Disability Pension at the Time of Coronary Revascularisation Is Associated with Higher Five-Year Mortality; A Swedish Nationwide, Register-Based Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: Although coronary revascularisation by coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are common procedures, little is known regarding disability pension (DP) at the time of coronary revascularisation and its association with mortality. The aim was to investigate the five-year mortality following a first coronary revascularisation among women and men on DP, compared with those not on DP at the time of intervention, accounting for socio-demographic and medical factors.

Material And Methods: A nationwide prospective population-based cohort study was conducted, using national registers including 70,040 patients (80% men), aged 30-64 years, with a first CABG (n = 24,987; 36%) or PCI (n = 45,053; 64%) during 1994-2006 in Sweden, who were alive 30 days after the intervention.

Prevalence of all-cause and diagnosis-specific disability pension at the time of first coronary revascularisation: a population-based Swedish cross-sectional study.

Background: Although coronary revascularisation by coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is well documented, scientific knowledge on disability pension (DP) at the time of revascularisation is lacking. The aim was to investigate the prevalence of all-cause and diagnosis-specific DP at the time of a first coronary revascularisation, accounting for socio-demographic and medical factors.

Materials And Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study using Swedish registers was conducted including all 65,676 patients (80% men) who when aged 30-63 years, within 1994-2006, had a first CABG (n = 22,959) or PCI (n = 42,717) and did not have old-age pension.

Disability pension after coronary revascularization: a prospective nationwide register-based Swedish cohort study.

Background: Scientific knowledge on disability pension (DP) after revascularization by coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is scarce. The aim was to study the incidence of and risk factors for being granted DP in the 5 years following a first CABG or PCI, accounting for socio-demographic and medical factors.

Methods: This is a nationwide population-based study using Swedish registers including all patients 30-63 years of age (n = 34,643, 16.

Sickness absence following coronary revascularisation. A national study of women and men of working age in Sweden 1994-2006.

Background: Evidence based and gender specific knowledge about sickness absence following coronary revascularisation is lacking. The objective was to investigate sickness absence after a first coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) among women and men in a national Swedish study.

Materials And Methods: All patients 30-63 years of age, who underwent a first CABG (n = 22,985, 16% women) or PCI (40,891, 22% women) in Sweden between 1994 and 2006 were included.

Risk of ischaemic heart disease and cardiomyopathy in patients with haemochromatosis and in their first-degree relatives: a nationwide, population-based study.

Background: Iron-loaded macrophages increase atherosclerosis formation. Genetic haemochromatosis (GH) is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by iron overload, for example in the myocardium, but the reticuloendothelial system is depleted of iron. In contrast to the elevated risk of cardiomyopathy in GH, the risk of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) may therefore not be increased.

Long-term effects of spinal cord stimulation on angina symptoms and quality of life in patients with refractory angina pectoris--results from the European Angina Registry Link Study (EARL).

Objective: To assess the long-term effect of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) on angina symptoms and quality of life in patients with refractory angina pectoris defined as severe angina due to coronary artery disease resistant to conventional pharmacological therapy and/or revascularisation.

Methods: During 2003-2005, all patients with refractory angina referred for SCS treatment at 10 European centres were consecutively included in the European registry for refractory angina (European Angina Registry Link, EARL), a prospective, 3-year follow-up study. In the present study, the SCS-treated patients were followed-up regarding angina symptoms and quality of life assessed was with a generic (Short Form 36, SF-36) and a disease-specific (Seattle Angina Questionnaire, SAQ) quality of life questionnaire.

Country of birth and survival after a first myocardial infarction in Stockholm, Sweden.

Aim: To analyse survival after a first myocardial infarction among immigrants in Stockholm, Sweden.

Methods: All cases of first myocardial infarction among persons 30-74 years of age during 1985-1996 in Stockholm, Sweden were identified using registers of hospital discharges and deaths. Cases surviving 28 days were followed with regard to mortality during one year.

