Comorbidities of chronic rhinosinusitis in children and adults.

BACKGROUND: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the nose and paranasal sinuses lasting ≥12 weeks. CRS may exist with (CRSwNP) or without (CRSsNP) nasal polyps. The aim was to evaluate conditions associated with CRS in a randomized hospital cohort. We hypothesized that comorbidities and surgical procedures differ between pediatric and adult patients. METHODS: This study consisted of hospital registry data of a random sample of rhinosinusitis patients (age range 0-89 years) with the diagnosis of J32 or J33, correspondingly, registered during outpatient visits from 2005 to 2019 (n = 1461). The covariates of interest were collected from electronic health records based on ICD-10 codes and keyword searches. RESULTS: Among pediatric patients (n = 104), the relative proportions of CRSsNP and CRSwNP were 86% and 14% respectively. The relative proportions of adult patients (n = 1357) with CRSsNP and CRSwNP were 60% and 40%, respectively. The following comorbidities significantly differed (p < 0.05) between pediatric and adult populations: allergy, chronic otitis media, and tonsillar diseases. In total, 41 % of the children and 46% of the adults underwent baseline endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS). Additional surgeries of the ear, nose and pharynx were significantly more common among children compared with adults. Risk of revision after baseline ESS was associated (p < 0.05) with allergy, asthma, eosinophilia, CRSwNP, immunodeficiency or its suspicion, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug exacerbated respiratory disease, and number of any diseases ≥2. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that comorbidities differ between pediatric and adult rhinosinusitis patients, as allergy, asthma and allergy, chronic otitis media, mental health disorders, and tonsils disease were significantly more prevalent among pediatric patients. Children and adults were equally treated with ESS. Notably, children underwent additional surgery on adenoids and tonsils more frequently. The effectiveness of ESS in multimorbid adults should be assessed at an individual level.

Does the duration of diabetes increase the risk of cancer? A nationwide population-based cohort of patients with new-onset diabetes and a matched reference cohort.

Diabetes mellitus and cancer are both common health issues, but the correlation between these two diseases remains unclear. We investigated the association of cumulative exposure of diabetes mellitus as an indication of hyperglycemia in terms of disease duration on multiple cancer types. We hypothesized that the risk of cancer would increase over time after the onset of diabetes. The study population consisted of a population-based cohort of 398,708 people and it was constructed from the Finnish CARING project. The Diabetes group consisted of 185,258 individuals, and the non-diabetic reference group comprised 187,921 individuals. Over 4.1 million person-years were accumulated, and the median follow-up time was 10.55 years. In the diabetes group, 25,899 cancer cases were observed compared with 23,900 cancers in the non-diabetic group. We did not find a clear relationship between the duration of diabetes mellitus and most cancer types examined. However, for cancers of the pancreas, prostate gland, bronchus, and lungs, a temporal relationship was found. Furthermore, even within the cancer types where the relationship was detected, it did not change over time. These findings indicate that diabetes does not independently increase the risk of cancer. Instead, the development of diabetes may be attributed to shared risk factors with cancer, such as obesity and/or insulin resistance accompanied by hyperinsulinemia. Thus, it is likely that the clock for increased cancer risk starts ticking already before onset of diabetes and hyperglycemia.

Comorbidities associated with adult asthma: a population-based matched cohort study in Finland.

