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Biomedical subjects

C Bengtsson

Publications and source records attributed to C Bengtsson.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Referral notes used as a tool for evaluating the co-operation between general practitioners and hospital physicians.

OBJECTIVE: To study what proportion of clinical visits to a general practitioner working at a Swedish health centre leads to a referral to a specialist, the adequacy of the reason for the referral, the quality of the referral notes, and the quality of the answers by the specialists to whom the patients had been referred. DESIGN: A referee committee representing the different medical specialists and the general practitioners studied all referral notes dealing with internal medicine, surgery, orthopaedics, and otorhinolaryngology during a defined period from two health centres as to adequacy of the reason for referral, the quality of the referral notes, and the quality of the answers to the referrals. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Altogether 188 consecutive referral notes and 171 answers to these referrals from two Swedish health centres were evaluated. RESULTS: Of the visits to a general practitioner, 7-8% resulted in a referral to a hospital specialist, and 90% of these were answered by letter. The referee committee agreed that the vast majority of the reason for referral were adequate, and that the referral notes as well as the answers to these with few exceptions were adequately formulated. CONCLUSIONS: The referrals from primary health care to different medical specialists worked adequately, but it was concluded that it may be further improved. When evaluating the co-operation between two medical systems, it is important that the evaluation as well is made in co-operation by representatives from the two systems.

Family Practice↗
PubMed1994

Oral glucose tolerance and its relationship to overweight and other cardiovascular risk factors in men aged 33-42. A study in the community of Habo, Sweden.

OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence of family history of diabetes, overweight, and glucose intolerance in a defined general population, and the associations between these variables and others involved in the so-called metabolic syndrome (blood pressure, obesity, serum lipids). DESIGN: An oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was done on all participants in a population study who reported a family history of diabetes or had a body mass index (BMI) > or = 27. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A population study of men aged 33-42 was carried out at Habo in southwestern Sweden (participation rate 86.1%). An OGTT was done on 170 men who fulfilled the criteria stated above. RESULTS: Overweight was a risk factor for impaired glucose tolerance and was more strongly associated with this state than was a family history of diabetes. Glucose intolerance was also associated with increased blood glucose concentration during the OGTT and with other metabolic disturbances such as increased serum lipids, increased blood pressure, and physical inactivity. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of overweight and impaired glucose tolerance is already common at a rather young age in men and is often combined with impairment of arterial blood pressure and serum lipids. The results indicate that it is urgent to start preventive measures early in life.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Prostate cancer. From the general practitioner's point of view.

The study was supported by the County of Halland and the Department of Public Health of the County. The information about prostate cancer in the community of Kungsbacka was obtained from the Regional Cancer Registry of the Oncological Center, Lund, Sweden. In the community of Kungsbacka, Sweden, with about 48,000 inhabitants, a study was made comprising all subjects with prostate cancer during a five-year period. The incidence was 36 per 100,000 inhabitants per year. Most patients first visited a general practitioner. The most common symptoms which brought the patient to the doctor were urinary urgency, nycturia, starting problems, poor stream of the urinary flow, terminal dribbling and urinary retention. The prostatic gland had as judged from digital palpation a pathological shape or consistency or both in 95% of the cases. Means of patient's delay and doctor's delay were very long, 17.5 and 14.6 months, respectively. The mortality during the study period was 100% in patients in whom the cancer had spread extracapsularly. General practitioners have an important role in the diagnostic process. It is important to increase public knowledge about the symptoms of prostate cancer in order to obtain a shorter patient's delay, and to palpate the prostate whenever symptoms appear from the prostate region, in order to diagnose the prostate cancer at an earlier stage.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

The natural history of obesity in an obese population and associations with metabolic aberrations.

