Use of tobacco products and gastrointestinal morbidity: an endoscopic population-based study (the Kalixanda study).

The impact of snus (smokeless tobacco or snuff) on gastrointestinal symptoms and pathological findings is largely unknown. The authors aimed to investigate whether the exposure to different forms of tobacco influences upper gastrointestinal symptoms, histology and frequency of Helicobacter pylori infection. A random sample (n = 2,860) of the adult population of two northern Swedish municipalities Kalix and Haparanda (n = 21,610) was surveyed between December 1998 and June 2001 using a validated postal questionnaire assessing gastrointestinal symptoms (response rate 74.

Predictors of stable return-to-work in non-acute, non-specific spinal pain: low total prior sick-listing, high self prediction and young age. A two-year prospective cohort study.

Background: Non-specific spinal pain (NSP), comprising back and/or neck pain, is one of the leading disorders in long-term sick-listing. During 2000-2004, 125 Swedish primary-care patients with non-acute NSP, full-time sick-listed 6 weeks-2 years, were included in a randomized controlled trial to compare a cognitive-behavioural programme with traditional primary care. This prospective cohort study is a re-assessment of the data from the randomized trial with the 2 treatment groups considered as a single cohort.

Associations between leptin and self-rated health in men and women.

Background: As an important mediator by which the brain receives information about the body's energy state, leptin may be associated with subjectively perceived health.

Objective: The main aim of the present study was to investigate concurrent and prospective associations between leptin and self-rated health (SRH), a strong predictor of morbidity and mortality, in a random population sample. An additional aim was to examine whether sick leave was associated with leptin and poor SRH.

Cancer risk among patients hospitalized for Type 1 diabetes mellitus: a population-based cohort study in Sweden.

Aims: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is an autoimmune disease with potential mechanistic links to immune-related cancers. We aimed at examining the overall and specific cancer risks among hospitalized T1DM patients from the national registers in Sweden.

Methods: A T1DM research cohort was created by identifying T1DM patients from the Hospital Discharge Register and linking them with the Cancer Registry.

Health factors and longevity in men and women: a 26-year follow-up study.

Health factors have the power to prevent and postpone diseases and death; however, studies using the same methodology in both men and women are sparse. We aimed to study the ability of health factors to prevent mortality in a population-based, 26-year follow-up of Swedish men and women. During 1969-70, a health-screening programme was offered to a stratified sample of 3,064 individuals aged 18-64 years to estimate health-care needs.

Acculturation strategies in migration stress among Kurdish men in Sweden: a narrative approach.

Acculturation is defined as cultural changes and consequences of long contact between two different cultural groups. A total of 10 Kurdish men, aged from 24 to 60 years, were interviewed face-to-face to explore the acculturation pattern reported by them through their individual life stories during the whole migration process. The analysis was based on the narrative methodology.

Study of a novel curriculum on electronic communication in family medicine residencies.

Electronic communication between physicians and patients is common but can carry risks to users--both patients and physicians. Little is known about electronic communication between physicians and patients and even less about electronic communication during residency. We studied knowledge and practices before and after a controlled test of a novel curriculum teaching e-mail communication with patients using residents and faculty in 16 family medicine residencies in the United States.

Views of diagnosis distribution in primary care in 2.5 million encounters in Stockholm: a comparison between ICD-10 and SNOMED CT.

Background: Primary care (PC) in Sweden provides ambulatory and home health care outside hospitals. Within the County Council of Stockholm, coding of diagnoses in PC is mandatory and is done by general practitioners (GPs) using a Swedish primary care version of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, version 10 (ICD-10). ICD-10 has a mono-hierarchical structure.

Childhood life events and psychological symptoms in adult survivors of the 2004 tsunami.

Background: Negative life events in childhood have an adverse influence on adult psychological health, and increase vulnerability to subsequent potential traumas. It remains unclear whether this is also true in the case of disasters.

Aim: This study investigates whether the experience of negative life events in childhood and adolescence was associated with psychological symptoms in groups of Swedish survivors with different types of exposure to the tsunami.

Cancer risk in patients hospitalised for Graves' disease: a population-based cohort study in Sweden.

Background: The possibility of an association of Graves' disease (GD) with subsequent cancers raised by certain studies.

Methods: Using a database on 18 156 hospitalised GD patients, subsequent cancers were ascertained.

Results: Increased risks of thyroid and parathyroid tumours were limited to the early follow-up period, which is probably a surveillance bias.

Prevalence of diabetes among immigrants in the Nordic countries.

Some immigrant groups in Europe show an increased prevalence of diabetes, e.g. South Asians in the UK and Moroccans and Turks in the Netherlands.

A comparison between the Beck's Depression Inventory and the Gotland Male Depression Scale in detecting depression among men visiting a drop-in clinic in primary care.

Background: Anger attacks and alcohol use may mask depressive symptoms in men. Only the Gotland Male Depression Scale (GS) includes such items.

Aims: To study the usefulness of the GS and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) in detecting depression among men in primary care.

Second cancers after testicular cancer diagnosed after 1980 in Sweden.

