Glucose status and depressive symptoms:a cohort study of elderly people in northwest Finland

Abstract Objective: To assess the association between depressive symptoms and impaired glucose metabolism in the elderly population in arctic latitudes. Design: A population-based study. Setting. Community. Subjects: The study population consisted of 1,830 subjects born between the years 1915 and 1958 in the northernmost part of Finland, the Muonio-Enontekiö district, who participated in a health survey during 1974–1984. In 2014, a health questionnaire was sent to 1,037 subjects, and 757 participants (73%) answered it. Those (n = 629) living in the Muonio-Enontekiö district undergone a clinical examination in 2014 and 2015 including blood collections. Main outcome measures:Depressive symptoms defined by the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI II) with a cut-off point of 14. Different diabetic states based on WHO’s classification criteria defined by fasting plasma glucose and ADA’s criteria by glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) values. Results: According to logistic regression analysis, depressive symptoms (BDI-II ≥ 14) were associated statistically significantly with previously known type 2 diabetes, the odds ratio (OR) being 4.33 (95% CI 1.53–14.14). Regarding prediabetic fasting glucose/HbA1c values, the corresponding OR was 2.94 (95% CI 1.17–8.94). The prevalence of depressive symptoms (BDI-II ≥ 14) was 7.1%, (men 9.7% and women 5.4%) and 13.7% (men 9.9% and women 17.0%) in subjects living in Muonio-Enontekiö district and in those who had moved away from there, respectively. Conclusions: The association of depressive symptoms between prediabetes and diabetes seems to be present also in the northernmost latitudes of the world

Factors predicting 31-year survival among a population cohort in Northern Finland

Abstract We evaluated the survival of a subarctic population and the significance of traditional risk factors for mortality, causes of death and their seasonal variation from the period of 1984–2014. By the end of 2014 (follow-up), 644 (34.4% from 1,869) participants had died (42.1% of cardiovascular causes, 22.4% of neoplastic diseases). The average age at death±SD was 74.6±11.4 years for women (n=284) and 70.2±12.0 years for men (n=360). After adjusting for baseline age, the major risk factors predicting death were male sex (hazard ratio [HR] 1.80; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.54–2.10), current smoking (HR 1.85; 95% CI 1.58–2.17), obesity (HR 1.75; 95% CI 1.45–2.12), high blood pressure (HR 1.46; 95% CI 1.24–1.72), cardiovascular disease (HR 1.62; 95% CI 1.36–1.93) and depression (HR 1.61; 95% CI 1.21–2.14) at baseline. The most common causes of death and the main risk factors predicting death in this population were the same as reported globally. Lifestyle factors had an important impact in predicting survival. The most common causes of death were the same for men and women. There was no significant difference in overall mortality rate between winter and summer, but cerebrovascular and pulmonary causes of death were more common during winter

Intensified treatment of acute childhood lymphoblastic leukaemia has improved prognosis, especially in non-high-risk patients: the Nordic experience of 2648 patients diagnosed between 1981 and 1996. Nordic Society of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology (NOPHO)

To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links fieldIn a multinational, population-based study from the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden), 2648 children below 15 y of age were diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in the years 1981-1996. The annual incidence was 3.9/100000 children and was stable throughout the study period. The development from regional or national protocols to common Nordic treatment protocols for all risk groups was completed in 1992 through a successive intensification of therapy, based on multidrug chemotherapy including pulses of methotrexate in high doses and avoidance of cranial irradiation in most children. For children with non-B-cell ALL (n=2602), the event-free survival (p-EFS) increased from 0.53+/-0.02 (diagnosed 7/81-6/86) to 0.67+/-0.02 (7/86-12/91) to 0.78+/-0.02 (1/92-12/96). The corresponding p-EFS values at 5 y were 0.57, 0.70 and 0.78, respectively. The main improvements were seen in the group of children with non-high risk leukaemia, with 5-y p-EFS values increasing from 0.60 to 0.76 and 0.85 for the three periods. In high-risk patients, progress has been moderate, especially in children with high white blood cell values at diagnosis. During the last 5-y period, only 10% of the patients received cranial irradiation in first remission while 90% of the patients received high doses of cytostatic infusions (methotrexate isolated or combined with cytarabinoside) and multiple intrathecal injections of methotrexate as CNS-adjusted treatment without any indication of an increased CNS relapse rate