TOWARD A CONTINGENCY MODEL FOR HOSPITAL-BASED HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT: EVIDENCE FROM ADHOPHTA PROJECT.

Objectives: Hospital-based health technology assessment (HB-HTA) is becoming increasingly relevant because of its role in managing the introduction and withdrawal of health technologies. The organizational arrangement in which HB-HTA activities are conducted depends on several contextual factors, although the dominant models have several similarities. The aims of this study were to explore, describe, interpret, and explain seven cases of the application of HB-HTA logic and to propose a classification for HB-HTA organizational models which may be beneficial for policy makers and HTA professionals.

Asthma and COPD overlap (ACO) is related to a high burden of sleep disturbance and respiratory symptoms: Results from the RHINE and Swedish GA2LEN surveys.

Background: The term Asthma and COPD Overlap (ACO) describes a condition where asthma and COPD overlap. We aimed to investigate associations between ACO and insomnia and respiratory symptoms, and to investigate the prevalence of ACO and the characteristics of subjects with ACO in two Northern European population studies.

Methods: The study comprised 25 429 subjects aged ≥ 40 years who participated in one of two Northern European general population surveys.

Polycystic ovary syndrome, body mass index and hypertensive disorders in pregnancy.

Objective: Some studies of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) report increased prevalence of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, while others do not. Several of these studies do not control for obesity. We aimed to study whether PCOS is associated with hypertensive disorders in pregnancy and whether it is dependent on body mass index (BMI).

Reproductive Hormone Levels Predict Changes in Frailty Status in Community-Dwelling Older Men: European Male Ageing Study Prospective Data.

Context: Clinical sequelae of androgen deficiency share common features with frailty. Evidence supporting the role of androgens in the development of frailty is limited and conflicting.

Objective: To determine associations between male reproductive hormones and prospective changes in frailty status.

Elevated luteinizing hormone despite normal testosterone levels in older men-natural history, risk factors and clinical features.

Objective: Elevated luteinizing hormone (LH) with normal testosterone (T) suggests compensated dysregulation of the gonadal axis. We describe the natural history, risk factors and clinical parameters associated with the development of high LH (HLH, LH >9.4 U/L) in ageing men with normal T (T ≥ 10.

Prostate cancer incidence, mortality and survival trends in Estonia, 1995-2014.

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze long-term trends in prostate cancer (PCa) incidence, mortality and survival in Estonia, with specific focus on age and stage.

Materials And Methods: Data on PCa incident cases and deaths in 1995-2014 were obtained from the Estonian Cancer Registry and the Causes of Death Registry, respectively. Joinpoint regression was used to estimate the annual percentage change for incidence and mortality trends.

Women with symptoms of sleep-disordered breathing are less likely to be diagnosed and treated for sleep apnea than men.

Background: Women are often underrepresented at sleep clinics evaluating sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). The aim of the present study was to analyze gender differences in sleep apnea diagnosis and treatment in men and women with similar symptoms of SDB.

Methods: Respiratory Health in Northern Europe (RHINE) provided information about snoring, excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), BMI and somatic diseases at baseline (1999-2001) and follow-up (2010-2012) from 4962 men and 5892 women.

Nonandrogenic Anabolic Hormones Predict Risk of Frailty: European Male Ageing Study Prospective Data.

Context: Low levels of nonandrogenic anabolic hormones have been linked with frailty, but evidence is conflicting and prospective data are largely lacking.

Objective: To determine associations between nonandrogenic anabolic hormones and prospective changes in frailty status.

Design/setting: A 4.

StrainSeeker: fast identification of bacterial strains from raw sequencing reads using user-provided guide trees.

Background: Fast, accurate and high-throughput identification of bacterial isolates is in great demand. The present work was conducted to investigate the possibility of identifying isolates from unassembled next-generation sequencing reads using custom-made guide trees.

Results: A tool named StrainSeeker was developed that constructs a list of specific -mers for each node of any given Newick-format tree and enables the identification of bacterial isolates in 1-2 min.

Headache service quality: evaluation of quality indicators in 14 specialist-care centres.

Background: The study was a collaboration between Lifting The Burden (LTB) and the European Headache Federation (EHF). Its aim was to evaluate the implementation of quality indicators for headache care Europe-wide in specialist headache centres (level-3 according to the EHF/LTB standard).

Methods: Employing previously-developed instruments in 14 such centres, we made enquiries, in each, of health-care providers (doctors, nurses, psychologists, physiotherapists) and 50 patients, and analysed the medical records of 50 other patients.

Frailty and bone health in European men.

Background: frailty is associated with an increased risk of fragility fractures. Less is known, however, about the association between frailty and bone health.

Methods: men aged 40-79 years were recruited from population registers in eight European centres for participation in the European Male Aging Study.

Changes in prevalence of obesity and high waist circumference over four years across European regions: the European male ageing study (EMAS).

Diversity in lifestyles and socioeconomic status among European populations, and recent socio-political and economic changes in transitional countries, may affect changes in adiposity. We aimed to determine whether change in the prevalence of obesity varies between the socio-politically transitional North-East European (Łódź, Poland; Szeged, Hungary; Tartu, Estonia), and the non-transitional Mediterranean (Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Florence, Italy) and North-West European (Leuven, Belgium; Malmö, Sweden; Manchester, UK) cities. This prospective observational cohort survey was performed between 2003 and 2005 at baseline and followed up between 2008 and 2010 of 3369 community-dwelling men aged 40-79 years.

