A 10-year follow-up of a population-based study of people with multiple sclerosis in Stockholm, Sweden: changes in health-related quality of life and the value of different factors in predicting health-related quality of life.
Health-related quality of life (HRQL) in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) is negatively affected compared to that of the general population. Cognitive impairment and depressive symptoms have been shown to predict worse HRQL in a short-term perspective. Considering the progressive nature of MS, it is essential to include the long-term (10 years) perspective of HRQL in PwMS.
The aim of this 10-year follow-up of a population-based sample of PwMS was to explore changes in and the predictive value of personal factors, degree of MS disability, depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment on HRQL.
Data on personal and disease-specific factors, mood, and cognitive function was collected. Data on HRQL was collected, seen as a health profile with the Sickness Impact Profile, as a health index with the EuroQol 5D and as a single global question with the EQ Visual Analog Scale.
HRQL worsened over 10 years according to the health profile (Sickness Impact Profile Total and its physical dimension) and according to the health index. The effect sizes were small. HRQL assessed with the single global question remained unchanged. Depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment predicted worse HRQL.
In a 10-year perspective the HRQL with regard to its physical domain or when seen as a total health profile tends to get worse in PwMS. Yet, HRQL with regard to its psychosocial domain and with regard to PwMS' self-rated health, remains stable. There is a potential for health-care professionals to decrease the impact of modifiable factors on HRQL in PwMS by identifying those with depressive symptoms and/or cognitive impairment and initiating evidence-based treatment as well as meeting the need for environmental facilitators aiming at reducing disability.
We tested the hypothesis that low plasma concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D are associated with increased risk of symptomatic ischemic stroke in the general population.
We measured plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D in 10,170 individuals from the general population, the Copenhagen City Heart Study. During 21 years of follow-up, 1,256 and 164 persons developed ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, respectively. In a meta-analysis of ischemic stroke, we included 10 studies, 58,384 participants, and 2,644 events.
Stepwise decreasing plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations were associated with stepwise increasing risk of ischemic stroke both as a function of seasonally adjusted percentile categories and as a function of clinical categories of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (p for trend = 2 × 10(-3)). In a Cox regression model comparing individuals with plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations between the 1st and 4th percentiles to individuals with 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations between the 50th and 100th percentiles, multivariate adjusted hazard ratio of ischemic stroke was 1.82 (95% confidence interval, 1.41-2.34). Comparing individuals with clinical categories of severe vitamin D deficiency (
Long-term nationwide trends in atrial fibrillation (AF) incidence and 5-year outcomes are rare.
We conducted a population-based cohort study using the Danish National Patient Registry covering all Danish hospitals. We computed standardized incidence rates during 1983-2012. We used Cox regression to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) of heart failure, stroke, and death within 5years, comparing 5-year calendar periods with the earliest period (1983-1987) as reference.
We identified 312,420 patients with first-time hospital-diagnosed AF. The incidence rate per 100,000person-years increased from 98 in 1983 to 307 in 2012. The mean annual increase during the 30-year study period was 4%, with a 6% increase annually until 2000 and a 1.4% increase annually thereafter. The incidence trends were most pronounced among men and persons above 70years. Among high-risk subgroups, AF incidence was consistently highest in patients with valvular heart disease or heart failure. The rate of heart failure following AF declined by 50% over the entire study period (HR: 0.49, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.48-0.51) and the mortality rate declined by 40% (HR: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.61-0.63). Within the last two decades, the rate for ischemic stroke declined by 20% (HR 0.81, 95% CI: 0.78-0.84), but increased almost as much for haemorrhagic stroke (HR: 1.14, 95% CI: 1.01-1.29).
The long-term risk of heart failure, ischemic stroke, and death following onset of AF has decreased remarkably over the last three decades. Still, the threefold increased incidence of hospital-diagnosed AF during the same period is a major public health concern.
Department of Neurochemistry and Psychiatry, Neuropsychiatric Epidemiology Unit, at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden. deborah.gustafson@neuro.gu.se
Level of adiposity is linked to dementia in epidemiological studies. Overweight and obesity in mid- and late-life may increase risk for dementia, whereas decline in body weight or body mass index (BMI) and underweight in years preceding and at the time of a dementia diagnosis may also relate to dementia. Longitudinal studies with sufficient follow-up are necessary to estimate trajectories that allow better understanding of the relationship between adiposity indices and dementia over the life course. We evaluated the natural history of BMI in relationship to clinical dementia over 37 years in the Prospective Population Study of Women (PPSW) in Sweden. PPSW is a systematic sample of 1462 women born 1908, 1914, 1918, 1922, and 1930 and aged 38-60 years at baseline. Examinations occurred in 1968, 1974, 1980, 1992, 2000, and 2005. Statistical analyses were conducted using mixed effects regression models. Trajectories of BMI over 37 years as a function of age differed between women who did versus did not develop dementia. Women developing dementia evidenced a lesser increase in BMI from age 38 to 70 years. After age 70, the BMI slope decreased similarly (no "accelerated decline") irrespective of dementia status. A lower BMI before and during dementia onset was observed. Women with similar BMI at mid-life exhibited a different pattern of BMI change as they approached late-life that was related to dementia onset. BMI may be a potential marker of dementia-related neuropathologies in the brain. Dementia is related to a common risk factor, BMI, from mid-to late-life.