BACKGROUND: Asthma is a common chronic disease characterised by variable respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation, affecting roughly 4%-10% of the adult population. Adult asthma is associated with higher all-cause mortality compared to individuals without asthma. In this study, we investigate the comorbidities that may affect the management of asthma. METHODS: Total of 1648 adults with asthma and 3310 individuals without asthma aged 30-93 were matched with age, gender and area of residency, and followed from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2013. Baseline information was collected with questionnaires 1997 and follow-up register data from the national discharge registry Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. Data included diagnoses from outpatient care and day surgery of specialised health care, and data from inpatient care of specialised and primary health care. We included all main diagnoses that had at minimum 200 events and number of diagnoses based on their common appearance with adult asthma. RESULTS: The mean follow-up time varied between 14.2 and 15.1 years, and age at the time of enrolment was 53.9 years for subjects without asthma and 54.4 years for patients with asthma. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was 10 times more common among asthmatics. Risk of acute rhinosinusitis, chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps, atopic dermatitis and vocal cord dysfunction was fourfold and risk of pneumonia, and chronic rhinosinusitis was 2.5 times more common among asthmatics. Sleep apnoea, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, diabetes, allergic rhinitis and dysfunctional breathing were twofold and cataract nearly twofold higher in the asthmatic group. Adult asthma was also significantly associated with musculoskeletal diseases, incontinence and bronchiectasis. CONCLUSIONS: The most common and most severe comorbidity of adult asthma in this study was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Other common comorbidities of adult asthma include acute rhinosinusitis, chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps, atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, dysfunctional breathing, diabetes, pneumonia, sleep apnoea and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.

Ischemic Stroke Temporally Associated With New-Onset Atrial Fibrillation: A Population-Based Registry-Linkage Study.

BACKGROUND: Limited data exist on the temporal relationship between new-onset atrial fibrillation (AF) and ischemic stroke and its impact on patients' clinical characteristics and mortality. METHODS: A population-based registry-linkage database includes all patients with new-onset AF in Finland from 2007 to 2018. Ischemic stroke temporally associated with AF (ISTAF) was defined as an ischemic stroke occurring within ±30 days from the first AF diagnosis. Clinical factors associated with ISTAF were studied with logistic regression and 90-day survival with Cox proportional hazards analysis. RESULTS: Among 229 565 patients with new-onset AF (mean age, 72.7 years; 50% female), 204 774 (89.2%) experienced no ischemic stroke, 12 209 (5.3%) had past ischemic stroke >30 days before AF, and 12 582 (5.8%) had ISTAF. The annual proportion of ISTAF among patients with AF decreased from 6.0% to 4.8% from 2007 to 2018. Factors associated positively with ISTAF were higher age, lower education level, and alcohol use disorder, whereas vascular disease, heart failure, chronic kidney disease cancer, and psychiatric disorders were less probable with ISTAF. Compared with patients without ischemic stroke and those with past ischemic stroke, ISTAF was associated with ≈3-fold and 1.5-fold risks of death (adjusted hazard ratios, 2.90 [95% CI, 2.76-3.04] and 1.47 [95% CI, 1.39-1.57], respectively). The 90-day survival probability of patients with ISTAF increased from 0.79 (95% CI, 0.76-0.81) in 2007 to 0.89 (95% CI, 0.87-0.91) in 2018. CONCLUSIONS: ISTAF depicts the prominent temporal clustering of ischemic strokes surrounding AF diagnosis. Despite having fewer comorbidities, patients with ISTAF had worse, albeit improving, survival than patients with a history of or no ischemic stroke. REGISTRATION: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT04645537. URL: https://www.encepp.eu; Unique identifier: EUPAS29845.

