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ObjectiveTo explore the prevalence of poor social support and loneliness among people with chronic headache, and how these might be effect modifiers in the relationships between chronic headache and stress, medication overuse, and self-rated health.BackgroundPoor social support and loneliness are consistently linked to worse health outcomes. There are few epidemiologic studies on their effect on headache.MethodsThe Danish Capital Region Health Survey, a cross-sectional survey, was conducted in 2017. Participants were asked about headache, pain medication use, social support, loneliness, perceived stress, and self-rated health. Data were accessed from sociodemographic registers. Logistic regression analyses were performed to test for effect modification.ResultsThe response rate was 52.6% (55,185 respondents) and was representative of the target population. People with chronic headache were more likely to report poor social support and loneliness compared to those without chronic headache ( p ConclusionPoor social support and loneliness were prevalent among people with chronic headache. The combination of chronic headache and poor social support or loneliness showed higher odds ratios for stress, medication overuse, and poor self-rated health compared to those with good social support and low loneliness scores. The effect of loneliness in the relationship between chronic headache and medication overuse warrants further study.

Aim: This article aims to describe the study design, including descriptive statistics on changes in response rates, characteristics associated with response and response mode distribution, in the Danish National Health Survey (DNHS) in 2010, 2013 and 2017. Methods: Each survey was based on five regional stratified random samples and one national random sample drawn from the Danish Civil Registration System. The subsamples were mutually exclusive. Around 300,000 individuals (aged ⩾16 years) were invited to participate in each survey using a mixed-mode approach (paper/web). A questionnaire with a minimum of 52 questions was used in all subsamples. In 2010 and 2013, invitations were sent via the regular postal service, whereas a secure electronical mail service was used to invite the majority (around 90%) in 2017. Weights accounted for survey design and non-response. Results: Participation decreased from 59.5% in 2010 to 54.0% in 2013 after which it increased to 58.7% in 2017. The proportion answering the web questionnaire increased from 31.0% to 77.4% between 2013 and 2017 and varied from 73.8% to 79.7% between the subsamples in 2017. Overall, the response rate was low among young men and old women and among individuals who were unmarried, had low sociodemographic status, were from ethnic minority backgrounds or were living in the eastern part of Denmark. Conclusions: The survey mode, response mode distribution as well as response rate have changed over time. Weights to handle non-response can be applied to accommodate possible problems in generalising the results. However, efforts should continuously be made to ensure that response is missing at random.

Excessive intake of sodium is a dietary risk factor for morbidity and mortality. Currently, intake of sodium is much higher than the recommended level in most western countries, and effective strategies to reduce population sodium intake are lacking. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of two different sodium reduction strategies on the intake of sodium, potassium, and the sodium to potassium ratio among Danish families The study was a 4-month, single-blinded, cluster randomized controlled trial with a parallel design. Eighty-nine healthy Danish families, with a minimum of one child and one parent (n = 309), were randomly assigned to receive sodium-reduced bread (Intervention A), sodium-reduced bread and dietary counseling (Intervention B) or regular sodium bread (Control). The primary outcome was change in daily sodium intake, measured by 24-h urinary sodium excretion. Secondary outcomes included changes in dietary potassium and the sodium to potassium ratio. No significant differences in daily sodium intake were observed in the two intervention groups compared with the control. When analyzing the results separately for children and adults, a reduction in dietary sodium of 0.6 g/day (−1.0, −0.2), p = 0.005 occurred among adults in intervention B compared with control. This study demonstrates that providing sodium-reduced bread in combination with dietary counseling is an effective strategy to reduce dietary sodium among adults, but the effect is lacking in children. The study was not able to show significant effects when providing sodium-reduced bread alone in neither adults nor children.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate safety and effectiveness of prophylactic anticoagulation with low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) in individuals hospitalised for COVID-19. METHODS Using healthcare records from the capital region of Denmark (March 2020-February 2021) and Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden (February 2020-September 2021), we conducted an observational cohort study comparing clinical outcomes 30 days after admission among individuals hospitalised for COVID-19 starting prophylactic LMWH during the first 48 hours of hospitalisation with outcomes among those not receiving prophylactic anticoagulation. We used inverse probability weighting to adjust for confounders and bias due to missing information. Risk ratios, risk differences and robust 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using binomial regression. Country-specific risk ratios were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. RESULTS We included 1692 and 1868 individuals in the Danish and Swedish cohorts. Of these, 771 (46%) and 1167 (62%) received prophylactic LMWH up to 48 hours after admission. The combined mortality in Denmark and Sweden was 12% (N=432) and the pooled risk ratio was 0.89 (CI 0.61-1.29) comparing individuals who received LMWH to those who did not. The relative risk of ICU admission was 1.12 (CI 0.85-1.48), while we observed no increased risk of bleeding (RR 0.60, 0.14-2.59). The relative risk of venous thromboembolism was 0.68 (CI: 0.33-1.38) in Sweden. Less than 5 VTE events were observed among individuals receiving LMWH in Denmark, preventing a meaningful analysis. CONCLUSION We found no benefit on mortality with prophylactic LMWH and no increased risk of bleeding among COVID-19 patients receiving prophylactic LMWH. Objectives: To evaluate safety and effectiveness of prophylactic anticoagulation with low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) in individuals hospitalised for COVID-19. Methods: Using healthcare records from the Capital Region of Denmark (March 2020-February 2021) and Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden (February 2020-September 2021), we conducted an observational cohort study comparing clinical outcomes 30 days after admission among individuals hospitalised for COVID-19 starting prophylactic LMWH during the first 48 hours of hospitalisation with outcomes among those not receiving prophylactic anticoagulation. We used inverse probability weighting to adjust for confounders and bias due to missing information. Risk ratios, risk differences and robust 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using binomial regression. Country-specific risk ratios were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. Results: We included 1692 and 1868 individuals in the Danish and Swedish cohorts. Of these, 771 (46%) and 1167 (62%) received prophylactic LMWH up to 48 hours after admission. The combined mortality in Denmark and Sweden was 12% (N = 432) and the pooled risk ratio was 0.91 (CI 0.60-1.38) comparing individuals who received LMWH to those who did not. The relative risk of ICU admission was 1.12 (0.76-1.66), while we observed no increased risk of bleeding 0.63 (0.13-2.94). The relative risk of venous thromboembolism was 0.80 (0.43-1.47). Conclusion: We found no benefit on mortality with prophylactic LMWH and no increased risk of bleeding among COVID-19 patients receiving prophylactic LMWH.

