Potentially traumatic events as predictors of disability pension: A 10-year follow-up study in Norway.

Aims: Are potentially traumatic events associated with subsequent disability pension? Traumatic exposure and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may represent a disabling state with both personal and professional consequences for the affected individual. Despite this, there is a scarcity of research studying the effects of traumatic exposure on disability pension. This study examined the differences in risk for disability pension among unexposed, exposed to trauma and PTSD cases.

The epidemiology of post-traumatic stress disorder in Norway: trauma characteristics and pre-existing psychiatric disorders.

Purpose: The prevalence of PTSD differs by gender. Pre-existing psychiatric disorders and different traumas experienced by men and women may explain this. The aims of this study were to assess (1) incidence and prevalence of exposure to traumatic events and PTSD, (2) the effect of pre-existing psychiatric disorders prior to trauma on the risk for PTSD, and (3) the effect the characteristics of trauma have on the risk for PTSD.

Predicting disability pension - depression as hazard: a 10 year population-based cohort study in Norway.

Disability pension (DP) is an escalating challenge to individuals and the welfare state, with mental health problems as imminent hazard. The objective of the present paper was to determine if a diagnosis of depression increased the risk of subsequent DP, and whether the risk differed by gender. A population cohort of 1230 persons were diagnostically interviewed (Composite International Diagnostic Interview, CIDI) in a population study examining mental health, linked to the DP registry and followed for 10 years.

Changes in formal help seeking for psychological distress: the OsLof study.

Background: Data from the Norwegian HUNT suggests that only 10-13% of individuals suffering from depression and anxiety have sought professional help, fuelling concerns that only a fraction of individuals with clinically significant mental health problems receive adequate treatment in Norway.

Aim: The aim of this study was to examine formal help seeking for psychological distress in two communities in Norway (one urban and one rural) over time, in relation to the prevalence of distress. In addition, the proportion with potential unmet need for professional help was examined.

Selection effects in psychiatric epidemiology: a 14-year prospective study of the Hopkins Symptom Check List-25 as a predictor of mortality in the Norwegian general population.

Background: Inconsistent findings in studies examining the association between mental health problems and mortality have suggested study design as a source of discrepancy. This study investigates if selection bias is introduced by an extensive personal interview, recruiting a healthier population, and furthermore examines the association between mental distress and mortality.

Method: The OsLof study consists of a random population-based sample of 2,014 persons above 18 years that participated in an interview in 1989, including the Hopkins Symptom Check List-25 (HSCL-25).

Sensitivity analysis for unmeasured confounding in a marginal structural Cox proportional hazards model.

Sensitivity analysis for unmeasured confounding should be reported more often, especially in observational studies. In the standard Cox proportional hazards model, this requires substantial assumptions and can be computationally difficult. The marginal structural Cox proportional hazards model (Cox proportional hazards MSM) with inverse probability weighting has several advantages compared to the standard Cox model, including situations with only one assessment of exposure (point exposure) and time-independent confounders.

Self-reported work ability of Norwegian women in relation to physical and mental health, and to the work environment.

Objectives: To examine the self-reported level of work ability among female employees and the relationship between work ability and demographic characteristics, physical health, mental health, and various psychosocial and organizational work environment factors.

Methods: Participants were 597 female employees with an average age of 43 years from urban and rural areas in Norway. Trained personnel performed a structured interview to measure demographic variables, physical health, and characteristics of the working environment.

Overlap, comorbidity, and stability of somatoform disorders and the use of current versus lifetime criteria.

The authors examined disorder overlap, comorbidity, stability, and predictors of somatoform disorders (SDs) by "lifetime" and "current" symptom criteria in a general population sample of 421 respondents interviewed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview in 1990 and 2001. Disorder overlap and comorbidity were considerable. "Current" SDs were four times more likely to occur among respondents with depression.

Changes in body mass index by age, gender, and socio-economic status among a cohort of Norwegian men and women (1990-2001).

Background: Consistent with global trends, the prevalence of obesity is increasing among Norwegian adults. This study aimed to investigate individual trends in BMI (kg/m2) by age, gender, and socio-economic status over an 11-year period.

Methods: A cohort of 1169 adults (n = 581 men; n = 588 women) self-reported BMI during a general health interview twice administered in two regions in Norway.