Risk of thrombosis and bleeding in gynecologic noncancer surgery: systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to provide procedure-specific estimates of the risk for symptomatic venous thromboembolism and major bleeding in noncancer gynecologic surgeries. DATA SOURCES: We conducted comprehensive searches on Embase, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Furthermore, we performed separate searches for randomized trials that addressed the effects of thromboprophylaxis. STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Eligible studies were observational studies that enrolled ≥50 adult patients who underwent noncancer gynecologic surgery procedures and that reported the absolute incidence of at least 1 of the following: symptomatic pulmonary embolism, symptomatic deep vein thrombosis, symptomatic venous thromboembolism, bleeding that required reintervention (including re-exploration and angioembolization), bleeding that led to transfusion, or postoperative hemoglobin level <70 g/L. METHODS: A teams of 2 reviewers independently assessed eligibility, performed data extraction, and evaluated the risk of bias of the eligible articles. We adjusted the reported estimates for thromboprophylaxis and length of follow-up and used the median value from studies to determine the cumulative incidence at 4 weeks postsurgery stratified by patient venous thromboembolism risk factors and used the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach to rate the evidence certainty. RESULTS: We included 131 studies (1,741,519 patients) that reported venous thromboembolism risk estimates for 50 gynecologic noncancer procedures and bleeding requiring reintervention estimates for 35 procedures. The evidence certainty was generally moderate or low for venous thromboembolism and low or very low for bleeding requiring reintervention. The risk for symptomatic venous thromboembolism varied from a median of <0.1% for several procedures (eg, transvaginal oocyte retrieval) to 1.5% for others (eg, minimally invasive sacrocolpopexy with hysterectomy, 1.2%-4.6% across patient venous thromboembolism risk groups). Venous thromboembolism risk was <0.5% for 30 (60%) of the procedures; 0.5% to 1.0% for 10 (20%) procedures; and >1.0% for 10 (20%) procedures. The risk for bleeding the require reintervention varied from <0.1% (transvaginal oocyte retrieval) to 4.0% (open myomectomy). The bleeding requiring reintervention risk was <0.5% in 17 (49%) procedures, 0.5% to 1.0% for 12 (34%) procedures, and >1.0% in 6 (17%) procedures. CONCLUSION: The risk for venous thromboembolism in gynecologic noncancer surgery varied between procedures and patients. Venous thromboembolism risks exceeded the bleeding risks only among selected patients and procedures. Although most of the evidence is of low certainty, the results nevertheless provide a compelling rationale for restricting pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis to a minority of patients who undergo gynecologic noncancer procedures.

Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses of the Procedure-specific Risks of Thrombosis and Bleeding in General Abdominal, Colorectal, Upper Gastrointestinal, and Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To provide procedure-specific estimates of symptomatic venous thromboembolism (VTE) and major bleeding after abdominal surgery. BACKGROUND: The use of pharmacological thromboprophylaxis represents a trade-off that depends on VTE and bleeding risks that vary between procedures; their magnitude remains uncertain. METHODS: We identified observational studies reporting procedure-specific risks of symptomatic VTE or major bleeding after abdominal surgery, adjusted the reported estimates for thromboprophylaxis and length of follow-up, and estimated cumulative incidence at 4 weeks postsurgery, stratified by VTE risk groups, and rated evidence certainty. RESULTS: After eligibility screening, 285 studies (8,048,635 patients) reporting on 40 general abdominal, 36 colorectal, 15 upper gastrointestinal, and 24 hepatopancreatobiliary surgery procedures proved eligible. Evidence certainty proved generally moderate or low for VTE and low or very low for bleeding requiring reintervention. The risk of VTE varied substantially among procedures: in general abdominal surgery from a median of <0.1% in laparoscopic cholecystectomy to a median of 3.7% in open small bowel resection, in colorectal from 0.3% in minimally invasive sigmoid colectomy to 10.0% in emergency open total proctocolectomy, and in upper gastrointestinal/hepatopancreatobiliary from 0.2% in laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy to 6.8% in open distal pancreatectomy for cancer. CONCLUSIONS: VTE thromboprophylaxis provides net benefit through VTE reduction with a small increase in bleeding in some procedures (eg, open colectomy and open pancreaticoduodenectomy), whereas the opposite is true in others (eg, laparoscopic cholecystectomy and elective groin hernia repairs). In many procedures, thromboembolism and bleeding risks are similar, and decisions depend on individual risk prediction and values and preferences regarding VTE and bleeding.