The aim was to examine the effects of replacing self-reported leisure-time sedentary behavior with sleep, light-to-moderate physical activity, or vigorous physical activity on incident diabetes among Danish adults using isotemporal substitution modeling. Participants >= 25 years from the Danish Capital Region Health Survey 2007 (N = 69 800, response rate 52.3%), 2010 (N = 95 150, response rate 52.3%), and 2013 (N = 95 150, response rate 43.5%) were included. Information on daily sleep duration, leisure-time sedentary behavior, and movement behaviors was collected by questionnaire. Information on incident diabetes was obtained from National registers. Analyses included Cox proportional hazards regression models and isotemporal substitution analyses, with time (in years) from baseline to incident diabetes or censoring December 31, 2017. Potential confounders, sex, age, BMI, ethnicity, education, smoking, inflammatory joint disease, perceived stress, physical and mental component scale and work status, were included. Out of N = 87 339 in the final study sample, n = 3007 had incident diabetes during a mean follow-up time of 7.4 years. Adults with incident diabetes included more men, higher mean age, and higher BMI, compared to respondents without incident diabetes. Theoretically substituting 30 minutes of leisure-time sedentary behavior with light-to-moderate PA (HR: 0.96; 95% CI: 0.94; 0.98) or with vigorous PA (HR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.72; 0.94) decreased the risk of incident diabetes. We found no change in incident diabetes risk of substituting sedentary time with sleep (HR: 1.00; 95% CI: 0.97; 1.02). Substituting 30 minutes per day of leisure-time sedentary behavior with light-to-moderate or vigorous PA may significantly reduce the risk of incident diabetes among adults.

INTRODUCTION The social pressure placed on smokers today might potentially lead to an increasing level of stress. We investigated if the proportion of persons with high stress level had increased over time more in smokers than in non-smokers.METHODS Data were obtained from repeated cross-sectional surveys of The Capital Region Health Survey conducted in 2010, 2013 and 2017. Survey data were weighted for survey design and non-response, and linked to national register data. Cohens Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) score was used. Logistic regression analyses, based on 136608 citizens' self-reports, were adjusted for sex, age, education level, employment, and alcohol intake (and loneliness, in analysis investigating the associations between tobacco consumption and high stress level).RESULTS A significantly higher proportion of citizens reported a high stress level in 2017 compared with 2010 and 2013 but there was not a greater increase in smokers than in non-smokers. Daily smoking men had 69% higher odds of reporting perceived high stress level and daily smoking women had 36% higher odds, than never smokers of the same sex. There was a significant trend between higher daily tobacco consumption and a higher proportion of smokers with high stress level.CONCLUSIONS The increase in high stress level over time occurred independently of smoking status. Daily smokers had the highest odds of perceived high stress level, and a higher daily tobacco consumption was associated with a higher proportion of smokers with high stress level. Smoking cessation programs should, to a higher degree, consider implementing stress-coping elements to prevent relapse.

Background Patients with asthma are heterogeneous in clinical presentation and in response to treatment. Despite this, tools to guide treatment are limited and include mainly measures of eosinophilic inflammation and symptoms. Airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) to mannitol is present in patients across inflammatory phenotypes and improve with inhaled corticosteroids. Objective To investigate whether measuring AHR to mannitol in addition to eosinophilic inflammation and symptoms adds information to the phenotypic characterization of patients with asthma. Methods A total of 317 patients with asthma from 6 different cohorts were included in the analysis. All patients had measures of AHR to mannitol, blood eosinophils, and Asthma Control Questionnaire 5 available. A cluster analysis using Ward minimum variance method was performed. The distribution of fraction of exhaled nitric oxide, immunoglobulin E, lung function, induced sputum inflammatory cell count, age of onset, and severity of disease was compared between clusters. Results Four clusters were identified. Three of the clusters had proportionate levels of AHR, eosinophilic inflammation, and symptoms, but 1 cluster presented with low levels of eosinophilic inflammation and a significant symptom burden. Half of the subjects in this cluster presented with AHR to inhaled mannitol. Lung function, fraction of exhaled nitric oxide, body mass index, and immunoglobulin E were normal. Conclusions Information on AHR to mannitol in addition to blood eosinophils and symptoms identifies a subgroup of asthma patients with symptomatic, noneosinophilic disease. Airway hyperresponsiveness to mannitol may provide a treatable trait in a subgroup of patients with noneosinophilic asthma.

Objectives: The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between price and sales volume of non-alcoholic sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), diet drinks, sweets and chocolates, including own and cross price elasticity to further quantify the potential impact of price. Methods: The study was based on retail scanner data for grocery sales from retail outlet chains in Denmark during the year 2008–2015. A fixed-effects model was used to estimate the association between price and sales volume, using own price and cross price elasticity. Results: Sales volume of all sugary products except for chocolates were significantly negatively associated with price. Own price elasticity varied from −0.3 to −0.4 for drinks and sweets indicating that a 10% increase in price would cause a reduction in sales by 3 or 4%. A 10% increase in price of carbonated SSBs would increase sales of diet drinks by 7%. Cross price elasticities for other products were not significant. Conclusions: The results of the present study demonstrated significant negative associations between changes in price and changes in the sale of SSBs, diet drinks and sweets.

The aim was to examine the effects of two different salt reduction strategies on selected cardiovascular risk factors. The study was a four-month cluster randomised controlled study. Eighty-nine healthy Danish families (309 individuals) were randomly assigned to either (A) gradually salt-reduced bread, (B) gradually salt-reduced bread and dietary counselling to further reduce salt intake and increase potassium intake or (C) standard bread (control). The effect was assessed using linear mixed models. Intention to treat analyses comparing changes in the three groups showed a significant reduction in body fat percent (&minus, 1.31% (&minus, 2.40, &minus, 0.23)) and a borderline significant reduction in total plasma cholesterol (&minus, 0.25 mmol/L (&minus, 0.51, 0.01) and plasma renin (&minus, 0.19 pmol/L (&minus, 0.39, 0.00) in group A compared to the control group. Adjusted complete case analyses showed a significant reduction in total plasma cholesterol (&minus, 0.29 mmol/L (&minus, 0.50, 0.08), plasma LDL cholesterol (&minus, 0.08 mmol/L (&minus, 0.15, 0.00)), plasma renin (&minus, 0.23 pmol/L (&minus, 0.41, 0.05)), plasma adrenaline (&minus, 0.03 nmol/L (&minus, 0.06, 0.01)) and body fat percent (&minus, 1.53% (&minus, 2.51, 0.54)) in group A compared to the control group. No significant changes were found in group B compared to the control group. In conclusion, receiving sodium reduce bread was associated with beneficial changes in cardiovascular risk factors. No adverse effects were observed.

Excess dietary sodium plays an important role in hypertension, a leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). To counteract some of the negative effects of sodium, an increased intake of potassium has shown beneficial effects on blood pressure. In fact, the sodium to potassium ratio might be a stronger risk factor for CVD than either sodium or potassium alone. The objective of the present study was to estimate the effect of A) a salt reduction strategy (providing salt reduced bread) and B) a salt reduction and potassium promoting strategy (providing salt reduced bread combined with dietary counselling), on intake of sodium, potassium and the sodium/potassium ratio. The study is a 4-month cluster randomized controlled trial with families randomly assigned to either intervention A, intervention B or control. Participants in intervention A received bread gradually reduced in salt content from 1.2 g salt/100 g to 0.6 g salt/100 g in ryebread and 0.4 g salt/100 g in wheat bread. Participants in intervention B received the same salt reduced bread and in addition dietary counselling on how to eat food with less salt and more potassium. The control group received standard bread (1.2 g salt/100g). Sodium and potassium intake were measured through three consecutive 24-hour urine measurements in adults and one in children at baseline and follow-up. Changes in outcomes were assessed using linear mixed models. Eighty-nine families, including 155 adults (46.5 % men) and 156 children (51.9 % boys), from the suburb of Copenhagen, Denmark, participated in the study. The sodium/potassium ratio was significantly reduced by -0.57 ± 0.19 mmol/L (P = 0.003) in intervention B compared to control group, resulting from a non-significant lower sodium and increased potassium intake. No significant differences were found between intervention A and control group (preliminary results). These findings support future actions to reduce salt intake, focusing on a combination of structural and educational strategies.

