Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C Hendriksen.
There are not many reports of Nordic intervention studies on the health and medical care of the elderly. Nevertheless much knowledge about old age is available and should be applied in practice under controlled conditions. In this overview article the authors present some experience from four of the Nordic countries to encourage further intervention studies, and focus some important aspects to be taken into consideration.
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Three physicians independently assessed whether 180 medical or surgical inpatients were anemic. The assessments were based on inspection of skin, nail beds, and conjunctivae. The observers made a positive diagnosis with significantly different frequency. Overall agreements between pairs of observers were 0.76-0.87. Agreement on negative diagnoses was higher than agreement on positive diagnoses. The overall agreements were adjusted for chance agreement, and kappa values which ranged from 0.23-0.47 were obtained. The overall accuracy of the clinical diagnoses was determined with the blood hemoglobin concentration as the "true" standard. For the three observers, the overall accuracy ranged from 0.78-0.79, the predictive value of a positive diagnosis ranged from 0.51-0.61, the predictive value of a negative diagnosis ranged from 0.81-0.84, the sensitivity ranged from 0.27-0.44, and the specificity ranged from 0.88-0.95. For each observer, the probability of detecting anemia was estimated as a function of the blood hemoglobin concentration. Compared with the "true" diagnosis, the observers were reluctant to call a patient anemic, and even in patients with the lowest blood hemoglobin concentrations, the expected probability of detecting anemia did not exceed 0.75.
Based on a three years controlled intervention study among elderly subjects, aged 75 years or more and living in their own homes, the methodological and practical experiences achieved through interdisciplinary cooperation is described. The combination of social, medical and psychological interventions within the framework of a clinical controlled trial has documented remarkably favourable consequences for the intervention group. The planning, intervention, work up and publication periods of the study are described in the wish that future necessary intervention studies may be guided to an easier procedure.
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All patients in the county of Copenhagen (approximately 500 000 inhabitants) with Crohn's disease, n = 185 were followed regularly between 1960 and 1978. The survival, the course of disease, the frequency of surgery, and the working capacity were estimated for the first 10 years of disease on the basis of the follow up results. The observation time ranged from 1-18 years with a median of 5.5 years for clinical observations, 5.8 years for survival, and 9.5 years for the occurrence of gastrointestinal cancer. The follow up was 100% concerning survival and cancer. The survival did not differ from that of the age- and sex-matched background population. Cancer was seen in only one of 185 patients corresponding to an annual risk of 0.06% and a cumulated risk after 10 years of 0.56, 95% confidence limits: 0.1-3.1%. The cancer was localised in the ileum. For all years, about 45% of the patients were without clinical symptoms of their disease, in 30% the clinical disease activity was low, and in 25% moderate to high. Among the patients with active disease, the course within the individual year was continuous in about one third and intermittent in about two thirds. After 10 years, 99% of the patients had experienced at least one relapse. The operation rate was 33% in the year of diagnosis, 13% in the following year, and then about 3% per year independent of whether or not the patient had been treated surgically in the past. After 10 years, 45% of the patients had not been treated surgically, 42% had had only one operation, and 13% had had two or more operations for their Crohn's disease. The working capacity was normal in about 75% of the patients for all years except the year of diagnosis. About 15-20% of the patients who had had the disease for more than five years were disabled as compared with about 4.4% of the background population. These results indicate that some of the patients with Crohn's disease run a more serious course with continuing symptoms despite of medical treatment and frequent surgical interventions. Most patients, however, remained capable for work and were able to lead a normal life.
The prognosis of ulcerative colitis including survival, colectomy rate, activity of disease, and working capacity was estimated from a follow up study of 783 patients with ulcerative colitis comprising all patients from the county of Copenhagen, except for the island of Amager, diagnosed between 1960 and 1978. The period of observation ranged from one to 18 years with a median of 6.7 years for the clinical observations, eight years for survival and 11.6 years for the occurrence of large bowel cancer. The follow up was 100% for both survival and cancer. The survival rate in women did not differ from that in the general population. In men over 40 years of age at diagnosis a slight excess mortality was found, but only in the year of diagnosis (2.1%) and the following year (1.5%). Colonic cancer was seen in only seven out of the 783 patients, corresponding to an annual risk of 0.07% and a cumulative risk after 18 years with ulcerative colitis of 1.4% (95% confidence limits, 0.7-2.8%) independent of the initial extent of disease. The colectomy rate was 9.6% in the year of diagnosis. The cumulative 10- and 18-year colectomy rate was 23% and 31%, respectively. After three years from diagnosis the capacity for work both in those subject to resection and treated conservatively did not differ significantly from that in the background population. At any time about 50% of the patients were without symptoms, in about 30% the disease activity was low and in about 20% moderate or high. Most patients, however, differed in activity from one year to another and almost all patients (97%) experienced at least one relapse during a 10 year time period.
Over three years 285 randomly selected subjects aged 75 years or more and living in a suburb of Copenhagen were visited every three months in their own homes (the intervention group) to assess whether scheduled medically and socially preventive intervention would influence the number of admissions to hospitals or nursing homes, the number of contacts with general practice, or mortality. A randomly selected group of 287 people of the same age and sex were visited during the final three months of the study (the control group). Two hundred and nineteen admissions to hospitals (4884 bed days) were registered for the intervention group compared with 271 (6442 bed days) for the control group. Especially during the second half of the study, a significant reduction in the number of admissions to hospitals was seen in the intervention group. Twenty people in the intervention group and 29 in the control group moved into nursing homes (p greater than 0.05). The corresponding numbers of deaths were 56 and 75 (p less than 0.05). No difference was seen in the number of contacts with general practice. Significantly fewer emergency medical calls, however, were registered for the intervention group. Subjects in the intervention group benefited from the regular visits and the increased distribution of aids and modifications to their homes to which these led. The regular visits probably also produced an important increase in confidence.
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