Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

K Poikolainen

Publications and source records attributed to K Poikolainen.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Decreased serum selenium and magnesium levels in drunkenness arrestees.

Serum levels of selenium magnesium, copper, zinc and iron were studied in chronic drunkenness arrestees and a healthy control group. The mean serum concentrations of selenium and magnesium were both significantly lower (P less than 0.01) in drunkenness arrestees than in the control subjects. The mean alcohol intake was 190 g of absolute alcohol daily in drunkenness arrestees and 14 g in controls. The erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase concentrations of the study groups did not support poor selenium intake as a principal cause of low selenium concentration in the serum.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

The effect of health services on mortality: decline in death rates from amenable and non-amenable causes in Finland, 1969-81.

The impact of the Finnish health services on mortality from natural causes amenable to interventions by them was estimated for the period 1969 to 1981. During this period, mortality from amenable causes fell by 63% among males and 68% among females aged 64 years or less. The respective decreases for non-amenable natural causes of death were 24% and 29%. The rate of decline in mortality from amenable causes was similar for the two sexes. It was assumed that the decline in mortality from nonamenable causes reflects the joint influences of environmental, social, nutritional, and genetic factors and that the difference between this and the decline in mortality from amenable causes approximates to the true effect of the health services. Health services were estimated to account for 50% of the total decline in mortality from amenable causes for both sexes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Drunkenness arrests: predictors of recurrence and effect of detoxication treatment.

Predictors of the recurrence of drunkenness arrests and the effect of detoxication treatment on outcome during a 12-14-month follow-up were studied among 560 arrestees. Arrestees were assigned on the basis of the last digit of their day of birth to a treatment group (odd digits) or a control group (even digits). Treatment was compulsory and consisted of a bath, rest, food and care provided by social workers, nurses and a physician at a detoxication station. In regression analysis, the number of subsequent arrests was significantly related to housing status, age, marital status and occupational status but not to treatment. Survival analyses indicated that the first and the second new arrest were significantly associated, in addition to the above-mentioned predictors, with sex but not with treatment. Relative risks between selected categories of predictor variables, estimated using Cox's proportional hazard models, varied between 1.2 and 2.5. Compulsory detoxication does not decrease the recurrence of drunkenness arrests.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1986

Alcohol-related diseases associated with ischaemic heart disease: a three-year follow-up of middle-aged male hospital patients.

Mortality and morbidity from ischaemic heart disease (IHD) was studied in 5404 Finnish males aged 35-64 years who had been hospitalised for alcohol-related disease in 1972 without any admissions for IHD during that same period. By record-linkage, morbidity and mortality were followed up to the end of 1975. The mortality of patients with alcohol-related diseases was compared to 1120 patients with acute appendicitis by calculating indirectly age-standardised mortality ratios (SMR). The mortality and morbidity of 5963 patients with acute myocardial infarction or angina pectoris was also studied. The following SMRs for IHD mortality, non-fatal-IHD-hospitalisation and for mortality from all causes respectively, were found: acute myocardial infarction 11.6, 7.2 and 7.2; alcohol intoxication 6.0, 4.5 and 4.5; angina pectoris 5.2, 10.5 and 3.4; liver cirrhosis 2.2, 2.5 and 11.8; alcoholism 1.9, 1.9 and 3.6; pancreatitis 1.8, 1.2 and 4.4; alcohol psychosis 1.7, 2.5 and 4.2. IHD mortality and morbidity appeared to be more prevalent in patients hospitalised with alcohol intoxication than in patients with other alcohol-related diseases. This suggests that rapid drinking predisposes both to serious intoxication and to fatal disturbances of cardiac rhythm.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Acute appendicitis not associated with social class among children.

