Search

OBJECTIVES:Achalasia is a motor disorder of the lower esophageal sphincter, which fails to relax on swallowing. Although a greater risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma among achalasia patients is fairly well established, no epidemiological study has evaluated the risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma in these patients.METHODS:We compiled a cohort of 2,896 patients recorded with a discharge diagnosis of achalasia between 1965 and 2003 in the Swedish Inpatient Register. The cohort was followed through 2003 via record linkages with essentially complete registers of cancer, causes of death, and migration. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) were used to estimate the relative risk of esophageal cancer in achalasia patients compared to the age-, sex-, and calendar period-matched Swedish population. We further estimated SIRs for esophageal cancer among patients treated with esophagomyotomy.RESULTS:After excluding the first year of follow-up, we observed excess risks for both squamous cell carcinoma (SIR 11.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] 6.0-18.4) and adenocarcinoma (SIR 10.4, 95% CI 3.8-22.6) of the esophagus. Notwithstanding similar numbers of men and women in our achalasia cohort, 20 of 22 esophageal cancers developed in men (SIRs for adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma were 8.4 and 13.1, respectively). Increased SIRs among operated patients pertained mainly to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. We found no evidence that surgical esophagomyotomy increases the risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.CONCLUSIONS:Male achalasia patients have substantially greater risks for both squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the esophagus. Small numbers preclude a firm conclusion about the risk among women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Sweden, an expected growing gap between available resources and greater potential for medical treatment has brought evidence-based guidelines and priority setting into focus. There are problems, however, in areas where the evidence base is weak and underlying ethical values are controversial. Based on a specified definition of multiple-diseased elderly patients, the aims of this study are: (i) to describe and quantify inpatient care utilisation and patient characteristics, particularly regarding cardiovascular disease and co-morbidity; and (ii) to question the applicability of evidence-based guidelines for these patients with regard to the reported characteristics (i.e. age and co-morbidity), and to suggest some possible strategies in order to tackle the described problem and the probable presence of ageism. We used data from three sources: (a) a literature review, (b) a register study, based on a unique population-based register of inpatient care in Sweden, and (c) a national cost per patient database. The results show that elderly patients with multiple co-morbidities constitute a large and growing population in Swedish inpatient hospital care. They have multiple and complex needs and a large majority have a cardiovascular disease. There is a relationship between reported characteristics, i.e. age and co-morbidity, and limited applicability of evidence-based guidelines, and this can cause an under-use as well as an over-use of medical interventions. As future clinical studies will be rare due to methodological and financial factors, we consider it necessary to condense existing practical-clinical experiences of individual experts into consensus-based guidelines concerning elderly with multi-morbidity. In such priority setting, it will be important to consider co-morbidity and different degrees of frailty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]