Lung function in adults and future burden of obstructive lung diseases in a long-term follow-up.

Spirometry is recommended in symptomatic smokers to identify obstructive lung diseases. However, it is unknown whether there are certain characteristics that can be used to identify the individual risk of developing obstructive lung diseases. The aim of this study was to examine the association between lung function in adults and burden of lung diseases throughout 27 years of follow-up. We performed a cohort study among individuals aged 30-49 years at baseline (1991). Spirometry measurements were divided into three groups: (1) FEV1/FVC < 70, (2) FEV1/FVC: 70-75, (3) FEV1/FVC > 75 (reference). Using negative binominal regression, the burden of lung diseases was measured by contacts to general practice, hospitalisations, redeemed respiratory medicine and socioeconomic parameters between 1991 and 2017. A total of 905 citizens were included; mean age of 40.3 years, 47.5% were males and 51.2% were smokers at baseline. The group with an FEV1/FVC: 70-75 received more respiratory medicine (IRR = 3.37 (95% CI: 2.69-4.23)), had lower income (IRR = 0.96 (95% CI: 0.93-0.98)), and had more contacts to general practice (IRR = 1.14 (95% CI: 1.07-1.21)) and hospitals for lung diseases (IRR = 2.39 (95% CI: 1.96-5.85)) compared to the reference group. We found an association between lung function and the future burden of lung diseases throughout 27 years of follow-up. In particular, adults with an FEV1/FVC: 70-75 need extra attention in the case finding.

Looking beyond the mean in grief trajectories: A prospective, population-based cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Most individuals adjust to the loss of a close person, but some experience adverse grief that challenges everyday life. No previous study has examined the development of grief symptoms in trajectories over time. We aimed to investigate trajectories of grief symptoms in bereaved partners and non-partners of severely ill patients starting before death until three years after death of the patient. METHOD: We conducted a prospective population-based cohort study including 1138 partners and 597 non-partners of terminally ill patients. Participants completed the Prolonged Grief-13 scale pre-loss, six months post-loss, and three years post-loss. On this basis, we developed semi-parametric group-based trajectory models. Multinomial logistic regression models estimated, odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) between selected characteristics: age, gender, educational level, the patient's survival time, and types of grief trajectories. RESULTS: We identified five specific grief trajectories for partners and four for non-partners. Low grief was identified in 34% of partners and 45% of non-partners, moderate/decreasing grief in 30% of partners and 31% of non-partners, high/decreasing grief in 20% of partners and 16% of non-partners, and high grief in 7% of partners and 8% of non-partners. In addition, a late grief trajectory was identified in 10% of partners. Low education compared to high education was associated with adverse grief trajectories (OR = 0.19 (95% CI = 0.80, 0.43) for partners following a high grief trajectory). CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to systematically describe specific trajectories of grief based on grief symptoms. The majority had a low or decreasing grief trajectory, whereas minor groups of partners and non-partners had a high grief trajectory, and a group of partners had a late grief trajectory. A consistent vulnerability factor was low education. Bereaved individuals may benefit from information on possible patterns of grief development, including adverse grief trajectories.

Differences in diagnostic activity in general practice and findings for individuals invited to the danish screening programme for colorectal cancer: a population-based cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the diagnostic activity in general practice and the cumulative incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) in individuals invited to the Danish national screening programme for CRC. DESIGN: A historical population-based cohort study. SETTING: The Danish CRC screening programme and general practice. SUBJECTS: The 376,198 individuals invited to the Danish CRC screening programme from 1 March to 31 December 2014. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The diagnostic activity (consultations and haemoglobin measures) in general practice in the year preceding the screening invitation and the cumulated incidence of CRC in the year following the screening invitation. RESULTS: Screening participants had significantly higher diagnostic activity than non-participants. Individuals with a positive faecal immunochemical test (FIT) had higher diagnostic activity compared to individuals with a negative FIT, and a small increase in the months leading up to the invitation. Individuals with a screen-detected CRC had lower diagnostic activity than individuals with no CRC. In total, 308 (25.3%) of CRCs diagnosed in the invited population were diagnosed outside the screening programme. Non-participants with CRC more often had low socio-economic status, high comorbidity and stage IV CRC than participants with CRC. CONCLUSIONS: There was a tendency that participants and those with a positive FIT had a higher diagnostic activity the year before the screening. This was not seen for those with CRC detected through screening. CRC must still be diagnosed in general practice in the invited population and non-participants are of special interest as they have higher risk of late stage CRC. Key Points Current awareness:Individuals with colorectal cancer (CRC) in screening may be symptomatic and CRC may still occur outside screening in the invited population. Most important points:The majority of individuals with CRC in screening cannot be expected to be diagnosed on symptomatic presentation in general practice GPs have to be aware that CRC still occurs outside screening in the invited population Non-participants with CRC are often deprived and have late stage CRC.

