Economic effects of priority setting in healthcare: a scoping review of current evidence.

Objectives: Study objective was to map the current literature on the economic effects of priority setting at the system level in healthcare.

Design: The study was conducted as a scoping review.

Data Sources: Scopus electronic database was searched in June 2023.

Health promotion and disease prevention in the education of health professionals: a mapping of European educational programmes from 2019.

Background: Health professionals face barriers in carrying out effective health promotion and disease prevention. To indicate what are the needs for curriculum development in educational programmes, this study aims to provide an overview of how various health professionals are currently trained in health promotion and disease prevention at different educational levels.

Methods: In 2019, a descriptive mapping exercise was performed focusing on European programmes for different health and healthcare professionals at the three levels of education (undergraduate, postgraduate, and continuous professional development [CPD]).

Eight-year post-trial follow-up of morbidity and mortality of telephone health coaching.

Background: Health coaching is a patient-centred approach to supporting self-management for the chronic conditions. However, long-term evidence of effectiveness of health coaching remains scarce. The object of this study was to evaluate the long-term effect of telephone health coaching (THC) on mortality and morbidity among people with type 2 diabetes (T2D), coronary artery disease (CAD) and congestive heart failure (CHF).

Eight-year post-trial follow-up of health care and long-term care costs of tele-based health coaching.

Objective: To evaluate the long-term effect of telephone health coaching on health care and long-term care (LTC) costs in type 2 diabetes (T2D) and coronary artery disease (CAD) patients.

Data Sources/study Setting: Randomized controlled trial (RCT) data were linked to Finnish national health and social care registries and electronic health records (EHR). Post-trial eight-year economic evaluation was conducted.

Weight concerns as a predictor of smoking cessation according to nicotine dependence: A population-based study.

Background: Nicotine-dependent smokers find it difficult to quit smoking. Additionally, smoking-specific weight concerns may affect smoking cessation although the evidence is controversial. We investigated whether smoking-specific weight concerns predict the probability of cessation and, if so, whether the effect varies according to the level of nicotine dependence.

Social climate on tobacco control in an advanced tobacco control country: A population-based study in Finland.

Aims: Finland has implemented a gradually tightening tobacco control policy for decades. Recently the objective of a tobacco-free Finland was introduced. Still, the population's acceptance of tobacco control policy has not been measured.

Smoking status and abdominal obesity among normal- and overweight/obese adults: Population-based FINRISK study.

Several studies have reported direct associations of smoking with body mass index (BMI) and abdominal obesity. However, the interplay between them is poorly understood. Our first aim was to investigate the interaction between smoking status and BMI on abdominal obesity (waist circumference, WC).

Associations of Weight Concerns With Self-Efficacy and Motivation to Quit Smoking: A Population-Based Study Among Finnish Daily Smokers.

Introduction: Concerns about weight gain occurring after smoking cessation may affect motivation and self-efficacy towards quitting smoking. We examined associations of smoking-specific weight concerns with smoking cessation motivation and self-efficacy in a population-based cross-sectional sample of daily smokers.

Methods: Six-hundred biochemically verified (blood cotinine) current daily smokers comprising 318 men and 282 women aged 25-74 years, were studied as part of the National FINRISK (Finnish Population Survey on Risk Factors on Chronic, Noncommunicable Diseases) study and its DIetary, Lifestyle and Genetic factors in the development of Obesity and Metabolic syndrome (DILGOM) sub-study that was conducted in Finland in 2007.

Smoking and attitudes towards it and its cessation among dental students in Latvia.

Background: The prevalence of smoking is higher in Latvia than in most EU countries. This study aimed to determine the level of knowledge of dental students in Latvia about the effects of smoking on oral health and their attitudes toward smoking and its cessation.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey among all the dental students in Latvia was conducted in 2011.

Smoking, nicotine dependence and nicotine intake by socio-economic status and marital status.

Introduction: Low socio-economic status (SES) is strongly related to smoking, but studies examining the association of SES with nicotine dependence (ND) are scarce. The aim of this study was to examine the associations of SES and marital status with smoking, multiple measures of ND, and cotinine as a nicotine intake biomarker.

Methods: The sample comprised 1746 ever smokers, sampled from the National FINRISK 2007 Study, who had completed a tobacco specific questionnaire in addition to the standard clinical examination.

[New challenges for the medical professionalism].

The right of a doctor to conduct her/his profession consists of the patients' confidence in the doctor's professionalism and competence as well as the confidence of the medical profession in the doctor's commitment to act in a professional manner. Professionalism maintains and defines the interaction between the medical profession and the society. It functions on three levels: choices and behavior of individuals, activities between people, and functioning of organizations.

Weight concerns among Finnish ever-smokers: a population-based study.

Introduction: Concern over weight gain after smoking cessation has been hypothesized to discourage quit attempts and consequently reduce smoking cessation rates. The aim of this study was to examine the association between smoking status and weight concerns among a population-based sample of Finnish ever-smokers.

Methods: Data were collected in conjunction with the National FINRISK 2007 Study from a population-based sample of 25- to 74-yearold Finns.

Physicians' knowledge of and adherence to improving oral health.

