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PubMed2006

The impact of psychosocial and organizational working conditions on the mental health of female cleaning personnel in Norway.

BACKGROUND: This study examined the association between psychosocial and organizational work conditions and mental health among women employed in the cleaning profession in Norway. METHODS: Self-report questionnaires were mailed to 661 cleaning staff personnel from seven cleaning organizations in seven different cities across Norway. The response rate was 64%, of which 374 (88%) respondents were women. The questionnaires assessed socio-demographic information and employment history, work organization, and psychosocial working conditions. The Hopkins Symptoms Checklist (HSCL-25) was included to assess mental health. RESULTS: On average, respondents were 43 years old and reported 10.8 years of experience working in the cleaning industry. The proportion of women scoring a HSCL-25 equal to or above 1.75 was 17.5%, which was higher than the average prevalence of mental health problems among working Norwegian women (8.4%). A factor analysis of the questions specific to the psychosocial work environment identified the following four underlying dimensions: leadership, co-workers, time pressure/control, and information/knowledge. Two of these, poor satisfaction with leadership (OR = 3.6) and poor satisfaction with co-workers (OR = 2.3), were significantly related to mental health. In addition, having contact with colleagues less than once a day (OR = 2.4) and not being ethnically Norwegian (OR = 3.0) increased the risk for mental health problems. CONCLUSION: Mental health problems are frequent among female cleaning professionals in Norway. Our results indicate that quality of leadership, collaboration with co-workers, and ethnicity were significantly associated with mental health.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

Castration-induced apoptotic cell death in the Brown Norway rat prostate decreases as a function of age.

Growth and differentiation of the prostate gland depends upon androgens, yet overgrowth of the human prostate occurs later in life when serum levels of testosterone are declining. We have reported a similar phenomenon in the Brown Norway rat, but the age-dependent overgrowth of the prostate is confined to the dorsal and lateral lobes and, hence, is lobe specific. Because tissue growth depends upon the balance between proliferation and death of cells, the present study was designed to investigate whether cell death differed in the various prostatic lobes of Brown Norway rats as a function of age. Apoptosis of cells in the ventral, dorsal, lateral, and anterior lobes of the prostate was examined in young (4-month-old) and old (24-month-old) Brown Norway rats after castration. Whereas castration caused tissue weights of all four prostatic lobes to decrease over the course of 10 days, this occurred more rapidly and to a greater magnitude in the ventral than in the dorsal, lateral, and anterior lobes. Tissue DNA content, a measure of cell number, decreased only in the ventral lobe after castration. DNA fragmentation, indicative of apoptotic cell death, was detected by in situ labeling using the terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling method and as intranucleosomal cleavage of genomic DNA analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis. Both methods demonstrated the correlation between loss of DNA content and apoptotic cell death in the ventral lobe, whereas only the highly sensitive terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) method revealed relatively few dying cells in the dorsal, lateral, and anterior lobes after castration. Moreover, when examined as a function of age, less cell death occurred in all four lobes of old rats compared with young rats. In both young and old rat prostates, cell death was observed in epithelial and stromal cells within the ventral lobe where apoptotic cells were detected throughout the branched ductal network and were not restricted to a particular region. Taken together, these studies demonstrate the marked differences in cell death and survival between the different rat prostatic lobes in response to castration and further suggest that the androgen-sensitive apoptotic response is age dependent. Hence, the lower rates of cell death observed for the dorsal and lateral lobes, accompanied by the further decline that occurs with increasing age, are important components of the age-dependent and lobe-specific overgrowth observed for these lobes. Moreover, the age-dependent decline in apoptotic cell death observed in the prostates of old rats suggests that prostatic cells develop androgen independence as a function of age, and survival of these cells does not require androgen.

Aging↗
PubMed2001

Increased androgen receptor expression correlates with development of age-dependent, lobe-specific spontaneous hyperplasia of the brown Norway rat prostate.

