Publications by authors named "Berit Schiottz-Christensen"

Background And Purpose: Targeted interventions to maintain physical performance in older adults are important. We aimed to validate an existing 4-item prediction model and, if necessary, develop a new model for early identification of adults aged 65+ with persistent reduced physical performance.

Methods: A temporal validation study on adults aged 65+ admitted to the emergency department for medical reasons and who performed ≤8 repetitions in the 30-second chair-stand test (30s-CST) within the first 48 hours of admission.

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Purpose: The Work Rehabilitation Questionnaire (WORQ) assesses patient functioning, including psychological, physical, and cognitive limitations. This study evaluates the WORQ domains in individuals with persistent low back pain (LBP), focusing on reliability and construct validity.

Methods: Individuals aged 18-65 with LBP completed WORQ and the workability index single item.

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This population-based study investigated the prevalence of de novo, multitype, post-coronavirus disease (COVID) pain and its associated risk factors in previously hospitalized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) survivors. The nationwide, cross-sectional study included a cohort of Danish residents previously hospitalized due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection between March 2020 and December 2021. Demographic data, preexisting medical comorbidities, previous pain-related symptoms, medication use for pain management, pain intensity (4-point scale), and development of de novo, multitype, post-COVID pain were collected by a self-reported survey distributed via e-Boks (a secured national digital mail system used in Denmark to provide public information to residents).

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Purpose: Longitudinal studies across various sectors with physically demanding jobs are notably absent in back disorder risk research. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between cumulative physical job exposure (PJE) and hospital-diagnosed back disorders among individuals in Denmark. To assess the healthy worker effect, we compared the cumulative risk estimate with results from a naive cross-sectional model ignoring PJE history.

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Background Context: One of the primary goals of treatments received by individuals with lumbar spinal stenosis with neurogenic claudication is to improve walking ability. Thus, a thorough and valid assessment of walking ability in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis is needed. Duration of continuous walking and steps per day could be relevant when evaluating walking ability in daily living.

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Background: Digitally supported self-management tailored to an individual's need, in addition to usual care, may reduce pain-related disability compared to usual care alone, and patients with low back pain (LBP) using mobile health (mHealth) solutions express positive experiences. Hence, implementing mHealth solutions designed to support self-management is desirable from a clinical and patient perspective. Easily accessible mHealth solutions that can support the self-management of patients with LBP are available, but interest may be subgroup specific.

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Purpose: Assessing work functioning in patients with persistent low back pain (LBP) is important for understanding their ability to engage in work-related activities. This study aims to evaluate the item characteristics, factor structure, and internal consistency of the Work Rehabilitation Questionnaire (WORQ) in patients with persistent LBP.

Methods: Four hundred and twenty-five individuals with LBP completed the WORQ.

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Objectives: Knowledge is limited on how changing SARS-CoV-2 variants may translate into different characteristics and affect the prognosis of patients with long COVID, especially following Omicron variants. We compared long-term prognosis of patients in a Danish Post-COVID Clinic infected with wild-type strain, Alpha, Delta, or Omicron variants as well as the pre-Omicron compared to the Omicron period.

Methods: At enrollment, a Post-COVID symptom Questionnaire (PCQ), and standard health scores, were registered and repeated four times until 1.

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Article Synopsis
  • Elevated levels of L-ficolin and M-ficolin proteins were found in patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) compared to healthy individuals and those with non-specific low back pain (LBP).
  • The study analyzed protein levels in two patient groups: one with various types of LBP and another undergoing adalimumab (ADA) therapy for axSpA.
  • Results showed that L-ficolin and M-ficolin were significantly reduced after ADA treatment, highlighting their role in the inflammatory processes associated with axSpA.
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Long COVID (LC) is an emerging global health concern. The underlying mechanism and pathophysiology remain unclear. Presence of neutralizing autoantibodies against type 1 interferons (IFN) has been established as a predictor of critical COVID-19.

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Objectives: To explore the elements and composition of care provided by general practitioners (GPs), physiotherapists (PTs) and chiropractors (DCs) to patients with low back pain (LBP).

Design: Observational study.

Setting: Primary care setting, Denmark.

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Introduction: Assessment is an important part of chronic pain rehabilitation and should be conducted in line with the current biopsychosocial conceptualization of pain to capture the subjectivity and context of pain. However, pain assessment is commonly conducted from a biomedical framework. A course in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) was provided to spinal pain clinicians as a framework to promote more person-centered and psychosocially focused assessments and related psychologically informed practices.

