Department of Behavioral Sciences in Medicine, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. k.s.grotmol@medisin.uio.no
AIM: The study's aim was to determine whether medical doctors' expectancy that alcohol use reduces tension predicts the extent of their hazardous drinking and whether this effect is mediated by drinking to cope. METHODS: A group of Norwegian medical doctors' (n = 288) alcohol use was followed for 6 years. The expectancy that alcohol reduces tension and the use of alcohol to cope with tension were measured 3.5 years after graduation (T1), and hazardous drinking was evaluated at T1 and 9.5 years after graduation (T2). RESULTS: At T1, 15% of men and 3% of women reported hazardous drinking. At T2, these proportions were 16 and 2%, respectively. Men reported a higher expectancy than women that alcohol reduces tension (p = 0.03), whereas there was no sex difference in drinking to cope. Adjusted predictors of hazardous drinking at T2 were male sex (p
the analgesic drug use has been reported to increase in general in nursing home patients. However, there is insufficient evidence in terms of what agents are used, variations of use over time and to whom these drugs are prescribed.
we investigated the prescribing patterns of scheduled analgesic drugs in Norwegian nursing home patients from 2000 to 2011, with the association to age, gender, cognitive function and type of nursing home unit.
secondary analyses of four study samples (three observational studies and one randomised controlled trial).
nursing home patients included in study samples from 2000 (n = 1,926), 2004 (n = 1,163), 2009 (n = 850) and 2011 (n = 1,858) located in 14 Norwegian counties.
trend analyses of analgesic drug prescriptions. Percentages were described using t-test, ?(2) and Mann-Whitney U test and multivariate logistic regression.
the odds ratio for receiving any pain medication in 2011 compared with 2000 was 2.6 (95% CI 2.23-2.91), this is corresponding to a 65% increase from 34.9 to 57.6%. The paracetamol prescription increased by 113%, from 22.7% in 2000 to 48.4% in 2011. Strong opioids (fentanyl, buprenorphine, morphine, oxycodone) increased from 1.9% in 2000 to 17.9% in 2011 (P
Notes
Comment In: Age Ageing. 2016 Jan;45(1):7-826764389
Erratum In: Age Ageing. 2016 Mar;45(2):32326941355
Association Between Use of Primary-Prevention Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators and Mortality in Patients With Heart Failure: A Prospective Propensity Score-Matched Analysis From the Swedish Heart Failure Registry.
Most randomized trials on implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) use for primary prevention of sudden cardiac death in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction enrolled patients >20 years ago. We investigated the association between ICD use and all-cause mortality in a contemporary heart failure with reduced ejection fraction cohort and examined relevant subgroups.
Patients from the Swedish Heart Failure Registry fulfilling the European Society of Cardiology criteria for primary-prevention ICD were included. The association between ICD use and 1-year and 5-year all-cause and cardiovascular (CV) mortality was assessed by Cox regression models in a 1:1 propensity score-matched cohort and in prespecified subgroups.
Of 16?702 eligible patients, only 1599 (10%) had an ICD. After matching, 1305 ICD recipients were compared with 1305 nonrecipients. ICD use was associated with a reduction in all-cause mortality risk within 1 year (hazard ratio, 0.73 [95% CI, 0.60-0.90]) and 5 years (hazard ratio, 0.88 [95% CI, 0.78-0.99]). Results were consistent in all subgroups including patients with versus without ischemic heart disease, men versus women, those aged
Notes
CommentIn: Circulation. 2019 Nov 5;140(19):1540-1542 PMID 31476898
CommentIn: Circulation. 2020 Mar 17;141(11):e648-e649 PMID 32176544
CommentIn: Circulation. 2020 Mar 17;141(11):e646-e647 PMID 32176545
As advances in genomics make genome sequencing more affordable, the availability of new genome-based diagnostic and therapeutic strategies (i.e., personalized medicine) will increase. This wave will hit front-line physicians who may be faced with a plethora of patients' expectations of integrating genomic data into clinical care. The objective of this study was to elicit the preferences of physicians about regarding applying personalized medicine in their clinical practice as these strategies become available.
Using a best-worst scaling (BWS) choice experiment, we estimated the relative importance of attributes that influence physicians' decision for using personalized medicine. Six attributes were included in the BWS: type of genetic tests, training for genetic testing, clinical guidelines, professional fee, privacy protection laws, and cost of genetic tests. A total of 197 physicians in British Columbia completed the experiment. Using latent class analysis (LCA), we explored the physicians' heterogeneities in preferences.
"Type of genetic tests" had the largest importance, suggesting that the physicians' decision was highly influenced by the availability of genetic tests for patients' predisposition to diseases and/or drug response. "Training" and "guidelines" were the attributes with the next highest importance. LCA identified two classes of physicians. Relative to class 2, class 1 had a larger weight for the "type of genetic tests," but smaller weights for "professional fee" and "cost of tests."
We measured relative importance of factors that affect the decision of physicians to incorporate personalized medicine in their practice. These results can be used to design the policies for supporting physicians and facilitating the use of personalized medicine in the future.
Antibiotic use is a leading cause of antibiotic resistance and it is therefore important to reduce unnecessary prescribing in Iceland where antibiotic use is relatively high. The purpose of this study was to explore antibiotic prescribing practices among Icelandic physicians and compare the results with results of comparable studies from 1991 and 1995 conducted by the Directorate of Health, Iceland.
A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among all general practitioners registered in Iceland in 1991 and 1995 and all physicians registered in March 2014. Data was collected with questionnaires regarding diagnosis and treatment of simple urinary tract infection, acute otitis media and pharyngitis. A multiple logistic regression analysis was performed and level of significance p=0.05.