Risk of thrombosis and bleeding in gynecologic cancer surgery: systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to provide procedure-specific estimates of the risk of symptomatic venous thromboembolism and major bleeding in the absence of thromboprophylaxis, following gynecologic cancer surgery. DATA SOURCES: We conducted comprehensive searches on Embase, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Google Scholar for observational studies. We also reviewed reference lists of eligible studies and review articles. We performed separate searches for randomized trials addressing effects of thromboprophylaxis and conducted a web-based survey on thromboprophylaxis practice. STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Observational studies enrolling ≥50 adult patients undergoing gynecologic cancer surgery procedures reporting absolute incidence for at least 1 of the following were included: symptomatic pulmonary embolism, symptomatic deep vein thrombosis, symptomatic venous thromboembolism, bleeding requiring reintervention (including reexploration and angioembolization), bleeding leading to transfusion, or postoperative hemoglobin <70 g/L. METHODS: Two reviewers independently assessed eligibility, performed data extraction, and evaluated risk of bias of eligible articles. We adjusted the reported estimates for thromboprophylaxis and length of follow-up and used the median value from studies to determine cumulative incidence at 4 weeks postsurgery stratified by patient venous thromboembolism risk factors. The GRADE approach was applied to rate evidence certainty. RESULTS: We included 188 studies (398,167 patients) reporting on 37 gynecologic cancer surgery procedures. The evidence certainty was generally low to very low. Median symptomatic venous thromboembolism risk (in the absence of prophylaxis) was <1% in 13 of 37 (35%) procedures, 1% to 2% in 11 of 37 (30%), and >2.0% in 13 of 37 (35%). The risks of venous thromboembolism varied from 0.1% in low venous thromboembolism risk patients undergoing cervical conization to 33.5% in high venous thromboembolism risk patients undergoing pelvic exenteration. Estimates of bleeding requiring reintervention varied from <0.1% to 1.3%. Median risks of bleeding requiring reintervention were <1% in 22 of 29 (76%) and 1% to 2% in 7 of 29 (24%) procedures. CONCLUSION: Venous thromboembolism reduction with thromboprophylaxis likely outweighs the increase in bleeding requiring reintervention in many gynecologic cancer procedures (eg, open surgery for ovarian cancer and pelvic exenteration). In some procedures (eg, laparoscopic total hysterectomy without lymphadenectomy), thromboembolism and bleeding risks are similar, and decisions depend on individual risk prediction and values and preferences regarding venous thromboembolism and bleeding.

Incidence of glaucoma filtration surgery from disease onset of open-angle glaucoma.

AIMS: To investigate the rate and risk factors of undergoing glaucoma filtration surgery (GFS) in patients with newly diagnosed open-angle glaucoma (OAG). METHODS: This is a population-based historic cohort study, consisting of 9420 patients older than 45 years diagnosed with OAG during 1997-2010. Follow-up spanned from 1997 to 2017. We obtained data for trabeculectomy (TRE), deep sclerectomy (DS), and glaucoma drainage implant (GDI) surgeries from national administrative healthcare registers by hospital billing data. We plotted the cumulative incidence of GFS and carried out a multivariate Poisson regression analysis adjusted for age, sex, hospital district, systemic comorbidities, and the number of IOP-lowering drugs. We reported incidence rate ratios (IRR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for GFS after the onset of OAG. RESULTS: The cumulative incidence of GFS at 5 years from OAG onset was 3.1% and at 10 years 5.4%. Age over 80 years at baseline was associated with lower GFS incidence (IRR 0.51, CI 0.31-0.84). The number of IOP-lowering drugs in the first 2 years of treatment correlated with the risk of GFS increasing from (IRR 3.23, CI 2.32-4.50) for two drugs, (IRR 7.44, CI 5.28-10.47) for three and to (IRR 14.95, CI 10.38-21.52) for four drugs. CONCLUSION: This study characterized the treatment path of OAG from diagnosis to surgical intervention refining the role of GFS among glaucoma therapies.

Risk factors of NSAID-exacerbated respiratory disease: A population-based study.

