Unlabelled: The validity of forearm fracture diagnoses recorded in five Norwegian hospitals was investigated using image reports and medical records as gold standard. A relatively high completeness and correctness of the diagnoses was found. Algorithms used to define forearm fractures in administrative data should depend on study purpose.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To evaluate possible associations between learners' results in written and performance-based assessments of communication skills (CS), either in concurrent or predictive study designs.
Methods: Search included four databases for peer-reviewed studies containing both written and performance-based CS assessment. Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria.
Objective: The aim of this scoping review was to investigate the published literature on written assessment of communication skills in health professionals' education.
Methods: Pubmed, Embase, Cinahl and Psychnfo were screened for the period 1/1995-7/2020. Selection was conducted by four pairs of reviewers.
Purpose: Patients with end-stage kidney disease have an increased fracture risk. Whether mild to moderate reductions in kidney function is associated with increased fracture risk is uncertain. Results from previous studies may be confounded by muscle mass because of the use of creatinine-based estimates of the glomerular filtration rate (eGFRcre).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground/case Presentation: A man in his sixties with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was hospitalised due to oedema and dyspnoea during the previous weeks. He was hypertensive, with 10 kg weight gain, generalised oedema, proximal myopathy and moon face. The assessment was consistent with ectopic ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Despite the prevalence of mobile health (mHealth) technologies and observations of their impacts on patients' health, there is still no consensus on how best to evaluate these tools for patient self-management of chronic conditions. Researchers currently do not have guidelines on which qualitative or quantitative factors to measure or how to gather these reliable data.
Objective: This study aimed to document the methods and both qualitative and quantitative measures used to assess mHealth apps and systems intended for use by patients for the self-management of chronic noncommunicable diseases.
Background: Hoffmann's syndrome is a rare form of hypothyroid myopathy. Only a few cases of fasciotomy in this setting have previously been reported.
Case Presentation: A 41-year-old Caucasian man under treatment for hypothyroidism presented with acute-onset severe pain in his forearm for no obvious reason and was admitted to our emergency room.
Background: There is rising demand for health care's limited resources. Mobile health (mHealth) could be a solution, especially for those with chronic illnesses such as diabetes. mHealth can increases patients' options to self-manage their health, improving their health knowledge, engagement, and capacity to contribute to their own care decisions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn observational studies, vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for low bone density and future fractures, whereas a causal relation has been difficult to show in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Similarly, vitamin D deficiency has been associated with increased bone turnover, but RCTs with vitamin D have not shown conclusive effects. This could be due to inclusion of vitamin D sufficient subjects and low vitamin D doses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Fragility fracture is a major health issue because of the accompanying morbidity, mortality, and financial cost. Despite the high cost to society and personal cost to affected individuals, secondary fracture prevention is suboptimal in Norway, mainly because most patients with osteoporotic fractures do not receive treatment with antiosteoporotic drugs after fracture repair.
Objectives: To improve secondary fracture prevention by introducing a standardized intervention program and to investigate the effect of the program on the rate of subsequent fractures.
The aim of this study was to determine if increased mortality associated with low levels of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) reflects a causal relationship by using a Mendelian randomisation (MR) approach with genetic variants in the vitamin D synthesis pathway. Individual participant data from three European cohorts were harmonized with standardization of 25(OH)D according to the Vitamin D Standardization Program. Most relevant single nucleotide polymorphisms of the genes (rs12794714, rs10741657) and (rs12785878, rs11234027), were combined in two allelic scores.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The Introduction of mobile health (mHealth) devices to health intervention studies challenges us as researchers to adapt how we analyse the impact of these technologies. For interventions involving chronic illness self-management, we must consider changes in behaviour in addition to changes in health. Fortunately, these mHealth technologies can record participants' interactions via usage-logs during research interventions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) was associated with increased bone turnover markers and cortical porosity of the inner transitional zone at the proximal femur. These results suggest that PTH through increased intracortical bone turnover leads to trabecularisation of inner cortical bone in postmenopausal women.
Introduction: Vitamin D deficiency leads to secondary hyperparathyroidism and increased risk for fractures, whereas its association with cortical porosity is less clear.