Response rates were 85% and 93% in 1991 and 1995 but 31% in 2014. Proportion of physicians who consider themselves prescribing antibiotics more than 10 times per week was 36% in 1991, 32% in 1995 and 21% in 2014. Proportion of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole as first choice for simple urinary tract infection reduced from 43% and 45% to 8% in 2014. In 2014, general practitioners considered themselves 87% less likely to prescribe an antibiotic for acute otitis media than in 1991 (p
To describe changes in the patterns and consequences of alcohol use among Norwegian doctors from 2000 to 2010.
Longitudinal study based on data from nation-wide postal surveys in 2000 and 2010 among a representative sample of 682 doctors in Norway. The Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) was used to measure the changes in drinking patterns (frequency of drinking, frequency of heavy drinking and quantity of drinking), symptoms of alcohol dependence and adverse consequences of drinking. A score above 8 was defined as hazardous drinking.
From 2000 to 2010, the proportion of doctors who used alcohol twice a week or more significantly increased from 31.4 (27.9-34.9) % to 48.7 (44.9-48.7) %, and the proportion of those who drank to intoxication weekly or more decreased significantly from 6.6 (4.7-8.6) % to 2.5 (1.3-1.7) %. The proportion who scored above 8 on the AUDIT decreased from 10.7 (8.4-13.0) % in 2000 to 8.2 (6.2-10.3) % in 2010. There was a significant increase in the partial AUDIT-score for drinking patterns (t = 2.4; P = 0.016), and a significant decrease in the partial AUDIT-score for adverse consequences of drinking (t = -3.6; P
The ethics of hastened death are complex. Studies on physicians' opinions about assisted dying (euthanasia or assisted suicide) exist, but changes in physicians' attitudes towards hastened death in clinical decision-making and the background factors explaining this remain unclear. The aim of this study was to explore the changes in these attitudes among Finnish physicians.
A questionnaire including hypothetical patient scenarios was sent to 1182 and 1258 Finnish physicians in 1999 and 2015, respectively. Two scenarios of patients with advanced cancer were presented: one requesting an increase in his morphine dose to a potentially lethal level and another suffering a cardiac arrest. Physicians' attitudes towards assisted death, life values and other background factors were queried as well. The response rate was 56%.
The morphine dose was increased by 25% and 34% of the physicians in 1999 and 2015, respectively (p?
Purpose: To describe current antihypertensive treatment in very old hypertensive patients according to sex and comorbidity.Materials and methods: We used the Stockholm regional healthcare data warehouse (Vårdanalysdatabasen) providing information on all healthcare consultations, diagnoses, hospitalizations, dispensed prescription drugs, sex and age in 2.1 million people living in the greater Stockholm region, Sweden. This cross-sectional analysis identified 12,436 individuals with a diagnosis of hypertension, who were 90 years or older.Results: Mean age was 92.6?±?2.6 years, 75% were women; and 34% of women and 24% of men had no diagnoses of concomitant diabetes or cardiovascular disease. The number of dispensed drug classes was similar (2.1?±?1.4) in women and in men. Women more often used angiotensin receptor blockers and beta-blockers, while men more frequently used ACE inhibitors and calcium channel blockers (all p?
Division of Surgery, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faulty of Health Sciences, Linköping University, Department of Surgery, County Council of Östergötland, Linköping, Sweden.
Treatment of patients with Crohn's disease has evolved in recent decades, with increasing use of immunomodulatory medication since 1990 and biologicals since 1998. In parallel, there has been increased use of active disease monitoring. To what extent these changes have influenced the incidence of primary and repeat surgical resection remains debated.
In this nationwide cohort study, incident patients of all ages with Crohn's disease, identified in Swedish National Patient Registry between 1990 and 2014, were divided into five calendar periods of diagnosis: 1990-1995 and 1996-2000 with use of inpatient registries, 2001, and 2002-2008 and 2009-2014 with use of inpatient and outpatient registries. The cumulative incidence of first and repeat abdominal surgery (except closure of stomas), by category of surgical procedure, was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.
Among 21?273 patients with Crohn's disease, the cumulative incidence of first abdominal surgery within 5?years of Crohn's disease diagnosis decreased continuously from 54·8 per cent in 1990-1995 to 40·4 per cent in 1996-2000 (P?
Department of EndocrinologyInstitute of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg and Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden.
New therapeutic strategies have developed for the management of acromegaly over recent decades. Whether this has improved mortality has not been fully elucidated.
The primary aim was to investigate mortality in a nationwide unselected cohort of patients with acromegaly. Secondary analyses included time trends in mortality and treatment patterns.
A total of 1089 patients with acromegaly were identified in Swedish National Health Registries between 1987 and 2013. To analyse time trends, the cohort was divided into three periods (1987-1995, 1996-2004 and 2005-2013) based on the year of diagnosis.
Using the Swedish population as reference, standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
Overall SMR was 2.79 (95% CI: 2.43-3.15) with 232 observed and 83 expected deaths. Mortality was mainly related to circulatory diseases (SMR: 2.95, 95% CI: 2.35-3.55), including ischemic heart disease (2.00, 1.35-2.66) and cerebrovascular disease (3.99, 2.42-5.55) and malignancy (1.76, 1.27-2.26). Mortality decreased over time, with an SMR of 3.45 (2.87-4.02) and 1.86 (1.04-2.67) during the first and last time period, respectively (P?=?.015). During the same time periods, the frequency of pituitary surgery increased from 58% to 72% (P?