History, Implementation and Current Use of the IFCC-IUPAC's Nomenclature for Properties and Units (NPU) Terminology in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Electronic exchange of health care data demands code/terminology systems. In the Scandinavian countries, the IFCC-IUPAC's Nomenclature for Properties and Units (NPU) terminology is used for results in biochemistry, pharmacology, and immunology. Implementation, use and administration of NPU has differed between the countries despite similar health care and lab sectors.

Trends in overweight and obesity in Bergen, Norway, using data from routine child healthcare 2010-2022.

Aim: Trends in childhood overweight, obesity and severe obesity have been lacking in Norway. This study assessed pre-pandemic trends from 2010 to 2019 and evaluated differences in prevalence during the 2020-2022 pandemic years.

Methods: Routine height and weight measurements from child and school health centres were extracted retrospectively from children aged 2, 4, 6, 8 and 13 years.

[Cervical sample-taking in the primary health service].

Background: In Norway, approximately 360 000 cervical screening samples were taken in 2020, of which 11 000 were registered as inadequate. We therefore wished to investigate doctors' knowledge of cervical sample-taking in the primary health service.

Material And Method: An anonymous survey on cervical sample-taking was sent by email to around 4 700 members of the Norwegian College of General Practice in September 2021.

Aggregated data from the same laboratories participating in two glucose external quality assessment schemes show that commutability and transfers of values to control materials are decisive for the biases found.

Objectives: We report the results of glucose measurements performed during one year by the same measurement procedures (MPs) in 58 Norwegian hospital laboratories using control materials provided by external quality assessment (EQA) schemes from two different providers. The providers used materials with presumed vs. verified commutability and transfers of values using reference material vs.

Parental income gradients in child and adolescent mortality: Norwegian trends over half a century.

Background: Child mortality has declined rapidly over the last century in many high-income countries. However, little is known about the socio-economic differences in this decline and whether these vary across causes of death.

Methods: We used register data that included all Norwegian births between 1968 and 2010 (2.

Throat infections and use of streptococcal antigen test and antibiotic treatment in general practice; a web-based survey.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the use of streptococcal antigen tests and antibiotic prescription in general practice in Norway in relation to the national guidelines for sore throat.

Design: This study was based on a web-based survey.

Setting: Norwegian general practice.

Direct-to-consumer laboratory testing (DTCT): challenges and implications for specialists in laboratory medicine.

diagnostics (IVD) testing is a powerful tool for medical diagnosis, and patients' safety is guaranteed by a complex system of personnel qualification of the specialist in laboratory medicine, of process control, and legal restrictions in healthcare, most of them under national regulation. Direct-to-consumer laboratory testing (DTCT) is testing ordered by the consumer and performed either by the consumer at home or analysis of self-collected samples in a laboratory. However, since DTCT are not always subject to effective competent authority oversight, DTCT may pose risks to lay persons using and relying on it for healthcare decision-making.

Porphyria cutanea tarda and patterns of long-term sick leave and disability pension: a 24-year nationwide matched-cohort study.

Background: Porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) is a skin disorder caused by a defect in the liver enzyme uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase and is associated with hepatitis C virus infection, high alcohol intake, smoking and iron overload. Data on the long-term morbidity of PCT is lacking.

Methods: We conducted a nationwide matched cohort study over a 24-year period.

Parental income gradients in adult health: a national cohort study.

Background: Disparities in health by adult income are well documented, but we know less about the childhood origins of health inequalities, and it remains unclear how the shape of the gradient varies across health conditions. This study examined the association between parental income in childhood and several measures of morbidity in adulthood.

Methods: We used administrative data on seven complete Norwegian birth cohorts born in 1967-1973 (N = 429,886) to estimate the association between parental income from birth to age 18, obtained from tax records available from 1967, linked with administrative registries on health.

Evaluation of 32 rapid tests for detection of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

Aims: To evaluate the analytical performance of 32 rapid tests for detection of antibodies against coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

Materials And Methods: We used at total of 262 serum samples (197 pre-pandemic and 65 convalescent COVID-19), and three criteria to evaluate the rapid tests under standardized and optimal conditions: (i) Immunoglobulin G (IgG) specificity "good" if lower limit of the 95% confidence interval was ≥ 97.0%, "acceptable" if point estimate was ≥ 97.

Diagnostic performance of a SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test in a large, Norwegian cohort.

Background: Rapid antigen tests (RATs) may be included in national strategies for handling the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, as they provide test results rapidly, are easily performed outside laboratories, and enable immediate contract tracing. However, before implementation further clinical evaluation of test sensitivity is warranted.

Objectives: To examine the performance of Abbott's Panbio™ COVID-19 Ag Rapid Test Device for SARS-CoV-2 testing in a low to medium prevalence setting in Norway.

Alcohol-attributed disease burden in four Nordic countries between 2000 and 2017: Are the gender gaps narrowing? A comparison using the Global Burden of Disease, Injury and Risk Factor 2017 study.