Acute appendicitis has previously been found to be associated with social class. In an attempt to confirm this, 125 patients with histologically verified acute appendicitis were compared with 1802 control children, randomly selected from the schools of the City of Helsinki. Social class determination was based on father's occupation in families with two parents, and on mother's occupation in single provider families. No association with social class was found. The proportion of single provider families was around 25% among both cases and controls. Appendicitis patients are one potential source of control groups in epidemiological studies.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1985

Seasonal variation and recurring peaks of reported poisonings during a 3-year period.

Seasonality of poisonings was studied among 28 692 cases reported during the years 1980-1982 in Finland with special reference to recurring peak months over years. Poisonings predominated in the summer. For all age-groups peaks of envenomations, plant poisonings and pesticide poisonings recurred between June and September. Among children aged 0-6 years, there were in addition recurrent peaks in poisonings by tobacco between June and August, by corrosive agents in September and by vitamins, trace elements and external medicines in October. Among children aged 7-15 years, fertilizer poisonings peaked recurrently in August. Among adults, poisonings by petroleum products peaked recurrently in July and December, psychopharmacologic drugs in July and October, paints, glues and plastics in November, alcohols in December and antimicrobial drugs in August and October. Of all poisonings, 33% occurred in July, August or September in contrast to the expected 25%. Preventive efforts should thus be intensified during the summer.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Nature of questionnaire options affects estimates of alcohol intake.

To estimate the degree of underreporting of alcohol consumption caused by questionnaire options for the frequency and quantity of drinking, two questionnaires (one oriented toward light alcohol consumption and the other toward heavy consumption) were administered to each of 86 patients (13 women) admitted for withdrawal treatment. The estimated mean daily alcohol intake was 137 g of absolute alcohol as measured by the "light" questionnaire and 302 g as measured by the "heavy" one. The Spearman correlation coefficient between individual mean intakes recorded by the two questionnaires was .58, indicating some influence on the rank ordering of drinkers. The intake estimate based on the heavy questionnaire correlated better with the number of drinks needed to overcome the subjective feelings of hangover than did the estimate based on the light questionnaire. A good deal of the underreporting commonly found in general population surveys might be related to the nature of questionnaire options. More detailed options for heavy intake might reveal previously unnoticed correlations between alcohol intake and various health hazards.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Correlations between biological markers and alcohol intake as measured by diary and questionnaire in men.

Alcohol intake was measured in 54 men aged 32-45 who were moderate or heavy drinkers--first by questionnaire and then more thoroughly by diary. Blood was drawn for the measurement of suggested biological markers of alcohol intake after the completion of the questionnaire and at the end of two consecutive diary periods. Partial correlations, controlling for smoking, exercise and age, between daily alcohol intake and markers were low and increased only slightly when diary data were analyzed instead of questionnaire data. No improvement was observed when mean intake per drinking day or the highest daily intake during a diary period was substituted in the analyses for mean daily intake. Significant associations (p less than .05) were found for mean cell volume (MCV), serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) and alkaline phosphatase (AFOS), but not for serum gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), the HDL: cholesterol ratio or ferritin. Correlations between intake reported by diary and intake predicted by a multivariate model with MCV, HDL, AFOS and GGT as regressors were significant (p less than .05) and higher than any of the bivariate correlation coefficients but were low (r = .30-.31). Low correlations seem to result from the inherent weakness of the suggested markers rather than from inaccuracies in the measurement of alcohol intake.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Risk of fatal alcohol poisoning by marital and occupational status.

Mortality from alcohol poisoning was studied by age, sex, marital status and occupation in Finland in 1978-1982. Of 1204 fatal alcohol poisonings, 76 were due to methanol, isopropanol, ethylene glycol, or combinations of these, the rest being due to ethanol. Males predominated: the percentage of females was 11%. Mortality was highest among persons aged 45-54 years. The risk of fatal poisoning differed by marital status and was inversely related to socio-economic level. Thus, among males aged 30-59 years, the age-adjusted risk of death among divorced pensioners was 15 times that of married men in upper-stratum occupations. If all males were at risk equal to that for married upper-stratum men, the annual number of fatal alcohol poisonings among males would decrease by 67%.