Androgens are essential for development and differentiated function, as well as proliferation and survival of cells within the prostate gland. Age-related changes in the hormonal milieu, marked by a decrease in the serum androgen to estrogen ratio may contribute to the evolution of pathological changes, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia and carcinoma of the prostate gland, in older men. A similar phenomenon occurs in Brown Norway rats, in which the serum testosterone to estradiol ratio declines with age, and despite the lower serum testosterone level, age-dependent prostatic hyperplasia develops in the dorsal and lateral lobes, but not in the ventral lobe. To evaluate a role for changes in androgen action in the evolution of prostatic hyperplasia, we compared the immunostaining intensity of androgen receptor in the different prostate lobes from young (4 months of age) and old (24 months of age) Brown Norway rats. Androgen receptor immunostaining was present in the nuclei of all epithelial cells and some stromal cells throughout the prostatic ducts of each lobe from both young and old rats. Whereas androgen receptor immunostaining intensity decreased in luminal epithelial cells of the ventral prostate from old rats, it increased in luminal epithelial cells of the dorsal and lateral lobes from old rats, when compared with young rats. To validate immunocytochemical studies, Western blot analyses were performed. The total tissue level of androgen receptor decreased by 30% in the ventral lobe of old rats, whereas tissue levels of androgen receptor increased 2.7-fold and 1.3-fold in the dorsal and lateral lobes, respectively, of old rats. Similarly, the percentage of epithelial cells staining positive for the proliferation marker, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, was increased approximately 2-fold in the dorsal and lateral lobes as a function of older age. The presence of higher levels of androgen receptor and increased number of proliferating cell nuclear antigen-positive cells in the dorsal and lateral lobes of old rats suggest that changes in androgen receptor levels may be related to the lobe-specific proliferation of cells that occurs with increasing age. Additional evidence for lobe-specific regulation of androgen receptor expression was obtained from Western blots and by immunocytochemistry following castration. Androgen receptor levels in the ventral and dorsal lobes, but not the lateral lobe, of young and old rats were down-regulated in the absence of testicular androgen. However, nuclear immunostaining of androgen receptor returned by 7-10 d after castration in the ventral and dorsal lobes in the continued absence of androgen. Moreover, up-regulation of the androgen receptor level occurred more rapidly in the ventral and dorsal lobes of old, compared with young, castrated rats. Taken together, these results suggest that lobe-specific and age-dependent differences in the regulation of androgen receptor expression might lead to changes in tissue androgen responsiveness and the consequent development of lobe-specific hyperplasia in the Brown Norway rat prostate gland.

Aging↗
PubMed2003

Assessment of the allergic potential of food protein extracts and proteins on oral application using the brown Norway rat model.

The need for widely accepted and validated animal models to test the potential allergenicity and potency of novel (biotechnology-derived) proteins has become an important issue for their safety evaluation. In this article, we summarize the results of the development of an oral sensitization protocol for food proteins in the rat. Young Brown Norway rats were exposed to either various purified allergenic proteins (e.g., ovalbumin, partly purified), a whole food (cow's milk), or total protein extracts (hen's egg white, peanut) by daily gavage dosing during 42 days without the use of an adjuvant. The results showed that Brown Norway rats can be sensitized orally to the various allergenic food proteins tested, resulting in antigen-specific immunoglobulin (Ig) G and IgE responses, without the use of adjuvants. Animals orally exposed to cow's milk or total protein extracts of egg white also developed specific IgE and IgG antibodies that recognized the same proteins compared with antibodies from patients allergic to egg white or cow's milk. We also studied local and systemic immune-mediated effects. In ovalbumin-sensitized rats, some clinical symptoms of food allergy were studied upon an oral challenge with ovalbumin. The results demonstrated that gut permeability was increased and that in some animals breathing frequency and systolic blood pressure were temporarily decreased. The results obtained show that the Brown Norway rat provides a suitable animal model for food allergy research and for the study of relative allergenicity of existing and novel food proteins.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed2005

Aging and the brown Norway rat leydig cell antioxidant defense system.

