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Anders Ekbom

Publications and source records attributed to Anders Ekbom.

96 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed2002

Childhood leukemia and magnetic fields in infant incubators.

In studies of magnetic field exposure and childhood leukemia, power lines and other electrical installations close to the children's homes constitute the most extensively studied source of exposure. We conducted a study to assess whether exposure to magnetic fields in infant incubators is associated with an increased leukemia risk. We identified all children with leukemia born in Sweden between 1973 and 1989 from the national Cancer Registry and selected at random one control per case, individually matched by sex and time of birth, from the study base. We retrieved information about treatment in infant incubators from medical records. We made measurements of the magnetic fields inside the incubators for each incubator model kept by the hospitals. Exposure assessment was based on measurements of the magnetic field level inside the incubator, as well as on the length of treatment. For acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the risk estimates were close to unity for all exposure definitions. For acute myeloid leukemia, we found a slightly elevated risk, but with wide confidence intervals and with no indication of dose response. Overall, our results give little evidence that exposure to magnetic fields inside infant incubators is associated with an increased risk of childhood leukemia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Decreasing mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: results from a large population based cohort in Sweden, 1964-95.

OBJECTIVE: To assess changes in mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from 1964 to 1995. METHODS: A population based cohort of 46,917 patients with RA was identified from 1964 to 1994, using the Swedish Hospital Discharge Register, and followed until 1995 through linkage to the Cause of Death Register. Mortality was separately analyzed in each inclusion period (1964-75, 1975-84, 1985-94). The relative risk of death was estimated as standardized mortality ratio (SMR) using the Swedish population as a reference RESULTS: All-cause mortality was increased twice the expected (SMR = 2.03, 95% CI 2.00, 2.05). Coronary artery disease was the major cause of death and mortality was increased by 80% (SMR = 1.79, 95% CI 1.75, 1.83). Females with RA aged 20-39 at first discharge had a more than 5-fold increased risk of coronary death (SMR = 5.48, 95% CI 3.45-5.71). From 1975 patients with RA had decreasing all-cause mortality. This decline was most pronounced in patients aged 40-59 at first discharge, where SMR was 2.68 (95% CI 2.45, 2.92) from 1964 to 1974 compared to SMR 1.63 (95% CI 1.37, 1.92) from 1985 to 1994. CONCLUSION: The elevated mortality rates in RA patients compared to the general population have decreased during the last 20 years, possibly due to an increased access to specialized rheumatology care. An excess risk for death in coronary artery disease was, however, present in RA patients, especially patients with early onset of disease.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Parental longevity and survival in elderly patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In general, elderly patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) have a less favorable prognosis than younger patients. Factors such as inadequate therapy often due to decreased tolerance to treatment, presence of intercurrent diseases and accumulation of certain clinical and biological risk factors contribute to the poor outcome. Established predictors of prognosis in HL are less appropriate in the elderly population. Consequently, there is a need for additional markers to guide treatment decisions and to improve prediction of outcome. In the general population, the expected length of life of an individual is intimately associated with that of his/her parents. In a small cohort of elderly HL patients, we had previously observed high familial life-span of two previous generations predicts superior survival. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that parental longevity alone--an easily accessible and non-disease associated variable--is also associated with improved outcome using an enlarged series of elderly HL patients. DESIGN AND METHODS: One hundred and twenty-one patients with HL >60 years at diagnosis were included. The median follow-up time was 67 (range 37-175) months. Data regarding age at death and reported cause of death were available through parish offices for 228 (94%) parents. The effect of parental lifespan on HL survival included the use of Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox' proportional hazards regression analysis. RESULTS: Maternal as well as paternal lifespan correlated poorly with HL survival, both with regard to overall and disease-specific survival. There was, however, a tendency towards a decreased risk of dying among patients with low maternal lifespan (all-cause mortality: RR=0.7, 95% CI 0.5-1.0). INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS: Parental longevity does not predict superior survival in elderly patients with HL.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Clinical presentation of primary hyperparathyroidism in Europe--nationwide cohort analysis on mortality from nonmalignant causes.

Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) in developing countries is characterized by severe skeletal and renal complications and apparent mortality. This is in contrast with the Western hemisphere where research interests, rather than characteristics of PHPT, seem to differ between regions. In Europe, the "nontraditional" aspects of mild-to-moderate PHPT have attracted particular attention. These symptoms and signs include risk factors for cardiovascular disease such as hypertension, phenotype IV lipoproteinemia, insulin resistance, cardiac and vascular dysfunction, and morbidity in cardiovascular diseases. Mortality in cardiovascular diseases has been found to be increased in studies that include over 6500 European patients; this risk could not be verified in North American patients. By use of the nationwide Cancer Registry and Causes-of-Death Registry, mortality was analyzed in 10,995 Swedish patients (> 20 years of age) subjected to extirpation of single parathyroid adenoma of PHPT during 1958-1997. The Swedish population standardized for age, sex, and calendar year was used as control. The first postoperative year was excluded from the analysis. In total, the study included 102,515 observed person-years in the patients. Results verify an increased risk of dying after operation for PHPT (standard mortality ratio, 1.2; 95% CI, 1.19-1.27). The increased risk persisted far beyond 15 years postoperatively and occurred in both sexes and in all investigated age groups. Principal causes of excess mortality were cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, and urogenital diseases in all age groups. However, in patients operated on between 1985 and 1997 (n = 6386), overall mortality did not differ from that of the normal population, although there was maintained excess death in stroke, diabetes mellitus, and urogenital diseases. These findings infer that modern paradigms of surgical treatment normalize the risk of dying from PHPT. This improvement may be a late consequence of liberalized calcium screenings that were introduced about 30 years ago and indicate that operation at early disease stages may offer a survival advantage. An association between diabetes mellitus and PHPT is substantiated.

Adenoma↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Screening for colorectal cancer. Collaboration among politicians and scientists is necessary].

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers in the western world. It is especially common in the Nordic countries. In many of the European countries and in the United States colonoscopy is recommended as a screening procedure for CRC. However, there are no randomized studies of the effects of the method on incidence, mortality, possible complications or negative effects on the population. Public pressure to have screening for CRC with colonoscopy will probably increase heavily in the next years to come. We fear that colonoscopy will be introduced as a screening method without proper scientific support. Therefore we want to argue for a common Nordic randomized study on population screening with colonoscopy.

Colonoscopy↗