Alcohol screening in North Denmark Region hospitals:Frequency of screening and experiences of health professionals

Background: Alcohol consumption is a risk factor for disease, disability and death. Approximately 20% of all hospital admissions are alcohol related. In Denmark, hospitalised patients undergo systematic health risk screenings to establish preventive initiatives if the screening detects a risk. The frequency and usability of alcohol screening and health professionals’ experiences of the screening is unknown. Aim: To examine the frequency and usability of alcohol screening at North Denmark Region hospitals, as well as health professionals’ experiences of screening for alcohol. Methods: This study consisted of an initial audit of 120 patient records from medical and surgical units at four hospitals assessing information on alcohol screening. This was followed by six focus-group interviews with health professionals ( n = 20) regarding their experiences of conducting alcohol screening. Results: Among overall health screenings, screening for alcohol and tobacco smoking was performed most frequently (81.8% and 85%). Alcohol screening scored the lowest percentage for usability (67.7%). Hospital-based alcohol screening was perceived ambiguously leading to a schism between standardised alcohol screening and the individual needs of the patient. Health professionals described different patient types, each with their perceived needs, and screening was associated with taboo and reluctance to engage in alcohol screening of some patient groups. Conclusion: This study revealed factors that influence health professionals working with hospital-based alcohol screening. The variation in and complexity of alcohol screening suggests that screening practice is an ambiguous task that needs continuous reflection and development to ensure that health professionals are prepared for the task. </jats:sec

Participation in cancer rehabilitation and unmet needs: a population-based cohort study

PURPOSE: To investigate associations between cancer survivors’ sex, age, and diagnosis in relation to their (1) need for rehabilitation, (2) participation in rehabilitation activities, and (3) unmet needs for rehabilitation in a 14-month period following date of diagnosis. METHODS: A population-based cohort study was performed on incident cancer patients diagnosed from 1 October 2007 to 30 September 2008. Fourteen months after diagnosis, participants completed a questionnaire developed to measure the aspects of rehabilitation. Logistic regression analyses were used to explore the association between sex, age, and diagnosis, and the outcome variables for rehabilitation. RESULTS: A total of 3,439 patients participated, yielding an overall response rate of 70%. One third of the cancer patients reported a need for physical rehabilitation and one third for psychological rehabilitation. Half of the patients participated in at least one activity. Unmet needs were most often reported in psychological, sexual, and financial areas. Women expressed more needs, participated more often in rehabilitation activities, and had, to a higher extent, their emotional needs fulfilled. Breast cancer patients participated more often in physical rehabilitation. Elderly who expressed rehabilitation needs more often had them unresolved. CONCLUSIONS: A substantial variation in rehabilitation needs, participation in activities, and unmet needs in relation to sex, age, and cancer type was observed. Cancer care ought to systematically address the wide range of needs in all groups through integration of systematic needs assessment and targeted supply of offers

Update 2016-2018 of the Nationwide Danish Fungaemia Surveillance Study:Epidemiologic Changes in a 15-Year Perspective

As part of a national surveillance programme initiated in 2004, fungal blood isolates from 2016–2018 underwent species identification and EUCAST susceptibility testing. The epidemiology was described and compared to data from previous years. In 2016–2018, 1454 unique isolates were included. The fungaemia rate was 8.13/100,000 inhabitants compared to 8.64, 9.03, and 8.38 in 2004–2007, 2008–2011, and 2012–2015, respectively. Half of the cases (52.8%) involved patients 60–79 years old and the incidence was highest in males ≥70 years old. Candida albicans accounted for 42.1% of all isolates and Candida glabrata for 32.1%. C. albicans was more frequent in males (p = 0.03) and C. glabrata in females (p = 0.03). During the four periods, the proportion of C. albicans decreased (p < 0.001), and C. glabrata increased (p < 0.001). Consequently, fluconazole susceptibility gradually decreased from 68.5% to 59.0% (p < 0.001). Acquired fluconazole resistance was found in 4.6% Candida isolates in 2016–2018. Acquired echinocandin resistance increased during the four periods 0.0%, 0.6%, 1.7% to 1.5% (p < 0.0001). Sixteen echinocandin-resistant isolates from 2016–2018 harboured well-known FKS resistance-mutations and one echinocandin-resistant C. albicans had an FKS mutation outside the hotspot (P1354P/S) of unknown importance. In C. glabrata specifically, echinocandin resistance was detected in 12/460 (2.6%) in 2016–2018 whereas multidrug-class resistance was rare (1/460 isolates (0.2%)). Since the increase in incidence during 2004–2011, the incidence has stabilised. In contrast, the species distribution has changed gradually over the 15 years, with increased C. glabrata at the expense of C. albicans. The consequent decreased fluconazole susceptibility and the emergence of acquired echinocandin resistance complicates the management of fungaemia and calls for antifungal drug development

Genetic risk and a primary role for cell-mediated immune mechanisms in multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis is a common disease of the central nervous system in which the interplay between inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes typically results in intermittent neurological disturbance followed by progressive accumulation of disability. Epidemiological studies have shown that genetic factors are primarily responsible for the substantially increased frequency of the disease seen in the relatives of affected individuals, and systematic attempts to identify linkage in multiplex families have confirmed that variation within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) exerts the greatest individual effect on risk. Modestly powered genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have enabled more than 20 additional risk loci to be identified and have shown that multiple variants exerting modest individual effects have a key role in disease susceptibility. Most of the genetic architecture underlying susceptibility to the disease remains to be defined and is anticipated to require the analysis of sample sizes that are beyond the numbers currently available to individual research groups. In a collaborative GWAS involving 9,772 cases of European descent collected by 23 research groups working in 15 different countries, we have replicated almost all of the previously suggested associations and identified at least a further 29 novel susceptibility loci. Within the MHC we have refined the identity of the HLA-DRB1 risk alleles and confirmed that variation in the HLA-A gene underlies the independent protective effect attributable to the class I region. Immunologically relevant genes are significantly overrepresented among those mapping close to the identified loci and particularly implicate T-helper-cell differentiation in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis