Dispensed prescription medications and short-term risk of pulmonary embolism in Norway and Sweden.

Scandinavian electronic health-care registers provide a unique setting to investigate potential unidentified side effects of drugs. We analysed the association between prescription drugs dispensed in Norway and Sweden and the short-term risk of developing pulmonary embolism. A total of 12,104 pulmonary embolism cases were identified from patient- and cause-of-death registries in Norway (2004-2014) and 36,088 in Sweden (2005-2014).

[Breast cancer in men – histopathology and biomarkers].

Background: Breast cancer in men accounts for around 1 % of all cases of the disease. The study aimed to identify histopathological parameters and selected biomarkers in men with breast cancer.

Material And Method: Retrospective study of archival material from 53 men diagnosed with breast cancer at the department of pathology, Haukeland University Hospital, in the period 1996-2020.

Parental education and occupation in relation to childhood type 1 diabetes: nationwide cohort study.

Unlabelled: BackgroundSocioeconomic status in the risk of developing type 1 diabetes seems inconsistent. We investigated whether risk of childhood-onset type 1 diabetes differed by parental education or occupation in a nationwide cohort.

Methods: This cohort study included all children born in Norway from 1974 to 2013.

Bidirectionality of antiseizure and antipsychotic treatment: A population-based study.

Purpose: To study the prevalence and directionality of comorbid epilepsy and psychosis in Norway.

Methods: The Norwegian Prescription Database (NorPD) provided individual-based information on all antiseizure medications (ASMs) and antipsychotic drugs (APDs) dispensed during 2004-2017. Subjects were ≥18 years of age at the end of the study period.

The use of in vivo confocal microscopy in fungal keratitis - Progress and challenges.

Fungal keratitis (FK) is a serious and sight-threatening corneal infection with global reach. The need for prompt diagnosis is paramount, as a delay in initiation of treatment could lead to irreversible vision loss. Current "gold standard" diagnostic methods, namely corneal smear and culture, have limitations due to diagnostic insensitivity and their time-consuming nature.

Assessing short-term risk of ischemic stroke in relation to all prescribed medications.

We examined the short-term risk of stroke associated with drugs prescribed in Norway or Sweden in a comprehensive, hypothesis-free manner using comprehensive nation-wide data. We identified 27,680 and 92,561 cases with a first ischemic stroke via the patient- and the cause-of-death registers in Norway (2004-2014) and Sweden (2005-2014), respectively, and linked these data to prescription databases. A case-crossover design was used that compares the drugs dispensed within 1 to 14 days before the date of ischemic stroke occurrence with those dispensed 29 to 42 days before the index event.

Childhood seizures after prenatal exposure to maternal influenza infection: a population-based cohort study from Norway, Australia and Canada.

Objective: To assess whether clinical and/or laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of maternal influenza during pregnancy increases the risk of seizures in early childhood.

Design: Analysis of prospectively collected registry data for children born between 2009 and 2013 in three high-income countries. We used Cox regression to estimate country-level adjusted HRs (aHRs); fixed-effects meta-analyses were used to pool adjusted estimates.

Influenza vaccination and risk for cardiovascular events: a nationwide self-controlled case series study.

Background: US and European guidelines diverge on whether to vaccinate adults who are not at high risk for cardiovascular events against influenza. Here, we investigated the associations between influenza vaccination and risk for acute myocardial infarction, stroke and pulmonary embolism during the 2009 pandemic in Norway, when vaccination was recommended to all adults.

Methods: Using national registers, we studied all vaccinated Norwegian individuals who suffered AMI, stroke, or pulmonary embolism from May 1, 2009 through September 30, 2010.

Deaths after confirmed SARS-CoV-2 in Norway.

Background: Advanced age is the most important risk factor for death as a result of COVID-19, but there is a dearth of knowledge regarding the impact of chronic diseases. Using health registry data, we describe the disease profiles of persons who died after a confirmed infection with SARS-CoV-2 during the first three months of the pandemic in Norway.

