Incidence and predictors for post-stroke epilepsy. A prospective controlled trial. The Akershus stroke study.

The aim of the study was to assess the incidence and identify predictors for post-stroke epilepsy (PSE), in particular the possible influence of treatment in a stroke unit (SU). Patients with PSE were identified between 4 weeks and 1 year after the stroke. Different parameters were studied as possible predictors.

Survival of unselected stroke patients in a stroke unit compared with conventional care.

Background: Recent meta-analyses have reported a beneficial effect of stroke units compared with traditional care, both on patient survival and on dependency after one year.

Aim: To determine whether these results can be reproduced outside a clinical trial setting.

Setting: A medium-sized general hospital.

Drug-related deaths in a department of internal medicine.

Background: Drug therapy is associated with adverse effects, and fatal adverse drug events (ADEs) have become major hospital problems. Our study assesses the incidence of fatal ADEs in a major medical department and identifies possible patient characteristics signifying fatal ADE risk.

Methods: During a 2-year period, a multidisciplinary study group examined all 732 patients who died--5.

Factors influencing physicians' assessment of urgency for inpatient surgery.

Objectives: To assess to what extent patient, disease and referral characteristics influenced physicians' assessment of urgency of inpatient surgery.

Methods: In total, 452 patients, mean age 50 years, were examined in surgical or gynaecological outpatient clinics in one hospital and referred for inpatient surgery. Data were collected by the examining physician, and the patients were either given a maximal waiting time or the waiting time was not specified.

The self-perceived health status of Norwegian physicians compared with a reference population and foreign physicians.

Aims: To compare the self-perceived health status of a representative sample of Norwegian physicians with a general reference population; and to investigate differences in health status among groups of physicians.

Methods: A cross-sectional postal survey was carried out of 1,126 Norwegian physicians and 1,742 subjects in a general reference population, using the widely used general health status questionnaire--Short Form 36 (SF-36). Scores were adjusted for differences in age, gender and education where applicable.

Physical fitness and changes in mortality: the survival of the fittest.

Physical fitness is a term describing maximal aerobic capacity adjusted for body size and composition, and is an integrated measure of cardiorespiratory and neuromusculo-skeletal function, oxygen transport and delivery, and psychological drive. Accordingly, high physical fitness requires that all these important body functions function normally, while low physical fitness suggests malfunction of one or more of them. High levels of physical fitness--maintained through heavy daily exercise--has probably been a necessary requirement for survival in the earlier history of humans.

Properties of the 15D and EQ-5D utility measures in a community sample of people with epilepsy.

To perform economic evaluation studies in epilepsy using utilities, such as cost-utility analyses, it is necessary to have reliable and valid instruments for eliciting people's preferences. The objective of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of two multiattribute utility measures in a community sample of 397 people with epilepsy. We assessed the test-retest reliability of individual questionnaire items and aggregate scores.

The benefit of an acute stroke unit in patients with intracranial haemorrhage: a controlled trial.

Objectives: Patients with stroke receiving organised inpatient (stroke unit) care after stroke are more likely to be alive and independent compared with patients offered conventional care. The objective was to determine the effect of an acute stroke unit on patients with primary intracranial haemorrhage.

Methods: In a prospective controlled study, the effect of an acute stroke unit was examined on 30 day and 1 year mortality in patients with primary intracranial haemorrhage.

The health-related quality of life of patients with epilepsy compared with angina pectoris, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The objective of this study was to compare the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of patients with epilepsy with populations suffering from different chronic diseases, using the short form 36 (SF-36) health profile measure. The populations to be compared were adult patients drawn from hospital based registers, with confirmed epilepsy (n = 397), angina pectoris (n = 785), rheumatoid arthritis (n = 1,030), asthma (n = 117) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (n = 221). Health-related quality of life scores were compared using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) for predicting mean scores adjusted for age, gender, education and comorbidity.

Hypothesis: the recent decline in coronary heart disease mortality--mainly a shift from fatal to non-fatal events?

Objectives: A marked, sequential decline in coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality is established, but not its causes. Does it reflect modern treatment effects or a spinoff of primary prevention? The aim of this study was to explore this issue using a prospective cohort follow-up design.

Design: In 1972-1975 and 1980-1982 Cohorts 1 (n = 613) and 2 (n = 667) of identical age (males, mean 56 years) were examined, and thereafter followed closely for 14 years.

Asymptomatic common bile duct stones.

Patients with asymptomatic bile duct stones exhibit typical signs, such as elevated liver function tests, dilated bile ducts on ultrasound, a history of jaundice, or pancreatitis. The incidence of asymptomatic bile duct stones is about 10%, but up to 2% of patients show no signs of the disease. Bile duct stones can be diagnosed by using clinical judgement, scoring systems, or discriminant function tests.

Out-of-hours primary care and the patients who die. A survey of deaths after contact with a suburban primary care out-of-hours service.

Objective: To assess how and to what extent out-of-hours primary care facilities care for patients who die shortly afterwards, and whether information about deaths and causes of deaths are fed back to doctors who treated the deceased persons.