Dietary salt intake in most countries is far beyond the recommended level and many countries have initiated national programs to decrease salt intake. However, potential adverse effects of reducing salt intake in the general population are currently discussed. Hence some randomized studies have shown adverse effects on plasma lipids, the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and the sympathetic nervous system, which may again increase risk of CVD. These findings are however mainly based on short-term studies with a very large acute salt reduction. This study aims to explore the effect of gradually reducing salt intake in a real life setting according to recommendations, and to examine the effect of different salt reduction strategies among families.The study was a 4-month cluster randomized controlled trial with families randomly assigned to either A) salt reduced bread, B) salt reduced bread and dietary counselling or C) standard bread (control) Participants in intervention A received bread gradually reduced in salt content from 1.2 g salt/100 g (regular) to 0.6 g salt/100 g in ryebread and 0.4 g salt/100 g in wheat bread. Participants in intervention B received the same salt reduced bread and in addition, they received dietary advise on how to further reduce their salt intake and promote potassium. The control group received regular bread. Changes in outcomes were assessed using linear mixed models.Results: A total of 89 families (155 adults; 156 children) from the suburb of Copenhagen, Denmark, participated in the study (February-July 2018). A total of 291 (94%) participants completed the intervention. Results presented are preliminary.Intention to treat analyses showed no significant effects of the salt reduction intervention on changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, plasma triglyceride. A small, but significant (-0.26 mmol/l; P = 0.02) decrease in total plasma cholesterol was shown in intervention group A. A similar, but non-significant, tendency was found in intervention group B. (more results will follow).Subgroup analyses, including only participants in the intervention groups that decreased their salt intake by at least 20% from baseline to 4-month follow-up, showed a significant decrease in diastolic (-3.5 mmHg; P < 0.0001) and systolic (-6.3 mmHg; P < 0.0001) blood pressure, total plasma cholesterol (-0.25 mmol/l; P = 0.0009), LDL plasma cholesterol (logarithm transformed) (-6%; P = 0.03) and plasma triglyceride (logarithm transformed) (-17%; P = 0.04). No significant effects were found for HDL plasma cholesterol, aldosterone, renin, plasma glucose and HbA1c.Conclusion: Reduced salt intake were associated with beneficial changes in cardiovascular risk factors. No adverse effects were observed.

Excessive intake of sodium is a dietary risk factor for morbidity and mortality. Currently, intake of sodium is much higher than the recommended level in most western countries, and effective strategies to reduce population sodium intake are lacking. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of two different sodium reduction strategies on the intake of sodium, potassium, and the sodium to potassium ratio among Danish families SUBJECTS/METHODS: The study was a 4-month, single-blinded, cluster randomized controlled trial with a parallel design. Eighty-nine healthy Danish families, with a minimum of one child and one parent (n = 309), were randomly assigned to receive sodium-reduced bread (Intervention A), sodium-reduced bread and dietary counseling (Intervention B) or regular sodium bread (Control). The primary outcome was change in daily sodium intake, measured by 24-h urinary sodium excretion. Secondary outcomes included changes in dietary potassium and the sodium to potassium ratio.No significant differences in daily sodium intake were observed in the two intervention groups compared with the control. When analyzing the results separately for children and adults, a reduction in dietary sodium of 0.6 g/day (-1.0, -0.2), p = 0.005 occurred among adults in intervention B compared with control.This study demonstrates that providing sodium-reduced bread in combination with dietary counseling is an effective strategy to reduce dietary sodium among adults, but the effect is lacking in children. The study was not able to show significant effects when providing sodium-reduced bread alone in neither adults nor children.

Reductions in salt intake have the potential to markedly improve population health at low cost. Real life interventions that explore the feasibility and health effects of a gradual salt reduction lasting at least four weeks are required. The randomized controlled SalT Reduction InterVEntion (STRIVE) trial was developed to investigate the metabolic, behavioral and health effects of four months of consuming gradually salt reduced bread alone or in combination with dietary counselling. This paper describes the rationale and methods of STRIVE. Aiming at 120 healthy families, participants were recruited in February 2018 from the Danish Capital Region and randomly allocated into: (A) Salt reduced bread, (B) Salt reduced bread and dietary counseling, (C) Standard bread. Participants were examined before the intervention and at four months follow-up. Primary outcome is change in salt intake measured by 24 h urine. Secondary outcomes are change in urine measures of potassium and sodium/ potassium ratio, blood pressure, plasma lipids, the renin-angiotensin system, the sympathetic nervous response, dietary intake as well as salt taste sensitivity and preferences. The results will qualify mechanisms affected during a gradual reduction in salt intake in compliance with the current public health recommendations.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between price and sales volume of non-alcoholic sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), diet drinks, sweets and chocolates, including own and cross price elasticity to further quantify the potential impact of price.The study was based on retail scanner data for grocery sales from retail outlet chains in Denmark during the year 2008-2015. A fixed-effects model was used to estimate the association between price and sales volume, using own price and cross price elasticity.Sales volume of all sugary products except for chocolates were significantly negatively associated with price. Own price elasticity varied from -0.3 to -0.4 for drinks and sweets indicating that a 10% increase in price would cause a reduction in sales by 3 or 4%. A 10% increase in price of carbonated SSBs would increase sales of diet drinks by 7%. Cross price elasticities for other products were not significant.The results of the present study demonstrated significant negative associations between changes in price and changes in the sale of SSBs, diet drinks and sweets.

Objective: To estimate national relative survival of low and high grade non-invasive papillary urothelial carcinoma (Ta LG and Ta HG) and urothelial carcinoma in situ (CIS). Materials and methods: All Danish citizens (17,941 patients) with a primary urothelial bladder tumour diagnosis in the period 2000– 2010 were followed until 1 January 2016 and recorded in the Danish Bladder Cancer Cohort database. Survival was compared to the background population matched on age and gender and adjusted by civil status, income, education, and comorbidity. Results: Patients treated in daily practice with Ta LG have 46% (HR = 1.46 (1.42–1.51) p < 0.001) higher risk of death compared to a background population matched for age and gender. This risk of death ceases to 28% (HR = 1.28 (1.24–1.32) p < 0.001) after adjustment for civil status, income, education, and comorbidity. Relative survival of Ta LG patients is 0.94 (0.93–0.95). These estimates are constant throughout the observation period. Significantly higher mortality is found for patients with Ta HG and CIS, but, in contrast to Ta LG, the relative risk of death of Ta HG (HR = 1.79 (1.69–1.90) p < 0.001) and CIS (HR = 2.02 (1.79–2.26) p < 0.001) decreases considerably after 5 years survival (HR = 1.43 (1.30–1.57) p < 0.001 and HR = 1.64 (1.36–1.98) p < 0.001, respectively). Conclusion: Patients with Ta LG have a continuous lower survival and a 28% higher risk of death at any time compared to a matched background population when treated in daily practice.

