariance were used to compare men with categorical hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy.
In age-adjusted partial correlations, total testosterone and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) were each inversely associated with systolic blood pressure (SBP) (P or =140 or diastolic blood pressure (DBP)> or =90 mmHg) had lower levels of total and free testosterone and SHBG before (P
Grip strength has consistently been found to predict all-cause mortality rates. However, few studies have examined cause-specific mortality or tested age differences in these associations.
In 1994, grip strength was measured in the population-based Tromsø Study, covering the ages 50-80 years (N=6850). Grip strength was categorised into fifths, and as z-scores. In this cohort study, models with all-cause mortality and deaths from specific causes as the outcome were performed, stratified by sex and age using Cox regression, adjusting for lifestyle-related and health-related factors.
During 17 years of follow-up, 2338 participants died. A 1 SD reduction in grip strength was associated with HR=1.17 (95% CI 1.12 to 1.22) for all-cause mortality in a model adjusted for age, gender and body size. This association was similar across all age groups, in men and women, and robust to adjustment for a range of lifestyle-related and health-related factors. Results for deaths due to cardiovascular disease (CVD), respiratory diseases and external causes resembled those for all-cause mortality, while for cancer, the association was much weaker and not significant after adjustment for lifestyle-related and health-related factors.
Weaker grip strength was associated with increased all-cause mortality rates, with similar effects on deaths due to CVD, respiratory disease and external causes, while a much weaker association was observed for cancer-related deaths. These associations were similar in both genders and across age groups, which supports the hypothesis that grip strength might be a biomarker of ageing over the lifespan.
There is a shift in the smoking population from daily smokers to light or occasional smokers. The knowledge about possible adverse health effects of this new smoking pattern is limited. We investigated smoking habits with focus on occasional smoking in relation to total mortality in a follow-up study of a Norwegian general population.
A population study in Tromsø, Norway.
We collected smoking habits and relevant risk factors in 4020 women and 3033 men aged 30-89 years in the Tromsø Study in 2001. The subjects were followed up regarding total mortality through June 2015.
Among the participants, there were 7% occasional smokers. Occasional smokers were younger, more educated and used alcohol more frequently than other participants. A total of 766 women and 882 men died during the follow-up. After the adjustment for confounders, we found that occasional smoking significantly increased mortality by 38% (95% CI 8% to 76%) compared with never smokers. We report a dose-response relationship in the hazards of smoking (daily, occasional, former and never smoking).
Occasional smoking is not a safe smoking alternative. There is a need for information to the general public and health workers about the health hazards of occasional smoking. More work should be done to motivate this often well-educated group to quit smoking completely.
There is a shift in the smoking population from daily smokers to light or occasional smokers. The knowledge about possible adverse health effects of this new smoking pattern is limited. We investigated smoking habits with focus on occasional smoking in relation to total mortality in a follow-up study of a Norwegian general population.
A population study in Tromsø, Norway.
We collected smoking habits and relevant risk factors in 4020 women and 3033 men aged 30-89 years in the Tromsø Study in 2001. The subjects were followed up regarding total mortality through June 2015.
Among the participants, there were 7% occasional smokers. Occasional smokers were younger, more educated and used alcohol more frequently than other participants. A total of 766 women and 882 men died during the follow-up. After the adjustment for confounders, we found that occasional smoking significantly increased mortality by 38% (95% CI 8% to 76%) compared with never smokers. We report a dose-response relationship in the hazards of smoking (daily, occasional, former and never smoking).
Occasional smoking is not a safe smoking alternative. There is a need for information to the general public and health workers about the health hazards of occasional smoking. More work should be done to motivate this often well-educated group to quit smoking completely.
The purpose of this study was to estimate the proportion of Norwegian coronary heart disease patients participating in cardiac rehabilitation programmes after percutaneous coronary intervention, and to determine predictors of cardiac rehabilitation participation.
Participants were patients enrolled in the Norwegian Coronary Stent Trial. We assessed cardiac rehabilitation participation in 9013 of these patients who had undergone their first percutaneous coronary intervention during 2008-2011. Of these, 7068 patients (82%) completed a self-administered questionnaire on cardiac rehabilitation participation within three years after their percutaneous coronary intervention.
Twenty-eight per cent of the participants reported engaging in cardiac rehabilitation. Participation rate differed among the four regional health authorities in Norway, varying from 20%-31%. Patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention for an acute coronary syndrome were more likely to participate in cardiac rehabilitation than patients with stable angina (odds ratio 3.2; 95% confidence interval 2.74-3.76). A multivariate statistical model revealed that men had a 28% lower probability ( p12 years (odds ratio 1.50; 95% confidence interval 1.32-1.71) and body mass index>25 (odds ratio 1.19; 95% confidence interval 1.05-1.36). Prior coronary artery bypass graft was associated with lower odds of cardiac rehabilitation participation (odds ratio 0.47; 95% confidence interval 0.32-0.70) Conclusion: The estimated cardiac rehabilitation participation rate among patients undergoing first-time percutaneous coronary intervention is low in Norway. The typical participant is young, overweight, well-educated, and had an acute coronary event. These results varied by geographical region.
Background Anxiety and depression are related to coronary heart disease, and psychological support is recommended in cardiac rehabilitation. Purpose The aims of this study were: to compare the prevalence of anxiety and depression with respect to cardiac rehabilitation participation among patients who have been treated with percutaneous coronary intervention; to examine prevalence of anxiety and depression among percutaneous coronary intervention patients compared to the general population; and to identify predictors of symptomatic anxiety and depression among percutaneous coronary intervention patients. Methods We included 9013 patients undergoing first-time percutaneous coronary intervention. Anxiety and depression were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale in a representative sample of 775 patients at baseline and after three years of follow-up, and in the entire cohort at three-year follow-up. Results Cardiac rehabilitation participants had more anxiety and depression than cardiac rehabilitation non-participants at baseline, and both groups had a more anxiety than the general population. The levels of anxiety and depression fell significantly during three years of follow-up, but the changes did not differ between cardiac rehabilitation participants and cardiac rehabilitation non-participants. Three years after percutaneous coronary intervention the prevalence of anxiety was 32% ( p?