The natural history of obesity was examined in a nation-wide sample of 1,084 obese men and 1,367 obese women aged 37-59 years who were recruited into a registry of potential subjects for an intervention trial. The registry and intervention studies are jointly referred to as SOS ('Swedish Obese Subjects'). In the registry, the mean body mass index was 37.7 kg/m2 in men and 40.9 kg/m2 in women. Descriptive information on subjects' weight histories and the relative weights of their biological parents was collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire. At a physical examination shortly thereafter, weights, heights and selected cardiovascular risk factors were measured in the fasting state. Virtually all subjects reported weight loss attempts in the past, men and women reported having gained weight during adulthood at a considerably higher rate than that observed in population-based samples. Significant correlations were observed between relative weights of obese males and both of their biological parents, but not between obese women and either of their parents. Indices of medical risk were then examined in relation to individual weight histories. Familial predisposition did not relate to most aspects of current medical risk. However, later-onset obesity tended to be associated with greater cardiovascular risk, while prior weight loss was predictive of an improved risk factor profile. These latter associations were not dependent on a subject's current degree of obesity and were particularly consistent with respect to fasting insulin level.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Associations of serum lipid concentrations and obesity with mortality in women: 20 year follow up of participants in prospective population study in Gothenburg, Sweden.

OBJECTIVE: To examine association of different measures of serum lipid concentration and obesity with mortality in women. DESIGN: Prospective observational study initiated in 1968-9, follow up examination after 12 years, and follow up study based on death certificates after 20 years. SETTING: Gothenburg, Sweden. SUBJECTS: 1462 randomly selected women aged 38-60 at start of study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Total mortality and death from myocardial infarction as predicted by serum cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations, body mass index, and ratio of circumference of waist to circumference of hips. RESULTS: 170 women died during follow up, 26 from myocardial infarction. Serum triglyceride concentration and waist:hip ratio were significantly associated with both end points (relative risk of total mortality for highest quarter of triglyceride concentration v lower three quarters 1.86 (95% confidence interval 1.30 to 2.67); relative risk for waist:hip ratio 1.67 (1.18 to 2.36)). These associations remained after adjustment for background variables. Serum cholesterol concentration and body mass index were initially associated with death from myocardial infarction, but association was lost after adjustment for background variables. Serum triglyceride concentration and waist:hip ratio were independently predictive of both end points (logistic regression coefficient for total mortality for triglyceride 0.514 (SE 0.150), p = 0.0006; coefficient for waist:hip ratio 7.130 (1.92), p = 0.0002) whereas the other two risk factors were not (coefficient for total mortality for cholesterol concentration -0.102 (0.079), p = 0.20; coefficient for body mass index -0.051 (0.027), p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Lipid risk profile appears to be different in men and women given that serum triglyceride concentration was an independent risk factor for mortality while serum cholesterol concentration was not. Consistent with previous observations in men, localisation of adipose tissue was more important than obesity per se as risk factor in women.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Smoking--a risk factor for hypothyroidism.

Smoking is associated with a spectrum of disorders. Recent reports have shown decreased serum concentrations of thyrotropin in euthyroid smokers, and there is an association between smoking and development of goiter (toxic and euthyroid). In a 12-year follow-up of a randomly selected sample of women we found a strong association between smoking at the time of initial screening and later development of hypothyroidism, the relative risk for a female smoker to develop hypothyroidism being 3.9 (95% confidence interval 1.6-9.1). There was, however, no association between smoking habits at the end of the follow-up and hypothyroidism. This indicates that several women who developed hypothyroidism may have done so in association with a change in smoking habits.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Screening for iron deficiency: an analysis based on bone-marrow examinations and serum ferritin determinations in a population sample of women.