Background: Testicular cancer treatment has become standardized in the 1980s involving radiotherapy preferentially for seminoma and chemotherapy for nonseminoma. The late effects of these therapeutic practices have not been properly evaluated because of the relatively short time since their application.

Patients And Methods: We conducted a study among 5533 survivors of testicular cancer on the basis of Swedish Family-Cancer Database for which the cancer data were retrieved from the nationwide Cancer Registry.

Psychological distress and sick leave in Swedish survivors of the 2004 tsunami: a comparison with a population sample.

Disaster studies of the effects of trauma exposure on subsequent psychological health have seldom used population comparisons. A total of 1463 tsunami survivors from Stockholm were categorized according to type of exposure, and compared on measures of General Health Questionnaire and sick leave, with a matched population-based sample of 12,045 individuals from the same region. Data from the survivor group were obtained through a postal questionnaire 14 months postdisaster.

Prevalence of blood lipid disturbances in Swedish and foreign-born 60-year-old men and women in Stockholm, Sweden.

Background And Aims: Some immigrant groups in Sweden show a higher incidence of cardiovascular diseases, especially coronary heart disease. There is a lack of data of pattern of blood lipids among these. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of dyslipidaemia in men and women of foreign-born origin compared to Swedish-born.

A description of some aspects of the triangular meeting between immigrant patients, their interpreters and GPs in primary health care in Stockholm, Sweden.

Background: Little is known about what immigrant patients, interpreters and GPs who have participated in the same consultation experience during these consultations or their reflections about these experiences. Previous studies have focused on the patient's, the interpreter's or the GP's perspective or a combination of two perspectives.

Objectives: The first aim was to describe some aspects of each of the three perspectives in the triangular meeting between immigrant patients, interpreters and GPs, including their experiences, reflections and interactions during the consultation in primary health care.

Risk of obesity in immigrants compared with Swedes in two deprived neighbourhoods.

Background: Despite a strong social gradient in the prevalence of obesity, there is little scientific understanding of obesity in people settled in deprived neighbourhoods. Few studies are actually based on objectively measured data using random sampling of residents in deprived neighbourhoods. In addition, most studies use a crude measure, the body mass index, to estimate obesity.

Comparison of serum markers for thrombophilia and autoimmune disease in reproductive age women with and without false positive rapid plasma reagin tests.

Problem: The rapid plasma reagin test (RPR) is performed frequently in clinical practice, particularly among reproductive age women. The phenomenon of the biologic false positive RPR is well-recognized, but its clinical significance is poorly characterized. Our objective was to assess the relationship between the false positive RPR and several established clinical and biological markers for thrombophilia and/or autoimmune disease.

Tactile massage within the primary health care setting.

Unlabelled: This paper describes an observational study describing how Tactile Massage (TM) was integrated into Swedish clinical medical care, the impact of this initiative suggests a foundation for future research. Subjects completed three questionnaires pre- and post-tactile massage. These were: Sense of Coherence (SOC), an enlarged Health Index (HI) and the Borg CR10 scale.

Factors associated with uncontrolled hypertension and cardiovascular risk in hypertensive 60-year-old men and women--a population-based study.

The objective of this study was to describe cardiovascular risk profiles of 60-year-olds with uncontrolled diagnosed hypertension (>or=140/90 mm Hg) in comparison with individuals with controlled diagnosed hypertension. To study how medical, lifestyle and socioeconomic factors are associated with uncontrolled diagnosed hypertension in men and women separately, a population-based, cross-sectional study of 4228 60-year-olds in Sweden, of whom 503 men and 445 women had previously diagnosed hypertension, was conducted. Physical examination including measuring blood pressure was carried out, and a medical/lifestyle/socioeconomic questionnaire was completed.

Cardiovascular and total mortality in men and women with different blood pressure levels--A 26-year follow-up.

Aim: Our aim was to study different levels of high blood pressure and normal blood pressure (reference) to calculate the hazard ratios (HRs) for cardiovascular and total mortality in men and women with adjustments for many covariates.

Methods: A health-screening program was offered to a population-based sample in Stockholm County to estimate healthcare needs (a proxy for co-morbidity). Blood pressure measurements (mmHg systolic/diastolic) were available for 2280 participants (74%).

Anxiety is associated with uninvestigated and functional dyspepsia (Rome III criteria) in a Swedish population-based study.

Background & Aims: The Rome III criteria for functional dyspepsia have been changed to include 2 distinct syndromes: postprandial distress syndrome and epigastric pain syndrome. We investigated risk factors for functional dyspepsia among the functional dyspepsia subgroups defined by the Rome III criteria.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional population-based study in a primary care setting (the Kalixanda study).

Is a unified definition of metabolic syndrome needed? Comparison of three definitions of metabolic syndrome in 60-year-old men and women.

Background: There are three commonly used definitions of the metabolic syndrome, making scientific studies hard to compare. The aim of this study was to investigate agreement in the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome defined by three different definitions and to analyze definition and gender differences.

Methods: A population-based, cross-sectional study of a total of 4232 participants--2039 men and 2193 women, aged 60 years--was employed.