Renal insufficiency and long-term mortality and incidence of myocardial infarction in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.

Aims: To evaluate the impact of renal insufficiency (RI) on long-term mortality and incident myocardial infarction (MI) in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

Methods And Results: All patients (n = 6575) without dialysis-dependent RI undergoing a first isolated CABG during 1980-1995 at the Karolinska hospital who survived 30 days post-operatively were included. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was related to the incidence of MI and all-cause mortality within 5 years.

Survival of patients with kyphoscoliosis receiving mechanical ventilation or oxygen at home.

Background: Home mechanical ventilation (HMV) and long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) are the two treatment alternatives when treating respiratory insufficiency in patients with kyphoscoliosis. We aimed to study the effect on survival with regard to HMV or LTOT alone in patients with respiratory insufficiency due to kyphoscoliosis.

Methods: Swedish patients with nonparalytic kyphoscoliosis (ie, scoliosis not related to neuromuscular disorders) who started LTOT or HMV between 1996 and 2004 were followed up prospectively until February 14, 2006, with death as the primary outcome.

Mitral annulus motion as a predictor of mortality in a community-based sample of 75-year-old men and women.

Mitral annulus motion (MAM) is a predictor of mortality in selected patient groups, but its prognostic value in less selected populations is not known. In a community-based random sample of 75-year-old men and women (n = 408), left ventricular function was measured as: (1) maximum amplitude of MAM; and (2) wall-motion index. During a median follow-up of 7.

Socio-economic status and lung cancer risk including histologic subtyping--a longitudinal study.

We investigated prospectively the risk of lung cancer in relation to socio-economic status (SES) in 22,387 middle-aged individuals who attended a screening program in the city of Malmö, Sweden between 1974 and 1992. We also examined the relationship between SES and histologic subtype in smokers. By 2003, a total of 550 lung cancer cases had been identified.

Creatinine clearance and risk of early mortality in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.

Objectives: We sought to evaluate renal function assessed on the basis of calculated creatinine clearance as a predictor of early mortality and postoperative complications in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting and to assess whether calculated creatinine clearance is superior to serum creatinine concentration in predicting early death postoperatively.

Methods: Six thousand seven hundred eleven consecutive patients without dialysis-dependent renal insufficiency undergoing a first isolated coronary artery bypass grafting were included. Preoperative serum creatinine concentrations and creatinine clearance calculated by using the Cockroft-Gault formula were related to mortality within 30 days postoperatively.

Mortality in GOLD stages of COPD and its dependence on symptoms of chronic bronchitis.

Background: The GOLD classification of COPD severity introduces a stage 0 (at risk) comprising individuals with productive cough and normal lung function. The aims of this study were to investigate total mortality risks in GOLD stages 0-4 with special focus on stage 0, and furthermore to assess the influence of symptoms of chronic bronchitis on mortality risks in GOLD stages 1-4.

Method: Between 1974 and 1992, a total of 22,044 middle-aged individuals participated in a health screening, which included a spirometry as well as recording of respiratory symptoms and smoking habits.

Outcome of ST-elevation myocardial infarction treated with thrombolysis in the unselected population is vastly different from samples of eligible patients in a large-scale clinical trial.

Background: Patients in clinical trials of fibrinolytic agents have been shown to be younger, less often female, and to have lower risk characteristics and a better outcome compared with unselected patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction. However, a direct comparison of patients treated with fibrinolytic agents and not enrolled versus those enrolled in a trial, including a large number of patients, has not been performed.

Methods: Prospective data from the Swedish Register of Cardiac Intensive Care on patients admitted with acute myocardial infarction treated with thrombolytic agents in 60 Swedish hospitals were linked to data on trial participants in the ASsessment of Safety and Efficacy of a New Thrombolytic (ASSENT)-2 trial of fibrinolytic agents.

Electrocardiogram and B-type natriuretic peptide as screening tools for left ventricular systolic dysfunction in a population-based sample of 75-year-old men and women.