BACKGROUND: Asthma with NSAID-exacerbated respiratory disease (NERD) is associated with uncontrolled or severe asthma. NERD patients are more prone to severe allergic reactions and their asthma exacerbations lead to hospitalisations twice as often compared to patients with non-NERD-asthma. NERD patients are prone to recurrent nasal polyposis requiring frequent endoscopic sinus surgeries. However, the early risk factors of NERD are not fully understood. The aim was to identify risk factors of NERD among patients with adult-onset asthma. METHODS: We used data from 1350 population-based adult asthmatics with adult-onset asthma from Finnish national registers. NERD was defined as self-reported wheeze or other typical respiratory symptoms after ingestion of NSAIDs. Thirty-six covariates covering several domains (personal characteristics, life-style, early life factors, asthma characteristics and multimorbidities) were selected based on literature and were studied in association with NERD using logistic regressions. RESULTS: The study population included 153 (11.3%) asthmatics with NERD. Thirty-six covariates were entered in univariate logistic regression analysis, in which 23 were associated with NERD (p < 0.05). These variables were entered in a multivariable logistic regression model in which allergic respiratory symptoms, female sex, osteoarthritis, difficult asthma, nasal polyps, second-hand smoke exposure at home, having 3 or more older siblings and being overweight were significantly associated with asthma with NERD (p < 0.05). Overweight decreased the risk of NERD, other factors increased it. CONCLUSION: According to our study, risk factors of NERD in part are associated with female sex, BMI, exposure to tobacco smoke, allergy, orthopaedic disorders and infection history, and their early recognition might thus be important to manage the burden of NERD.

Timing of symptomatic venous thromboembolism after surgery: meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The timing at which venous thromboembolism (VTE) occurs after major surgery has major implications for the optimal duration of thromboprophylaxis. The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of the timing of postoperative VTE up to 4 weeks after surgery. METHODS: A systematic search of MEDLINE, Scopus, and CINAHL databases was performed between 1 January 2009 and 1 April 2022. Prospective studies that recruited patients who underwent a surgical procedure and reported at least 20 symptomatic, postoperative VTE events by time were included. Two reviewers independently selected studies according to the eligibility criteria, extracted data, and evaluated risk of bias. Data were analysed with a Poisson regression model, and the GRADE approach was used to rate the certainty of evidence. RESULTS: Some 6258 studies were evaluated, of which 22 (11 general, 5 urological, 4 mixed, and 2 orthopaedic postoperative surgical populations; total 1 864 875 patients and 24 927 VTE events) were eligible. Pooled evidence of moderate certainty showed that 47.1 per cent of the VTE events occurred during the first, 26.9 per cent during the second, 15.8 per cent during the third, and 10.1 per cent during the fourth week after surgery. The timing of VTE was consistent between individual studies. CONCLUSION: Although nearly half of symptomatic VTE events in first 4 weeks occur during the first postoperative week, a substantial number of events occur several weeks after surgery. These data will inform clinicians and guideline developers about the duration of postoperative thromboprophylaxis.

Hundreds of millions of surgical procedures are performed annually worldwide. Blood clots in legs and lungs represent serious, and sometimes fatal, complications of surgery. To prevent these complications, clinicians often give blood thinners to patients. To optimize the starting time and duration of use of blood thinners, it is crucial to know when blood clots occur after surgery. This study summarized the timing of blood clots after surgery based on a systematic review and meta-analysis of 22 prospective studies including thousands of patients with blood clots from various surgical fields. Of blood clots occurring within 4 weeks after surgery, 47 per cent occurred by the first, 74 per cent by the second, and 90 per cent by the third week after surgery. These research results are useful for patients, clinicians, and guideline developers to guide the starting time and duration of use of blood thinners after surgery.

Association Between Psychological Distress and Incident Dementia in a Population-Based Cohort in Finland.