Previous studies have shown that testosterone production by the Leydig cells of aged Brown Norway rats is reduced from the relatively high levels produced by Leydig cells of young rats and that this reduction is not secondary to decreased serum luteinizing hormone concentration. The free radical theory of aging proposes that imbalance between pro-oxidants and the antioxidant defense system ultimately results in oxidative damage to cellular processes. With this in mind, we hypothesized herein that age-related reductions in steroidogenesis by Brown Norway rat Leydig cells may be associated with the impairment of the antioxidant defense system of these cells. To begin to test this hypothesis, we compared the activities and steady-state mRNA and protein levels of the antioxidant enzymes copper zinc (CuZn) superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD, SOD1), manganese (Mn) superoxide dismutase (MnSOD, SOD2), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and the levels of reduced and oxidized glutathione in Leydig cells isolated from the testes of young (4-month-old) and aged (20-month-old) Brown Norway rats. For some studies, Leydig cells were isolated separately from aged testes that either had regressed because of age-related losses of germ cells or that were nonregressed. SOD (total) and GPx activities were found to decrease significantly with age whether or not the testes were regressed. CuZnSOD and MnSOD mRNA levels decreased with aging, though the magnitude of the decreases were considerably lower than the respective decreases in enzyme activities. GPx mRNA levels also decreased, which is consistent with the decreases seen in enzyme activity. MnSOD protein expression declined with age, and to a lesser extent, CuZnSOD did as well. Reduced and oxidized glutathione also exhibited age-related reductions in cells from both normal and regressed aged testes. The age-related decreases in Leydig cell antioxidant enzyme activities, gene expression, and protein levels and in glutathione were consistent with the hypothesis that the loss of steroidogenic function that accompanies Leydig cell aging may result in part from a decrease in the fidelity of the cellular antioxidant defense system.

Aging↗
PubMed1993

Kinematic and stability of the Norway elbow. A cadaveric study.

We investigated the effect of simulated muscle loading and the contribution of the radial head to stability of the Norway elbow in 6 cadavers using an electromagnetic tracking device. The kinematics of the elbow after implantation of the prosthesis were similar to the intact elbow in their valgus-varus orientation, however, the forearms were slightly externally rotated, probably due to a small amount of external rotation of the humeral components at the time of implantation. The valgus-varus laxity limit of the implants were greater than in the intact specimens averaging 8.0 and 5.6 degrees, respectively. Simulated muscle loading stabilized both the intact and the Norway elbows. Excision of the radial head after implant arthroplasty increased their valgus-varus laxity, suggesting that preservation of the radial head may be indicated if it is not too severely involved by the underlying disease process. The laxity permitted by the prosthesis articulation is greater than that measured after implantation of the Norway arthroplasty. This suggests that the prosthesis may behave as an unconstrained arthroplasty. This should minimize the stress experienced by the bone-cement interface and may reduce the incidence of loosening. The laxity of the elbows after joint arthroplasty were only slightly greater than normal, possibly explaining the low incidence of prosthesis dislocation which has been observed with clinical use.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Sperm structural and motility changes during aging in the Brown Norway rat.

The Brown Norway rat provides a useful model to study aging of the male reproductive tract because of the selective age-dependent pathological changes that are found in the testis, epididymis, and prostate. In the testis, there is a clear age-dependent decrease in both steroidogenesis and spermatogenesis. In the epididymis, some striking segment-specific changes occur at the histological and biochemical levels prior to the major loss of spermatogenesis. We hypothesized that formation of spermatozoa in the testis and maturation of spermatozoa in the epididymis (ie, acquisition of motility and loss of the cytoplasmic droplet) may be altered during aging. Changes in the morphology of spermatozoa were assessed by light and electron microscopy. Using computer-assisted sperm analysis, the motility parameters of spermatozoa obtained from the caput and cauda epididymidis of young and old Brown Norway rats were compared. In old animals, we also compared the motility of spermatozoa from epididymides adjacent to regressed testes with those from epididymides adjacent to nonregressed testes. There was a marked increase with age in the number of spermatozoa with abnormal flagellar midpieces; the nature of these defects did not change with age. In caput epididymidis, the percentage of motile sperm was similar in young and old rats. In contrast, the percentage of motile spermatozoa was significantly decreased in cauda epididymidis of old rats; spermatozoa from the regressed testis side had altered motility characteristics. Furthermore, in the cauda epididymidis on the regressed testis side of aged Brown Norway rats, the proportion of spermatozoa that retained their cytoplasmic droplet was markedly elevated. Some of these effects are likely due to changes taking place in spermatozoa during the process of spermatogenesis in the testis (eg, formation of the flagellum), whereas others could occur during sperm maturation in the epididymis (eg, acquisition of motility). The multiple effects of aging on sperm morphology, the acquisition of motility, and the shedding of the cytoplasmic droplet clearly indicate that the quality of spermatozoa is affected by aging.

Aging↗
PubMed2001

[Geographical variation in the occurrence of induced late abortions in Norway 1996-97].

BACKGROUND: The aims of this study were to assess i) the geographical variation in the prevalence of request for induced abortion after 12th week of pregnancy and ii) the geographical variation in the probability of refusal of abortion request for other reasons than foetal defects. MATERIAL AND METHODS: All medical records regarding request for induced abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy during the period 1996-97 in Norway were collected in 1998 by the National Board of Health. RESULTS: There were a total of 1,061 requests for induced abortion, of whom 41 were withdrawn. 303 requests were based on foetal defects. Of the remaining 717 requests, which were included in the analysis, 144 (20%) were refused. The counties Vest-Agder, Møre og Romsdal and Finnmark had the lowest prevalence of induced abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy (< 4 per 10,000 women, 15-45 years of age, during 1996-97) and Oslo, Buskerud and Sør-Trøndelag had the highest (> 10 per 10,000 women). Hospitals in the south-western part of Norway (Vest-Agder/Aust-Agder/Rogaland) were 7.8 (95% confidence intervall 3.5-17.2) times more likely to refuse the requests as compared to hospitals in Østfold/Oslo/Akershus. INTERPRETATION: Cultural differences within Norway may explain, though not excuse, the observed geographical differences in the practice of the abortion act.

Abortion, Legal↗
PubMed1987

Comparative analysis of coronavirus JHM-induced demyelinating encephalomyelitis in Lewis and Brown Norway rats.

Lewis and Brown Norway rats were infected at different ages with the neurotropic murine coronavirus strain, JHM and the resultant central nervous system diseases were studied. Suckling rats of both strains came down with a fatal, acute encephalomyelitis. Weanling Lewis rats developed a subacute demyelinating encephalomyelitis which neuropathologically revealed changes of an immunopathologic reaction. In contrast, Brown Norway rats developed a clinically silent subacute demyelinating encephalomyelitis with a persistent JHM virus infection which was less severe and quite different from the subacute demyelinating encephalomyelitis in Lewis rats with respect to size, distribution, and localization of the demyelinating plaques as well as the type of infiltrating cells. In addition, infected Lewis rats showed a pronounced lymphocyte proliferation to myelin basic protein and JHM virus whereas lymphocytes from infected Brown Norway rats did not react to these two antigens. These observations demonstrate the pathogenetic importance of host factors in the development of virus-induced demyelination.

Aging↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Gene expression in the aging brown Norway rat epididymis.

