Reproductive history and carotid intima-media thickness.

Background: Intima-media thickness (IMT) of the carotid arteries is a valid measure of preclinical atherosclerosis which may predict cardiovascular outcomes. Metabolic and hormonal changes associated with the reproductive history of women may contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Methods: In a population-based cross-sectional study comprising 746 Finnish women, aged 45-74 years, associations of reproductive history (assessed by questionnaire) and measures of subclinical atherosclerosis (by ultrasonographic detection) were studied.

Alexithymia and occupational burnout are strongly associated in working population.

Objective: The relationship between alexithymia and occupational burnout has not previously been studied. We investigated the association between alexithymia and occupational burnout in a representative nationwide population health study.

Methods: This study was a part of the Finnish Health 2000 Study.

The impact of strategic funding by the tobacco industry of medical expert witnesses appearing for the defence in the Aho Finnish product liability case.

Aims: To identify and evaluate tobacco industry strategies to recruit medical expert witnesses.

Methods: A systematic search was made of internal tobacco industry documents available on the Internet and at British American Tobacco Guildford Depository. Litigation by a plaintiff with laryngeal cancer against the tobacco industry in Finland was used as a case study of tobacco industry strategies to manipulate science and its use and deployment in defending a product liability claim.

Incidence of gliomas by anatomic location.

The anatomic location of a glioma influences prognosis and treatment options. The aim of our study was to describe the distribution of gliomas in different anatomic areas of the brain. A representative population-based sample of 331 adults with glioma was used for preliminary analyses.

Angiosarcoma after radiotherapy: a cohort study of 332,163 Finnish cancer patients.

We evaluated the risk of angiosarcoma after radiotherapy among all patients with cancers of breast, cervix uteri, corpus uteri, lung, ovary, prostate, or rectum, and lymphoma diagnosed in Finland during 1953-2003, identified from the Finnish Cancer Registry. Only angiosarcomas of the trunk were considered, this being the target of radiotherapy for the first cancer. In the follow-up of 1.

A method to adjust for ascertainment bias in the evaluation of cancer registry data.

Using the trend of age-standardized incidence rate of cancers (ASR) is inaccurate for registration with incomplete reporting, especially in developing registries. The relative age-standardized ratio (RASR) is a new measure that takes ascertainment bias of registration into account. RASR is calculated from the ASR for each cancer divided by the ASR for leukemia.

Pregnancy-related factors and the risk of isolated systolic hypertension.

Background: Isolated systolic hypertension (ISH) is known to be a strong predictor of cerebrovascular and cardiac events, especially in women. Metabolic and hormonal changes associated with reproductive history may contribute to the development of cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to identify associations between pregnancy-related factors and ISH.

The Well-being Profile--an Internet tool for school health promotion.

For years, the WHO has, in accordance with the 'settings' idea, encouraged a whole school approach when trying to promote health and well-being in schools. This developmental study analyses the implementation and pilot phase experiences of a holistic well-being evaluation tool for schools, the School Well-being Profile, on the Internet. The Profile is based on the theoretically established School Well-being Model.

Digital Game Playing and Direct and Indirect Aggression in Early Adolescence: The Roles of Age, Social Intelligence, and Parent-Child Communication.

The roles of age, social intelligence and parent-child communication in moderating the association between digital game playing and direct and indirect aggression were examined in 478 Finnish 10- and 13-year-old schoolchildren based on self-reports. The results confirmed that digital game violence was directly associated with direct aggression, especially at age 10, but only among boys. The moderating role of social intelligence was substantiated among older boys: game violence was associated with indirect aggression among those with high level of social intelligence.

Screening social phobia in adolescents from general population: the validity of the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) against a clinical interview.

Social phobia (SP) has onset during early adolescence, and is associated with significant impairment in social and educational functioning of adolescents. Therefore, valid and easy-to-use tools for screening and identification of SP among adolescent community populations are needed. We investigated both construct and discriminative validity, and screening properties of the 17-item Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) relative to SP diagnoses based on a semi-structured clinical interview (K-SADS-PL), in a sample of 752 12 to 17-year-old Finnish students from general population.

Information technology in health promotion.

eHealth, the use of information technology to improve or enable health and health care, has recently been high on the health care development agenda. Given the vivid interest in eHealth, little reference has been made to the use of these technologies in the promotion of health. The aim of this present study was to conduct a review on recent uses of information technology in health promotion through looking at research articles published in peer-reviewed journals.

Bidirectional relationship between depression and erectile dysfunction.

Purpose: We specified the interrelationship between depressive mood and erectile dysfunction.

Materials And Methods: The target population consisted of men who were 50, 60 or 70 years old and residing in the study area in Finland in 1994. Questionnaires were mailed to 3,143 men in 1994 and to 2,837 men 5 years later.

First-line nurse managers in university hospitals--captives to their own professional culture?

