The Hordaland Women's Cohort: A prospective cohort study of incontinence, other urinary tract symptoms and related health issues in middle-aged women

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Urinary incontinence (UI) is a prevalent symptom in middle-aged women, but data on incidence is limited and rarely reported. In order to analyze incidence, remission, or development patterns of severity and types of UI, we have established a 15-year prospective cohort (1997–2012).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The Cohort is based on the national collection of health data gathered from county studies (CONOR). Hordaland Health Study (HUSK) is one of them from Hordaland County. Each of the county studies may have local sub-studies and our Cohort is one of them. The Cohort included women aged 40–45 in order to have a broad approach to women's health including UI and other lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). A onefifth random sampling from HUSK was used to create the Cohort in 1997–1999. For the necessary sample size a preliminary power calculation, based on a 70% response rate at inclusion and 5% annual attrition rates was used. The Cohort is planned to collect data through questionnaires every second year for the 15-year period from 1997–2012.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The Cohort represents a relatively large random sample (N = 2,230) of about 15% of the total population of women born between 1953–57 in the county of Hordaland. Our data shows that the cohort population is very similar to the source population. The baseline demographic, social and medical characteristics of the Cohort are compared with the rest of women in HUSK (N = 7,746) and there were no significant differences between them except for the level of education (P = 0.001) and yearly income (P = 0.018), which were higher in the Cohort population. Urological characteristics of participants from the Cohort (N = 1,920) were also compared with the other participants (N = 3,400). There were no significant statistical differences except for somewhat more urinary continence (P = 0.04), more stress incontinence (P = 0.048) and smaller amount of leakage (P = 0.015) in the Cohort. In conclusion, the Cohort ispopulation-based, with little selection bias, and thus is a rather unique study forinvestigating UI and LUTS in comparison with many other projects with similar purposes.</p

The Hordaland Womens's Cohort. A longitudinal study on urinary incontinence in middle-aged women

Urinary incontinence (UI) is a prevalent problem among middle-aged women, and many epidemiological studies have investigated this problem. Most of these studies are cross-sectional and only few longitudinal studies have been conducted. Thus, the knowledge about incidence, remission and natural history of UI is scarce. The aim of that present dissertation was to answer major epidemiological questions about incidence, progress and remission of UI in middle-aged women. The Hordaland Women’s Cohort was established in 1997 and designed as a prospective longitudinal study for 15 years. The source population was from Hordaland Health Study (HUSK), which was a joint epidemiological research project and a part of national health project called Cohort of Norway (CONOR). HUSK invited all individuals in Hordaland County born between 1953-57, and among 14300 women in Hordaland, almost 9900 (70%) participated in HUSK. We took a one-fifth random sample of female HUSK participants and 2230 women consented to take part in the Women’s Cohort. In 2007 the Cohort reached a ten-year follow up with six checkpoints and the present dissertation is based on the analyses of data for this period of the Cohort. In the first sub-study (Paper I), the data from source (HUSK) population was used to compare the basic demographic data and urologic characteristics between the women who participated in the Cohort and rest of the women in HUSK. For demographic data, 2230 women in the Cohort were compared with 7746 women in HUSK, who were not selected for the Cohort. For urologic characteristics, we used a HUSK subquestionnaire with 5320 participants. Of these, 1920 were in the Cohort and we compared their urological characteristics with those of the rest of the women (n=3400). The results demographic data showed a very high similarity for demographic data. The only significant differences were observed for higher education (p=0.001) and higher annual family income (p=0.018) among the women in the Cohort. Analyzing data for urinary conditions showed few statistical differences between women in the Cohort and the rest of the women; they had somewhat more UI (p=0.040), more stress UI (p=0.048) and less amount of leakage (p=0.015) in the Cohort participants. Prevalence rate of any UI was 28.9% in the Cohort and 24.8% in the rest of women in HUSK. This paper also described the research methodology in details with intention of using it as reference for any further data analysis from the Cohort. The second sub-study (Paper II) explored the prevalence, incidence and remission of UI. In this paper the possibility of an early prevalence peak in middle-aged women was investigated. We first used all data from the Cohort, which was gathered during ten years in six waves, to analyze the prevalence curve of UI. Furthermore, for more detailed analyses of prevalence, incidence and remission, data from the women who answered all six questionnaires were used. We sorted data in terms of age with eight groups in the age span of 41-55 years. Definition of UI was based on the results from the Incontinence Severity Index (ISI) and women with an ISI of more than 0 were defined as having incontinence. Women with an ISI equal to 3 or more, who reported their UI to be bothersome, were defined as having significant UI. According to our data, the prevalence of any UI in women aged 41-42 year was about 37% and increased gradually up to 50% in the age of 51-52 years, after which it started to decrease gradually. The changing patterns for incidence and remission were the same until age 51-52, but then the incidence started to decrease while the remission was increasing, which could have caused the peak in the prevalence of UI. Stress UI was the major type and most cases of UI were of low severity. Over the observation period, while the proportion of mixed UI increased by age, the proportion of stress UI remained relatively stable and the proportion of urgency UI slightly varied between aged groups. Regarding type shift, proportion of moderate UI remained relatively stable, while slight UI decreased and severe/very severe UI increased by age. The main aim of the third sub-study (Paper III) was to investigate the natural history of UI with focus on finding the new-onset UI and its changes in types and severity. First we defined continent women in the baseline by using the same definition of UI as in Paper II. We followed them wave by wave during 10 years and 5 checkpoints. Almost half of them reported to have UI, at least once during 10 years. The types of new-onset UI by type were distributed as: 49.8% stress, 18.3% urgency and 20.3% mixed UI. By severity, 89.3% of women started with slight UI, none of them reported severe UI in the first report. In follow up of women for 2 waves after the new-onset UI, one-third of them had persistent UI, the type and severity was mainly stress UI with slight severity, with a low tendency for shifting the type or severity. We also suggest out that mixed UI is not necessarily the final stage of UI