Background: Plasma concentration of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) has been suggested as a powerful screening tool for left ventricular systolic dysfunction. However, there are reports indicating that the 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) could be just as powerful. We aimed to evaluate the 12-lead ECG and BNP as screening tools for left ventricular systolic dysfunction in an elderly, unselected population.

[Newly referred patients with COPD at the Central Hospital in Kristianstad. Important to use good quality indicators].

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is an increasingly common lung disease with a progressive course. The disease significantly impacts patients' physical performance and quality of life. Quality indicators for a specific disease should be able to be registered continuously.

One-year follow-up of the ASSENT-2 trial: a double-blind, randomized comparison of single-bolus tenecteplase and front-loaded alteplase in 16,949 patients with ST-elevation acute myocardial infarction.

Background: Single-bolus tenecteplase and accelerated alteplase were shown to be equivalent for 30-day mortality rates in the double-blind Assessment of the Safety of a New Thrombolytic (ASSENT-2) study. The aim of this study is to assess mortality rates after 1-year follow-up.

Methods And Results: One-year vital status was obtained from 92.

Effects of low-dose warfarin and aspirin versus no treatment on stroke in a medium-risk patient population with atrial fibrillation.

Objectives: To assess the optimal stroke prevention treatment for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and a low-medium risk (< or =4%) of stroke.

Design: A total of 668 patients with persistent or permanent AF, without an indication for full dose and with adequate rate control on sotalol, were randomized to warfarin 1.25 mg + aspirin 75 mg daily (W/A, 334 patients) or no anticoagulation (C, 334 patients).

Mitral annulus motion compared with wall motion scoring index in the assessment of left ventricular ejection fraction.

The biplane disc summation method is the recommended echocardiographic procedure to determine left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF). Assessment of mitral annulus motion (MAM) or wall motion scoring index (WMI) has been reported to be less dependent on image quality compared with the recommended method, and proposed as a surrogate to the disc summation method in calculation of LVEF. We aimed to compare MAM and WMI in the echocardiographic assessment of LVEF.

Low molecular weight heparin (dalteparin) compared to unfractionated heparin as an adjunct to rt-PA (alteplase) for improvement of coronary artery patency in acute myocardial infarction-the ASSENT Plus study.

Background: Current thrombolytic-antithrombotic regimens in acute myocardialinfarction (AMI) are limited by incomplete early coronary reperfusion and by reocclusion and reinfarction. We compared the effects of low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) versus unfractionated heparin (UFH) as an adjunct to recombinant tissue-plasminogen activator (alteplase) on coronary artery patency and clinical outcomes in AMI.

Methods: Patients with AMI treated with alteplase (n=439) were randomised to either subcutaneous dalteparin (120 IU/kg every 12h) for 4-7 days or intravenous infusion of UFH for 48 h.

Long-term oxygen therapy and quality of life in elderly patients hospitalised due to severe exacerbation of COPD. A 1 year follow-up study.

The aim of this study was (1) to evaluate the effects of long-term oxygen treatment (LTOT) in elderly patients with severe exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and hypoxaemia, (2) to study the health-related quality of life (QOL) during hospital stay and at follow-up, (3) to study the safety of an oxygen withdrawal test performed a few days after admission to hospital and the possibility to predict the future need for LTOT from that test. Patients > 70 years with COPD-exacerbations with hypoxaemia were included after 5-7 days treatment in hospital. Inclusion was based on results of a standardised oxygen withdrawal test.

Incidence and predictors of bleeding events after fibrinolytic therapy with fibrin-specific agents: a comparison of TNK-tPA and rt-PA.

Background: Fibrinolytic therapy increases the risk of bleeding events. TNK-tPA (tenecteplase) is a variant of rt-PA with greater fibrin specificity and reduced plasma clearance that can be given as a single bolus. We compared the incidence and predictors of bleeding events after treatment with TNK-tPA and rt-PA.