RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Exposure to inhaled allergens is a pathogenetic factor in allergic asthma. However, most studies that previously looked at air cleaning devices have shown little or no effect on patients with perennial allergic asthma. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: We examined a novel treatment using temperature regulated laminar airflow with a very low particle concentration directed to the breathing zone of teenagers and young adults with mild to moderate allergic asthma during night sleep. We hypothesised that the decreased allergen exposure during the night would have an effect on bronchial inflammation and quality of life. METHOD: Twenty-two patients (mean 18.8 years) were randomized to start with active or placebo treatment for 10 weeks. All patients received both active and placebo treatment with unfiltered air, with a 2-week wash-out period in between treatments. Maintenance treatment with inhaled corticosteroids was unaltered during the trial period. Health related quality of life (miniAQLQ) was the primary effectiveness measure. Exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) and spirometry were also investigated. RESULTS: Active treatment resulted in an improved miniAQLQ compared to placebo (mean score 0.54, p<0.05, n=20). An effect on bronchial inflammation was also detected with significantly lower FeNO values during the active treatment period (mean -6.95 ppb, p<0.05, n=22). Both effects were evident after 5 weeks. The change in lung function was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Clean air, administered directly to the breathing zone during sleep, can have a positive effect on bronchial inflammation and quality of life in patients with perennial allergic asthma.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

During the past 40 years, improvements have been made in the technique, implant, and surgical environment for total hip replacement, which today is one of the most cost-effective operations done. The aim of this study was to compare different outcome measurement methods and to develop recommendations for optimal followup of total hip replacement. The study involved the outcome of 2604 randomly selected patients in Sweden treated surgically with a modern technique. General questionnaires (the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey and the Nottingham Health Profile) were compared with disease-specific questionnaires (the Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index and the Harris hip score). The study showed a good correlation between the studied questionnaires, and all questionnaires used could be suitable for followup study after hip replacement surgery. In clinical practice and for research, a general and disease-specific self-administered score should be used. Some patients (older and low cerebral capacity) have difficulties answering questions on these questionnaires. A new short self-administered general and disease-specific questionnaire was designed: the Total Hip Replacement score. The Total Hip Replacement score provides information about the result of the hip arthroplasty, and the results can be compared with results of other surgical interventions.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The Swedish National Total Hip Arthroplasty Register records primary hip replacements, revisions and surgical technique/environmental factors. The end-point for failure is revision. A prosthesis still in place, however, does not mean success. Clinical and radiographic outcomes should describe in more detail the efficacy of hip replacement surgery instead of the relatively blunt outcome measure that the register can provide. We performed a clinical outcome analysis on patients with primary total hip replacement thus testing the adequacy of the end-point for failure in the Swedish register. 1,113 randomly selected patients who had had total hip replacement surgery between 1986 and 1995 answered a disease-specific self-administered questionnaire (WOMAC). A cohort of 344 patients was studied, using the Harris Hip Score and a conventional radiographic examination as outcome measures. We found clinical failure rates of 13% and 20% for all implants after 10 years, using 60 points or revision as the definition of failure in the Harris Hip Score and WOMAC, respectively. The result, according to the register during the same period, was a 7% revision rate. The clinical failure rate depended on the type of evaluation tool, definition of failure and demographics, which made it difficult to decide whether there was a need for revision. With the exception of pain measured by the Harris Hip Score, the results showed no significant correlation between clinical failure and radiographic failure. Hence, with the knowledge that there is a difference between the revision rate according to the register and clinical outcome, the strict definition of failure in the register is useful as an end-point for primary hip replacement surgery.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Although the Harris hip score frequently is used to assess the outcome of total hip replacement, only a few minor validity tests have been presented. The aim of this study was to perform a validity test of the Harris hip score and to test its reliability. Two cohorts were studied. First, 58 patients who had undergone total hip replacement 2 to 10 years earlier were evaluated by an orthopaedic surgeon and an experienced physiotherapist using the Harris hip score. The patients also answered the Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index and the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey. Second, 1,056 patients answered the Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index and the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey questionnaires. The results were compared with those of a subcohort of 344 patients who were evaluated using the Harris hip score. The following items were tested: content validity, convergent and divergent construct validity, criterion validity, test and retest reliability, internal consistency reliability, and interobserver reliability. The Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey, Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index, and the Harris hip score showed high validity and reliability. The Harris hip score can be used by a physician or a physiotherapist to study the clinical outcome of hip replacement.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The Swedish National Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA) Register was initiated in 1979, and it is one of the oldest quality registers in the world. The register covers all hospitals in Sweden, and today it contains > 205,000 hip arthroplasties. The failure endpoint definition in the register is revision. There is no information about quality of life and mortality. The aim of this study was to validate the results presented by the Swedish THA register by comparison with the Discharge register (the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare) and to study mortality after hip arthroplasties. All hip arthroplasties from the Discharge register, performed in 1986 and thereafter, were compared with the Swedish THA register. Epidemiologic parameters, including mortality, were documented from the Swedish Death register. The mortality for primary THAs for men was 1% higher and for women 6% higher when compared with an age-matched and sex-matched cohort. For revision, the numbers were 7% and 9% higher. The risk for death compared with an age-matched and sex-matched population was lower for patients with osteoarthrosis treated with hip arthroplasty. The results with revision as failure endpoint showed that the Swedish THA register is reliable. The register includes >95% of the primary and revision THAs performed in Sweden between 1986 and 1995.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The Swedish National Total Hip Arthroplasty register, which was started in 1979, is one of the oldest national quality registers in the world and consists of over 160,000 primary operations and 12,500 revisions. The register identifies risk factors for poor outcomes related to the patient, implant and surgical techniques. The end-point for failure, i.e., revision, does not provide information about the patient's general health after the primary procedure. The aim of this study was twofold. First, to validate the end-point for failure in the Swedish National Total Hip Arthroplasty register and secondly, to study general health after total hip arthroplasty. We validated the outcome of 1,056 primary THRs randomly selected from the Discharge register in Sweden by comparing the data to the Swedish THA register. These patients had answered the SF-36 and Nottingham Health Profile questionnaires. By comparing the clinical outcome, measured as general health, with the results obtained from the register, we evaluated the importance of the end-point for failure. We found that the end-point was useful, but further evaluations are desirable. Patients operated on with hip replacement do very well up to 10 years postoperatively and those who are not revised have good general health. The findings in this study can be used as a reference for others as it shows results from a national register, with a random selection of the study cohort.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

