New users of anxiolytics and sedatives in Sweden-Drug type, doses, prescribers' characteristics, and psychiatric comorbidity in more than 750,000 patients.

Objectives: Anxiety and sleep disorders are common in the population and anxiolytics and sedatives are widely used. Our aim was to describe the drug utilization of new users of anxiolytics and sedatives in adults including type of drug, doses, prescribers' characteristics, and psychiatric comorbidity.

Methods: A register-based cohort study of new users (18-64 years) of anxiolytics and sedatives in 2015-2019, free of any such drug 5 years prior to inclusion.

Pediatric use of prescribed melatonin in Sweden 2006-2017: a register based study.

Sleep disturbances are common in the pediatric population and should primarily be treated non-pharmacologically. Most medicines for sleep disturbances are not approved for pediatric use and data on long-term safety is scarce. In Sweden, melatonin is classified as a prescription medicine.

Increased availability of paracetamol in Sweden and incidence of paracetamol poisoning: using laboratory data to increase validity of a population-based registry study.

Purpose: To estimate the incidence trend and outcome of paracetamol poisoning, in relation to increased availability of paracetamol from non-pharmacy outlets in 2009.

Method: Patients' serum paracetamol results over 14 years (2000-2013) from 20 (out of 21) regions in Sweden were linked to national registers of hospital care, cause of death, and prescriptions. Paracetamol poisonings were defined by serum paracetamol levels, hospital diagnoses, or cause of death.

Health care professionals' perspectives on automated multi-dose drug dispensing.

Background: During the 1980s, manual repackaging of multi-dose medications from pharmacies in Sweden was successively substituted with automated multi-dose drug dispensing (MDD). There are few studies evaluating the consequences of automated MDD with regard to patient safety, and those that investigate this issue are not very extensive.

Objectives: To investigate Swedish health care professionals' perceived experience of automated MDD and its effects on patient adherence and patient safety.

Non-prescription medicines for pain and fever--a comparison of recommendations and counseling from staff in pharmacy and general sales stores.

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to map and analyze the content and quality of the encounter when customers buy non-prescription medicines for pain and fever.

Methods: 297 pharmacies and 801 general sales stores (GSS) in Sweden were selected. A "Mystery shopper" exercise was conducted.

Initiating therapy with antidepressants after discontinuation of hormone therapy.

Objective: This work aims to determine whether discontinuation of hormone therapy (HT) in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women is associated with an increased risk of initiating antidepressant therapy.

Methods: A population-based cohort study was conducted using data from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register and the Total Population Register for the period July 2005 to June 2009. We included women aged 45 to 70 years who had used HT continuously for more than 6 months before July 2008.

Neurological and autoimmune disorders after vaccination against pandemic influenza A (H1N1) with a monovalent adjuvanted vaccine: population based cohort study in Stockholm, Sweden.

Objective: To examine the risk of neurological and autoimmune disorders of special interest in people vaccinated against pandemic influenza A (H1N1) with Pandemrix (GlaxoSmithKline, Middlesex, UK) compared with unvaccinated people over 8-10 months.

Design: Retrospective cohort study linking individualised data on pandemic vaccinations to an inpatient and specialist database on healthcare utilisation in Stockholm county for follow-up during and after the pandemic period.

Setting: Stockholm county, Sweden.

Reductions in use of hormone replacement therapy: effects on Swedish breast cancer incidence trends only seen after several years.

Studies from Western countries have found evidence of a recent decline in breast cancer incidence rates in postmenopausal women, findings which have been hypothesized to reflect a reduced use of hormonal replacement therapy (HRT). We examined breast cancer incidence trends in Sweden between 1997 and 2007, a period characterized by a drop in the use of HRT. Incidence trends were assessed using data from three population-based Regional Clinical Registries on breast cancer covering 2/3 of the Swedish population.

Adherence to drug treatment in association with how the patient perceives care and information on drugs.

Aim: This study was to explore concordance with drugs prescribed and the patient's self-reported drug consumption, in relation to the older patient's perceived care and information given.

Background: Lack of adherence to prescriptions may lead to therapeutic failure with risks for relapse, unnecessary suffering and increased costs.

Design: A cross-sectional study with structured interviews of 200 patients who had recently been treated in a medical ward.

A prospective study of health, life-style and psychosocial predictors of self-rated health.

The aim of this study was to investigate what psychosocial predictors, life-style factors and health behaviors in early adulthood are of importance for self-ratings of health after the age of 45. Like-sexed adult twins born 1926-1950 (n = 16,080) from the Swedish Twin Registry that participated in a questionnaire in 1973 and in a telephone interview conducted between 1998 and 2002 were included. Exposure data was collected in 1973 and information on self-rated health and covariates was collected at the second contact 25 years later.

Drug use and perceived health in recently hospitalized older people.

Older patients often have multiple diseases, resulting in treatment with many drugs. This may increase the risk for drug-related problems. This study aimed to analyse the congruence between the patient's self-reported drug use and the medical record, and the relationship to perceived health among older patients recently discharged from hospital.

Self-rated health among older adults: a cross-national comparison.

Self-rated health (SRH) may have different implications in various social and cultural settings. However, few studies are available concerning SRH among older persons across countries. The aim of this study was to analyse whether there are cross-national differences in the association between status characteristics, several diseases common among older persons, activities of daily living (ADL), and SRH.

Predictors of mortality: an international comparison of socio-demographic and health characteristics from six longitudinal studies on aging: the CLESA project.

Purpose: Multiple factors contribute to mortality in the elderly, but the extent to which traditional factors contribute independently to mortality in different countries is not known. Our objective is to determine the differential impact of socio-demographic variables, selected diseases, health habits and disability on all-cause mortality, among older people living in five European countries and Israel.

Methods: From six longitudinal studies on aging (TamELSA-Tampere (Finland), CALAS-Israel, ILSA-Italy, LASA-Netherlands, AL-Leganés (Spain), SATSA-Sweden), a harmonized common database was created in the context of the CLESA Project (Cross-national determinants of quality of life and health services for the elderly).

Are IADLs comparable across countries? Sociodemographic associates of harmonized IADL measures.

Background And Aims: Independence in Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs) is determined not only by physical ability but also by the environmental and cultural surroundings of the individual. The present study describes the harmonization of data on IADL functioning of the Comparison of Longitudinal European Studies on Aging (CLESA) Project. The focus of this report is to examine the comparability of IADLs across countries and to study the association of IADLs with age, gender and socioeconomic status, and the scalability of the measure.

A Swedish population-based study on the relationship between the SF-36 and health utilities to measure health in hypertension.

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between a psychometric health-related quality-of-life instrument (the SF-36)-and two health utility measures [the time trade-off (TTO) and rating scale (RS) methods) among hypertensives in a general population. In the analyses were adjusted for comorbidity. The study was based on a postal questionnaire that was sent to a random sample of 8000 inhabitants aged 20-84 years (response rate 68%) in Uppsala County, Sweden, in 1995.

Cross-national determinants of quality of life from six longitudinal studies on aging: the CLESA project.

Background And Aims: The Comparison of Longitudinal European Studies on Aging (CLESA) Project, here presented for the first time, is a collaborative study involving five European and one Israeli longitudinal study on aging. The aim of this paper is to describe the methodology developed for the harmonization of data and the creation of a Common Data Base (CDB), and to investigate the distribution of some selected common variables among the six countries. The design of each study is briefly introduced and the methodology leading to the harmonization of the common variables is described.