BACKGROUND: A small proportion of patients account for the majority of health care costs. This group is often referred to as high-cost users (HCU). A frequently described characteristic of HCU is chronic disease. Yet, there is a gap in understanding the economic burden of chronic diseases associated with HCU to different types of health care services. OBJECTIVE: To analyze which frequent chronic diseases have the strongest association with HCU overall, and HCU in hospital, primary care, and prescription medication. DESIGN: This is a register-based observational study on Danish health service costs for various diseases in different medical settings. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1,350,677 individuals aged ≥ 18 years living in the Capital Region of Denmark by 1 January 2012 were included. MAIN MEASURES: Chronic diseases, costs, and sociodemographic data were extracted from the nationwide registers, including data from hospitals, primary care, and medicine consumption. These information were merged on an individual level. KEY RESULTS: Cancer, mental disorders except depression, and heart diseases have the strongest association with HCU overall. Mental disorders except depression were in the three diseases most prevalent in HCU in all the three health care services. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that the chronic diseases that have the strongest association with HCU differ between different types of health care services. Our findings may be helpful in informing future policies about health care organization and may guide to different prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies that could lessen the burden in the hospital. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s11606-019-05315-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Literature suggests that people living in areas with a wealth of unhealthy fast food options may show higher levels of fast food intake. Multilevel logistic regression analyses were applied to examine the association between GIS-located fast food outlets (FFOs) and self-reported fast food intake among adults (+ 16 years) in the Capital Region of Denmark (N = 48,305). Accessibility of FFOs was measured both as proximity (distance to nearest FFO) and density (number of FFOs within a 1 km network buffer around home). Odds of fast food intake ≥ 1/week increased significantly with increasing FFO density and decreased significantly with increasing distance to the nearest FFO for distances ≤ 4 km. For long distances (>4 km), odds increased with increasing distance, although this applied only for car owners. Results suggest that Danish health promotion strategies need to consider the contribution of the built environment to unhealthy eating.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate age-related shifts in the relative importance of SBP and DBP as predictors of cardiovascular mortality and all-cause mortality and whether these relations are influenced by other cardiovascular risk factors. METHODS: Using 42 cohorts from the MORGAM Project with baseline between 1982 and 1997, 85772 apparently healthy Europeans and Australians aged 19-78 years were included. During 13.3 years of follow-up, 9.2% died (of whom 7.2% died due to stroke and 21.1% due to coronary heart disease, CHD). RESULTS: Mortality risk was analyzed using hazard ratios per 10-mmHg/5-mmHg increase in SBP/DBP by multivariate-adjusted Cox regressions, including SBP and DBP simultaneously. Because of nonlinearity, SBP and DBP were analyzed separately for blood pressure (BP) values above and below a cut-point wherein mortality risk was the lowest. For the total population, significantly positive associations were found between stroke mortality and SBP [hazard ratio=1.19 (1.13-1.25)] and DBP at least 78mmHg [hazard ratio=1.08 (1.02-1.14)], CHD mortality and SBP at least 116mmHg [1.20 (1.16-1.24)], and all-cause mortality and SBP at least 120mmHg [1.09 (1.08-1.11)] and DBP at least 82mmHg [1.03 (1.02-1.05)]. BP values below the cut-points were inversely related to mortality risk. Taking into account the age×BP interaction, there was a gradual shift from DBP (19-26 years) to both DBP and SBP (27-62 years) and to SBP (63-78 years) as risk factors for stroke mortality and all-cause mortality, but not CHD mortality. The age at which the importance of SBP exceeded DBP was for stroke mortality influenced by sex, cholesterol, and country risk. CONCLUSION: Age-related shifts to the superiority of SBP exist for stroke mortality and all-cause mortality, and for stroke mortality was this shift influenced by other cardiovascular risk factors. © 2014 Wolters Kluwer Health / Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Background The health benefits of active commuting are well established, but little is known about the temporal changes in active commuting across sociodemographic groups. Aim To examine temporal changes in active commuting in the Capital Region of Denmark from 2007 to 2017 and to examine whether these changes differed across gender, age, educational attainment, BMI, distance to work/educational institution, and place of residence. Method The study was based on four waves of “The Danish Capital Region Health Survey (DK-CRHS)” conducted in 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2017. The pooled study sample included 102.792 individuals aged 25–79 years old. Results From 2007-2017 the overall prevalence of active commuters increased from 71.8% to 76.4%. Also, the Odds Ratio (OR) of being an active commuter increased significantly among men, individuals aged 25–34 and 35–44 years of age, all educational attainment groups, all BMI groups except BMI 5 km, and in all groups by place of residence (urban, suburban and rural). Survey year modified the effect of gender, age, educational attainment, distance to work/education, and place of residence, but not the effect of BMI on the probability of being an active commuter. Conclusion Active commuting has become more prevalent among adults living in the Capital Region of Denmark, but temporal changes from 2007 to 2017 differed between sociodemographic groups. Findings may help inform future planning and policymaking to secure targeted interventions for continuous promotion of active commuting across all sociodemographic groups.

Background: Prevalence of sedentary behaviour is high in many countries, but little is known about temporal trends in sitting time. Objective: To examine temporal changes in sleep and domain-specific sedentary behaviour and moderate to vigorous leisure time physical activity (MVPA). Methods: Two cross-sectional population-based surveys of 25–79-year-old inhabitants were conducted in The Capital Region of Denmark in 2007 ( N = 69.800, response rate 52.3%) and 2010 ( N = 77.517, response rate 54.8%). Information on sedentary behaviour and physical activity was obtained from self-report questionnaire and sociodemographic information from central registers. Data were weighted for survey design and for non-response and were analysed by multiple regression analyses. Results: In 2007, the entire survey population reported a mean daily sleeping duration of 7.4 hours, leisure time sitting of 3.4 hours per day, occupational sitting of 4.4 hours per day, MVPA of 0.87 hours per day and a total 24-hour energy expenditure of 40.12 METs per day. In 2010, duration of sleep was unaltered ( p = 0.1), sedentary leisure time and sedentary work time had increased by 12.6 minutes ( p < 0.0001) and 13.2 minutes ( p < 0.0001) per day, respectively. Time spent on MVPA had increased by 2.9 minutes per day ( p < 0.0001). The 24-hour energy expenditure had decreased by 0.41 METs ( p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Adult Danish men and women spend an increased amount of time sitting down at work and during leisure time, but also on leisure time MVPA. As duration of sleep is unaltered findings suggest that low intensity physical activity may be displaced in everyday life.

BACKGROUND: A simple and valid alternative for 24-hour urine collection to estimate populational 24-hour urinary sodium excretion would be desirable for monitoring sodium intake in populations. AIM: To assess the validity of the predicted 24-hour urinary sodium excretion using spot urine and two different prediction methods in a Danish population. METHODS: Overall, 473 Danish individuals provided a para-aminobenzoic acid-validated complete 24-hour urine collection and a spot urine sample. Data were collected in the DanThyr study (248 women aged 25-30 years and 60-65 years) and the Inter99 study (102 men and 113 women aged 30-60 years), respectively. The measured 24-hour urine sodium excretion was compared with the predicted 24-hour sodium excretion from a causal urine specimen, using both the Tanaka prediction method and a prediction model developed in a Danish population. RESULTS: The measured 24-hour sodium excretion (median, 5th to 95th percentile) was men 195 (110 to 360) and women 139 (61 to 258), whereas the predicted 24-hour sodium excretion for the Tanaka model was men 171 (117 to 222) and women 153 (92 to 228) and for the Danish model was men 207 (146 to 258); women 134 (103 to 163). The Spearman correlation between predicted and measured 24-hour sodium excretion was 0.39 and 0.49 for the Tanaka and the Danish model, respectively. For both prediction models, the proportion of individuals classified in the same or adjacent quintile was 74% for men and 64% for women. CONCLUSIONS: Both prediction models gave a reasonable classification of individuals according to their sodium excretion. However, the median daily sodium intake was estimated more precisely by the Danish model, especially among men.

Aim Anastomotic leakage (AL) is a major challenge in colorectal cancer surgery due to increased morbidity and mortality. Possible risk factors should be investigated differentially, distinguishing between rectal and colonic surgery in large-scale studies to avoid selection bias and confounding. Method The incidence and risk factors associated with AL were analysed in an unselected nationwide prospective cohort of patient subjected to curative colonic cancer surgery with primary anastomosis and entered into The Danish Colorectal Cancer Group database between May 2001 and December 2008. Results AL occurred in 593 (6.4%) of 9333 patients. Laparoscopic surgery [odds ratio (OR) 1.34; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05–1.70; P = 0.03); left hemicolectomy (OR 2.02; 95% CI 1.50–2.72; P = 0.01) or sigmoid colectomy (OR 1.69; 95% CI 1.32–2.17; P = 0.01); intra-operative blood loss (OR 1.04; 95% CI 1.01–1.07; P = 0.03); blood transfusion (OR 10.27; 95% CI 6.82–15.45; P

Postmenopausal hormone therapy use increases the risk of ovarian cancer. In the present study, the authors examined the risks of different histologic types of ovarian cancer associated with hormone therapy. Using Danish national registers, the authors identified 909,946 women who were followed from 1995-2005. The women were 50-79 years of age and had no prior hormone-sensitive cancers or bilateral oophorectomy. Hormone therapy prescription data were obtained from the National Register of Medicinal Product Statistics. The National Cancer and Pathology Register provided data on ovarian cancers, including information about tumor histology. The authors performed Poisson regression analyses that included hormone exposures and confounders as time-dependent covariates. In an average of 8.0 years of follow up, 2,681 cases of epithelial ovarian cancer were detected. Compared with never users, women taking unopposed oral estrogen therapy had increased risks of both serous tumors (incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 1.7, 95% confidence interval: 1.4, 2.2) and endometrioid tumors (IRR = 1.5, 95% confidence interval: 1.0, 2.4) but decreased risk of mucinous tumors (IRR = 0.3, 95% confidence interval: 0.1, 0.8). Similar increased risks of serous and endometrioid tumors were found with estrogen/progestin therapy, whereas no association was found with mucinous tumors. Consistent with results from recent cohort studies, the authors found that ovarian cancer risk varied according to tumor histology. The types of ovarian tumors should be given attention in future studies.

Introduction: The social inequality in smoking in the Western countries has been increasing. It has been suggested that the most important strategy to reduce health inequalities related to socio economic status (SEP) is to promote smoking cessation in persons with low SEP. One could fear that a smoking cessation intervention might benefit smokers with high SEP more, and thereby increase the social inequality in smoking. We wanted to investigate whether the effect differed across SEP. Methods: The study was an individual multi-factorial lifestyle intervention study with a control group, Inter99 (1999-2006), Copenhagen, Denmark. We included 1991 daily-smokers with self-reported information on education in the intervention group, and 1135 in the control group. Smokers in the intervention group were repeatedly offered individual life-style-counselling and group-based smoking cessation. We used generalised linear mixed models under the assumption of missing at random, including interaction term between intervention effect and SEP. Results: The gap in self-reported abstinence rates increased over time between persons with high and low education. Probability of abstinence was significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group, at all follow-up-visits but the effect of the intervention changed over time. The differences in quit-rates across educational groups were not significantly different in the intervention than in the control group at any time. Conclusion: In this randomised population-based intervention study we found that smokers across all educational levels benefited from the anti-smoking intervention, and that the intervention did not increase the social inequality in smoking, as one could have feared.

Objectives. Many hospital admissions are due to inappropriate medical treatment, and discharge of fragile elderly patients involves a high risk of readmission. The present study aimed to assess whether a follow-up programme undertaken by GPs and district nurses could improve the quality of the medical treatment and reduce the risk of readmission of elderly newly discharged patients. Design and setting . The patients were randomized to either an intervention group receiving a structured home visit by the GP and the district nurse one week after discharge followed by two contacts after three and eight weeks, or to a control group receiving the usual care. Patients . A total of 331 patients aged 78 years discharged from Glostrup Hospital, Denmark, were included. Main outcome measures . Readmission rate within 26 weeks after discharge among all randomized patients. Control of medication, evaluated 12 weeks after discharge on 293 (89%) of the patients by an interview at home and by a questionnaire to the GP. Results . Control-group patients were more likely to be readmitted than intervention-group patients (52% v 40%; p 0.03). In the intervention group, the proportions of patients who used prescribed medication of which the GP was unaware (48% vs. 34%; p 0.02) and who did not take the medication prescribed by the GP (39% vs. 28%; p 0.05) were smaller than in the control group. Conclusion . The intervention shows a possible framework securing the follow-up on elderly patients after discharge by reducing the readmission risk and improving medication control.

Objective The study aimed to identify risk factors for clinical anastomotic leakage (AL) after anterior resection for rectal cancer in a consecutive national cohort. Method All patients with an initial first diagnosis of colorectal adenocarcinoma were prospectively registered in a national database. The register included 1495 patients who had had a curative anterior resection between May 2001 and December 2004. The association of a number of patient- and procedure-related factors with clinical AL after anterior resection was analysed in a cohort design. Results Anastomotic leakages occurred in 163 (11%) patients. In a multivariate analysis, the risk of AL was significantly increased in patients with tumours located below 10 cm from the anal verge if no faecal diversion was undertaken (OR 5.37 5 cm (tumour level from anal verge), 95% CI 2.10–13.7, OR 3.57 7 cm, CI 1.81–7.07 and OR 1.96 10 cm, CI 1.22–3.10), in male patients (OR 2.36, CI 1.18–4.71), in smokers (OR 1.88, CI 1.02–3.46), and perioperative bleeding (OR 1.05 for intervals of 100 ml blood loss, CI 1.02–1.07). Conclusion Anastomotic leakage after anterior resection for low rectal tumours is related to the level, male gender, smoking and perioperative bleeding. Faecal diversion is advisable after total mesorectal excision of low rectal tumours in order to prevent AL.