The mammalian epididymis is the site where spermatozoa are matured and then stored. Though many studies have described epididymal functions and their regulation, little is known about how aging affects this tissue. The Brown Norway rat, which does not show the many age-related pathologies common to other rat strains, was used as a model to study aging of the epididymis. The present study was designed to determine the effect of aging on the mRNA levels for selected markers of epididymal function. Brown Norway rats ranging in age from 6 to 30 months were examined at 6-month intervals; epididymides were sectioned into caput-corpus and cauda regions. Relative mRNA concentrations were assessed using Northern blot analysis and specific cDNAs for the rat 5 alpha-reductase isozymes, types 1 and 2; proenkephalin; the androgen receptor; epididymal proteins B/C and D/E; and sulfated glycoprotein-2 (SGP-2, clusterin). Northern blots were quantitated by densitometric scanning. In the caput-corpus epididymidis, 5 alpha-reductase type 1 and type 2 mRNA levels decreased significantly by 43% and 33%, respectively, between 6 and 12 months and by 64% and 40%, respectively, between 6 and 30 months. No significant change, however, was found in the expression of the 5 alpha-reductase mRNAs in the cauda epididymidis. Interestingly, proenkephalin mRNA was only detected in the caput-corpus epididymidis of 6-month-old rats. In marked contrast to the 5 alpha-reductase isozymes and proenkephalin, no significant age-related changes were observed in the mRNA levels for the androgen receptor, protein B/C, or protein D/E. No age-related changes in mRNA expression for SGP-2 occurred in the caput-corpus epididymidis. However, in the cauda epididymidis, SGP-2 mRNA levels rose by twofold between 6 and 18 months and then decreased sharply by 75% between 18 and 30 months. We conclude that as the epididymis ages, the expression of genes for certain specific markers of epididymal function is affected in a region-specific manner. Further, the decrease in the concentrations of the mRNAs for the 5 alpha-reductase isozymes and proenkephalin in the epididymis between 6 and 12 months is thus far the earliest marker for aging in the male reproductive tract of the Brown Norway rat.

3-Oxo-5-alpha-Steroid 4-Dehydrogenase↗
PubMed1996

Cancer in offspring of parents engaged in agricultural activities in Norway: incidence and risk factors in the farm environment.

In this study of cancer in offspring we demonstrate that factors linked to horticulture and use of pesticides are associated with cancer at an early age, whereas factors in animal husbandry, in particular poultry farming, are associated with cancers in later childhood and young adulthood. Incident cancer was investigated in offspring born in 1952-1991 to parents identified as farm holders in agricultural censuses in Norway in 1969-1989. In the follow-up of 323,292 offspring for 5.7 million person-years, 1,275 incident cancers were identified in the Cancer Registry for 1965-1991. The standardized incidence for all cancers was equal to the total rural population of Norway, but cohort subjects had an excess incidence of nervous-system tumours and testicular cancers in certain regions and strata of time that could imply that specific risk factors were of importance. Classification of exposure indicators was based on information given at the agricultural censuses. Risk factors were found for brain tumours, in particular non-astrocytic neuroepithelial tumours: for all ages, pig farming tripled the risk [rate ratio (RR), 3.11; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.89-5.13]; indicators of pesticide use had an independent effect of the same magnitude in a dose-response fashion, strongest in children aged 0 to 14 years (RR, 3.37; 95% CI, 1.63-6.94). Horticulture and pesticide indicators were associated with all cancers at ages 0 to 4 years, Wilms' tumour, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, eye cancer and neuroblastoma. Chicken farming was associated with some common cancers of adolescence, and was strongest for osteosarcoma and mixed cellular type of Hodgkin's disease. The main problem in this large cohort study is the crude exposure indicators available; the resulting misclassification is likely to bias any true association towards unity.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1996

Trends in the incidence of smoking-associated cancers in Norway, 1954-93.

