<p><i>Topic</i>: To estimate the prevalence of nonrefractive visual impairment and blindness in European persons 55 years of age and older.</p> <p><i>Clinical Relevance</i>: Few visual impairment and blindness prevalence estimates are available for the European population. In addition, many of the data collected in European population-based studies currently are unpublished and have not been ...

It is not known whether increased breast cancer risk caused by menopausal hormone therapy (HT) depends on body mass patterns through life. In a prospective study of 483,241 Norwegian women aged 50–69 years at baseline, 7656 women developed breast cancer during follow-up (2006–2013). We combined baseline information on recalled body mass in childhood/adolescence and current (baseline) body mass index ...

Efforts to understand the pathophysiology of bone fragility must focus on bone traits during growth. We hypothesized that variance in individual trait ranking in the population distribution is established by genetic factors and is reflected in foetal trait ranking in early pregnancy, but intrauterine factors modify trait ranking in late pregnancy, followed by the reinstating of this ranking during ...

<p><i>Background</i>: Changes in Norwegian law and health policy require all health professionals to help safeguard the provision of information and follow-up for the children of parents with mental or physical illness, or substance abuse problems, to decrease their risk of psychosocial problems. There is a lack of knowledge on how the national changes have been received by hospital-based health ...

<p><i>Background</i>: The prevalence of major depression (MD) according to population studies is the same for old (65 years and older) and younger adults. In contrast, an elevated proportion of old MD patients are hospitalized compared to younger adults with MD, indicating a need to expand the characteristics of old inpatients with MD. To illustrate this point, the association between inflammation ...

<p><i>Background and Objectives</i>: In a previous pilot study, we demonstrated significantly lower haemoglobin (Hb) increment after red‐blood‐cell (RBC) transfusions in febrile patients compared to patients without fever. The aim of this study was to examine associations between inflammatory mediators and post‐transfusion haemoglobin increment in patients with haematological diseases.</p> <p>< ...

Optimal pre-analytical handling is essential for valid measurements of plasma concentration and size distribution of extracellular vesicles (EVs). We investigated the impact of plasma preparation, various anticoagulants (Citrate, EDTA, CTAD, Heparin), and fasting status on concentration and size distribution of EVs measured by Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA). Blood was drawn from 10 healthy ...

<p><i>Introduction</i>: Markers of oxidative stress increase with age and are prevalent with chronic kidney disease. However, the role of oxidative stress markers as predictors for kidney function decline in the general population is unclear.</p> <p><i>Methods</i>: We investigated whether a baseline urinary excretion of oxidative DNA damage (8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine [8-oxodG]) and ...

The implementation of novel cancer immunotherapies in the form of immune checkpoint blockers represents a major advancement in the treatment of cancer, and has renewed enthusiasm for identifying new ways to induce antitumor immune responses in patients. Despite the proven efficacy of neutralizing antibodies that target immune checkpoints in some refractory cancers, many patients do not experience ...

<i>Objective</i>: Caesarean section (CS) rates vary significantly worldwide. ,e World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended a maximum CS rate of 15%. Norwegian hospitals are paid per CS (activity-based funding), employing the diagnosis-related group (DRG) system. We aimed to document how financial incentives can be affected by reduced CS rates, according to the WHO’s recommendation. <p> <p> ...