New Energy Efficient Housing Has Reduced Carbon Footprints in Outer but Not in Inner Urban Areas.

Avoiding urban sprawl and increasing density are often considered as effective means to mitigate climate change through urban planning. However, there have been rapid technological changes in the fields of housing energy and private driving, and the development is continuing. In this study, we analyze the carbon footprints of the residents living in new housing in different urban forms in Finland.

Statins and hip fracture prevention--a population based cohort study in women.

Objective: To study the association of long-term statin use and the risk of low-energy hip fractures in middle-aged and elderly women.

Design: A register-based cohort study.

Setting: Finland.

[Electronic patient record in the monitoring of blood pressure of the population].

The implementation of the Finnish Current Care guidelines has been assessed mainly by questionnaire surveys. Methods for utilizing information accumulating into the electronic patient record were developed in a community health center. A register was created that stored 204573 blood pressure readings from 39570 patients.

Use of spirometry and recording of smoking habits of COPD patients increased in primary health care during national COPD programme.

Background: In Finland, a national programme for COPD prevention and treatment was developed in 1998. The main goals of the programme were to diagnose COPD as early as possible and to encourage people to quit smoking. The role of primary health care was emphasized in the programme.

Statin adherence and the risk of major coronary events in patients with diabetes: a nested case-control study.

Aims: To evaluate whether good statin adherence is associated with a reduced incidence of major coronary events (MCEs) among diabetic patients with and without coronary heart disease (CHD).

Methods: Using data derived by linkage of nationwide health databases in Finland, we conducted a nested case-control analysis of 3513 cases with an MCE, a composite of acute myocardial infarction and/or coronary revascularization, and 20,090 matched controls identified from a cohort of 60,677 statin initiators with diabetes. Cases and controls were matched according to gender, time of cohort entry and duration of follow-up and further classified to two risk groups according to the presence of CHD at statin initiation.

Long-term persistence with statin therapy: a nationwide register study in Finland.

Background: Preventive statin therapy is often recommended as lifelong treatment.

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze persistence with statin therapy over a decade of use and to identify factors associated with its discontinuation.

Methods: Persistence with therapy among new users of statins in 1995 was followed up until December 31, 2005, in Finland using the nationwide drug reimbursement register.

Empirical comparison of process and economic input-output life cycle assessment in service industries.

The study fills a gap in existing literature by comparing process-based and E10-based life cycle assessment (LCA) methods empirically in service industries. Despite the numerous methodological differences, the methods were found mostly to produce the same environmentally significant processes for the case organization: the use of electricity in the premises, the construction of the premises, the business travel by cars, the heating of the premises, and the business flights. However, the process-based LCA could not be used to assess the environmental impacts of purchased services properly.