Objectives: Assessment of clinical communication helps teachers in healthcare education determine whether their learners have acquired sufficient skills to meet the demands of clinical practice. The aim of this paper is to give input to educators when planning how to incorporate assessment into clinical communication teaching by building on the authors' experience and current literature.
Methods: A summary of the relevant literature within healthcare education is discussed, focusing on what and where to assess, how to implement assessment and how to choose appropriate methodology.
Background: Bone mineral density (BMD) is determined by bone remodeling processes regulated by endocrine, autocrine and genetic mechanisms. Thus, some studies have reported that BMD is associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with vitamin D receptor (VDR), serum 25(OH)D levels and estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1), but without consensus. Therefore, we aimed to map and compare the risk genotypes for forearm and total hip low BMD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Vitamin D deficiency may be a risk factor for mortality but previous meta-analyses lacked standardization of laboratory methods for 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) concentrations and used aggregate data instead of individual participant data (IPD). We therefore performed an IPD meta-analysis on the association between standardized serum 25(OH)D and mortality.
Methods: In a European consortium of eight prospective studies, including seven general population cohorts, we used the Vitamin D Standardization Program (VDSP) protocols to standardize 25(OH)D data.
Increased cortical porosity has been suggested as a possible factor increasing fracture propensity in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This is a paradox because cortical porosity is generally associated with high bone turnover, while bone turnover is reduced in patients with T2DM. We therefore wanted to test the hypothesis that women with T2DM have lower bone turnover markers (BTM) and lower cortical porosity than those without diabetes, and that higher serum glucose and body mass index (BMI) are associated with lower BTM, and with lower cortical porosity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In observational studies vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased risk of infections, whereas the effect of vitamin D supplementation in randomized controlled trials is non-conclusive.
Methods: Five hundred and eleven subjects with prediabetes were randomized to vitamin D3 (20,000 IU per week) versus placebo for five years. Every sixth month, a questionnaire on respiratory tract infections (RTI) (common cold, bronchitis, influenza) and urinary tract infection (UTI) was filled in.
Context: Vitamin D deficiency is associated with insulin resistance and risk of future diabetes.
Objective: The objective of the study was to test whether supplementation with vitamin D to subjects with prediabetes will prevent progression to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
Design: This was a randomized controlled trial performed in 2008 through 2015.
Background: Though the associations between low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels and health outcomes such as type 2 diabetes (T2D), myocardial infarction (MI), cancer, and mortality are well-studied, the effect of supplementation with vitamin D is uncertain. This may be related to genetic differences. Thus, rs7968585, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the vitamin D receptor (VDR), has recently been reported as a predictor of composite health outcome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBone architecture as well as size and shape is important for bone strength and risk of fracture. Most bone loss is cortical and occurs by trabecularization of the inner part of the cortex. We therefore wanted to identify determinants of the bone architecture, especially the area and porosity of the transitional zone, an inner cortical region with a large surface/matrix volume available for intracortical remodeling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBone turnover markers (BTM) predict bone loss and fragility fracture. Although cortical porosity and cortical thinning are important determinants of bone strength, the relationship between BTM and cortical porosity has, however, remained elusive. We therefore wanted to examine the relationship of BTM with cortical porosity and risk of non-vertebral fracture.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objective: In addition to its role as a transport protein, the vitamin D binding protein (DBP) may also affect lipid metabolism, inflammation and carcinogenesis. There are three common variants of the DBP, Gc1s (1s), Gc1f (1f), Gc2 (2) that result in six common phenotypes (1s/1s, 1s/1f, 1s/2, 1f/1f, 1f/2, and 2/2). These phenotypes can be identified by genotyping for the two single nucleotide polymorphisms rs7041 and rs4588 in the GC gene.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: We tested whether cortical porosity of the proximal femur measured using StrAx1.0 software provides additional information to areal bone mineral density (aBMD) or Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX) in differentiating women with and without fracture. Porosity was associated with fracture independent of aBMD and FRAX and identified additional women with fractures than by osteoporosis or FRAX thresholds.
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