Background: Integration of oral health promotion into general health care has been highly recommended by the World Health Organization. Primary-care physicians can as part of their general health care promote and contribute to improved oral health care. Our aim was to investigate primary-care physicians' knowledge of oral health, their attitudes toward delivering oral health care (OHC), and their willingness to obtain more education in this field.

Diurnal Evening Type is Associated with Current Smoking, Nicotine Dependence and Nicotine Intake in the Population Based National FINRISK 2007 Study.

AIMS: To examine whether smoking habits, nicotine dependence (ND) and plasma cotinine levels differ by diurnal type. DESIGN: Data originated from the national FINRISK 2007 survey. Regression analyses were calculated to examine the association between diurnal type and smoking status, ND, and nicotine intake.

Health coaching by telephony to support self-care in chronic diseases: clinical outcomes from The TERVA randomized controlled trial.

Background: The aim was to evaluate the effect of a 12-month individualized health coaching intervention by telephony on clinical outcomes.

Methods: An open-label cluster-randomized parallel groups trial. Pre- and post-intervention anthropometric and blood pressure measurements by trained nurses, laboratory measures from electronic medical records (EMR).

Age, marital status and changes in dietary habits in later life: a 21-year follow-up among Finnish women.

Objective: To examine 21-year longitudinal changes in dietary habits and their associations with age and marital status among women aged 50-60 years at baseline.

Design: Prospective, longitudinal study of a cohort in the FINMONICA population-based risk factor survey with clinical assessments in 1982, 1992 and 2003. Dietary habits were assessed via self-reported consumption of foods typically contributing to SFA, cholesterol and sugar intakes in the Finnish diet.

Use of and attitudes toward current care guidelines among primary and secondary care nurses in Finland.

Attitudes toward, familiarity with, and use of clinical guidelines in general and the national Hypertension Guideline were studied. A questionnaire study was conducted before and after an educational program (VALTIT) among primary and secondary care nurses in Päijät-Häme, Finland. The program included centralized training sessions and interactive local workshops.

Does the need for professional competencies change during the physician's career?--A Finnish national survey.

Background: Competence consists of a range of skills, knowledge and attitudes that physicians utilize in their work. Different models for defining physician competency areas have been used in medical organizations. The goal of this study was to explore how Finnish physicians perceive the need for different competency areas in their work.

[Evaluation of tobacco addiction among adolescents and its treatment within the health care].

Evaluation and treatment of tobacco addiction among adolescents require partly different means than those for adults. Some adolescents are hooked already from the first cigarettes. Indicators of dependence designed for adults and based on regular smoking are suitable for daily smoking adolescents.

Smokers' accounts on the health risks of smoking: why is smoking not dangerous for me?

Drawing on qualitative interviews with forty smokers, aged 24-58 years, in Finland, this study aimed to identify key accounts that smokers used to respond to the hegemonic claim that smoking is harmful to health. While the smokers defended themselves in the face of the presumed health risk argument, they both agreed with and challenged the predominant medical and epidemiological discourses. The five most frequently observed account types that the smokers used were: health risk perspective, moderate use is not harmful, counter-evidence, compensatory behaviour, and smoking as the lesser evil.

[Competence in the medical profession: a need for a wider perspective?].

Working as a physician requires versatile competence, which has been dissected by using various models. Most of these include medical knowledge, patient work, interactive skills, multiprofessional collaboration, management of operational processes within medical and health care, and information technology skills. Without feedback, the ability of physicians to evaluate their developmental needs is poor, whereby the development of competence should be tied on the basis of needs to on-the-job learning and functionality.

Adult smoking as a proxy for environmental tobacco smoke exposure among children - comparing the impact of the level of information in Estonia, Finland and Latvia.

Objective: International comparability of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure levels is difficult. This study assesses whether estimating children's exposure from information on adult smoking and exposure to ETS makes international comparisons more reliable.

Methods: The exposure among children was estimated using three different combinations (models) based on different sets of information on adult smoking, household composition or adult exposure to ETS at home in three cross-sectional nationally representative samples drawn from data sets from Estonia (n=2650), Finland (n=2829) and Latvia (n=5440) in the years 2002 and 2004.

Trends of tobacco use in Sweden and Finland: do differences in tobacco policy relate to tobacco use?

Background: Sweden and Finland, neighbouring countries in Scandinavia, share features in health and social policies but retain a few differences in tobacco policy, including oral tobacco product regulation. This paper analyses the differences between tobacco policy and tobacco use between these two countries.

Material: Representative data sets from both countries, for age groups 18 to 64, were used to compare the status of tobacco use.

Smoking and related factors of the social environment among adolescents in the Republic of Karelia, Russia in 1995 and 2004.

Background: To investigate changes in smoking prevalence associated with social factors and existing health policies among adolescents in Russia from 1995 to 2004.

Methods: In 1995 and 2004 a confidential questionnaire was distributed to every 9th grade student of all 10 comprehensive schools of the Pitkäranta in Republic of Karelia, Russia. In 1995, 385 children participated in the survey (response rate 95%) and 395 children (response rate 85%) in 2004.