A large proportion of cancer cases have been attributed to tobacco smoking. In Norway, the proportion of smokers was 64% in men and 27% in women in 1960. Since then, the difference in the proportion of smokers between the genders has diminished and the proportion at present is 30-40% in both genders. The aim of the present study was to explore trends in the risk of the most common smoking-associated cancers in Norway based on incidence data from the national population-based cancer registry. The nearly complete registration of cancer cases in the entire country has been carried out for more than 40 years. The types of cancer included in this study were cancers of the lung, urinary bladder, kidney and pancreas, and a group of cancers of the upper digestive and respiratory tract. The incidence of all the cancers studied increased in both genders during 1954-93. The largest relative increase was observed in lung and bladder cancer. In female lung cancer, the risk increased dramatically by successive birth cohorts. Interesting differences were revealed between the trends in males and females. It seemed that the lung-cancer incidence increased more rapidly, relative to the other smoking-associated cancers, in females than in males. This is in accordance with other studies suggesting that females are at higher risk of developing lung cancer than males, given similar smoking exposure.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

Trends in the incidence of ovarian cancer and borderline tumours in Norway, 1954-1993.

Histology-specific long-term trends in the incidence of ovarian cancer and borderline tumours in Norway were examined, based on data from the population-based Cancer Registry of Norway. A total of 14,352 cases of ovarian cancer were diagnosed between 1954-1993, of which 94% of the histologically verified ovarian cancers were epithelial tumours. The age-adjusted incidence rate rose from 10 per 100,000 person-years in 1954-1958 to a peak of 14 per 100,000 person-years in 1984-1988. In women older than 50 years, there was an increasing trend in incidence rates during the entire study period. From the cohort perspective, the largest increase was observed among women born between 1870-1899. A total of 2,343 borderline tumours was diagnosed between 1970-1993. The age-adjusted incidence rate has increased since 1970, reaching 4.8 per 100,000 person-years in 1989-1993.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1998

Prognosis of patients with ovarian cancer and borderline tumours diagnosed in Norway between 1954 and 1993.

The Scandinavian countries exhibit some of the highest incidence rates of ovarian cancer in the world. Prognosis is poor, and the crude 5-year relative survival was 36% in the Nordic countries in the 1980s. Histology-specific prognostic trends in 5-year relative survival of patients with ovarian cancer and borderline tumours were examined, based on data from the population-based Cancer Registry of Norway. Relative risks (RRs) of dying were derived from Cox regression models. Logistic regression analysis on the proportion of cases with a localised tumour was performed. The 5-year relative survival rate of patients with ovarian cancer increased steadily from 1954 to 1993, being most pronounced in women below the age of 65 at the time of diagnosis. No improvement was seen for women older than 75. For all patients with ovarian cancer, an RR of dying of 0.48 (95% CI = 0.44-0.53) was estimated in 1989-1993 compared with 1954-1958. For patients with epithelial cancer, an RR of 0.63 (95% CI = 0.57-0.69) was seen in 1989-1993 compared with 1970-1973. Patients with mucinous, endometrioid and clear cell tumours had the highest odds of having a localised tumour. The age-adjusted 5-year relative survival rate of patients with borderline tumours was almost constant between 1970 and 1993, at about 93%. The prognosis of patients with ovarian cancer in Norway has improved since the 1950s. The very favourable prognosis of patients with borderline tumours has remained unchanged since the 1970s.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1998

Reproductive outcome in offspring of parents occupationally exposed to lead in Norway.

In Norway, great efforts have been made to protect both male and female employees against teratogenic exposures. Associations between occupational lead exposure and reproductive outcome in the offspring were studied. All births in Norway 1970-1993 with possible maternal or paternal occupational lead exposure were compared with a reference population of offspring of parents without occupational lead exposure. Offspring of lead exposed mothers had an increased risk of low birth weight (RR = 1.34; CI = 1.12-1.60) and neural tube defects (RR = 2.87; CI = 1.05-6.38). Effects on birth weight and gestational age showed significant dose-response associations. Offspring of lead exposed fathers had no increased risks of any of the analyzed reproductive outcomes. However, decreased risks were observed of low birth weight (RR = 0.91; CI = 0.86-0.96) and preterm birth (RR = 0.89; CI = 0.86-0.93). Further efforts seem to be needed to protect the offspring of lead-exposed mothers.