Importance: Symptoms of psychological distress have shown association with subsequent dementia, but the nature of association remains unclear. Objective: To examine the association of psychological distress with etiological risk of dementia and incidence of dementia in presence of competing risk of death. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study consisted of population-based cross-sectional National FINRISK Study surveys collected in 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002, and 2007 in Finland with register-based follow-up; and the cohort was linked to Finnish Health Register data for dementia and mortality for each participant until December 31, 2017. Participants included individuals without dementia who had complete exposure data. Data were analyzed from May 2019 to April 2022. Exposures: Self-reported symptoms of psychological distress: stress (more than other people), depressive mood, exhaustion, and nervousness (often, sometimes, never). Main Outcomes and Measures: Incident all-cause dementia, ascertained through linkage to national health registers. Poisson cause-specific hazard model (emphasizing etiological risk) and Fine-Gray subdistribution hazard model (emphasizing effect on incidence) considering dementia and death without dementia as competing risks. Covariates of age, sex, baseline year, follow-up time, educational level, body mass index, smoking, diabetes, systolic blood pressure, cholesterol, and physical activity. Sensitivity analysis was performed to reduce reverse causation bias by excluding individuals with follow-up less than 10 years. Results: Among 67 688 participants (34 968 [51.7%] women; age range, 25 to 74 years; mean [SD] age, 45.4 years), 7935 received a diagnosis of dementia over a mean follow-up of 25.4 years (range, 10 to 45 years). Psychological distress was significantly associated with all-cause dementia in a multivariable Poisson model, with incidence rate ratios from 1.17 (95% CI, 1.08-1.26) for exhaustion to 1.24 (95% CI, 1.11-1.38) for stress, and remained significant in sensitivity analyses. A Fine-Gray model showed significant associations (with hazard ratios from 1.08 [95% CI, 1.01-1.17] for exhaustion to 1.12 [95% CI, 1.00-1.25] for stress) for symptoms other than depressive mood (hazard ratio, 1.08 [95% CI, 0.98-1.20]). All the symptoms showed significant associations with competing risk of death in both models. Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study, psychological distress symptoms were significantly associated with increased risk of all-cause dementia in the model emphasizing etiological risk. Associations with real incidence of dementia were diminished by the competing risk of death.

Oral health associated with incident diabetes but not other chronic diseases: A register-based cohort study.

Introduction: Oral infectious diseases are common chronic oral diseases characterized by a chronic inflammatory condition. We investigated chronic oral diseases as potential risk factors for systemic chronic diseases, diabetes mellitus, connective tissue diseases, seropositive rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease, as well as severe psychotic and other severe mental disorders. Methods: The cohort comprised 68,273 patients aged ≥ 29 years with at least one dental visit to the Helsinki City Health Services between 2001 and 2002. The cohort was linked to the data on death (Statistics Finland), cancer (Finnish Cancer Registry), and drug reimbursement (Finnish Social Insurance Institution) and followed until death or the end of 2013. The outcomes of interest were the incidences of chronic diseases measured starting with special refund medication, which means Social Insurance Institution partly or fully reimburses medication costs. Outcomes of interest were diabetes mellitus, connective tissue diseases, seropositive rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, and severe mental disorders. Results: The mean follow-up time was 9.8 years. About 25% of the study population had periodontitis, 17% caries, over 70% apical periodontitis, and 9% <24 teeth at the start of follow-up. Diabetes was the only chronic systemic condition associated with oral health variables. Having 24 to 27 teeth was associated with a higher incidence rate ratio (IRR) (1.21, 95% confidence interval 1.09-1.33) compared to having 28 or more teeth; the IRR for having 23 or less was 1.40 (1.22-1.60). Having periodontitis (1.10, 1.01-1.20), caries (1.12, 1.01-1.23), or apical periodontitis (1.16, 1.04-1.30) is also associated with a higher risk of diabetes. Conclusion: Our epidemiological 10 years follow-up study suggests that the association exists between chronic oral diseases and diabetes, warranting close collaboration among patient's healthcare professionals.

The relative proportion of comorbidities among rhinitis and rhinosinusitis patients and their impact on visit burden.

