Publications by authors named "Helen L Johansen"
Association between hypnotics use and increased mortality: causation or confounding?
Eur J Clin Pharmacol
May 2015
Purpose: Many research studies have found associations between benzodiazepines and/or z-hypnotics (BZZ) and increasing mortality, leading to a discussion about causation or confounding. This study suggests a factor that could produce this association through confounding.
Methods: The Norwegian population in 2010 supplied 8862 deaths ages 41-80 and 898,289 controls.
Background: Hypertension is a substantial health concern because it poses significant risks for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and is highly prevalent in the population. Tracking hypertension is important because it is a risk factor for other conditions, but prevalence estimates might vary depending on the data source used.
Methods: This report describes 3 national population-based data sources for estimating hypertension prevalence in Canada and discusses their strengths and weaknesses to aid in their use for policy and program planning.
Background: Hypertension is estimated to cause more than one-eighth of all deaths worldwide. In Canada, the last national surveys to include direct measures of blood pressure (BP) took place over the years 1985-1992; hypertension was estimated at 21%.
Data And Methods: Data are from cycle 1 of the Canadian Health Measures Survey, conducted from March 2007 through February 2009.
Background: Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability, and poses a significant burden of care for those who survive.
Objectives: To estimate the incidence of hospitalization for stroke and describe the impact of age, sex and comorbidity on in-hospital mortality, length of stay and readmission rates.
Methods: Health insurance numbers were used to link acute care hospitalizations across Canada in 1999/2000 for stroke patients with no discharges for a stroke within the preceding five years.
Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in Canada with wide, unexplained regional variations in heart disease mortality. However, no studies to date have explored the relationship between a number of health region characteristics and regional variation in heart disease mortality rates across Canada.
Introduction: We studied the contribution of various traditional cardiac risk factors, social determinants of health and other community characteristics to regional variations in heart disease mortality rates across Canada.
Background: Little information is available on recent population-based trends in the outcomes of patients who have had an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in Canada.
Methods: Data were analyzed from the Discharge Abstract Database and Hospital Morbidity Database of the Canadian Institute for Health Information. All new cases of AMI in Canada between fiscal 1997/98 and fiscal 1999/2000 of patients at least 20 years old were examined.