We assessed whether a disease-specific, self-administered questionnaire could replace a generic instrument as an outcome tool after total hip replacement, and tested the validity and reliability of the Swedish WOMAC osteoarthritis index. 58 patients operated on with total hip arthroplasty 2-10 years ago were randomized to the study. All patients were asked to answer one disease-specific questionnaire (WOMAC osteoarthritis index) and two generic instruments (NUP and SF-36) in the same week. The procedure was repeated after 4 weeks. We tested content validity, construct validity, criterion validity, test-retest reliability and internal consistency reliability according to total score, domains and items. We found that both the generic instruments (NHP and SF-36) and the disease-specific test (WOMAC) had a high validity, i.e., measuring what they were supposed to measure (high validity). The questionnaires were also reproducible over time (high reliability). We suggest the Swedish WOMAC to be used after total hip arthroplasty in future studies.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The Swedish National Total Hip Arthroplasty Register contains more than 200,000 primary and secondary hip replacements. The failure end-point definition is revision. The aim of this thesis was to validate the results presented by the register and to study the outcome of hip replacement surgery in Sweden. The hypothesis was firstly that the number of failure reported to the Swedish THA register are valid and secondly that adding clinical and radiographic failure criteria will dramatically decrease the survival rate for THR implants. The study consisted of three parts with 2-10 years follow-up of patients with total hip replacements (THR). In part I, three general health questionnaires (Nottingham Health Profile, SF-36, EuroQol) and two disease-specific instruments (WOMAC, Harris Hip Score) were tested for validity and reliability (n = 62). The results showed the disease specific questionnaires are at least as valid and reliable as the general instruments are. In part II, all THRs reported to the Swedish THA register 1986 to 1994 (84,884 primary and 10,176 revision hip replacements) were compared with the data from the Discharge register and the Cause of Death register in Sweden. 2,604 patients were randomly selected from the Discharge register to determine if they had undergone any revision surgery. The study showed that the Swedish THA register covers 94% of the revisions actually performed in Sweden and the results did not differ significantly from the data in the Discharge register and the results reported by the patients. In part III, 1,056 patients from the selected cohort were studied further concerning general health and disease-specific health, using the Nottingham Health Profile, SF-36 and WOMAC. An age and gender matched subcohort of 344 patients were then examined clinically, using the Harris Hip Score, and radiographically. The clinical and radiographic failure rates were in several tests as high as the revision rates documented in the Swedish THA register. The clinical results were, however, dependent on demographics, the definition of clinical failure and the scoring system used. The results presented by the register with revision as failure end-point give an exact but limited information about the quality of hip replacement surgery in Sweden.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

One individual-based (Jämtland) and one population-based (Sweden) monitoring system provided information on the prescription sales of drugs for children in ambulatory care. The overall prescription rate decreased between 1977 and 1987 and it was 20-25% lower in Jämtland than in Sweden as a whole. Antibiotics, drugs for ear, nose and throat diseases and respiratory drugs accounted for three out of four prescriptions. Penicillin V dominated among antibiotics and the prescription rate was stable whereas that of other antibiotics increased. During their first year of life one out of ten children in Jämtland had at least one prescription of antibiotics, during their first five years three out of four children. Prescribing of decongestants, especially systemic, decreased during the study period whereas that of anti-asthmatics increased, partly due to the non-approved use of these drugs for common cough. The results from our study underline the need for pharmaco-epidemiological studies linking prescription data to clinical data in order to answer questions on the rational of present drug treatment practices.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Eighty-five per cent of 229 post-parturient women answered a questionnaire concerning the occurrence of symptoms in themselves and in their infants after discharge from two maternity wards up to the infant age of four months. Information about the treatment and drugs used was also requested. Although the level of maternal education differed between the two regions examined, the panorama of symptoms, the drug treatment, and the breastfeeding were reported mainly the same. Symptoms were common both in the mothers and in their infants. No symptoms were reported by six per cent of the mothers and for eight per cent of the infants. Many of the symptoms were not pharmacologically treated, but 70% of the mothers and 38% of the infants took one or more drugs besides vitamins. None of the drugs taken by the mothers was considered to have adverse effects on breastfeeding and none of the drugs given to the infants was considered to be ineligible.

Asunto(s)

Asunto(s)

Asunto(s)

Asunto(s)

Asunto(s)

Asunto(s)

Asunto(s)

Asunto(s)