Purpose Many studies which investigate the effect of drugs categorize the exposure variable into never, current, and previous use of the study drug. When prescription registries are used to make this categorization, the exposure variable possibly gets misclassified since the registries do not carry any information on the time of discontinuation of treatment. In this study, we investigated the amount of misclassification of exposure (never, current, previous use) to hormone therapy (HT) when the exposure variable was based on prescription data. Furthermore, we evaluated the significance of this misclassification for analysing the risk of breast cancer. Materials and methods Prescription data were obtained from Danish Registry of Medicinal Products Statistics and we applied various methods to approximate treatment episodes. We analysed the duration of HT episodes to study the ability to identify discontinuation of therapy from prescription data. Furthermore, we compared to results based on self-reported duration of HT from the Danish Nurse Cohort. Finally, we analysed the effect of HT exposure on time to breast cancer for the different prescription based exposure variables as well as for self-reported HT use. Results The results of time to discontinuation varied strongly across the different HT assessments. However, misclassification of HT exposure at baseline was limited and hence analysis of the effect of HT on time to breast cancer showed stability across the different exposure assessments with Hazard Ratios ranging from 1.68 to 1.78 for current use compared to never use. Conclusions The findings suggest that it is possible to estimate the effect of never, current and previous use of HT on breast cancer using prescription data. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Udgivelsesdato: 2008-Aug AIMS: To estimate and illustrate how the 10 years of weight change immediately preceding diabetes diagnosis vary with weight at the age of 20 years and with socio-demographic variables, risk factors and comorbidities at diagnosis. METHODS: Data were from a population-based cohort of 1320 persons newly diagnosed with diabetes aged > or = 40 years. Patients' weight at diagnosis was measured by the doctor, while patients recalled their weight approximately 1, 5 and 10 years prior to diagnosis and at age 20 years. RESULTS: Median weight gain from age 20 years to diabetes diagnosis at median age 65.3 years was 14.7 kg (interquartile range 6.0-23.0). Women gained weight more than men, and the lower the weight at age 20 years, the greater the weight gain. The average weight gain from 10 years prior to diabetes diagnosis until diagnosis, however, was only 1 kg and decreased markedly with age. These 10 years of weight change were also associated with sex and the following baseline characteristics: diagnostic plasma glucose, urinary glucose, urinary albumin, fasting triglycerides, systolic blood pressure, smoking habits, and presence of diabetic retinopathy. CONCLUSIONS: The results add to the evidence that it is important to advise young patients in particular, especially women, who have gained and sustained considerable weight to curb this upward weight trend in order to prevent the development of diabetes.

There was a discrepancy between data in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) showing increased risk of coronary artery disease and stroke associated with continuous combined hormone therapy (HT), and prior observational studies suggesting that HT would have a primary preventive effect on cardiovascular disease. A previous study suggested that WHI data and observational results would be more in agreement if time since initiation of HT was controlled. Some investigators believed that the WHI data may not be applicable for healthy younger peri-menopausal women. This population-based observational study evaluated the influence of age, various regimens, routes of administration, duration of use, progestagen types, and estrogen dose on the risk of myocardial infarction (MI) associated with HT. National registry information on 698,098 healthy Danish women, aged 51-69, were followed from 1995 to 2001. Exposure to HT was recorded on a daily basis from a central prescription registry. Relative risk (RR) estimates were analyzed by Poisson regression analysis. A total of 4957 MI events were identified within the 6 year study period. Compared to women who never used HT, current use of hormones did not increase the overall risk of MI (RR, 1.03; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.95-1.11). Among women in the youngest age group (51-54 years), however, there was an increased risk of MI (adjusted RR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.02-1.51). The adjusted RR was 0.92 with a 95% CI of 0.80-1.06 in the older age groups. Increased risk of MI was also associated among women in the youngest age group with longer duration of HT (>4 years); this association was not found in the older age groups. The highest risk of MI among all age groups was found with the continuous combined regimen (adjusted RR, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.18-1.53). No significant risk was associated with cyclic combined therapy, unopposed estrogen, or tibolone. The risk associated with the dermal route for unopposed estrogen was significantly lower than for oral delivery (P ≤.04). No overall indication of increased risk of MI was found with increasing doses of estrogen or progestagen type. These data did not show any overall association between HT and risk of MI among older women who currently used HT; increased risk was found in younger women. Longer duration of HT also increased the risk among younger women, but not older women.

Pharmacoepidemiological studies often use prescription registries to assess patients' drug episodes. The databases usually provide information on the date of the redemption of the prescription as well as on the dispensed amount, and this allows us to define episodes of drug use. However, when patients take less medication than prescribed, apparent gaps between prescriptions occur, and most studies handle this issue by allowing for small gaps when defining continuous drug use. This paper argues that it becomes crucial whether gaps are 'filled' prospectively or retrospectively. In the latter case the inferred exposure status depends on the patient's future dispensing behaviour and this can lead to severe bias in the findings of the study. In this paper we investigate this potential bias in a study of the risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) for women using hormone therapy (HT), and we show that the retrospective exposure definition introduces an artificially protective effect of HT.

It is generally thought difficult for type 2 diabetic patients to lose weight. We monitored changes in patients' weight during the first 5 years after diabetes diagnosis in relation to initiation of antidiabetic treatment.Data from 711 newly diagnosed diabetic patients aged 40 or over were analysed with a random-effect linear-regression model. Patients were included consecutively from a well-defined patient list in general practice.In 245 patients whose only treatment was advice on diet, an initial weight loss of 6 to 7 kg was largely maintained over 5 years. Patients receiving metformin (n=86) or sulfonylureas (n=330) maintained an average weight loss of 2 to 4 kg that was dependent on age and sex. Patients' weight did not change on initiation of treatment with sulfonylureas or metformin. Over 5 years, median HbA(1c) increased from 7.0 to 7.8% (reference range 5.4-7.4%) in the diet-alone group. HbA(1c) was approximately 1 percentage point higher for most of the other treatment groups.In newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients, long-term weight loss was common and weight loss was not affected by sulfonylurea treatment. The measurements in the study are taken from treatment results achieved in the general population of diabetic patients, who are rarely treated in secondary care and seldom the subject of research; the results thus indicate that weight reduction is a practicable treatment in diabetic patients.

