Effectiveness of a targeted occupational health intervention in workers with high risk of sickness absence: baseline characteristics and adherence as effect modifying factors in a randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: In a recently published randomized controlled trial (RCT), a targeted occupational health (OH) intervention was found effective in an intention-to-treat analysis in controlling sickness absence among workers with high risk of sickness absence, compared to usual care. We performed an exploratory subgroup analysis in order to detect possible effect modifiers and mediators.

Methods: Age, gender, working status, severity of physical impairment, depression score, self-rated working ability, co-morbidity, and sickness absence characteristics in the previous 12 months were identified as potential effect modifiers (n = 382).

An occupational health intervention programme for workers at high risk for sickness absence. Cost effectiveness analysis based on a randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: To determine whether, from a healthcare perspective, a specific occupational health intervention is cost effective in reducing sickness absence when compared with usual care in occupational health in workers with high risk of sickness absence.

Methods: Economic evaluation alongside a randomised controlled trial. 418 workers with high risk of sickness absence from one corporation were randomised to intervention (n = 209) or to usual care (n = 209).

The effectiveness of two occupational health intervention programmes in reducing sickness absence among employees at risk. Two randomised controlled trials.

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of two occupational health intervention programmes, both compared with usual care.

Methods: Based on a health survey, 1341 employees (88% males) in construction, service and maintenance work were classified into three groups: "low risk" (n = 386), "intermediate risk" (n = 537) and "high risk" (n = 418) of sickness absence. Two separate randomised trials were performed in the groups "high risk" and "intermediate risk", respectively.

Self-reported health problems and sickness absence in different age groups predominantly engaged in physical work.

Objectives: To study the associations between self-reported health problems and sickness absence from work.

Methods: The results of a questionnaire survey were combined with archival data of sickness absence of 1341 employees (88% males; 62% blue-collar) in the construction, service and maintenance work within one corporation in Finland. Sex, age and occupational grading were controlled as confounders.

Effect of mandibular setback surgery on the posterior airway size.

Treatment of dentofacial deformities with jaw osteotomies has an effect on airway anatomy, and therefore, mandibular setback surgery has the potential to diminish airway size. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term effect of mandibular setback surgery on the airway size. The material consisted of pre- and postoperative (minimum 1 year) lateral radiograms of 22 individuals (18 females and 4 males) with a mean age of 30 years, who had undergone mandibular setback surgery to correct skeletal Class III discrepancies.

Expression of cell-cycle proteins p53, p21 (WAF-1), PCNA and Ki-67 in benign, premalignant and malignant skin lesions with implicated HPV involvement.

A series of 120 biopsies from benign (verruca vulgaris and keratoacanthoma), premalignant (actinic keratosis and extragenital Bowen's disease) and malignant (squamous cell carcinoma) skin lesions were studied immunohistochemically for the expression of cell-cycle proteins p53, p21 (WAF-1), PCNA and Ki-67. The presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA in these samples had been analysed previously using in situ hybridization (ISH) and PCR. Moderate to intense expression of both PCNA and Ki-67 was present in most of the lesions studied.

Snuff use and smoking among senior high school students: effects of a snuff sales ban.

Objectives: The popularity of snuff especially among adolescents is rising. The association between long-term snuff use and oral cancer discovered in epidemiological studies has prompted a variety of preventive measures to be taken to reduce snuff use and prevent adoption of the habit. In this study, the effect of a recent (1 March, 1995) snuff sales ban introduced in Finland was investigated.

Physical, chemical, and histologic changes in dentin caries lesions of primary teeth induced by regular use of polyol chewing gums.

A previous clinical trial showed that long-term use of saliva-stimulating polyol (xylitol and sorbitol) chewing gums was associated with arrest of dental caries in young subjects. After a 20-22-month intervention (when the subjects were 8 years old), a total of 23 primary teeth with extensive dentin caries lesions whose surface in clinical examination was found to be totally rehardened (remineralized) could be removed because the teeth were near their physiologic exfoliation time. These teeth were subjected to histologic, microhardness, and electron microscopic tests.

The relation between tooth eruption and alveolar crest height in a human skeletal sample.

It is commonly assumed that alveolar crest height increases with continuing tooth eruption unless affected by marginal inflammation. To test this hypothesis, the relation between eruption and alveolar crest height was examined in skulls from a sample consisting of the remains of 244 individuals from the late medieval period. The mandibular first and second molars and second premolars were analysed.

Clinician's ability to identify caries risk subjects.

The clinician's ability to identify caries risk children without saliva tests was studied in five health care centers. 77 examiners predicted, after the annual check-up and treatment, whether, during the following 12 months, the child would develop new dentinal caries lesions to be filled. 7917 children aged 5-16 yr were included.

Multifactorial modeling for root caries prediction: 3-year follow-up results.

The study was part of a series aiming at the development of caries tests. The initial material (n = 104, age range 47-79 yr, mean 62 yr) was reduced to 96, who were observed for 3 yr. During the follow-up four subjects died, all due to myocardial infarction, and four refused to participate.

A re-analysis of caries rates in a preventive trial using Poisson regression models.

