Comparison of sociodemographic factors, healthcare utilisation by general practitioner visits, somatic hospital admissions, and medication use in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.

Purpose: The healthcare systems in Scandinavia inform nationwide registers and the Scandinavian populations are increasingly combined in research. We aimed to compare Norway (NO), Sweden (SE), and Denmark (DK) regarding sociodemographic factors and healthcare.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed aggregated data from the nationwide Scandinavian registers.

Time to pregnancy and life expectancy: a cohort study of 18 796 pregnant couples.

Study Question: Is fecundity, measured as time to pregnancy (TTP), associated with mortality in parents?

Summary Answer: Prolonged TTP is associated with increased mortality in both mothers and fathers in a dose-response manner.

What Is Known Already: Several studies have linked both male and female fecundity to mortality. In women, infertility has been linked to several diseases, but studies suggest that the underlying conditions, rather than infertility, increase mortality.

Hypothesis: Metformin is a potential reproductive toxicant.

Metformin is the first-line oral treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus and is prescribed to more than 150 million people worldwide. Metformin's effect as a glucose-lowering drug is well documented but the precise mechanism of action is unknown. A recent finding of an association between paternal metformin treatment and increased numbers of genital birth defects in sons and a tendency towards a skewed secondary sex ratio with less male offspring prompted us to focus on other evidence of reproductive side effects of this drug.