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Biomedical subjects

J Takala

Publications and source records attributed to J Takala.

At least 217 records · Page 12Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Mental health in the middle-aged population.

In the general health screening carried out 9 September 1973--11 January 1974 in the municipality of Säkylä in Southwest Finland as part of the Säkylä-Köyliö project, the current self-perceived psychological symptomatology of the population between the ages of 40 and 64 years (a total of 2,431 persons) was measured by the questionnaire developed by Goldberg. With a participation rate of 93.3%, the study revealed that 21% of those who took part suffered from psychological symptoms. In the subjects 50 years old or over these symptoms were nearly twice as common as in those under 50 years. Mental symptoms occurred most frequently in widowed and divorced persons as well as in pensioners and the unemployed. An increase in income and/or education appeared to be related to a decline in psychosymptomatology. In the municipality of Köyliö, with a less developed social organization, the frequency of psychological symptoms was 1.5 times that obtained for the more highly developed Säkylä.

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PubMed1979

Improving compliance with therapeutic regimens in hypertensive patients in a community health center.

A 1-year, randomized study was conducted to test the possibility of improving compliance with therapeutic regimens in hypertensives by means of certain simple arrangements. Patients were given written treatment instructions concerning hypertension, a personal blood-pressure follow-up card, and, for those who failed to attend their blood-pressure check-up, an invitation for a new check-up. Using matched pairs, 202 Finnish hypertensives were randomly allocated either to an ordinary or a reorganized treatment group. By means of the latter system, patient compliance could be significantly (p less than 0.01) improved: Only 4% of the patients in this group dropped out of treatment, compared with 19% in the ordinary treatment group. By the end of the year, blood pressure had been lowered by at least 10% in 95% of the patients in the reorganized group and in 78% of those in the ordinary group (p less than 0.01). This was achieved in approximately 60% of cases using chlorthalidone alone.

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PubMed1979

A multiphasic screening programme at the health centre level: the Säkylä-Köyliö project.

The Säkylä-Köyliö Project concerned the investigation and evaluation of different screening programmes and the possibilities for providing the necessary treatment and follow-up at the health centre level. The variables studied consisted of anaemia, bacteriuria, high blood pressure, and mental health problems; an epidemiologic screening for sight and hearing defects and diseases of the musculoskeletal system was carried out as well. The use of health services, together with the relationships between objectively and subjectively determined morbidity, was also studied. A total of 2268 inhabitants of the municipalities of Säkylä and Köyliö, i.e. 93.2% of the 40- to 64-year-old female population and 93.4% of the males in the same age range, participated in the screening programme conducted by the Säkylä-Köyliö Project between 9 September 1973 and 11 January 1974. Only one-fifth (1.9%) of the non-respondents to the first invitation (8.6%) participated in the screening programme after they received a second invitation. This result demonstrates that those who do not participate for some reason cannot, to any great extent, be influenced by a renewed invitation. Since the non-participation rate was insignificant, the material examined may, from the epidemiologic point of view, be considered as representative of the middle-aged population of the two municipalities, which together form a health centre district in Southwest Finland. The high participation percentage also shows that the prerequisite of screening, namely, a positive attitude on the part of the population, was as well fulfilled in the present project.

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PubMed1978

Use of physician services by a middle-aged population in a rural health centre district in southwest Finland. Descriptive distributions.

The use of physician services by a middle-aged population was investigated in connection with a multiphasic screening programme in two rural municipalities in Southwest Finland. The screening programme was attended by 1223 (93.2%) females and 1045 (93.4%) males, 40 to 64 years of age. Two-thirds of the subjects (61% of the men and 69% of the women) had seen a doctor during the previous year because of illness, symptoms or accident. The mean of the face-to-face physician contacts was 2.3 times a year per person, the women having had more contacts (2.4) than the men (2.1). In all, about half (52%) of the subjects had visited the health centre physician during the previous year for the previously mentioned reasons. Ten per cent of the subjects had seen a private specialist and another 10% had seen a physician at an outpatient clinic of a central or district hospital. More than one-third of those who had seen a physician at the health centre had visited the health centre at least three times within a year, whereas only one-sixth of those who had used the services of a private practitioner had seen the private practitioner as often. Proportionately, those visiting mental health offices used the services of a physician the most often, for the majority of them (77%) had seen a psychiatrist at this office at least three times during the year.

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PubMed1978

Chronic respiratory disease in rural men. An epidemiological survey at Hankasalmi, Finland.

To discover the prevalence of chronic respiratory disease and the various factors associated with it, 1162 men (85% of the defined population) aged 25 to 69 years were surveyed using a questionnaire, chest radiograph and spirometry. 112 men with pulmonary tuberculosis or "other respiratory disease" were excluded from the analysis. Excluding the youngest age group (25 to 39 years), the smokers were thinner than the non-smokers. The percentages of overweight men among the non-smokers, ex-smokers and smokers were 22%, 27% and 14%, respectively (P less than 0.001). Almost all respiratory symptoms were more common in the smokers than in the non-smokers, and the prevalence of cough, phlegm, severe breathlessness and the effect of weather on respiratory symptoms significantly increased with age. Asthma was not associated with age or smoking, nor was socioeconomic status associated with chronic respiratory disease. The ventilatory function, measured by FEV1, FVC and FEV%, was worse in the smokers than in the non-smokers. In addition the slope of FEV% on age was significantly steeper in the ex-smokers and the various groups of smokers than in the non-smokers.

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PubMed1978

Chronic respiratory disease in rural women. An epidemiological survey at Hankasalmi, Finland.

To discover the prevalence of chronic respiratory disease and its association with various factors, 1217 women (84% of the defined population) aged 25 to 69 years were surveyed using a questionnaire, chest radiograph and spirometry. 71 women with pulmonary tuberculosis or "other respiratory disease" were excluded from the analysis. At all ages the smokers were thinner than the non-smokers. The percentages of overweight women among the non-smokers, ex-smokers and smokers were 50%, 42% and 19%, respectively (P less than 0.001). Nasal catarrh was significantly more common in the smokers than in the non-smokers but for other symptoms no definite association with smoking was found. Breathlessness, wheezing and the effect of weather were significantly more common at older ages. Socioeconomic status did not seem to influence the occurrence of chronic respiratory disease. No significant effect of smoking on FEV1, FVC or FEV1 % was found.

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PubMed1977

Association of bacteriuria and rheumatoid factors in a population sample.

To obtain further information on the possible association of bacteriuria and RFs on the population level, an epidemiological study was carried out among middle-aged women in a rural area. Fifty-five of ther 1223 women aged 40-64 years had bacteriuria and 31 were under treatment for urinary tract infection. The latex test was twice as often positive among the bacteriuria women as among the persons under treatment and the age-matched controls. The association was noted in the same way in persons with symptoms and signs suggestive of RA and in those with no evidence of this disease.

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