The analysis of caries incidence in clinical trials has several challenging features: (1) The distribution of the number of caries onsets per patient is skewed, with the majority of patients having few or no cavities; (2) the number of surfaces at risk varies (i) over time and (ii) between patients, due to eruption and exfoliation patterns, dental diseases, and treatments; (3) surfaces within a patient differ in their caries susceptibility, and (4) caries onsets within a patient are correlated due to shared host factors. Recent statistical developments in the area of correlated data analyses permit incorporation of some of these characteristics into the analyses. With Poisson regression models, the expected number of caries onsets can be related to the number of surfaces at risk, the time they have been at risk, and surface- and subject-specific explanatory variables.

Flow rate and composition of whole saliva in rural and urban Tanzania with special reference to diet, age, and gender.

The association of flow rate and biochemical and microbiological characteristics of saliva with diet was studied in 83 12-year-old children and in 127 adults (84 in the age group 35-44 years, 43 in the age group 65-74 years) living in rural and urban communities in Tanzania. No significant differences were observed between the salivary flow rates of the rural and urban subjects. The mean salivary flow rates were slightly lower in women than in men and significantly lower in the 12-year-old children than in the two older age groups (p < 0.

Missing teeth and ischaemic heart disease in men aged 45-64 years.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the associations between number of missing teeth (expressing sustained oral infections) and diagnosed ischaemic heart disease using cross-sectional data from 1384 men aged 45-64 years. The study population was derived from a representative sample of adult Finns. Ischaemic heart disease was considered to be present in those with angina pectoris or previous myocardial infarction, whether definite or possible.

The clinician's ability to identify caries risk subjects without saliva tests--a pilot study.

The average clinician's ability to identify caries risk children without any saliva tests was studied in field conditions. The results suggest that a clinician can reach a high level in prediction of future caries occurrence through the use of clinical and sociodemographic information routinely available at annual clinical examinations.

Long-term effect of xylitol chewing gum in the prevention of dental caries: a follow-up 5 years after termination of a prevention program.

About 65% of the original 258 children who participated in 1982-1984 in a caries prevention program involving the use of xylitol chewing gum were retrieved in 1989 for a follow-up study. Ninety-five subjects from the original xylitol (X) group and 70 subjects from the original control (no-gum, C) group were available. In 1984, when the children completed the program at the age of 13-14 years, the caries scores were significantly lower in children who had used xylitol gums daily, compared with the C group.

Trigeminal foraminal patterns in "skeletal" Class II and Class III adults--a radiocephalometric study.

Radiocephalometric analysis, based mainly on the foramina of the trigeminal nerve branches, was applied to three samples of adults, two representing fairly extreme profile types, the third representing "normal" dentofacial build. The aim of the study was to find out whether the analytical method could be used to differentiate between facial types. It appeared that some elements of the method had diagnostic powers, and could substitute for traditional methods.

Multifactorial modeling for root caries prediction.

The study was part of a series of investigations aiming at the development of diagnostic caries tests for screening of risk subjects. The material consisted of 100 adult subjects (mean 62 yr, range 47-79 yr), 50 of these under chronic medication. The series of tests included two chairside registrations, i.

[The assessment of the caries risk in young adults].

Several factors for caries prediction have been proved in a one-year follow-up study on 73 patients. The white-spot lesions have proved to be a good criteria for caries prediction in this population. These lesions could be combined with the microbiological tests Dentocult SM and Oricult N or with the determination of the buffer capacity (Dentobuff), which did not much improve the prediction.

Long-term effect of xylitol chewing gum on dental caries.

About 85% (n = 269) of the subjects who participated in the Ylivieska follow-up studies on the effect of xylitol chewing gum on dental caries during 1982-84 or 1982-85 were re-examined in 1987 for the analysis of possible long-term preventive effects. Further caries reduction was found 2 or 3 yr after the discontinuation of the use of xylitol. The effect was especially marked in girls; the reduction in caries increment in the post-use years was 60% for the 2-yr users, suggesting that more pronounced caries reduction was associated with the most regular use of xylitol.

Oral biochemical status and depression of Streptococcus mutans in children during 24- to 36-month use of xylitol chewing gum.

Plaque and whole saliva samples were collected from initially 11- to 12-year-old children randomly chosen from two groups which participated in a 2- to 3-year field trial designed to test the efficacy of xylitol chewing gums in caries prevention. No initial differences were observed between the groups with regard to the plaque levels of Streptococcus mutans, but at the end of the 2-year xylitol gum regimen, the levels were smaller (p less than 0.05) in children using xylitol gum than in control children.

Xylitol chewing gum in caries prevention: a field study in children.

As the prevalence of dental caries decreases in industrialized nations like the United States, it simultaneously increases in developing nations and Third World countries. The decrease in the West is attributed to increased use of fluorides, but the increase in developing countries has been explained by an increase in the consumption of sugar. As this information continues to propel researchers to find sucrose substitutes, xylitol has been singled out as a proposed sucrose replacement.

Collaborative WHO xylitol field studies in Hungary. VII. Two-year caries incidence in 976 institutionalized children.

The aim was to assess caries increment as influenced by partial substitution of sucrose by xylitol (X group) over a 2-year period in comparison with systemic fluoride (F group) and restorative treatment only (C group). The study differed from the 3-year field study of the same series primarily in that existing base-line differences were eliminated because the protocol required that all the new subjects entering the institutions in the 1st year were to be included for a 2-year trial. During this period the number of dropouts was 243 (19.