Always stay cheerful - health information in the 1920s.

Background: The interwar period was a time of comprehensive preventive health programmes in Norway. Physical exercise, nutritious diets, strict sleep regimens and better hygiene were at the centre of these efforts. A massive mobilisation of volunteers and professionals took place.

Re-examining the link between prenatal maternal anxiety and child emotional difficulties, using a sibling design.

Background: Prenatal exposure to maternal anxiety has been associated with child emotional difficulties in a number of epidemiological studies. One key concern, however, is that this link is vulnerable to confounding by pleiotropic genes or environmental family factors.

Methods: Data on 82 383 mothers and children from the population-based Mother and Child Cohort Study and data on 21 980 siblings were used in this study.

[Overweight children--how important is the urban/rural factor?].

Background: Targeted measures to prevent overweight children are dependent on a knowledge of which environmental factors play a part. We wanted to investigate whether overweight in Norwegian eight-year-olds is related to whether they live in urban or rural areas.

Material And Method: In the cross-sectional study "Children's growth in Norway 2008", the weight, height and waist of 3473 eight-year-olds were measured.

Childhood abuse and later worries about the baby's health in pregnancy.

Objective: to explore the associations between sexual and/or physical abuse in childhood and worries about the baby's health in pregnancy.

Design: cross-sectional questionnaire study. Setting.

Intrauterine exposure to caffeine and inattention/overactivity in children.

Aim: To determine the association between intrauterine exposure to timing and sources of caffeine and inattention/overactivity, suggesting ADHD in the child.

Method: This study used prospectively collected data from the large population-based study, The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Participants were 25 343 mothers and their 18-month-old children.

Postpartum depression among Pakistani women in Norway: prevalence and risk factors.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of and risk factors for postpartum depression among Pakistani women in Norway.

Methods: A total of 207 pregnant Pakistani women living in Norway participated in a questionnaire study. The author interviewed the women face to face during pregnancy and 6 to 12 weeks after delivery.

Overweight and obesity among adolescents in Norway: cultural and socio-economic differences.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate overweight and obesity among a representative population of 15,966 Norwegian 15-16 year olds and the associations with different socio-economic and cultural risk factors.

Methods: Self-reported data were obtained from school-based surveys in six counties during 2000-04. Overweight and obesity were calculated using Cole's index.

Job adjustment and absence from work in mid-pregnancy in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa).

Background: Pregnant women at work have special needs, and sick leave is common. However, job adjustment in pregnancy is addressed in European legislation. Our main objective was to examine if job adjustment was associated with reduced absence.

[Sense of coherence for parents of disabled children].

Background: The link between chronic illness in children and their parents' sense of coherence has not previously been studied in Norway.

Material And Method: The study population was composed of two different samples. The first sample was randomised and taken from children in Norway aged 2 to 17 years in 1996.

The biobank of the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study: a resource for the next 100 years.

Introduction: Long-term storage of biological materials is a critical component of any epidemiological study. In designing specimen repositories, efforts need to balance future needs for samples with logistical constraints necessary to process and store samples in a timely fashion.

Objectives: In the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), the Biobank was charged with long-term storage of more than 380,000 biological samples from pregnant women, their partners and their children for up to 100 years.

Parental reported bullying among Nordic children: a population-based study.

Background: Bullying has been shown to be a serious problem amongst school children, but few studies have been population-based and included pre-school children.

Methods: The study is part of a cross-sectional comparative study in 1984 and 1996, focusing on children's and their families' health and welfare in the Nordic countries. At each point of time parents of 3000 randomly selected children aged 2-17 years in each of five Nordic countries received a postal questionnaire.

[Revisiting the Forsdahl-Barker hypothesis].

The hypothesis about the influence of the environment in early life for later health and development has been the basis for several hundred studies over the last two decades. Despite some diverging results in different studies and methodological shortcomings, including selection and confounding from socio-economic and other factors, there seems to be substantial evidence to the effect that the environment in early life is essential for later health and development. The association of low birthweight and risk of cardiovascular disease later in life is the most consistent finding, though the causal pathways for this connection have not been traced.

[Occasional smoking--an increasing problem].

Little attention is given to occasional smoking compared with daily smoking. However, there are indications that there is a continuous increase in occasional smoking throughout the western world. In Norway, 33% of smokers do not smoke daily.

[Postnatal care in a cross-cultural and historical perspective].

Background: In most societies, birth and the immediate postpartum period are considered a time of vulnerability for mother and child. Rituals for major changes in the life cycle are common in most societies. The aim of this study was to present some examples of postpartum customs in a cross-cultural and historical perspective.

Recurrent pain in children, socio-economic factors and accumulation in families.

The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of parent-reported pain among children in the Nordic countries in 1996, and to describe the association between recurrent pain in children and parental socio-economic factors. We also wanted to estimate the association between parental pain and childhood pain and co-occurrence of different pain patterns in the same child. Data were obtained from a cross-sectional survey on children's health and well-being in the Nordic countries in 1996.

Health service utilization in the Nordic countries in 1996: Influence of socio-economic factors among children with and without chronic health conditions.

Background: Previous studies have shown social, economic and psychological factors that influence consulting behaviour, but the health service use of children is seldom studied.

Method: Data from a cross-sectional study conducted in 1996 including approximately 10,000 children aged 2-17 years in the Nordic countries were analysed according to health service use, measured as consulting a general practitioner (GP) or a specialist during the last three months prior to the survey.

Results: Approximately one-fifth of the children in the survey had visited a GP and about one-seventh had visited a specialist.

[Recurrent pain in children and parents--no factual evidence of familial pain clustering].

Recurrent pain in children is a universal phenomenon, which occurs in about 50 percent of all children. The most prevalent pain areas are the stomach, head, back and neck/shoulders. A somatic cause of the symptoms is seldom found, but the pain is often related to other discomforts, problems or lack of family functioning.

[Nasal congestion and earache--upper respiratory tract infections in 4-year-old children].

Background: Few population-based studies in Norway have addressed upper respiratory infections in children.

Material And Methods: A questionnaire concerning health, diseases and living condition was administered to parents of all four-year-old children in Vestfold county (n = 1912). Participation rate was 79%.

Recurrent pain symptoms in children and parents.

Unlabelled: Recurrent pain in five different areas (stomach, arms & legs, head, back and neck & shoulders) in a population of 348 school children and their parents has been investigated. The study presented here is restricted to 229 mother-father-child trios. Forty-four percent of the children reported pain in at least one area compared to 60% of the mothers and 51% of the fathers.

[Drug prescription to 4-year-old children in the county of Vestfold].

We carried out a study of four-year-old children's general health, diseases and use of medicines over a 12-month period in 1995-96. The study was based on a questionnaire administered in connection with the regular health controls. Questionnaires from 1,912 children were returned, representing 79% of children born during one year in the county.

[Regional differences in the incidence of femoral neck fractures in Norway].

Studies reporting data from the late seventies indicated there were significant differences in the incidence of hip fracture from county to county in Norway. We used the most recent available data on the occurrence of hip fracture in 1994 and 1995 and analyzed regional variations in the incidence of hip fracture, standardized for age and sex, among people aged 65 years and over. In 1994 and 1995 16,779 hip fractures occurred in Norway among people aged 65 years and over, making an overall annual crude incidence rate of 12.