Efficacy of different methods in screening for iron deficiency was re-examined in a randomly selected sample of 38-year-old women (n = 203) with known iron status based on absence/presence of stainable iron in bone-marrow smears. The study was made in 1968-69. Serum ferritin (SF) was determined in 1978 in frozen sera using the Ramco IRMA and, in 1992, samples were re-analysed using a RIA calibrated with the International Standard 80/602 for SF determination. The effect of storage on SF was calculated from a previously established relationship (courtesy of Dr Mark Worwood, Cardiff) between the results obtained with the Ramco assay and assays calibrated with IS 80/602. The distributions in iron replete and iron deficient women showed less overlap (diagnostic efficiency 91%) for SF than for other haematological parameters. The best discrimination was obtained at SF < 16 micrograms/l (specificity 98%; sensitivity 75%). Absence of iron stores was associated with signs of an iron deficient erythropoiesis, starting already at SF 25-40 micrograms/l. Use of multiple criteria to diagnose iron deficiency falsely reduces prevalence figures for iron deficiency.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Number of amalgam fillings in relation to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and early death in Swedish women.

Altogether 1462 women aged 38, 46, 50, 54 and 60 yr were initially examined in 1968-69 in a combined medical and dental population study in Gothenburg, Sweden. Number of tooth surfaces restored with amalgam fillings was assessed. The incidences of myocardial infarction, stroke, diabetes, cancer and overall mortality were determined during a 20-yr follow-up period. Women with few amalgam tooth fillings had increased incidence of myocardial infarction, stroke, diabetes and early death compared with women with a large number of fillings. However, the significant inverse correlations between number of amalgam tooth fillings and the endpoints studied disappeared when number of teeth and socioeconomic group were included in a multivariate analysis. The study thus did not provide any evidence for a correlation between amalgam fillings and cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer or early death.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

"The Göteborg Quality of Life Instrument"--a psychometric evaluation of assessments of symptoms and well-being among women in a general population.

OBJECTIVE: To examine with psychometric analysis techniques the potential for constructing valid composite variables of "The Göteborg Quality of Life Instruments". DESIGN: Prospective population study of women in 1974-75 and in 1980-81. SETTING: City of Göteborg, Sweden. PARTICIPANTS: Representative samples of the general population of women in five age strata between 44 and 66 years of age in 1974-75, followed 1980-81 including new cohorts of women aged 26 and 38. 1302 women were examined in 1974-75 and 1408 in 1980-81. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: "The Göteborg Quality of Life instrument", constructed in the early 1970s to measure symptoms and well-being in a population study of men. RESULTS: Four multi-item scales were identified with satisfactory reliability and validity, i.e., they met defined criteria of multi-item scales and benefit from higher reliability than single questions. The psychological symptom scale comprised all ten questions intended to reflect depression and tension, while the physical symptom scale included all six pain questions, the general symptoms dizziness, breathlessness, and nausea, and general fatigue that belonged to both symptom scales. The social well-being scale comprises all well-being questions believed to reflect the broad concept of life satisfaction. The physical-mental wellbeing scale reflected satisfaction with both general and mental health. Several symptom and well-being questions were clearly outside the main clusters and should be treated as single items. CONCLUSIONS: Use of a few, distinct scales instead of a number of single questions should increase statistical power because the number of comparisons is greatly reduced and problems of chance findings are thus minimized.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Swedish obese subjects (SOS)--an intervention study of obesity. Baseline evaluation of health and psychosocial functioning in the first 1743 subjects examined.

This part of an on-going intervention trial analyses impacts of obesity on psychosocial factors and health. The study sample comprised 800 obese men (BMI > or = 34 kg/m2) and 943 women (BMI > or = 38 kg/m2) ranging in age from 37 to 57 years. All participants completed standardized health-related quality of life measures, a validated obesity-specific eating inventory and study-specific questionnaires on current and past health status, use of medical care and medications, socioeconomic status, dietary habits, physical activity habits, weight history and familial history of obesity. Chronic patients and population samples were used as reference. The obese reported distinctly poorer current health and less positive mood states than the reference subjects, women being worse than men. Anxiety and/or depression on a level indicating psychiatric morbidity were more often seen in the obese and again women reported more affliction than men. Furthermore, the average poor mental well-being was worst than in chronically ill or injured patients, such as rheumatoid, cancer survivors and spinal cord injured persons. Predictors of perceived health and psychosocial functioning could be discerned using a comprehensive system of statistical analyses (16-28% explained variance). A background of both somatic and psychiatric morbidity was decisive for the health and psychosocial functioning in the obese; joint symptoms and angina pectoris dominated among somatic variables. Physical inactivity was the most prominent of traditional risk factors. The number of dieting attempts and body image were important weight correlates. Our results provide further evidence to the effect that severe obesity is a crippling condition.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Is abdominal body fat distribution a major explanation for the sex difference in the incidence of myocardial infarction? The study of men born in 1913 and the study of women, Göteborg, Sweden.