Urban-rural differences in BMI, overweight and obesity in Norway (1990 and 2001).

Aim: The aim of this study was to examine body mass index and the prevalence of overweight and obesity in 1990 and 2001 in Oslo and Lofoten, Norway.

Methods: A randomly selected study population of 1,924 individuals (OsLof) underwent a structured personal interview in 1990. In 2001, 1629 individuals underwent the same interview.

Current somatoform disorders in Norway: prevalence, risk factors and comorbidity with anxiety, depression and musculoskeletal disorders.

Background: The future existence of somatoform disorders (SDs) has recently been debated. The objectives of this study were to investigate the prevalence of current SDs (defined as the presence of multisomatoform disorder [MSD] or somatoform disorders not otherwise specified [SDnos], without psychosocial impairment) and severe current SDs (MSD or SDnos with psychosocial impairment) in Norway. Differences in markers of severe current SDs, anxiety/depression and self-reported musculoskeletal disorders were explored.

Structure analysis of Antonovsky's sense of coherence from an epidemiological mental health survey with a brief nine-item sense of coherence scale.

Antonovsky has proposed the sense of coherence (SOC) as a crucial factor that protects against symptoms of mental disease. A central issue in research on the SOC construct is whether this is most appropriately considered as one-dimensional or three-dimensional with comprehensibility (C), manageability (Ma) and meaningfulness (Me) as separate dimensions. In this paper we address this issue by means of confirmatory factor analysis of a shortened nine-item version of Antonovsky's original 29- and 13-items Sense of Coherence Scale (SOCS-29), using epidemiological data from a mental health survey of adults in local communities (N = 1,062).

Course and predictors of medically unexplained pain symptoms in the general population.

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the course and the predictors of clinically significant medically unexplained pain symptoms (MUS-pain) within the 6 months preceding the interviews at baseline and on follow-up in the general population.

Methods: A Norwegian general population study of 605 persons interviewed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview Somatoform Section was conducted in 1989/1990 (baseline), and 421 persons (69.6% response rate; 242 women and 179 men) were reinterviewed in 2000/2001 (follow-up).

Emotional distress as a predictor for low back disability: a prospective 12-year population-based study.

Study Design: A population-based, prospective cohort.

Objective: To study associations between emotional distress and long-term low back disability in a general population.

Summary Of Background Data: In primary and hospital care studies, emotional, cognitive, and personality factors have been associated with low back disability, while the association between distress and novel back pain episodes has been uncertain.

Return of depressed men: changes in distribution of depression and symptom cases in Norway between 1990 and 2001.

Background: Women's elevated risk of depression compared to men is a common finding in psychiatric epidemiology. Studies conducted in the 1950s and 1970s, however, documented approximately equal prevalence of sex rates.

Aim: This study investigated changes in depression rates between 1990 and 2001 in Norway.

The impact of psychosocial and organizational working conditions on the mental health of female cleaning personnel in Norway.

Background: This study examined the association between psychosocial and organizational work conditions and mental health among women employed in the cleaning profession in Norway.

Methods: Self-report questionnaires were mailed to 661 cleaning staff personnel from seven cleaning organizations in seven different cities across Norway. The response rate was 64%, of which 374 (88%) respondents were women.

Methodological issues concerning lifetime medically unexplained and medically explained symptoms of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview: a prospective 11-year follow-up study.

Objective: The objectives of this study were (a) to elucidate the methodological problems arising when examining lifetime symptom data by exploring the accuracy of recall of medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) and medically explained symptoms (MES) in the general population, based on interviews using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) Somatoform Section C, in 1990 and 2001, and (b) to find predictors for failure at follow-up to recall symptoms reported previously at baseline (i.e., symptoms "lost").

Cigarette smoking and incidence of first depressive episode: an 11-year, population-based follow-up study.

Smoking has been found to be associated with depression. Biologic hypotheses support causation in both directions. This study examined the association between cigarette smoking and a subsequent first depression.

Is women's mental health more susceptible than men's to the influence of surrounding stress?

Background: Most epidemiological population studies have demonstrated that women suffer more anxiety and depression than men. A higher level of stress, greater vulnerability to stress, and a non-additive effect of private/domestic and occupational obligations on women have been suggested as an explanation.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine if women's mental health is more susceptible than men's to the influence of surrounding stress.