Design: An observational prospective study of patients who die.

Setting: An out-of-hours primary care facility providing services to a population of 78,000.

Immune thrombocytopenic purpura in childhood in Norway: a prospective, population-based registration.

A prospective, population-based registration of children with immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) was performed in Norway in 1996 and 1997. Ninety-two cases were identified, indicating an incidence of 5.3 per 100,000 children under 15 years.

Erythrocyte sedimentation rate: a possible marker of atherosclerosis and a strong predictor of coronary heart disease mortality.

Aims: Since atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammation and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate is an appropriate test for monitoring chronic inflammatory responses, we wanted to investigate whether the erythrocyte sedimentation rate might carry prognostic information on the risk of sustaining coronary heart disease events.

Method: The erythrocyte sedimentation rate was determined in 2014 apparently healthy men aged 40-60 years during an extensive cardiovascular survey in 1972-75, and the test was repeated in an identical follow-up examination 7 years later. Cause-specific mortality and rates of non-fatal myocardial infarction were followed for 23 years.

Acupuncture in intractable epilepsy: lack of effect on health-related quality of life.

The objective of this study was to assess the effect on health-related quality of life of acupuncture and sham acupuncture as adjunctive treatment in intractable epilepsy. We performed a randomized controlled trail with two parallel treatment arms at The National Center for Epilepsy in Norway, a comprehensive epilepsy center. Thirty-four patients with long-standing drug resistant epilepsy completed the study.

Health-related quality of life is associated with arterial P(O2) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Insensitive lung-specific questionnaires may explain the poor association between arterial P(O2) and reported health-related quality of life. Conceivably, modern lung specific or generic quality of life measures might show a better association with arterial P(O2). Fifty-nine outpatients (34 men) with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who fulfilled the following criteria were studied: age 18-67 years, FEV1 < or = 70%, < or = 15% reversibility after beta2-agonist inhalation, and no other disabling disorders.

Tympanic or rectal temperature measurement? A cost-minimization analysis.

In a cost-minimization study, we compared tympanic and rectal body temperature measurement in inpatients in a department of internal medicine. At all measurement volumes in a sensitivity analysis, tympanic temperature measurement had markedly lower average cost than rectal measurement, indicating a large savings potential if the former technique is used.

Preliminary experience with plasma exchange in patients with ulcerative colitis.

We decided to test the effect of plasma exchange (PE) in selected patients with inflammatory bowel disease in which conventional medical treatment proved insufficient. Twenty-six patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) were treated with PE, six patients with fulminant colitis and 20 with long lasting severe colitis. After very promising results initially, 17 patients with long lasting severe colitis were selected in a careful prospective study.

Gut perforation caused by biliary endoprosthesis.

Two cases are reported of perforation of the gut caused by biliary endoprosthesies in the three-year period 1993-1995. The first patient was an 81-year-old man who had perforation of the terminal ileum caused by a straight 10 French/7 cm stent which had been dislodged from the bile duct; he underwent laparotomy but did not recover. The second patient was an 86-year-old man who had perforation of the sigmoid colon caused by a straight 7 French/5 cm stent left in the duodenum during a stent exchange procedure; he was successfully treated laparoscopically.

Reliability and validity of a Norwegian version of the quality of life in epilepsy inventory (QOLIE-89).

Purpose: To develop a Norwegian version of the Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory (QOLIE-89) and to confirm its psychometric properties.

Methods: The QOLIE-89 was adapted to Norwegian language through a translation-backtranslation procedure. The assessment included 397 patients with epilepsy.

Health status of people with epilepsy compared with a general reference population.

Purpose: To study the impact of epilepsy in a representative sample of people with epilepsy and compare with a normal reference population.

Methods: We collected clinical and demographic data and information on health status by using the Short Form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire in two populations: (a) 397 patients with confirmed epilepsy attending a county hospital during a 7-year period, and (b) 1,663 patients from a random sample representative of the entire national population.

Results: The respondents with epilepsy had well-regulated disease and showed the characteristics of a community sample: 70% had had no seizures during the last year, and 80% used antiepileptic drugs (AEDs).

Predictors for recurrence of epileptic seizures in a general epilepsy population.

The aim of our study was to identify predictors for recurrence of epileptic seizures in a large county hospital population. We identified 956 patients (18-67 years) with ICD 9 code 345 as primary diagnosis, seen at the Central Hospital of Akershus over 7 years (1987-1994). The diagnosis of epilepsy was confirmed for 696 of the patients.

Should stroke victims routinely receive supplemental oxygen? A quasi-randomized controlled trial.

Background And Purpose: We sought to test the hypothesis that breathing 100% oxygen for the first 24 hours after an acute stroke would not reduce mortality, impairment, or disability.

Methods: Subjects admitted to the Central Hospital of Akershus, Norway, with stroke onset <24 hours before admittance were allocated to 2 groups by a quasi-randomized design using birth numbers. All patients with acute stroke admitted to hospital within 24 hours after a stroke were included and enrolled.