Material And Method: Data from the specialist health service (Norwegian Patient Registry, NPR) and the primary health service (Norwegian Registry for Primary Health Care, NRPHC) were linked to information on positive tests for SARS-CoV-2 from the Norwegian Surveillance System for Communicable Diseases (MSIS) and on deaths from the National Population Register.

Potential causal factors of CFS/ME: a concise and systematic scoping review of factors researched.

Background: Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is understood as a complex condition, likely triggered and sustained by an interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors. Little oversight exists of the field of causal research. This systematic scoping review explores potential causal factors of CFS/ME as researched by primary studies.

Risk conditions in children hospitalized with influenza in Norway, 2017-2019.

Background: Norwegian children are more frequently hospitalized with influenza than adults. Little is known about the characteristics of these children. Our aim was to investigate the presence of pre-existing risk conditions and to determine the duration of influenza hospitalizations in children during two influenza seasons.

Underlying conditions in adults with COVID-19.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases, cancer, type-2 diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were initially noted as the most common diseases among individuals who were hospitalised for COVID-19. However, the evidence base is weak. The objective of this study is to describe how selected diseases were distributed among adults with confirmed COVID-19 (COVID-19 positive tests) and among those hospitalised for COVID-19 compared to the general population.

SARS-CoV-2 in children and adolescents in Norway: confirmed infection, hospitalisations and underlying conditions.

Background: Children and adolescents are at lower risk of disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. We describe the incidence of confirmed infection and hospitalisation of children and adolescents under the age of 20 in Norway, and specifically among those with underlying conditions.

Material And Method: The Norwegian Directorate of Health has collaborated with the Norwegian Institute of Public Health on the establishment of a data extraction system to monitor the coronavirus outbreak.

Validation of Assisted Reproductive Technology in the Medical Birth Registry of Norway Versus the Norwegian Prescription Database.

Background: Increasing attention has been given to the long-term effects of assisted reproductive technology (ART). This study assessed the validity and completeness of ART as registered in the Medical Birth Registry of Norway (MBRN) using drug prescription data from the Norwegian Prescription Database (NorPD) as reference.

Methods: In this nationwide registry validation study, we included all pregnancies recorded in the MBRN between 2005 and 2017.

Systematic Review of the Epidemiological Burden of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Across Europe: Current Evidence and EUROMENE Research Recommendations for Epidemiology.

This review aimed at determining the prevalence and incidence of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) in Europe. We conducted a primary search in Scopus, PubMed and Web of Science for publications between 1994 and 15 June 2019 (PROSPERO: CRD42017078688). Additionally, we performed a backward-(reference lists) and forward-(citations) search of the works included in this review.

Author Correction: Systematic assessment of prescribed medications and short-term risk of myocardial infarction - a pharmacopeia-wide association study from Norway and Sweden.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Diagnoses related to abuse of alcohol and addictive substances after gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy: a nation-wide registry study from Norway.

Background: After Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) patients are at higher risk of alcohol problems. In recent years, sleeve gastrectomy (SG) has become a common procedure, but the incidence rates (IRs) of alcohol abuse after SG are unexplored.

Objectives: To compare IRs of diagnoses indicating problems with alcohol or other substances between patients having undergone SG or RYGB with a minimum of 6-month follow-up.

Seasonal and pandemic influenza during pregnancy and risk of fetal death: A Norwegian registry-based cohort study.

Previous studies of fetal death with maternal influenza have been inconsistent. We explored the effect of maternal influenza-like illness (ILI) in pregnancy on the risk of fetal death, distinguishing between diagnoses during regular influenza seasons and the 2009/2010 pandemic and between trimesters of ILI. We used birth records from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway to identify fetal deaths after the first trimester in singleton pregnancies (2006-2013).

Hospitalization following influenza infection and pandemic vaccination in multiple sclerosis patients: a nationwide population-based registry study from Norway.

Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are at increased risk of infections and related worsening of neurological function. Influenza infection has been associated with increased risk of various neurological complications. We conducted a population-based registry study to investigate the risk of acute hospitalization of MS patients in relation to influenza infection or pandemic vaccination in Norway.