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Biomedical subjects

E Hemminki

Publications and source records attributed to E Hemminki.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources
PubMed1977

Polypharmacy among psychiatric patients.

The purpose of the present study is to determine the frequency of polypharmacy among psychiatric patients in Helsinki, and to ascertain whether this practice is supported by clinical trials. The drugs prescribed in 1 day to a sample of patients (n = 694) in mental hospitals and outpatient clinics in Helsinki were studied. 69% of patients received more than on psychotropic drug in 1 day (61% received "proper" psychotropic drugs). On the average there were 2.1 different psychotropic drugs per patient, and the maximum was 6. A review of controlled clinical trials on the simultaneous use of more than one proper psychotropic drug in psychiatric diseases (excluding fixed combinations) revealed 14 trials. In only three trials was the combination better than its single components or placebo. Thus, there seems to be no evidence from clinical trials defending the frequent polypharmacy. A radical reduction in the number of psychotropic drugs prescribed for psychiatric patients is apparently desirable.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

The function of drug company representatives.

The drug industry has a major influence on drug prescribing habits through their medical representatives. We therefore set out to see whether their work was more concerned with providing information or with selling, more with demand or with supply, and how much it cost in Finland. We interviewed currently employed and former representatives and contact persons in health institutions, and analysed advertisements for vacancies for medical representatives. It seems that companies regard detailing more as a sales activity than as public relations and that this trend towards selling has gained in importance in recent years. The number of representatives engaged in the pharmaceutical industry exceeds the demand for their services. The drug companies allotted in 1975 detailing at least 5 000 Fmk (+1 300) per physician per year. Our conclusion is that drug detailing is neither necessary nor beneficial for the health services.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗
PubMed1976

Increase in years of life after eliminating causes of death: significance for health priorities.

The theory of competing risks of death has been applied in this study for the construction of two indices: (1) increase in the expectation of life as a function of age, and (2) increase in the average number of years to be lived by a newborn up to various ages, when selected causes of death are eliminated. The indices have been applied to the 1970 mortality in Finland. Vascular diseases comprise the most important cause of death in both sexes, when the first index is applied. According to the second index, considering ages up to 65 years, violent deaths emerge as the most important cause of death among men and neoplasms appear equally important as vascular diseases among women. The magnitude of a health problem was found to be dependent on the index selected, which should be considered in health planning.

Accidents↗
PubMed1976

The effect of antibiotics on mortality from infectious diseases in Sweden and Finland.

A study was carried out to determine whether the preexisting decline in mortality rates from infectious diseases accelerated after the introduction of antibiotic and chemotherapeutic drugs. Linear regression curves showed that in Sweden mortality rates declined faster in septicemia, syphilis, and non-memingococcal meningitis after the introduction of these drugs. By contrast, for the ten other infectious diseases studied, (scarlet fever, erysipelas, acute rheumatic fever, puerperal sepsis, meningococcal infection, bronchitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and acute gastroenteritis) no such accelerated decline in mortality could be detected. The findings suggest that antibiotic and chemotherapeutic drugs have not had the dramatic effect of the mortality of infectious diseases popularly attributed to them.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1975

The role of prescriptions in therapy.

The aim of the present study was that of discovering whether the prescription of drugs displaces other forms of therapy. The method adopted was that of behavior simulation. Doctors were requested to provide therapeutic proposals regarding a standard set of patient cases described in questionnaires sent to them. These cases were formulated in such a way that in the author's opinion they could easily, and perhaps best, be treated without drugs. Nevertheless, most of the cases were treated with drugs, thereby indicating the important role of drug therapy as a means of treatment. In particular, psychic disturbances were often treated by drugs. Frequently, drugs represented the only treatment offered, and no alternative form of treatment was suggested.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Elderly people's compliance with prescriptions, and quality of medication.

We set out to examine how quality of medication influenced patients' use of drugs. 217 elderly people living in homes for the aged in Helsinki were interviewed. They used a considerable number of prescribed drugs: one-third of them had ingested at least four different prescribed drugs during the previous week. This polypharmacy largely concerned symptomatic drugs. Non-compliance with prescription instructions was common, and was more common with the symptomatic drugs. The number of deviations from the instructions correlated positively with the number of drugs, especially the number of symptomatic drugs. According to this study, non-compliance with prescription instructions is not to be condemned as such. In so far as drugs are prescribed in unreasonable large quantities, underuse is a way for the patient to avoid ingesting excessive quantities of drugs.

Aged↗