The ratio between urinary albumin concentration (UAC) and urinary creatinine concentration (UCC) is widely used to estimate renal involvement. We examined how UAC and UCC associate with each other, with other risk factors, and with diabetic complications in a population-based sample of Type 2 diabetic patients.A freshly voided morning urine specimen was provided by 1,284 consecutive, newly diagnosed diabetic patients aged 40 years or over in general practice. Albumin was measured by a polyethyleneglycol radioimmunoassay and creatinine by a modified Jaffe method.In a multivariate model including UAC, UCC, age, sex, HbA1c, and urinary glucose concentration, UAC increased with both age (P=.042) and HbA1c (P=.014), while UCC decreased (P.001 and P.001, respectively). In two regression models, the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (P.001) and relatively high resting heart rate (P.001) increased with increasing UAC but decreased with increasing UCC (P=.002 and P=.005, respectively).The use of albumin/creatinine ratio (ACR) may introduce bias of unpredictable size and direction in comparisons of ACR with variables that are associated with UCC in their own right. In daily clinical practice, renal involvement in the individual patient can be estimated reliably with UAC or ACR measured in a freshly voided morning urine specimen, especially when considered together. However, the associations of the combined measure ACR should be interpreted with great caution in clinical and epidemiological research.

Objective: To assess whether hypertension is a risk factor for hysterectomy, endometrial resection, and myomectomy. Study design: Self-report questionnaires were collected from 81% of 1959 Danish women aged 30 or 40 years selected at random in 1976–1991, in four different cohort studies. Baseline data included standardized information about cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, use of medicine, gynecologic history, social background, and life style factors. Weight, height and blood pressure were measured. The women were followed via central registers to assess the incidence of hysterectomy, endometrial resection, and myomectomy performed for benign diagnoses. Cox regression analyses were used to control for confounding. Results: The average time to follow-up was 15 years, and 135 operations performed for benign diagnoses were identified. Women with a history of hypertension had a double risk of having an operation compared to women without hypertension, independent of confounders. Conclusion: Hypertension seems to be a risk factor for hysterectomy performed for benign diagnoses, and thus contributes to women undergoing hysterectomy having an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. It might be relevant to pay increased attention to the blood pressure in candidates for hysterectomy, as optimal antihypertensive treatment could decrease their otherwise increased risk of cardiovascular disease years after hysterectomy.

Aiming to improve the quality of diet recording and instruction in primary care, we developed a simple semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire for type 2 diabetic patients and had doctors record each other's diet habits with the same questionnaire. The analysis of the diet composition was given to the doctors who considered the educational model to be fun, instructive and thought-provoking. Doctors with a relatively unhealthy diet and a relatively high body weight tended to show dissatisfaction with their own diet, had poor self-assessed knowledge about nutrition, and even a wish to improve their own diet after having seen the result of the diet interview. The proportion of diabetic patients being treated with diet alone tended to decrease with their doctors’ decreasing diet counselling skills, which indicates that doctors’ attitudes may exert an effect at patient level.

BackgroundFirst-episode psychosis intervention may improve the course and outcome of schizophrenic disorders.AimsTo describe the Danish National Schizophrenia Project and to measure the outcome of two different forms of intervention after 1 year, compared with standard treatment.MethodA prospective, longitudinal, multicentre investigation included 562 patients, consecutively referred over a 2-year period, with a first episode of psychosis. Patients were allocated to supportive psychodynamic psychotherapy as a supplement to treatment as usual, an integrated, assertive, psychosocial and educational treatment programme or treatment as usual.ResultsThere was a non-significant tendency towards greater improvement in social functioning in the integrated treatment group and the supportive psychodynamic psychotherapy group compared with the treatment as usual group. Significance was reached for some measures when the confounding effect of drug and alcohol misuse was included.ConclusionsIntegrated treatment and supportive psychodynamic psychotherapy in addition to treatment as usual may improve outcome after 1 year of treatment for people with first-episode psychosis, compared with treatment as usual alone.

Objective: To analyse how committed crimes and substance-related diagnoses are associated with the age on the first contact with the psychiatric hospital system and the age at diagnosing of schizophrenia among schizophrenics. Method: In a register-based study including all Danes diagnosed with schizophrenia born after November 1, 1963, data on criminality, substance-related diagnoses and contacts with the psychiatric hospital system were analysed. Results: Compared with the non-convicted schizophrenics the convicted were older on first contact with the psychiatric hospital system and older when the diagnosis of schizophrenia was first given. In contrast, having a substance-related diagnosis was associated with a younger age on first contact but did not influence the age at which the diagnosis of schizophrenia was given. Conclusion: It is important that both psychiatrists and the judicial system are aware of possible psychotic symptoms in criminal and abusing individuals to enable earlier detection and treatment.

Objective: To examine the quantitative agreement between a 7 day food record and a diet history interview when these are conducted under the same conditions and to evaluate whether the two methods assess habitual diet intake differently among subgroups of age and body mass index (BMI). Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Population study, Denmark. Subjects: A total of 175 men and 173 women aged 30–60 y, selected randomly from a larger population sample of Danish adults. Interventions: All subjects had habitual diet intake assessed by a diet history interview and completed a 7 day food record within 3 weeks following the interview. The diet history interview and coding of records were performed by the same trained dietician. Main outcome measure: Median between-method difference in assessment of total energy intake, absolute intake of macronutrients, and nutrient energy percentages. Difference between reported energy intake from both methods and estimated energy expenditure in different subgroups. Results: Energy and macronutrient intake was assessed slightly higher by the 7 day food record than by the diet history interview, but in absolute terms the differences were negligible. The between-method difference in assessment of total energy intake appeared to be stable over the range of age and BMI in both sexes. As compared to estimated total energy expenditure, both diet assessment methods underestimated energy intake by approximately 20%. For both methods the under-reporting increased by BMI in both sexes and by age in men. Conclusions: Energy and macronutrient intake data collected under even conditions by either a 7 day food record or a diet history interview may be collapsed and analysed independent of the underlying diet method. Both diet methods, however, appear to underestimate energy intake dependent on age and BMI. Sponsorship: Danish Medical Research Council, the FREJA programme.

The 5- to 6-year all-cause mortality is analyzed in 1323 newly diagnosed diabetic patients aged 40 years or over. The median age at diagnosis is lower for men (63.6 years) than for women (67.5 years), but more men (24.7%) than women (20.0%) have died ( p = 0.04). This male excess mortality can be attributed mainly to the 60- to 79-year-old men. With increasing diabetes duration, both male and female diabetic patients exhibit an increasing excess mortality in comparison with the Danish population. For men, this excess mortality becomes statistically significant 4 years after diagnosis for the 40- to 59-year-old patient and 6 years after diagnosis for the 60- to 79-year-old patient. For women and very old men, no statistically significant excess mortality is observed. After 2–4 years, however, there is a tendency for the survival curve of 40- to 79-year-old women to separate from that of the Danish female population to show an excess mortality. In this population-based study, the disadvantageous mortality experience of even newly diagnosed diabetic patients is clearly demonstrated.