Birth Weight↗
PubMed1997

Analyzing sibship correlations in birth weight using large sibships from Norway.

Data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway were used to estimate sibship correlations in large sibships (each with > or = 5 infants among singleton live births surviving the first year of life), while adjusting for covariates such as infant gender, gestational age, maternal age, parity, and time since last pregnancy. This sample of 12,356 full sibs in 2,462 sibships born in Norway between 1968 and 1989 was selected to maximize the information on parity, and a robust approach to estimating both regression coefficients and the sibship correlation using generalized estimating equations (GEE) was employed. In concordance with previous studies, these data showed a high overall correlation in birth weight among full sibs (0.48 +/- 0.01), but this sibship correlation was influenced by parity. In particular, the correlation between the firstborn infant and a subsequent infant was slightly lower than between two subsequent sibs (0.44 +/- 0.01 vs. 0.50 +/- 0.01, respectively). The effect of time between pregnancies was statistically significant, but its predicted impact was modest over the period in which most of these large families were completed. While these data cannot discriminate whether factors influencing birth weight are maternal or fetal in nature, this analysis does illustrate how robust statistical models can be used to estimate sibship correlations while adjusting for covariates in family studies.

Birth Certificates↗
PubMed2000

Epidemiology of Wegener's granulomatosis in northern Norway.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if changes in the incidence, prevalence, and clinical presentation of Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) have occurred in the stable population of northern Norway during a 15-year period. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study using hospital discharge records from all 11 hospitals in the region and the databases of the 2 pathology departments in the area. Only patients fulfilling the American College of Rheumatology 1990 criteria for WG were included in the study, and demographic and clinical data at diagnosis were recorded. Incidence, point prevalence, and period prevalence rates were estimated for three 5-year periods. RESULTS: Fifty-five patients (62% male) with a median age at diagnosis of 50 years (range 10-84 years) fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The annual incidence/ million population increased from 5.2 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 2.7-9.0) during 1984-1988 to 12.0 (95% CI 8.0-17.3) during 1994-1998. The point prevalence/million increased from 30.4 (95% CI 16.6-51.0) to 95.1 (95% CI 69.1-129.0). The highest incidence rate occurred in men ages 65-74 years. There were no significant period differences in age, first organ involved, delay of diagnosis, or disease activity, but fewer patients had malaise and renal insufficiency during the earliest time period. No seasonal variation in the onset of WG was present, although we noted a pattern of annual fluctuation. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of WG has tripled in northern Norway over the last 15 years. While more efficacious therapy may explain part of this increase, we also found a significant trend toward increased incidence over that period. The incidence rate over the last 5 years is the highest reported so far, while the clinical presentation has remained unchanged.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Osteoporosis in a population from medieval Norway.

Modern populations from Norway and England differ in their experience of osteoporosis, the former showing lower bone mineral density (BMD) and a higher fragility fracture rate. The aim of the present work was to investigate whether this was also the case during the Middle Ages. Age-dependent loss of BMD in the proximal femur was assessed using dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in male and female adult skeletons from a cemetery in the medieval town of Trondheim, Norway. Fracture prevalence was also investigated. Results were compared with those previously reported for a skeletal series from Wharram Percy, a deserted medieval village in England. Results indicate that peak BMD and patterns of age-related loss of BMD in the Norwegian and the English group were similar. Among females, the prevalence of osteoporotic fractures was greater in the Norwegian than in the English population. The BMD results suggest that differences in BMD between English and Norwegians are of recent origin, although given the fairly modest sample sizes, further work is needed to confirm this. Reasons for the greater prevalence of osteoporotic fractures in women in the Norwegian skeletal series are unclear, but the colder climate and greater frequency of hard surfaces may have meant that falls were more frequent, and when they occurred, were more likely to result in fractures than in the rural English group.

Adolescent↗