Profesjonsrettet lærerutdanning for yrkesfag - dagens undervisning og opplevelse av relevans

One of the key issues in preventing high school drop-outs is “relevance in education”. The lack of coherence between theory and practice, could lead to increasing drop-outs in both vocational and professional programs, such as teacher-training. This study aimed to investigate the relevance between the perceived content of the curriculum and teaching methods in today’s vocational teacher training programs. A quantitative survey was conducted at the vocational teacher study program, Oslo and Akershus University College in Norway. The results show that the relevance between contents and teaching methods might be perceived, when theory is based on vocational task, and when theory and practice, are related. Likewise, when there are variations in the use of teaching methods appropriate to students' learning assumptions. Therefore, the focus on relevance in training and contents might help the future teachers to reduce the level of dropouts in high schools.En av de viktigste utfordringene i å forebygge høyt drop-out i skolen er "relevans i utdanningen". Mangelen på sammenheng mellom teori og praksis, kan føre til økende frafall i både yrkesfag- og profesjonsutdanninger, som eksempel lærerutdanning.Denne studien hadde som mål å undersøke opplevd relevans av innhold og undervisningsmetoder i dagens yrkesfaglærerutdanning.En kvantitativ undersøkelse ble gjennomført ved yrkesfaglærerutdanningen, Høgskolen i Oslo og Akershus i Norge.Resultatene viser at relevans av innhold og undervisningsmetoder kan oppleves, når teorien er basert på yrkesoppgaven og det er nær sammenheng mellom teori og praksis. Likedan når det er variasjoner i bruk av undervisningsmetoder tilpasset studenters læreforutsetninger. Dermed kan fokus på relevant innhold og undervisning hjelpe fremtidige lærere til å redusere nivået av frafall i videregående skoler

Profesjonsrettet lærerutdanning for yrkesfag - dagens undervisning og opplevelse av relevans

En av de viktigste utfordringene i å forebygge høyt drop-out i skolen er "relevans i utdanningen". Mangelen på sammenheng mellom teori og praksis, kan føre til økende frafall i både yrkesfag- og profesjonsutdanninger, som eksempel lærerutdanning. Denne studien hadde som mål å undersøke opplevd relevans av innhold og undervisningsmetoder i dagens yrkesfaglærerutdanning. En kvantitativ undersøkelse ble gjennomført ved yrkesfaglærerutdanningen, Høgskolen i Oslo og Akershus i Norge. Resultatene viser at relevans av innhold og undervisningsmetoder kan oppleves, når teorien er basert på yrkesoppgaven og det er nær sammenheng mellom teori og praksis. Likedan når det er variasjoner i bruk av undervisningsmetoder tilpasset studenters læreforutsetninger. Dermed kan fokus på relevant innhold og undervisning hjelpe fremtidige lærere til å redusere nivået av frafall i videregående skoler

Yrkesutøvelse i restaurant- og matfagene: arbeidsoppgaver, prioriteringer og forskjeller. Første delrapport.

Dette er første delrapport i en undersøkelse der hensikten er å kartlegge yrkesutøvelse, bruk av grunnleggende ferdigheter, ønskede personlige egenskaper og tilknytning til yrke og arbeidsplass blant yrkesutøvere i et utvalg av restaurant- og matfagbransjer. Innholdet i denne delrapporten er en presentasjon av aktuelt tallmateriale og vil tjene som grunnlag for yrkesfaglærerstudentenes bacheloroppgaver og senere artikkelskriving

Yrkesutøvelse i restaurant- og matfag: -Arbeidsoppgaver, prioriteringer og forskjeller. Første delrapport.