Aim: This study investigates whether first-line nurse managers in hospitals share common dispositions related to managerial work and leadership, what they are like, and what their relationship is with the various expectations set on them.

Methods: The first data were collected by focus group interviews in the autumn of 2000 and analysed using qualitative content analysis and frame analysis. The second data set were part of a questionnaire survey addressed to the same managers in 2001 with a focus on their diverse leadership roles.

Personnel management in Finnish social and health care.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine components of good personnel management and how they come true in accounts of social and health care managers.

Design/methodology/approach: The data were obtained by means of a postal survey sent to middle-line managers in positions above the first-line management level in the responsibility area of Tampere University Hospital. The questionnaire was sent to 703 managers; 433 sent in responses indicating a response rate of 62 percent.

The role of job satisfaction, job dissatisfaction and demographic factors on physicians' intentions to switch work sector from public to private.

This study is based on a unique data set for the years 1988-2003 and uses structural equation models to examine the impact of job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction on physicians' intention to switch from public- to private-sector work. In Finland, physicians who work primarily in a public-hospital or health-centre setting can also run a private practice. Therefore, we also analysed the impact of having a private practice on a physician's intention to change sector.

Transparent criteria for specialist level adolescent psychiatric care.

Background: Rising health care costs and long waiting lists pose a challenge to public specialist level health services. In Finland, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health required all medical specialities to create a priority-rating tool for elective patients, preferably giving a numerical rating ranging 0-100, with 50 as an entry threshold.

Objective: To create and test the psychometric properties of a point-count measure for prioritising entry to public specialist level adolescent psychiatric services.

Smoking causes erectile dysfunction through vascular disease.

Objectives: To investigate whether smoking either directly or through vascular disease causes erectile dysfunction (ED) and to determine whether ED is an early marker of vascular disease in smokers.

Methods: The target population consisted of all men 50, 60, or 70 years old who resided in the study areas in Finland in 1994. Questionnaires were mailed to 3143 men in 1994, to 2837 men in 1999, and to 2510 men in 2004.

Cancer incidence among physicians occupationally exposed to ionizing radiation in Finland.

Objectives: Occupational radiation exposure was estimated, and the cancer incidence among physicians working with radiation was compared to that of unexposed physicians.

Methods: A cohort of 1312 physicians was identified from the Finnish occupational radiation exposure registry. Radiation exposure data were obtained from 1970 to 2001 on the basis of individual dosimeters.

Age is strongly associated with alexithymia in the general population.

Objective: We studied the prevalence of alexithymia, its distribution in different age groups in a wide age range, its association with sociodemographic and health-related variables, and its co-occurrence with depression.

Methods: The study forms part of the Health 2000 Study. The original sample comprised 8028 subjects representing the general adult population of Finland.

Erectile dysfunction influences the subsequent incidence of lower urinary tract symptoms and bother.

It is unclear whether lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) cause erectile dysfunction (ED) independently or through common underlying pathophysiology and shared risk factors. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of ED on the incidence of frequency and bother of LUTS. Target population consisted of men aged 50, 60 or 70 years residing in the study area in Finland in 1994.

The use of oral contraceptives among Finnish teenagers from 1981 to 2003.

Purpose: The teenage abortion rate has increased in Finland since 1995, after a long-term decrease. We studied changes in the use of oral contraceptives (OC) among 14-18-year-old Finnish girls from 1981 to 2003.

Methods: A self-administered questionnaire (the Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey) was sent biennially to a representative sample of 14-18-year-olds from 1981-2003.

Cardiovascular drug use and the incidence of erectile dysfunction.

It is unclear whether high blood pressure per se or antihypertensive drug use causes erectile dysfunction (ED). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of cardiovascular diseases and their concomitant medications use on the incidence of ED. The target population consisted of men aged 55, 65 or 75 years old residing in the study area in Finland in 1999.

Factors associated with physicians' choice of working sector: a national longitudinal survey in Finland.

Objective: To analyse factors affecting physicians' choice to work in either the public or the private sector.

Method: We undertook a longitudinal data analysis in the years 1988, 1993, 1998 and 2003 (n = 12 909) using a multilevel modelling technique. Factors related to economic factors, physician identity, appreciation as well as demographic factors were hypothesised to influence sector choice.

The effects of parity, oral contraceptive use and hormone replacement therapy on the incidence of varicose veins.

Three population-based age cohorts (40-, 50- and 60-years old) of women (n = 3,590) were followed up to find out if pregnancies, use of oral contraceptives (OCs) or hormone replacement therapy (HRT) affect the appearance of varicose veins. Results were presented as odds ratios (OR) of prevalences at entry (POR) and as incidence odds ratios (IOR) during the 5-year follow-up. Parity with three or more births was an independent risk factor for varicose veins IOR 2.