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Data from 'BISCUITS', a large Nordic cohort study linking several registries, were used to estimate differences in average direct and indirect costs between patients with osteoarthritis and controls (matched 1:1 based on birth year and sex) from the general population in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark for 2017. Patients ≥18 years with ≥1 diagnosis of osteoarthritis (ICD-10: M15-M19) recorded in specialty or primary care (the latter available for a subset of patients in Sweden and for all patients in Finland) during 2011-2017 were included. Patients with a cancer diagnosis (ICD-10: C00-C43/C45-C97) were excluded.

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Background: Lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is the most common reason for spine surgery in older people. However, surgery rates vary widely both internationally and nationally. This study compared patient and sociodemographic characteristics, geographical location and comorbidity between surgically and non-surgically treated Danish patients diagnosed with LSS from 2002 to 2018 and described variations over time.

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Objective: To describe and compare the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with acute or chronic low back pain across all health care settings treating this condition. Concurrent prospective survey registration of all consecutive consultations regarding low back pain at general practitioners, chiropractors, physiotherapists, and the secondary care spine centre in Southern Denmark.

Subjects: Patients ≥16 years of age with low back pain.

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Objective: To describe neurophysiological abnormalities in Long COVID and correlate quantitative electromyography (qEMG) and single fiber EMG (sfEMG) results to clinical scores and histopathology.

Methods: 84 patients with non-improving musculoskeletal Long COVID symptoms were examined with qEMG and sfEMG. Muscle biopsies were taken in a subgroup.

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Background: Post-COVID Clinics were recommended for patients with persistent symptoms following COVID-19, but no specific tests were suggested for evaluation. This study aimed to present a post-COVID clinic patient cohort and evaluate the use of a post-COVID symptom questionnaire (PCQ) score.

Methods: Patients were referred from a population of approximately 1 million citizens.

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Studies suggest that persistent symptoms after COVID-19 (long COVID) influence functioning and activities of daily living (ADL). However, it is still uncertain how and to what extent. This study aimed to describe patient-reported mental fatigue, ADL problems, ADL ability, sick leave and functional status among patients with long COVID.

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Background: Post COVID-19 condition (PCC) is defined as symptoms lasting more than 12 weeks after developing COVID-19. Evidence of mitochondrial dysfunction has been reported in peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from patients with COVID-19. We hypothesized that PCC is caused by prolonged mitochondrial dysfunction.

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Objective: Clinical guidelines for managing low back pain (LBP) emphasise patient information, patient education and physical activity as key components. Little is known about who actually receives information. This study investigates to what extent information at the first consultation with general practitioner (GP), chiropractor (DC) and physiotherapist (PT) in Danish primary care is provided to patients with LBP.

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Patient-centred care has received increased attention in recent years. Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs) and shared decision-making are key components of Patient-Centred care. Low back pain (LBP) is a complex symptom affected by multiple, interacting factors.

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Study Design: This is a method development and validation study.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to develop and test a method for step detection using accelerometer data in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). There are 2 objectives: (1) to describe a method for step detection from accelerations measured at the wrist, hip, lower back, thigh and ankle; (2) to assess the accuracy of the method during walking with and without walking aids and during nonwalking activities.

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Objectives: Osteoarthritis (OA) and chronic low back pain (CLBP) are common musculoskeletal disorders with substantial patient and societal burden. Nordic administrative registers offer a unique opportunity to study the impact of these conditions in the real-world setting. The Burden of Disease and Management of Osteoarthritis and Chronic Low Back Pain: Health Care Utilization and Sick Leave in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark (BISCUITS) study was designed to study disease prevalence and the societal and economic burden in broad OA and CLBP populations.

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The aim of this study was to evaluate whether patients with a non-specific back pain disorder are more likely to be diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder than patients with a specific back pain disorder (such as a herniated disc or inflammatory back disorder). This was a retrospective cohort study using Danish registries. Our study population included 24,518 patients younger than 61 years and 12,274 patients older than 61 years.

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Background And Purpose: Over the last decades, many countries have shown increased surgery rates for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS), but little information is available from Denmark. We describe the development in diagnosis and surgery of LSS in Denmark between 2002 and 2018.

Patients And Methods: We collected diagnostic ICD10-codes and surgical procedure codes from private and public hospitals in Denmark from the Danish National Patient Register.

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