1-Propanol↗
PubMed1983

One-year drinking history and mortality.

The one-year drinking history of 94 men was recorded by recurrent interviews (mean: 20 per person). The cohort was followed for 18.3 years; during that time, 13 men died. Cox's proportional hazards survival models including age and social class as confounders, indicated that mortality was significantly associated with total annual alcohol consumption, frequency of drinking, and frequency of intoxicating drinking. Estimates of risk of death for various consumption levels are presented: For having 10 drinks (each containing 12 grams of pure ethanol) a week vs one drink a week, the estimated relative risk of death (95% confidence limits in parentheses) was 2.3 (1.6-3.3). For being intoxicated once a week vs no intoxications at all during one year the respective risk was 2.1 (1.3-3.1). The risk estimates for the frequency of intoxication were found to be higher than those in an earlier study using single interview data on drinking. This suggests that more accurate measurement of alcohol consumption may yield higher risk of death estimates than found in studies based on single interview data on alcohol.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Accuracy of hospital discharge data: five alcohol-related diseases.

Accuracy of hospital discharge register data was studied by comparing 954 randomly selected abstracts to the respective medical records. The average percentages of agreement were: date of birth 98, date of admission 96, date of discharge 94, area of residence 93, principal diagnosis 91, disposition on discharge 89, marital status 84, third diagnosis 83, second diagnosis 76, social group 74, occupation 60, and source of admission 49. Accuracy of items was not related to alcohol etiology. An analysis of variance indicated that the number of items in agreement varied by both diagnosis and type of hospital.

Alcoholic Intoxication↗
PubMed1983

Diary gives more accurate information about alcohol consumption than questionnaire.

In a population of 49 male volunteers, mean daily alcohol consumption was measured first by a questionnaire and then twice by a diary. The reliability of the diary method was estimated to be at least 90%. The mean daily consumption reported in the questionnaire was on the average 60% of that revealed by the diary. The difference between the two methods in measuring alcohol consumption did not depend either on age, the level of alcohol consumption, the percentage of drinking days or on the percentage of days when the subjects felt intoxicated by alcohol. This shows that the ranking of subjects according to questionnaire data is not biased in a group of subjects motivated to give accurate answers.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Inebriation and mortality.

Three experiences familiar to heavy drinkers were related to mortality over a 12-year and 23-year follow-up period. Weibull survival models were used to test the significance of associations and to produce estimates of relative risk. Age and marital status were controlled for by including them into the models, and social class by analysing the data separately for the 462 upper and 1614 lower social group males. The experiences studied were the occurrence of alcohol intoxication, that of hangover, and that of hangover drinking. All three had some prognostic value. Significant associations were found for mortality from pulmonary tuberculosis, cancer of the lung, digestive cancer, coronary heart disease, respiratory diseases, gastrointestinal diseases, injuries, and all causes of death. The number of significant associations found over the 23-year follow-up period was smaller than over the 12-year follow-up period.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Increase in overdoses of psychotropic and analgesic drugs in Finland--1969-1975.

Hospitalizations due to an overdose of analgesics, sedatives and hypnotics, antipsychotics and antidepressants, multiple drugs, and drug-alcohol combinations were studied. During the years 1969-1975, the admission rate for overdoses of psychotherapeutic agents increased 1.6-fold among males and 1.8-fold among females. The respective increases for drug-alcohol overdoses were 2.4-fold and 3.9-fold. Roughly one half of the above patients were 20-44 years of age. Case-fatality ratios were significantly (p less than 0.01) higher among both females and males with a multiple drug overdose than among the other overdose patients; 2.7% of male and 2.4% of female patients with multiple drug overdoses died, while the respective percentages for patients with other overdoses were 1.1 for males and 0.7 for females.

Adolescent↗