Aims: In 2010 the five Danish regions and the National Institute of Public Health at the University of Southern Denmark conducted a national representative health survey among the adult population in Denmark. This paper describes the study design and the sample and study population as well as the content of the questionnaire. Methods: The survey was based on five regional stratified random samples and one national random sample. The samples were mutually exclusive. A total of 298,550 individuals (16 years or older) were invited to participate. Information was collected using a mixed mode approach (paper and web questionnaires). A questionnaire with a minimum of 52 core questions was used in all six subsamples. Calibrated weights were computed in order to take account of the complex survey design and reduce non-response bias. Results: In all, 177,639 individuals completed the questionnaire (59.5%). The response rate varied from 52.3% in the Capital Region of Denmark sample to 65.5% in the North Denmark Region sample. The response rate was particularly low among young men, unmarried people and among individuals with a different ethnic background than Danish. Conclusions: The survey was a result of extensive national cooperation across sectors, which makes it unique in its field of application, e.g. health surveillance, planning and prioritizing public health initiatives and research. However, the low response rate in some subgroups of the study population can pose problems in generalizing data, and efforts to increase the response rate will be important in the forthcoming surveys.

Background Previous tools for stroke risk assessment have either been developed for specific populations or lack data on non-fatal events or uniform data collection. The purpose of this study was to develop a stepwise model for the estimation of 10 year risk of stroke in nine different countries across Europe. Methods Using data from the MOnica Risk, Genetics, Archiving and Monograph (MORGAM) Project, sex-specific models estimating 10 year risk of stroke were developed using a Cox regression model stratified by country and including modelling of competing risks. Models were developed in a stepwise manner first using only data from questionnaires, and then adding data from physical examinations and finally data from blood samples. Results During 1 176 296 years of observation, 2928 incident fatal and non-fatal events of stroke were registered. The developed model showed good calibration and accuracy of prediction. The discrimination of the model varied between sex and country but increased with increasing number of variables used (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve between 0.77 and 0.79 in men and between 0.75 and 0.80 in women). Conclusion The present study shows that using a large multicountry cohort from nine European countries it is possible to develop a stepwise risk estimation model for 10 year risk of stroke tailored to different availability of risk factors and still obtain valid measures of risk even in the simplest form of the model, with increasing performance of the model following increasing complexity. The methods chosen which separate this model from previous models (competing risk and stepwise approach) should be considered for future risk estimation models.

Objective . To develop a cardiovascular risk model simulating different clinical settings using a staged approach. Design . Using data from 27 477 men and women from the Norwegian Troms o Study in 1986 – 1987 and 1994 – 1995, Cox regression models for either myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke combined with a similar model for the competing event a risk model that assess ten-year risk of MI and stroke was developed. Explanatory variables (questions, simple examinations and blood samples) were added gradually. The model was validated using Hosmer-Lemeshow test, the Brier score, c-index, integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) and Net Reclassifi cation Improvement (NRI). Results . In total, 1 298 events of MI and 769 events of stroke were registered. For MI the model showed excellent discrimination in each step with c-index from 0.833 to 0.946. For stroke the c-index ranged between 0.817 and 0.898. IDI showed signifi cant increases in discrimination. The Brier scores and goodness of fi showed well calibrated models in all steps for all sex- and end-point specifi c models (p � 0.05). Conclusions . Although the predictive and discriminative ability of the models increased with each step, even the simplest model containing only data from questions or blood samples alone yielded valid estimates of cardiovascular risk.

Udgivelsesdato: 2010-Feb-16 We evaluated the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) hip fracture risk score in 15,648 postmenopausal Danish nurses. The algorithm was well calibrated for Denmark. However, the sensitivity was poor at common decision making thresholds. Obtaining sensitivity better than 80% led to a low specificity of 61.4%. INTRODUCTION: A new score based on data from the WHI has been designed to predict 5-year risk of hip fracture in postmenopausal women. The performance of the algorithm has not been validated in populations with different lifestyle characteristics and ethnicity. The aim of this study was to test the clinical performance of the algorithm in a large Danish cohort of postmenopausal Caucasian women against hip fracture. METHODS: The Danish Nurse Cohort is a prospective risk factor and hormone therapy (HT) study established in 1993. Participants in the present analysis were 15,648 postmenopausal nurses. The calibration and diagnostic performance of the WHI algorithm was evaluated using fracture events captured in the Danish National Hospital Registry. RESULTS: During 5 years of follow-up, 122 participants suffered a hip fracture (1.8/1,000 person years). The WHI algorithm predicted that 107 hip fractures would occur, indicating an underestimation of the number of fractures by 12%. To obtain sensitivity better than 80%, the cut-off value for 5-year risk was set to 0.5%, which was accompanied by a low positive predictive value of 1.9% and a low specificity of 61.4%. The algorithm predicted too many fractures in HT-users (12 observed, 22 expected) and too few in non HT-users (107 observed, 81 expected). CONCLUSIONS: While the WHI algorithm was well calibrated on the Danish population, the clinical utility of the WHI algorithm in Danish postmenopausal women was limited by poor sensitivity at common decision-making thresholds and suboptimal in non-HT-users.

The aim was to estimate and illustrate the weight history of 1,320 newly diagnosed diabetic patients according to patient characteristics at diagnosis. The median recalled weight gain from age 20 to diabetes diagnosis at a median age of 65.3 years was 14.7 kg. The average weight gain from 10 years prior to diabetes diagnosis until diagnosis, however, was only 1 kg and varied with e.g. age, sex, diagnostic plasma glucose, and presence of diabetic retinopathy. The findings contribute to the evidence basis of general practitioners' weight advice both before and after diabetes diagnosis.

Recently, the Danish National Register of Medicinal Product Statistics (NRM) was opened for research purposes, and therefore, on an individual basis, can merge with other national registers. The aim of this study was to analyse the use of hormones based on the individual data of the entire Danish female population, with the focus on a detailed evaluation of specific hormone regimens and factors associated with systemic hormone replacement therapy (HRT).All Danish female citizens, aged 15-70 years during the study period 1995-2004, were identified in the Civil Registration System, and their redeemed prescriptions for hormones and medication for diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and heart conditions were retrieved from the NRM. Information on habitation, education, employment and gynaecological surgery was obtained from other national registers.After 2002, the use of HRT was reduced by 65%. In 2002, HRT was most prevalent in women aged 55-59 years, when an average of 200 defined daily doses per 1,000 women per day was recorded. In 2002, approximately 39% of women aged 50-57 years were ever exposed to HRT. The mean duration of HRT was 5 years in an 8-year time window. During the study period, there was a significant decline in the use of systemic hormones, initially due to a decrease in cyclic combined therapy, but after 2002 continuous combined therapy decreased rapidly. HRT was positively associated with middle-term education, employment status, and living in urban areas. Women treated for diabetes used hormones less frequently than women without diabetes. Women using antiarrhythmics or antihypertensives used hormones more often than women not using this medication. HRT was positively associated with gynaecological surgery.One in five women, aged 50-59 years, redeemed daily HRT. Use of HRT declined from 1995 to 2002, but more than halved after 2002. HRT is associated to redemption of other medications of significance for health.