Natural history of gastroesophageal reflux disease and functional abdominal disorders: a population-based study.

Objective: Symptomatic gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), dyspepsia, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are generally considered to be chronic conditions, but community-based studies are sparse, and long-term natural history data are unavailable. We aimed to determine the natural history of these conditions.

Methods: A representative Swedish sample (20-79 yr) completed a validated questionnaire over the preceding 3 months.

Effects on physicians' sick-listing practice of an administrative reform narrowing sick-listing benefits.

Objective: To find out whether administrative changes regulating sick-listing benefits affect sick-listing practice among physicians in hospitals and primary health care.

Setting: New sick-listing cases from four social security offices in mid-Sweden.

Design: A natural experiment design was used with a sample of newly started sick-listed cases collected 6 months before a sick-listing reform and a further sample taken 6 months after.

Endomysium antibodies are superior to gliadin antibodies in screening for coeliac disease in patients presenting supposed functional gastrointestinal symptoms.

Objective: To study the accuracy of IgA- and IgC-gluten antibodies and endomysium antibodies as screening tools for endoscopy with small bowel biopsy for histologic diagnosing of coeliac disease.

Design: Comparing serology with histologic examination--the "gold standard" for diagnosing coeliac disease.

Settings: 1.

Would prostate cancer detected by screening with prostate-specific antigen develop into clinical cancer if left undiagnosed? A comparison of two population-based studies in Sweden.

Objective: To assess the risk of over-diagnosing and over-treating prostate cancer if population-based screening with serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is instituted.

Patients And Methods: From a serum bank stored in 1980, PSA was analysed in 658 men with no previously known prostate cancer from a well-defined cohort from Göteborg, Sweden (men born in 1913); the incidence of clinical prostate cancer was registered until 1995. From the same area, and with the same selection criteria, another cohort of 710 men born in 1930-31, who in 1995 accepted an invitation for PSA screening, was also analysed.

Variations in sick-listing practice among male and female physicians of different specialities based on case vignettes.

Objective: To analyse the influence on sick-listing of speciality and sex of the prescribing doctor and of patients' way of presenting their problem.

Design: A sample of 360 general practitioners (GPs), 180 psychiatrists and 180 orthopaedic surgeons were presented case vignettes and asked to fill in a sick certificate for each case. The cases were chosen to reflect common causes of sick-listing in Sweden.

Identifying dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome: the value of pain or discomfort, and bowel habit descriptors.

Background: The utility of current diagnostic criteria for dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in clinical practice is largely unknown. We aimed to compare the diagnostic value of different definitions and questionnaires in a population.

Methods: The Abdominal Symptom Questionnaire (ASQ) was mailed to a representative sample (n = 1506, 20-87 years old), and every fifth person (n = 302) concomitantly received the Bowel Disease Questionnaire (BDQ).

The influence of sociodemographic characteristics on well-being and symptoms in a Swedish community. Results from a postal questionnaire survey.

Study Objective: To assess the influence of sociodemographic characteristics on self-reported well-being and symptoms.

Design: A postal questionnaire was sent to a representative population sample drawn from the population census.

Setting: The municipality of Håbo, Sweden.

Secular changes in cardiovascular risk factors over 30 years in Swedish men aged 50: the study of men born in 1913, 1923, 1933 and 1943.

Objectives: To study secular trends in cardiovascular risk factors in men aged 50 over a period of 30 years.

Design: Cross-sectional studies of successive cohorts of men from 1963 to 1993.

Setting: City of Göteborg, Sweden.

Signs of genital prolapse in a Swedish population of women 20 to 59 years of age and possible related factors.

Objective: Our objective was to study the prevalence of genital prolapse and possible related factors in a general population of women 20 to 59 years of age.

Study Design: Of 641 eligible women in a primary health care district, 487 (76%) answered a questionnaire and accepted an invitation to a gynecologic health examination.

Results: The prevalence of any degree of prolapse was 30.

Written communication from specialists to general practitioners in cancer care. What are the expectations and how are they met?

Objective: To examine how general practitioners (GPs) and specialists assess the importance of different aspects of information regarding cancer treatment in the discharge letter from the hospital.

Design: A postal questionnaire study among GPs in two Swedish counties and cancer specialists (oncologists, surgeons and urologists) in six Swedish counties.

Subjects: Two hundred and four GPs and 48 cancer specialists.

Are health surveys among elderly people worthwhile? The Albertina Project.