Data quality and factor analysis of the Danish version of the Relationship Scale Questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: The Relationship Scale Questionnaire (RSQ) is a widely-used measure of adult attachment, but whether the results obtained by the RSQ fit the attachment construct has only been examined to a limited extent. OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study were to investigate the psychometric properties of the Danish translation of the RSQ and to test whether the results are consistent with the hypothesized model of attachment. METHODS: The study included two samples: 602 general practitioners and 611 cancer patients. The two samples were analyzed separately. Data quality was assessed by mean, median and missing values for each item, floor and ceiling effects, average inter-item correlations and Cronbach's α for each subscale. Test-retest was assessed by intra-class correlations among 76 general practitioners. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to establish evidence of the four proposed subscales. Due to an inadequate fit of the model, data was randomly split into two equally sized subsamples and an exploratory factor analysis was conducted for all 30 items in the first subsample comprised of 286 cancer patients and 285 general practitioners. The EFA yielded a three-factor structure which was validated through a confirmatory factor analyses in a second subsample comprised of 278 cancer patients and 289 general practitioners. RESULTS: The data quality of the RSQ was generally good, except low internal consistency and low to moderate test-retest reliability. The four subscales of the RSQ were not confirmed by the confirmatory factor analysis. An exploratory factor analysis suggested a three-factor solution for both general practitioners and patients, which accounted for 61.1% of the variance among general practitioners and 62.5% among patients. The new three-factor solution was verified in a confirmatory factor analyses. CONCLUSION: The proposed four-factor model of the RSQ could not be confirmed in this study. Similar challenges have been found by other studies validating the RSQ. An alternative three-factor structure was found for the RSQ.

Measurement properties of the Danish version of the Awareness and Beliefs about Cancer (ABC) measure.

BACKGROUND: The International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership aims to study international differences in cancer survival and the possible causes. Participating countries are Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the UK and a particular focus area is differences in awareness and beliefs about cancer. In this connection, the Awareness and Beliefs about Cancer (ABC) measure has been translated into multiple languages. The aim of this study is to appraise the translation process and measurement properties of the Danish version of the ABC measure. METHODS: The translation process included forward and backward translations and a pilot-test. Data quality was assessed using survey data from 3000 Danish respondents and content validity indexes were calculated based on judgments from ten academic researchers. Construct validity was determined by a confirmative factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analyses (EFA) using survey data and a known group comparison analysis including 56 persons. Test-retest reliability was assessed based on responses from 123 person whom completed the interview twice with an interval of 2-3 weeks. RESULTS: The translation process resulted in a Danish ABC measure conceptually equivalent to the English ABC measure. Data quality was acceptable in relation to non-response to individual items which was maximum 0.3%, but the percentage of respondents answering 'don't know' was above 3% for 16 out of 48 items. Content validity indexes showed that items adequately reflected and represented the constructs to be measured (item content validity indexes: 0.9-1.0; construct content validity indexes: 0.8-1.0). The hypothesised factor structure could not be replicated by a CFA, but EFA on each individual subscale showed that six out of seven subscales were unidimensional. The ABC measure discriminated well between non-medical academics and medical academics, but had some difficulties in discriminating between educational groups. Test-retest reliability was moderate to substantial for most items. CONCLUSIONS: The Danish ABC measure is a useful measurement that is accepted and understood by the target group and with accepted measurement criteria for content validity and test-retest reliability. Future studies may further explore the factorial structure of the ABC measure and should focus on improving the response categories.

All-cause mortality and pharmacological treatment intensity following a high risk screening program for diabetes. A 6.6 year follow-up of the ADDITION study, Denmark.

AIM: To study all-cause mortality and pharmacological treatment intensity in relation to baseline glucose metabolism and HbA1c following high risk screening for diabetes in primary care. METHODS: Persons aged 40-69 years (N=163,185) received mailed diabetes risk questionnaires. 20,916 persons without diabetes but with high risk of diabetes were stratified by glucose metabolism (normal glucose tolerance (NGT), dysglycemia (IFG or IGT) or diabetes) and by HbA1c at screening (<6%, 6.0-6.4% or ≥ 6.5%). Median follow-up was 6.6 years. Excess mortality was calculated by hazard ratio. RESULTS: HR for all-cause mortality increased with increasing levels of HbA1c at screening in people with NGT and dysglycemia. In people with screen detected diabetes the opposite relation was found. In people with diabetes redeemed prescription rates for lipid-, blood pressure- and glucose-lowering drugs increased significantly following screening and prescription rates increased with increasing levels of HbA1c at screening. The same trend in redeemed prescriptions was seen for people with dysglycemia and NGT, but the absolute rates were significantly lower than those among people with screen detected diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms HbA1c as an independent predictor of all-cause mortality in non-diabetic individuals. A likely explanation for the inverse relation found between all-cause mortality and HbA1c at screening among those with screen detected diabetes would be that intensive treatment near-normalizes mortality. The small group of people with NGT and HbA1c ≥ 6.5%, who had the highest all-cause mortality, may benefit from being labelled and treated as having diabetes although this group may have special characteristics not accounted for in this study.