The Danish Nationwide Electrocardiogram (ECG) Cohort

The electrocardiogram (ECG) is a non-invasive diagnostic tool holding significant clinical importance in the diagnosis and risk stratification of cardiac disease. However, access to large-scale, population-based digital ECG data for research purposes remains limited and challenging. Consequently, we established the Danish Nationwide ECG Cohort to provide data from standard 12-lead digital ECGs in both pre- and in-hospital settings, which can be linked to comprehensive Danish nationwide administrative registers on health and social data with long-term follow-up. The Danish Nationwide ECG Cohort is an open real-world cohort including all patients with at least one digital pre- or in-hospital ECG in Denmark from January 01, 2000, to December 31, 2021. The cohort includes data on standardized and uniform ECG diagnostic statements and ECG measurements including global parameters as well as lead-specific measures of waveform amplitudes, durations, and intervals. Currently, the cohort comprises 2,485,987 unique patients with a median age at the first ECG of 57 years (25th-75th percentiles, 40-71 years; males, 48%), resulting in a total of 11,952,430 ECGs. In conclusion, the Danish Nationwide ECG Cohort represents a novel and extensive population-based digital ECG dataset for cardiovascular research, encompassing both pre- and in-hospital settings. The cohort contains ECG diagnostic statements and ECG measurements that can be linked to various nationwide health and social registers without loss to follow-up.</p

Overweight in childhood and consumer purchases in a Danish cohort

BACKGROUND: Prevention and management of childhood overweight involves the entire family. We aimed to investigate purchase patterns in households with at least one member with overweight in childhood by describing expenditure on different food groups.METHODS: This Danish register-based cohort study included households where at least one member donated receipts concerning consumers purchases in 2019-2021 and at least one member had their Body mass index (BMI) measured in childhood within ten years prior to first purchase. A probability index model was used to evaluate differences in proportion expenditure spent on specific food groups.RESULTS: We identified 737 households that included a member who had a BMI measurement in childhood, 220 with overweight and 517 with underweight or normal weight (reference households). Adjusting for education, income, family type, and urbanization, households with a member who had a BMI classified as overweight in childhood had statistically significant higher probability of spending a larger proportion of expenditure on ready meals 56.29% (95% CI: 51.70;60.78) and sugary drinks 55.98% (95% CI: 51.63;60.23). Conversely, they had a statistically significant lower probability of spending a larger proportion expenditure on vegetables 38.44% (95% CI: 34.09;42.99), compared to the reference households.CONCLUSION: Households with a member with BMI classified as overweight in childhood spent more on unhealthy foods and less on vegetables, compared to the reference households. This study highlights the need for household/family-oriented nutrition education and intervention.</p

The Danish National Child Health Register

Aim of the Database: The aim of the National Child Health Registry is to provide comprehensive insight into children’s health and growth on a national scale by continuously monitoring the health status of Danish children. Through this effort, the registry assists the health authorities in prioritizing preventive efforts to promote better child health outcomes.Study Population: The registry includes all Danish children, however, incomplete coverage persists.Main Variables: The National Child Health Registry contains information on exposure to secondhand smoking, breastfeeding duration, and anthropometric measurements through childhood. The information in the registry is divided into three datasets: Smoking, Breastfeeding, and Measurements. Beside specific information on the three topics, all datasets include information on CPR-number, date of birth, sex, municipality, and region of residence.Database Status: The National Child Health Registry was established in 2009 and contains health information on children from all Danish municipalities, collected through routinely performed health examinations conducted by general practitioners and health nurses.Conclusion: The National Child Health Register is an asset to epidemiological and health research with nationwide information on children’s health and growth in Denmark. Due to the unique Danish Civil Registration System, it is possible to link data from the National Child Health Register to information from several other national health and social registers which enables longitudinal unambiguous follow-up

Long-Term Quality of Life After Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

Importance: Allocating resources to increase survival after cardiac arrest requires survivors to have a good quality of life, but long-term data are lacking. Objective: To determine the quality of life of survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest from 2001 to 2019. Design, Setting, and Participants: This survey study used the EuroQol Health Questionnaire, 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to assess the health-related quality of life of all adult survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest included in the Danish Cardiac Arrest Registry between June 1, 2001, and August 31, 2019, who were alive in October 2020 (follow-up periods, 0-1, &gt;1-2, &gt;2-4, &gt;4-6, &gt;6-8, &gt;8-10, &gt;10-15, and &gt;15-20 years since arrest). The survey was conducted from October 1, 2020, through May 31, 2021. Exposure: All patients who experienced an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Main Outcome and Measures: Self-reported health was measured using the EuroQol Health Questionnaire index (EQ index) score and EQ visual analog scale. Physical and mental health were measured using the SF-12, and anxiety and depression were measured using the HADS. Descriptive statistics were used for the analysis. Results: Of 4545 survivors, 2552 (56.1%) completed the survey, with a median follow-up since their event of 5.5 years (IQR, 2.9-8.9 years). Age was comparable between responders and nonresponders (median [IQR], 67 [58-74] years vs 68 [56-78] years), and 2075 responders (81.3%) were men and 477 (18.7%) women (vs 1473 male [73.9%] and 520 female [26.1%] nonresponders). For the shortest follow-up (0-1 year) and longest follow-up (&gt;15-20 years) groups, the median EQ index score was 0.9 (IQR, 0.7-1.0) and 0.9 (0.8-1.0), respectively. For all responders, the mean (SD) SF-12 physical health score was 43.3 (12.3) and SF-12 mental health score, 52.9 (8.3). All 3 scores were comparable to a general Danish reference population. Based on HADS scores, a low risk for anxiety was reported by 73.0% (54 of 74) of 0- to 1-year survivors vs 89.3% (100 of 112) of greater than 15- to 20-year survivors; for symptoms of depression, these proportions were 79.7% (n = 59) and 87.5% (n = 98), respectively. Health-related quality of life was similar in survivor groups across all follow-up periods. Conclusions and Relevance: Among this survey study's responders, who comprised more than 50% of survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Denmark, long-term health-related quality of life up to 20 years after their event was consistently high and comparable to that of the general population. These findings support resource allocation and efforts targeted to increasing survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.</p