Background: The aim was to evaluate the relative proportion of Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug exacerbated respiratory disease (NERD) and other comorbidities, and their impact on the burden of outpatient visits due to allergic rhinitis (AR), non-allergic rhinitis (NAR), acute rhinosinusitis (ARS), and chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) and without (CRSsNP). Methods: We used hospital registry data of a random sample of 5080 rhinitis/rhinosinusitis patients diagnosed during 2005-2019. International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD10) diagnoses, visits, and other factors were collected from electronic health records by using information extraction and data processing methods. Cox's proportional hazards model was used for modeling the time to the next outpatient visit. Results: The mean (±standard deviation) age of the population was 33.6 (±20.7) years and 56.1% were female. The relative proportion of AR, NAR, ARS, CRSsNP and CRSwNP, were 33.5%, 27.5%, 27.2%, 20.7%, and 10.9%, respectively. The most common other comorbidities were asthma (44.4%), other chronic respiratory diseases (38.5%), musculoskeletal diseases (38.4%), and cardiovascular diseases (35.7%). Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug exacerbated respiratory disease existed in 3.9% of all patients, and 17.7% of the CRSwNP group. The relative proportion of subjects having 1, 2, 3 and ≥ 4 other diseases were 18.0%, 17.6%, 17.0%, 37.0%, respectively. All diseases except AR, ARS, and mouth breathing, were associated with a high frequency of outpatient visits. Conclusions: Our results revealed a high relative proportion of NERD and other comorbidities, which affect the burden of outpatient visits and hence confirm the socioeconomic impact of upper airway diseases.

Systemic hormonal contraception and risk of venous thromboembolism.

INTRODUCTION: The increased risk of venous thromboembolism associated with the use of hormonal contraception is well recognized, but evidence regarding hormonal contraception containing natural estradiol is limited. This study aimed to assess the associations between the patterns of use of different systemic hormonal contraceptives and the risk of venous thromboembolism during 2017-2019. MATERIAL AND METHODS: All fertile-aged women (15-49 years) living in Finland in 2017 and using hormonal contraception in 2017 and their 1:1 age- and residence-matched controls not using hormonal contraception in 2017 (altogether 587 559 women) were selected from the Prescription Centre. All incident venous thromboembolism cases during 2018-2019 and their 4:1 age-matched controls were further analyzed in a prospective nested case-control design to assess the associations between the use (starting, stopping, continuous vs no use) of different hormonal contraception types and venous thromboembolism. RESULTS: Altogether, 1334 venous thromboembolism cases occurred during the follow-up period (incidence rate 1.14 per 1000 person-years, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.08-1.20), with an incidence rate ratio of hormonal contraception vs no hormonal contraception use of 1.42 (95% CI 1.27-1.58). Compared with non-use, starting the use of gestodene and ethinylestradiol (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.85; 95% CI 1.62-5.03), drospirenone and ethinylestradiol (aOR 1.55; 95% CI 0.98-2.44), desogestrel and ethinylestradiol (aOR 1.97; 95% CI 0.99-3.92), and transdermal patch releasing norelgestromin and ethinylestradiol (aOR 5.10; 95% CI 1.12-23.16), as well as continuing the use of gestodene and ethinylestradiol (aOR 2.60; 95% CI 1.61-4.21), drospirenone and ethinylestradiol (aOR 1.55; 95% CI 1.02-2.37), cyproterone-acetate and estrogen/ethinylestradiol (aOR 1.66; 95% CI 1.06-2.61), and vaginal ring releasing etonogestrel and ethinylestradiol (aOR 3.27; 95% CI 1.95-5.48) were associated with venous thromboembolism risk. Regarding the type of estrogen, the highest risk was associated with current use (vs non use in the previous 180 days) of ethinylestradiol-containing preparations (aOR 2.20; 95% CI 1.82-2.65), followed by estradiol-containing preparations (aOR 1.39; 95% CI 1.04-1.87) with no risk for progestin-only hormonal contraception. Current use of estradiol-containing preparations was not associated with venous thromboembolism risk after exclusion of cyproterone-acetate and estrogen/ethinylestradiol (aOR 1.05; 95% CI 0.66-1.66). CONCLUSIONS: An increased risk of venous thromboembolism is associated with ethinylestradiol-containing combined preparations. The use of estradiol-containing combined preparations confers only a slightly increased risk, possibly driven by cyproterone-containing combined oral contraceptives, whereas the use of progestin-only contraception is not associated with venous thromboembolism.