The presently available Canadian data, based on direct measurements of blood pressure (BP) from the Canadian Heart Health Surveys, are more than 15 years old. In view of major changes in the demographics and health status of the Ontario population, there is an urgent need to update this information. On the initiative of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, jointly with Statistics Canada, designed and implemented a population-based cross-sectional survey of hypertension in the Province of Ontario: the 2006 Ontario Survey on the Prevalence and Control of Hypertension (ON-BP).
To establish the prevalence of hypertension in the Ontario adult population between the ages of 20 and 79 years; to assess the awareness, current status and management of hypertension; and to gather respondent information about sex, age, physical measurements, personal health practices, socioeconomic measures, ethnicity and comorbidities.
The present paper describes the background history and the successive steps undertaken during the implementation of this project.
The authors' experiences from the ON-BP indicate that close co-operation between research scientists, statisticians, governmental and nongovernmental organizations -- in the present case, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario -- is essential to conduct a successful, large-scale survey of BP distribution.
Notes
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Department of Health Sciences, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Lund University, Malmö University Hospital, SE-205 02 Malmö, Sweden. Electronic address: magnus.stenhagen@med.lu.se.
As the physical consequences of accidental falls in the elderly are well-researched, the long-term associations between falls and quality of life and related concepts are less known. The aim of this study was to prospectively examine the long-term relations between falls and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and life satisfaction (LS) over six years in the general elderly population. One thousand three hundred and twenty-one subjects (aged 60-93 years), from the general population in the south of Sweden, were included in a baseline assessment and a follow-up after six years. HRQoL was measured with the SF-12 and LS with the life satisfaction index A (LSI-A). The differences in mean scores between fallers at baseline (n=113) and non-fallers were statistical analyzed. Furthermore, the prediction of falls on the outcomes was analyzed using a multivariate linear regression model adjusted for multiple confounding factors. Fallers scored significant lower in HRQoL and LS at baseline and after six years, compared to non-fallers, especially in the SF-12 physical component (p=
Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, University of Ottawa, Institute at Population Health, 1 Stewart Street, Office 303, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. lise.dubois@uottawa.ca
Data is lacking on the reliability of weight and height for young children as reported by parents participating in population-based studies. We analysed the accuracy of parental reports of children's weights and heights as estimates of body mass index, and evaluated the factors associated with the misclassification of overweight and obese children.
Analyses were conducted on a population-based birth cohort of 1549 4-year-old children from the province of Québec (Canada) in 2002. Mothers reported weights and heights for the children as part of the regular annual data collection. Within the following 3 months, children's weights and heights were measured at home as part of a nutrition survey.
This study indicates that mothers overestimate their children's weight more than their height, resulting in an overestimation of overweight children of more than 3% in the studied population. Only 58% of the children were reported as overweight/obese with reported values. Maternal misreporting is more important for boys than girls, and for low socioeconomic status children compared with high socioeconomic status children.
Research on the prevalence of overweight and obesity has often used self-reported measures of height and weight to estimate BMI. However, the results emphasize the importance of collecting measured data in childhood studies of overweight and obesity at the population level.
Community clinics offer potential for timelier outbreak detection and monitoring than emergency departments. However, the accuracy of syndrome definitions used in surveillance has never been evaluated in community settings. This study's objective was to assess the accuracy of syndrome definitions based on diagnostic codes in physician claims for identifying 5 syndromes (fever, gastrointestinal, neurological, rash, and respiratory including influenza-like illness) in community clinics.
We selected a random sample of 3,600 community-based primary care physicians who practiced in the fee-for-service system in the province of Quebec, Canada in 2005-2007. We randomly selected 10 visits per physician from their claims, stratifying on syndrome type and presence, diagnosis, and month. Double-blinded chart reviews were conducted by telephone with consenting physicians to obtain information on patient diagnoses for each sampled visit. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value (PPV) of physician claims were estimated by comparison to chart review.
1,098 (30.5%) physicians completed the chart review. A chart entry on the date of the corresponding claim was found for 10,529 (95.9%) visits. The sensitivity of syndrome definitions based on diagnostic codes in physician claims was low, ranging from 0.11 (fever) to 0.44 (respiratory), the specificity was high, and the PPV was moderate to high, ranging from 0.59 (fever) to 0.85 (respiratory). We found that rarely used diagnostic codes had a higher probability of being false-positives, and that more commonly used diagnostic codes had a higher PPV.
Future research should identify physician, patient, and encounter characteristics associated with the accuracy of diagnostic codes in physician claims. This would enable public health to improve syndromic surveillance, either by focusing on physician claims whose diagnostic code is more likely to be accurate, or by using all physician claims and weighing each according to the likelihood that its diagnostic code is accurate.
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