Father's environment before conception and asthma risk in his children: a multi-generation analysis of the Respiratory Health In Northern Europe study.

Background: Whereas it is generally accepted that maternal environment plays a key role in child health, emerging evidence suggests that paternal environment before conception also impacts child health. We aimed to investigate the association between children's asthma risk and parental smoking and welding exposures prior to conception.

Methods: In a longitudinal, multi-country study, parents of 24 168 offspring aged 2-51 years provided information on their life-course smoking habits, occupational exposure to welding and metal fumes, and offspring's asthma before/after age 10 years and hay fever.

Natural history, risk factors and clinical features of primary hypogonadism in ageing men: Longitudinal Data from the European Male Ageing Study.

Objective: In ageing men, the incidence and clinical significance of testosterone (T) decline accompanied by elevated luteinizing hormone (LH) are unclear. We describe the natural history, risk factors and clinical features associated with the development of biochemical primary hypogonadism (PHG, T < 10·5 nmol/l and LH>9·4U/l) in ageing men.

Design, Patients And Measurements: A prospective observational cohort survey of 3,369 community-dwelling men aged 40-79 years, followed up for 4·3 years.

Evaluation of cognitive subdomains, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D in the European Male Ageing Study.

Purpose: Although lower levels of vitamin D have been related to poor cognitive functioning and dementia in older adults, evidence from longitudinal investigations is inconsistent. The objective of this study was to determine whether 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25(OH)D] levels are associated with specified measures of cognitive decline in ageing men.

Methods: The European Male Ageing Study (EMAS) followed 3369 men aged 40-79 over 4.

Lower bone turnover and relative bone deficits in men with metabolic syndrome: a matter of insulin sensitivity? The European Male Ageing Study.

Unlabelled: We examined cross-sectional associations of metabolic syndrome and its components with male bone turnover, density and structure. Greater bone mass in men with metabolic syndrome was related to their greater body mass, whereas hyperglycaemia, hypertriglyceridaemia or impaired insulin sensitivity were associated with lower bone turnover and relative bone mass deficits.

Introduction: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been associated with lower bone turnover and relative bone mass or strength deficits (i.

Elevated plasma concentrations of bacterial ClpB protein in patients with eating disorders.

Objective: Caseinolytic protease B (ClpB) produced by Enterobacteria, such as Escherichia coli, has been identified as a conformational mimetic of α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH), an anorexigenic and anxiogenic neuropeptide. In mice, ClpB induces α-MSH cross-reactive antibodies and activates anorexigenic brain neurons. In patients with eating disorders (ED), anti-ClpB and anti-α-MSH antibodies correlate with psychopathological traits.

Validation of self-reported figural drawing scales against anthropometric measurements in adults.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to validate figural drawing scales depicting extremely lean to extremely obese subjects to obtain proxies for BMI and waist circumference in postal surveys.

Design: Reported figural scales and anthropometric data from a large population-based postal survey were validated with measured anthropometric data from the same individuals by means of receiver-operating characteristic curves and a BMI prediction model.

Setting: Adult participants in a Scandinavian cohort study first recruited in 1990 and followed up twice since.

The Association of Gum Bleeding with Respiratory Health in a Population Based Study from Northern Europe.

Background: There is little knowledge about how oral and respiratory health is interrelated even though the mucosa of the oral cavity and airways constitutes a continuum and the exposures to these are partly similar.

Aims: To investigate whether gum bleeding is related to asthma, respiratory symptoms and self-reported COPD.

Methods: A postal questionnaire including questions about respiratory and oral health was sent to general population samples in seven Northern European centres.

Low vitamin D and the risk of developing chronic widespread pain: results from the European male ageing study.

Background: The association between low levels of vitamin D and the occurrence of chronic widespread pain (CWP) remains unclear. The aim of our analysis was to determine the relationship between low vitamin D levels and the risk of developing CWP in a population sample of middle age and elderly men.

Methods: Three thousand three hundred sixty nine men aged 40-79 were recruited from 8 European centres for a longitudinal study of male ageing, the European Male Ageing Study.

Chronic widespread pain is associated with worsening frailty in European men.

Background: we hypothesised that chronic widespread pain (CWP), by acting as a potential stressor, may predispose to the development of, or worsening, frailty.

Setting: longitudinal analysis within the European Male Ageing Study (EMAS).

Participants: a total of 2,736 community-dwelling men aged 40-79.

Hospital managers' need for information in decision-making--An interview study in nine European countries.

Assessments of new health technologies in Europe are often made at the hospital level. However, the guidelines for health technology assessment (HTA), e.g.

Resistance profile and risk factors of drug resistant tuberculosis in the Baltic countries.

The rates of multi- and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (X/MDRTB) in the Baltic countries are the highest within the European Union hampering recent achievements of national TB control programmes. We included all consecutive culture-confirmed X/MDRTB patients registered for treatment in 2009 in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia into this multicenter case-control study. Cases were compared with randomly selected controls with non-MDRTB registered for treatment in the same year across these sites.

Low heel ultrasound parameters predict mortality in men: results from the European Male Ageing Study (EMAS).

Background: low bone mineral density measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry is associated with increased mortality. The relationship between other skeletal phenotypes and mortality is unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between quantitative heel ultrasound parameters and mortality in a cohort of European men.