The authors considered whether the difference in body fat distribution between men and women, measured as waist:hip ratio, might explain part of the sex difference in coronary heart disease incidence in prospective population studies of 1,462 women and 792 men. In these studies, conducted in Sweden, men were found to have about four times higher odds for coronary heart disease than women during a 12-year follow-up period (men, 1967 to 1979; women, 1968-1969 to 1980-1981). Controlling for differences in blood pressure, serum cholesterol, smoking, and body mass index only marginally altered the magnitude of the male-female difference. When waist:hip ratio, which predicted coronary heart disease rates in both sexes, was also considered, the sex difference in coronary heart disease risk was significantly reduced and virtually disappeared (odds ratios = 1.0-1.1; nonsignificant). The findings suggest that body fat distribution or a factor highly correlated with waist:hip ratio (genetic, hormonal, or behavioral) may help to explain the sex differences in coronary heart disease.

Abdomen↗
PubMed1992

Diabetes incidence in users and non-users of antihypertensive drugs in relation to serum insulin, glucose tolerance and degree of adiposity: a 12-year prospective population study of women in Gothenburg, Sweden.

As part of a prospective population study in Gothenburg, Sweden, women aged 50 years were subjected to an intravenous glucose tolerance test on entry to the study and followed up for 12 years. Manifest diabetes was the only end-point registered in this part of the study. Of 352 initially non-diabetic women, 17 (4.8%) subjects developed diabetes, with a fourfold increased risk in women taking antihypertensive drugs (diuretics or beta-blockers, or both) compared with women who were not taking such medication. The increased risk was observed independently of initially measured glucose metabolism variables and degree of adiposity, although the incidences were higher overall if the use of antihypertensive drugs was combined with fasting hyperinsulinaemia and adiposity. This study provides further evidence to support the view that diuretics and beta-blockers are precipitators of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗
PubMed1992

Fasting insulin in relation to subsequent blood pressure changes and hypertension in women.

The role of hyperinsulinemia in the development of hypertension is not well understood, particularly insofar as both conditions relate to obesity. The present analysis examines the hypothesis that hyperinsulinemia, independent of obesity, precedes hypertension and natural blood pressure increases in women. The subjects were 50-year-old women from a prospective population study in Gothenburg, Sweden. Fasting insulin levels were determined at baseline (1968-1969) and were evaluated in relation to subsequent hypertension. Blood pressures were measured at the initial physical examination and at the 6- and 12-year follow-up examinations. The first analysis presented here (n = 278) identified incident cases of hypertension during the 12-year follow-up period, whereas the second analysis (n = 219) examined continuous changes in blood pressure. In both analyses, degree, type, and changes in obesity were considered as possible confounding factors. High fasting insulin values were predictive of subsequent incidence of hypertension over the 12-year follow-up period. Subjects with insulin values above the 75th percentile experienced three times more hypertension than did those below the 25th percentile. There was also a significant association between insulin at baseline and increases in diastolic (but not systolic) blood pressure. The positive relations between fasting insulin, on one hand, and diastolic blood pressure changes and hypertension, on the other, could not be explained by confounding effects of body mass index, waist/hip ratio, or weight gain. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that fasting insulin levels may be one predisposing factor in the etiology of hypertension.

Blood Pressure↗
PubMed1992

Smoking initiation and cessation in relation to body fat distribution based on data from a study of Swedish women.