Introduction And Aims: The gender difference in alcohol use seems to have narrowed in the Nordic countries, but it is not clear to what extent this may have affected differences in levels of harm. We compared gender differences in all-cause and cause-specific alcohol-attributed disease burden, as measured by disability-adjusted life-years (DALY), in four Nordic countries in 2000-2017, to find out if gender gaps in DALYs had narrowed.

Design And Methods: Alcohol-attributed disease burden by DALYs per 100 000 population with 95% uncertainty intervals were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease database.

Spirometry in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Norwegian general practice.

Background: General practitioners (GPs) in Norway increasingly use spirometry diagnostically as well as in follow up of patients with respiratory complaints, but little is known about their skills and knowledge in this area. The aim of the present study was to investigate how GPs interpret a case history and spirometry recordings of a patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and their knowledge about their own spirometer.

Methods: A web-based survey, consisting of a case history and spirometry recordings of a patient with COPD, was distributed to the 4700 members of the Norwegian GP Association.

Evaluation of eleven rapid tests for detection of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

Objectives: SARS-CoV-2, causing COVID-19, has emerged to cause a human pandemic. Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in respiratory samples by using PCR is the standard laboratory diagnostic tool. Our aim was to perform a limited evaluation of the diagnostic performance and user-friendliness of eleven rapid tests for detection of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

Parental education and the risk of cerebral palsy for children: an evaluation of causality.

Aim: To explore whether increasing parental education has a causal effect on risk of cerebral palsy (CP) in the child, or whether unobserved confounding is a more likely explanation.

Method: We used data from Norwegian registries on approximately 1.5 million children born between 1967 and 2011.

Availability and analytical quality of hemoglobin A1c point-of-care testing in general practitioners' offices are associated with better glycemic control in type 2 diabetes.

Background It is not clear if point-of-care (POC) testing for hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is associated with glycemic control in type 2 diabetes. Methods In this cross-sectional study, we linked general practitioner (GP) data on 22,778 Norwegian type 2 diabetes patients to data from the Norwegian Organization for Quality Improvement of Laboratory Examinations. We used general and generalized linear mixed models to investigate if GP offices' availability (yes/no) and analytical quality of HbA1c POC testing (average yearly "trueness score", 0-4), as well as frequency of participation in HbA1c external quality assurance (EQA) surveys, were associated with patients' HbA1c levels during 2014-2017.

Sick leave, disability, and mortality in acute hepatic porphyria: a nationwide cohort study.

Background: Acute hepatic porphyria (AHP) consists of three rare metabolic disorders. We investigated the risk of long-term sick leave, disability pension, and premature death in individuals with AHP compared to the general population.

Methods: In a nationwide cohort study from 1992 to 2017, records of 333 persons (total person-years = 6728) with a confirmed AHP diagnosis were linked to several national compulsory registries (reference population = 5,819,937).

Association of Household Income With Life Expectancy and Cause-Specific Mortality in Norway, 2005-2015.

Importance: Examining causes of death and making comparisons across countries may increase understanding of the income-related differences in life expectancy.

Objectives: To describe income-related differences in life expectancy and causes of death in Norway and to compare those differences with US estimates.

Design And Setting: A registry-based study including all Norwegian residents aged at least 40 years from 2005 to 2015.

Porphyria cutanea tarda increases risk of hepatocellular carcinoma and premature death: a nationwide cohort study.

Background: Porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) is a skin disorder originating from a deficit of the liver enzyme uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase. PCT may be a risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and other cancers, but the evidence is unclear. We aimed to investigate cancer and premature mortality risk in persons with PCT.

Disease burden in Norway in 2016.

Bakgrunn: For å kunne møte helseutfordringer i befolkningen trenger vi oversikt over befolkningens helsetilstand. I Norge har vi tradisjonelt hatt god oversikt over dødsårsaker, men vi vet mindre om byrden fra tilstander som medfører sykelighet, såkalt ikke-dødelig helsetap. Vårt mål var å beskrive den totale sykdomsbyrden i Norge i 2016, utviklingen de siste ti årene samt kjønnsforskjeller i sykdomsbyrde.

Parental socioeconomic status and risk of cerebral palsy in the child: evidence from two Nordic population-based cohorts.

Background: We investigated whether the risk of cerebral palsy (CP) in the child varies by parents' socioeconomic status, in Denmark and Norway.

Methods: We included almost 1.3 million children born in Demark during 1981-2007 and 2.

Use of paracetamol, ibuprofen or aspirin in pregnancy and risk of cerebral palsy in the child.

Background: It has been debated whether mild analgesics, mainly paracetamol, adversely affect aspects of neurodevelopment. We examined whether mother's use of paracetamol, aspirin or ibuprofen in pregnancy is associated with increased risk of cerebral palsy (CP) in the child.

Method: We included 185 617 mother-child pairs from the Danish National Birth Cohort and the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study.