Yrkesutøvelse i restaurant- og matfagene. -Arbeidsoppgaver, prioriteringer og forskjeller. Første delrapport. Utgivelsesdata Tittel: Yrkesutøvelse i restaurant- og matfagene Forfatter(e): Halvor Spetalen, Bjørn Eben, David Jahanlu Issn: 1892-9648 Serie: HiOA rapport Nr: 2016 nr 3 Utgiver: HiOA Avdeling/fakultet: LUI/Kjeller Sider: 43 Pris: 295,– ISBN-print: 978-82-8364-002-1 ISBN-pdf: 978-82-8364-003-

Body size perceptions and preferences favor overweight in adult Saharawi refugees

Abstract Background Culture affects body image and body size perceptions from an early age and in many African countries, overweight has been associated with richness, health, strength, and fertility. The present study investigated body size perceptions and preferences in an African refugee population. Methods The cross-sectional study was comprised of 180 and 175 randomly selected Saharawi women and men, respectively, between 18 and 80 years. Stunkard’s body figure scale was used to identify self-perceived body size, desired body size and desired body size in the opposite gender. Results Approximately half of the participants had a correct self-perceived body size; among them 70% did not have a desire to have a smaller body size. Among women who preferred a body size corresponding to overweight in men, 77% also had a desired body size corresponding to overweight; compared to 43% for men. The youngest participants (18–25 years) were the least likely to overestimate their body size in comparison to the older participants (26–45 years and 46–80 years). Conclusion We found an overall preference for an overweight body size, and a significant difference in body size perception associated with age

Self-rated health in adolescence as a predictor of 'multi-illness' in early adulthood: A prospective registry-based Norwegian HUNT study.

Self-rated health (SRH) is a marker of future health and a possible predictor of future multimorbidity, which is a major challenge for population health and health care. There is a lack of studies on adolescent SRH and patterns of health problems across the transitional period from adolescence to early adulthood. Therefore, this study aimed to identify groups of people with similar health problems in early adulthood and explore the predictive value of adolescent SRH on the group classification after a period of 10–19 years. Data from 8828 adolescents participating in the Young HUNT-1 survey (1995–1997) were linked to the Norwegian registry of general practitioner (GP) claims, which includes diagnoses recorded in GP consultations in 2006–2014. We used latent class analysis (LCA) to identify groups of patients with similar health problems in early adulthood and explored SRH as a predictor of class membership using latent class regression, adjusting for baseline chronic disease, frequency of health care attendance, sex and age. The mean age at baseline was 16 years, and 50% of the participants were female. SRH was reported as very good by 28%, good by 61% and not good by 11%. We identified five groups of patient classification (classes): Healthy (35%), Infections and general problems (26%), Musculoskeletal problems (21%), Psychological problems (6%) and Multi-illness (13%). We found a gradual increase in the probability of belonging to the Healthy class with better SRH, and an inverse pattern for the Psychological and Multi-illness classes. This pattern remained after adjusting for baseline variables. In conclusion, there is a clear association between adolescent SRH and the risk of having multi-illness in early adulthood, seen as a proxy for later multimorbidity. This finding warrants greater attention to SRH in adolescence as a possible indicator in targeted prevention of future health problems

Self-rated health in adolescence as a predictor of 'multi-illness' in early adulthood: A prospective registry-based Norwegian HUNT study.

Self-rated health (SRH) is a marker of future health and a possible predictor of future multimorbidity, which is a major challenge for population health and health care. There is a lack of studies on adolescent SRH and patterns of health problems across the transitional period from adolescence to early adulthood. Therefore, this study aimed to identify groups of people with similar health problems in early adulthood and explore the predictive value of adolescent SRH on the group classification after a period of 10–19 years. Data from 8828 adolescents participating in the Young HUNT-1 survey (1995–1997) were linked to the Norwegian registry of general practitioner (GP) claims, which includes diagnoses recorded in GP consultations in 2006–2014. We used latent class analysis (LCA) to identify groups of patients with similar health problems in early adulthood and explored SRH as a predictor of class membership using latent class regression, adjusting for baseline chronic disease, frequency of health care attendance, sex and age. The mean age at baseline was 16 years, and 50% of the participants were female. SRH was reported as very good by 28%, good by 61% and not good by 11%. We identified five groups of patient classification (classes): Healthy (35%), Infections and general problems (26%), Musculoskeletal problems (21%), Psychological problems (6%) and Multi-illness (13%). We found a gradual increase in the probability of belonging to the Healthy class with better SRH, and an inverse pattern for the Psychological and Multi-illness classes. This pattern remained after adjusting for baseline variables. In conclusion, there is a clear association between adolescent SRH and the risk of having multi-illness in early adulthood, seen as a proxy for later multimorbidity. This finding warrants greater attention to SRH in adolescence as a possible indicator in targeted prevention of future health problems