In a representative sample of Swedish women, smokers were significantly less obese than nonsmokers. However, a smoker was likely to have significantly more upper-body fat than a nonsmoker of similar body mass index. Women who quit smoking experienced less upper-body fat deposition than would be expected by their accompanying weight gain, suggesting that weight gained as a consequence of smoking cessation is not preferentially deposited in the region associated with increased cardiovascular risk.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1992

Family history of diabetes in relation to different types of obesity and change of obesity during 12-yr period. Results from prospective population study of women in Göteborg, Sweden.

OBJECTIVE--To assess the relationship between family history and different types of obesity and change in obesity in a longitudinal population study. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS--A longitudinal population study of 1462 randomly selected women (38-60 yr old) was conducted in Göteborg, Sweden, in 1968-69. The women were restudied after 12 yr. RESULTS--A family history of diabetes in mothers but not fathers showed, in univariate analysis, a significant positive association with obesity expressed as BMI. A family history of diabetes in the mothers was inversely related to body fat distribution expressed as WHR. No other association was observed between family history of diabetes and WHR. The association with BMI was independent of age, WHR, smoking habits, blood glucose, systolic blood pressure, serum cholesterol, serum triglycerides, maternal obesity, and the incidence of diabetes during the 12-yr follow-up period. Twelve years later, in 1980-1981, an independent association still existed between family history for diabetes and BMI measured at that examination, whereas there was no relationship with WHR. Women who had a family history of diabetes increased their BMI significantly more during the 12-yr follow-up compared with the women without a family history of diabetes, whereas there was no difference for the change of WHR. Family history of coronary heart disease and family history of cancer did not correlate to any kind of obesity. CONCLUSIONS--These findings indicate that family history of diabetes is related to overall obesity but not to abdominal adiposity per se.

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed1992

Swedish obese subjects (SOS). Recruitment for an intervention study and a selected description of the obese state.

SOS (Swedish obese subjects) is an on-going intervention trial designed to determine whether the mortality and morbidity rates among obese individuals who lose weight by surgical means (gastric banding, vertical banded gastroplasty and gastric by-pass) differ from the rates associated with conventional treatment. For this purpose, the study is recruiting a sample of obese men and women who constitute a registry of potential subjects from which the participants are drawn. Eligibility criteria for participation in the registry were: age at application 37-57 years and BMI greater than or equal to 34 kg/m2 for men and greater than or equal to 38 kg/m2 for women. Before receiving a health examination, all patients complete extensive questionnaires on current and past health status, utilization of medical care and medications, socio-economic status, psychological profiles, dietary habits, physical activity, weight history, and familial disposition to obesity. Each surgical case is matched to its optimal control in the registry, to ensure that the two groups do not differ systematically with respect to any of 18 matching variables that may affect prognosis. The first 1006 subjects included in the registry have been studied with respect to morbidity and compared with on-going population studies of men and women in Göteborg, Sweden. The relative risks of prevalent disease and symptoms associated with obesity in 50-year-old males and females respectively were 4.3 and 4.7 (dyspnoea), 14.7 and 11.8 (angina), 6.3 (myocardial infarction, males only), 2.1 and 4.5 (hypertension), 5.2 and 6.6 (diabetes), 4.6 and 26.1 (claudication) and 1.7 and 1.8 (gall bladder disease). Correspondingly, obese males and females display elevations of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, insulin, triglyceride, and uric acid levels. However, total cholesterol was not increased in obese males and was in fact significantly lower in obese compared with reference women. HDL-cholesterol was lower in obese than reference men (data were not available in reference women). The rate of taking sick pensions was over twice as high in SOS obese patients than in population controls. Finally, comparison of measurements with self-reported prevalence estimates revealed a considerable amount of previously undiagnosed hypertension and diabetes in the obese subjects. These data suggest that the excess health risks associated with obesity may not be fully appreciated.

Adipose Tissue↗