Cardiovascular disease and long-term occupational exposure to ultrafine particles: A cohort study of airport workers.

Aim: To investigate if ischemic heart disease (IHD) and cerebrovascular disease is associated with long-term occupational exposure to ultrafine particles (UFP) outdoors at an airport.

Methods And Results: This is a register-based follow-up study based on a cohort comprising an exposed group of 6515 men employed in unskilled work at Copenhagen Airport and a reference group of 61,617 men in unskilled work in other firms in greater Copenhagen during 1990-2012. The exposure was assessed from information on proportion of time spent on the airport apron for each calendar year (apron-years) and the primary exposure measure was cumulated apron-years.

Occupational lifting predicts hospital admission due to low back pain in a cohort of airport baggage handlers.

Purpose: To examine if occupational lifting assessed as cumulative years as a baggage handler is associated with first-time hospital diagnosis or treatment for low back disorders.

Methods: This study is based on the Copenhagen Airport Cohort consisting of male baggage handlers performing heavy lifting every day and a reference group of unskilled men from the greater Copenhagen area during the period 1990-2012. We followed the cohort in the National Patient Register and Civil Registration System to obtain information on diagnoses, surgery, mortality, and migration.

Copenhagen Airport Cohort: air pollution, manual baggage handling and health.

Purpose: Copenhagen Airport Cohort 1990-2012 presents a unique data source for studies of health effects of occupational exposure to air pollution (ultrafine particles) and manual baggage handling among airport employees. We describe the extent of information in the cohort and in the follow-up based on data linkage to the comprehensive Danish nationwide health registers. In the cohort, all information is linked to the personal identification number that also is used in Denmark Statistics demographic and socioeconomic databases and in the nationwide health registers.

A Cohort Study on Meniscal Lesions among Airport Baggage Handlers.

Meniscal lesions are common and may contribute to the development of knee arthrosis. A few case-control and cross-sectional studies have identified knee-straining work as risk factors for meniscal lesions, but exposure-response relations and the role of specific exposures are uncertain, and previous results may be sensitive to reporting and selection bias. We examined the relation between meniscal lesions and cumulative exposure to heavy lifting in a prospective register-based study with complete follow-up and independent information on exposure and outcome.

Health service use in adults 20-64 years with traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury or pelvic fracture. A cohort study with 9-year follow-up.

Objectives: To estimate the health service use over 9 years after the injury year for patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injury (SCI) and pelvic fracture (PF), and compare with non-injured.

Design: A register-based cohort design with a 9-year follow-up period.

Setting: The Danish population.

Physical violence and health-related quality of life: Danish cross-sectional analyses.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between experienced physical violence and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) by comparing self-reported health status for individuals with and without experience of physical violence. Our hypothesis was that individuals exposed to violence would experience worse HRQoL than non-exposed individuals. We tested whether men and women and different age groups experience similar reductions in HRQoL, and the extent to which such differences might be associated with social circumstances and lifestyle conditions.

Cumulative years in occupation and the risk of hip or knee osteoarthritis in men and women: a register-based follow-up study.

Objectives: Occupational workload has been associated with an increased risk of osteoarthritis (OA), but only little research has been conducted among female workers. The objective of this study was to analyse if men and women in farming, construction or healthcare work have increased risk of developing OA of the hip or knee.

Methods: A follow-up study based on register data of the whole Danish working population in the period 1981 to 2006 followed up for hip or knee OA during 1996 to 2006.

Predictors and protective factors for adolescent Internet victimization: results from a 2008 nationwide Danish youth survey.

Aim: To examine the rate of Internet victimization in a nationally representative sample of adolescents aged 14-17 and to analyze predictors and protective factors for victimization.

Methods: Data were collected for 3707 pupils in Danish schools in 2008, using a multimedia computer-based self-interviewing programme. Family characteristics, alcohol and drug abuse, exposure to physical/sexual abuse, emotional problems, social conduct and own risky Internet behaviour were included in the analyses.

Violence, a risk factor for poor mental health in adolescence: a Danish nationally representative youth survey.

Aims: To analyze mental health associations between youth's exposure to physical violence outside the home and at home, including witnessing domestic violence, and to describe gender differences in the associations.

