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Background: Studies investigating the prevalence and risk factors for postpartum depression (PPD) have used different definitions. Some studies have used a high score on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) to define PPD, whereas others have used information on antidepressant medication use and/or diagnostic information on treatment for depression at a psychiatric hospital. We wanted to compare results using these two approaches to evaluate to what degree results can be compared. Moreover we wanted to evaluate, whether use of EPDS or PPAT (defined below) leads to identification of different risk factor profiles. Methods: We identified women who delivered a child between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2016 in Copenhagen or in one of the municipalities that were part of the Danish Health Visitors' Child Health Database. The potential risk factors were demographic factors and pregnancy- and obstetrical events. Outcomes of interest were an EPDS score ≥ 13, use of antidepressants (ATC: N06A) and/or a diagnosis of depression (F32) within six months after birth. Use of antidepressants and/or diagnosis of depression will be referred to as postpartum antidepressant treatment (PPAT). Agreement between EPDS ≥ 13 and PPAT was evaluated by the kappa coefficient. Associations between risk factors and the two outcomes (EPDS ≥ 13 and PPAT) were estimated by risk ratios (RR) using log-linear binomial regression. Presence of a systematic difference between RRs based on EPDS ≥ 13 (RREPDS≥13) and PPAT (RRPPAT) was evaluated in a meta-regression approach weighted by inverse-variance and with logarithm of the RRs as outcome. Results: The estimated PPD prevalence using EPDS ≥ 13 was 3.2% and of PPAT 0.4%. The agreement between the two measures was small (Kappa = 0.08), but their risk factor profile was very similar with no systematic difference between them. Conclusions: Using the two different methods of case identification produced different prevalence estimates, but a similar risk factor profile. The differences in estimated prevalence and low agreement suggest that the two measures identify different potential PPD cases and using only one of the methods in defining PPD would underestimate PPD prevalence. The similar risk factor profile suggests that the considered risk factors are involved in the general development of PPD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a study of 2,978 Danish children aged 5 years from two suburban counties of Copenhagen, carried out in 1998, the authors compared risk factor profiles for wheeze and recurrent cough without wheeze by using polytomous logistic regression to clarify whether the two conditions are likely to have the same etiology. Data were obtained 1) by a mailed parental questionnaire (International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questions and supplementary questions on cough, sociodemography, perinatal factors, and environmental exposure); 2) through general practitioners (familial allergic disease); and 3) from the National Medical Birth Register (birth weight). Wheeze (WH) was defined as more than one episode of wheeze within the last 12 months (irrespective of cough status) and recurrent cough without WH (RC) as cough occurring outside colds and usually lasting for periods of more than 1 week in children with no more than one attack of wheeze within the last 12 months. Risk factors for comparison were selected as those that, after repeated stepwise logistic regression, remained significant for children with WH or RC. Significant differences were found for gender (p = 0.003), gestational age (p = 0.0002), maternal history of asthma (p = 0.0008), and standard of housing condition (p = 0.04)—all risk factors for WH but not RC. Results may suggest that the two conditions have different etiologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine the importance of intensity of exposure for the outcome of the poliomyelitis infection 429 polio cases were identified belonging to families with 2, 3 or 4 polio cases, all hospitalized in Copenhagen from 1919 to 1953. Furthermore, 87 pairs of polio cases living on the same stairway, but not in the same household, were identified. Severity among multiple cases in families analysed according to time of appearance showed a U-shaped curve. Initial cases had a higher risk of developing paralysis [relative risk (RR) = 1.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.2–1.9] and of dying (RR =2.5, 95% CI 0.9–6.9). Decreased severity was observed among subsequent cases appearing within 11 d after the initial case (RR =1.0); however, severity increased again, with higher mortality for cases likely to have been infected by the initial case (cases appearing more than 11 d later) (RR = 5.7, 95% CI 1.8–17.8). The pattern described among multiple family cases was not found among cases from the same stairway. Since family cases appearing within 11 d were probably infected simultaneously, a short incubation period is associated with severe disease and a prolonged incubation period with milder infections. Furthermore, intensive exposure from being infected in the household increased severity. These observations therefore suggest that intensity of exposure and dose of infection are important factors in the severity of poliomyelitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]