Objective: To study the need for health screening among elderly people. SETTING, DESIGN AND SUBJECTS: A random sample of 605 people 75 years or older from the general population of Uppsala, Sweden received a postal questionnaire on health issues, and a random subsample of 101 persons were offered a health survey.

Main Outcome Measures: Symptoms and signs of disease in questionnaire or at health examination.

Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in the general population. 'The Study of Men Born in 1913'.

Background: Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) are common public health problems. Still, little is known about the epidemiology and the natural history of venous thromboembolism.

Methods: In the Study of Men Born in 1913, 855 men were followed up prospectively from the age of 50 years to the age of 80 years.

Practice variation in Swedish primary care.

Objective: To study individual practice patterns of physicians working in primary health care for standardized simulated cases on their first visit, and relate them to resource consumption for diagnostic tests, drugs and sick leave from a combined perspective of the health care and social security systems.

Design: Postal questionnaire presenting six hypothetical working-age cases with symptoms of ailments common in primary care asking physicians to order diagnostic tests and procedures, drugs, follow-up appointments and sick pay.

Setting: Swedish primary health care centres.

The concept of status incongruence revisited: a 22-year follow-up of mortality for middle-aged men.

The purpose of this study was to analyse the relationships between status incongruency and mortality. From the concept of status incongruence two incongruent groups were defined, those with high education and low social position (socially downward drifters) and those with low education and high social position (socially upstarters). A cohort of middle-aged men (n = 855), all born in 1913 and living in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden were followed during a period of 22 years.

Factors associated with birth weight in Sweden: the study of men born in 1913.

Study Objective: To analyse factors associated with birth weight and to evaluate the validity of obstetrical data.

Design: Obstetrical data were retrieved for singleton men born in 1913 and living in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1963. Information on birth weight, maternal age, marital status, parity, social class, proteinuria, gestational age, and place of birth (home or hospital) was obtained from these birth records.

[New height and weight standards for the middle aged and aged. Weight increases more than height].

This article presents new weight and height data collected during three large surveys of representative middle-aged and elderly men and women from Gothenburg in 1990-93. Based on these data, weight and height tables are provided as an aid in clinical evaluation. Additionally, weights and heights collected during previous examinations in the 1970s (Läkartidningen 1981; 78: 3152-4) make it possible to describe secular changes nearly two decades later.

A population study of urinary incontinence and nocturia among women aged 20-59 years. Prevalence, well-being and wish for treatment.

Background: The aim was to study urinary incontinence (UI) and nocturia in a female population; prevalence, effect on well-being, wish for treatment and result of treatment in primary health care.

Methods: A postal questionnaire was sent to all women aged 20-59 years who were scheduled for gynecological health examination by midwives in a primary health care district during one year. Questions concerning well-being were based on the Gothenburg QOL instrument.

The pituitary-gonadal axis and health in elderly men: a study of men born in 1913.

The results of recent studies suggest that a relative hypogonadism in men is associated with several established risk factors for prevalent diseases. Therefore, we determined total and free testosterone, luteinizing hormone (LH), and sex-hormone binding globulin (SHBG) in a cohort of randomly selected men (n = 659) at 67 years of age. These data were analyzed cross-sectionally in relation to blood glucose and serum insulin, which were measured while fasting and after an oral glucose tolerance test, in addition to plasma lipids and blood pressure.

Is hypertension changing? Blood pressure development in cohorts of 50-year-old men between 1963 and 1993.

Objective: To study secular trends in the prevalence and treatment of hypertension in the general population, and the disease course.

Design: Health examinations of cohorts of 50-year-old men in 1963, 1973, 1983 and 1993.

Setting: The city of Göteborg, Sweden (about 400,000 inhabitants).

Quality of life in hypertensive patients treated with either carvedilol or enalapril.

Unlabelled: An important aspect of antihypertensive drug treatment is quality of life (QL) which should at least not be negatively affected. In this study, the QL during treatment with carvedilol (C), a beta-blocker with vasodilating properties due to alpha-1-receptor blockade, was compared to that of enalapril (E) in patients who had responded to the treatment.

Patients And Methods: Patients with mild to moderate hypertension (diastolic blood pressure 95-115 mmHg) were randomised to receive either E(n = 119) of C(n = 129) in a double-blind multicenter study.

The value of prostate specific antigen in early diagnosis of prostate cancer: the study of men born in 1913.

Purpose: We attempt to elucidate the performance of serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) as a screening test for prostate cancer.

Materials And Methods: We analyzed sera stored since 1980 in a nested case-control study.

Results: The 36 patients with prostate cancer had a markedly greater mean serum PSA level than did 68 subjects without cancer (22.