Methods: A multimedia computer-based survey among a nationally representative sample of 6,200 9th grade pupils included data on violence victimization, symptoms of anxiety and depression, psychosocial and health behaviour factors. Analyses included gender stratified cross-tabulations and logistic regressions.

Register-based studies on migration, ethnicity, and health.

Introduction: Researchers in Denmark have unique possibilities of register-based research in relation to migration, ethnicity, and health. This review article outlines how these opportunities have been used, so far, by presenting a series of examples.

Research Topics: We selected six registers to highlight the process of how migrant study populations have been established and studied in relation to different registers: The Danish Cancer Registry, the Danish Central Psychiatric Research Register, the Danish National Patient Register, the Danish National Health Service Register, the Danish Injury Register, and the Danish Medical Birth Register.

The Danish National Cohort Study (DANCOS).

Introduction: The Danish National Cohort Study (DANCOS) is a nationally representative public health survey based on linkage of information in the repeated Danish Health Interview surveys, 1986-2005, to the national Danish registers on health and welfare. It facilitates studies of self-reported health behaviour and utilisation of healthcare services by subgroups and analysis of non-response bias.

Research Topics: DANCOS data are utilised in a variety of analyses presented here by a few examples that emphasise the impact of modifiable risk factors on public health, description of non-response bias, and the epidemiology of chronic pain and of osteoarthritis.

Socioeconomic differences in perinatal health and disease.

Introduction: The Danish Medical Birth Register has been used extensively in conjunction with other national registers to examine different aspects of socioeconomic differences in perinatal health outcomes. Here, we review some recent findings.

Research Topics: Socioeconomic differences were observed in stillbirth, preterm birth, birthweight, congenital anomalies, and infant death.

The Danish Register of Causes of Death.

Introduction: Cause-specific mortality statistics is a valuable source for the identification of risk factors for poor public health.

Content: Since 1875, the National Board of Health has maintained the register covering all deaths among citizens dying in Denmark, and since 1970 has computerised individual records.

Validity And Coverage: Classification of cause(s) of deaths is done in accordance to WHO's rules, since 1994 by ICD-10 codes.

The health care costs of violence against women.

The aim of this study is to analyze the health care costs of violence against women. For the study, we used a register-based approach where we identified victims of violence and assessed their actual health care costs at individual level in a bottom-up analysis. Furthermore, we identified a reference population.

Parental violence and adolescent mental health.

Being the target of parental violent acts decreases child adjustment and increases the likelihood of mental health problems in childhood and adolescence. Our study analyses how different types of parental violence ranging from verbal threats and swearing to hitting and kicking a child, are associated with child adjustment, indicated by strengths and difficulties scale (SDQ) total problem score, internalizing and externalizing problems as well as prosocial behaviour. We also study whether girls and boys and youths in two Nordic countries respond differently to parental violence.

Risk factors for violence exposure and attributable healthcare costs: results from the Danish national health interview surveys.

Aims: To describe the characteristics of men and women exposed to physical violence, to identify risk factors for violence exposure and to quantify the attributable healthcare costs of violence.

Methods: The Danish national health interview surveys of 2000 and 2005 included data on exposure to defined forms of physical violence over the last 12 months. Respondents who reported exposure to violence during the past year were compared with a reference group of non-exposed respondents, and data were merged with the National Health Registers.

Identifying victims of violence using register-based data.

Aims: The aim of this study was twofold. Firstly we identified victims of violence in national registers and discussed strengths and weaknesses of this approach. Secondly we assessed the magnitude of violence and the characteristics of the victims using register-based data.

Self-reported violence amongst adolescents in Denmark: is alcohol a serious risk factor?

Aim: To describe the prevalence of adolescents' exposure to different types of violence (at home and outside the home) and associations between severe violence and alcohol consumption, taking account of gender and the influence of other factors.

Methods: A multimedia computer-based survey amongst a nationally representative sample of 9th grade pupils included comprehensive data on exposure to physical violence, use of alcohol and additional socio-demographic and behavioural factors. Analyses included gender disaggregated cross tabulations and logistic regressions.