Risk of glaucoma after vitreoretinal surgery - Findings from a population-based cohort study.

PURPOSE: To investigate the association between different types of vitrectomy and risk of different types of glaucoma and to determine the effect of systemic medication and diabetes status on this risk. METHODS: A population-based nested case-control study included individuals of age ≥ 18 years who had undergone single vitrectomy, vitrectomy with retinal procedure, or combined phaco-vitrectomy between 2001 and 2010. End of follow-up was 2017. Odds ratio (OR) for the development of glaucoma after different types of vitrectomy and 95% confidence interval (CI) were based on conditional logistic regression models. For every glaucoma case, five controls were matched by age, sex, start of follow-up year, and hospital district. RESULTS: The cohort (n = 37 687), of which 52.8% was female, consisted of 6552 individuals diagnosed with glaucoma and 31 135 controls matched by age, sex, and hospital district. Vitrectomy was performed on 103 eyes in the glaucoma group and 158 eyes in the control group. As regards the risk of any glaucoma, the risk was lowest in eyes that underwent combined phaco-vitrectomy (OR: 2.7, 95% CI: 1.8-4.1), followed by single vitrectomy (OR: 3.15, 95% CI: 2.1-4.8), and highest in eyes that underwent vitrectomy with retinal procedure (OR: 4.5, 95% CI: 2.7-7.4). Diabetes had no effect (OR: 0.96, 95% CI: 0.92-1.01), but 5-year systemic statin use slightly decreased glaucoma risk (OR: 0.86, 95% CI: 0.77-0.97). CONCLUSIONS: Vitreoretinal surgery was associated with an increased glaucoma risk; the risk being related to the complexity of vitrectomy. Long-term systemic statin therapy may decrease glaucoma risk, while diabetes had no association.

Using machine learning for the personalised prediction of revision endoscopic sinus surgery.

BACKGROUND: Revision endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) is often considered for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) if maximal conservative treatment and baseline ESS prove insufficient. Emerging research outlines the risk factors of revision ESS. However, accurately predicting revision ESS at the individual level remains uncertain. This study aims to examine the prediction accuracy of revision ESS and to identify the effects of risk factors at the individual level. METHODS: We collected demographic and clinical variables from the electronic health records of 767 surgical CRS patients ≥16 years of age. Revision ESS was performed on 111 (14.5%) patients. The prediction accuracy of revision ESS was examined by training and validating different machine learning models, while the effects of variables were analysed using the Shapley values and partial dependence plots. RESULTS: The logistic regression, gradient boosting and random forest classifiers performed similarly in predicting revision ESS. Area under the receiving operating characteristic curve (AUROC) values were 0.744, 0.741 and 0.730, respectively, using data collected from the baseline visit until six months after baseline ESS. The length of time during which data were collected improved the prediction performance. For data collection times of 0, 3, 6 and 12 months after baseline ESS, AUROC values for the logistic regression were 0.682, 0.715, 0.744 and 0.784, respectively. The number of visits before or after baseline ESS, the number of days from the baseline visit to the baseline ESS, patient age, CRS with nasal polyps (CRSwNP), asthma, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug exacerbated respiratory disease and immunodeficiency or suspicion of it all associated with revision ESS. Patient age and number of visits before baseline ESS carried non-linear effects for predictions. CONCLUSIONS: Intelligent data analysis identified important predictors of revision ESS at the individual level, such as the frequency of clinical visits, patient age, Type 2 high diseases and immunodeficiency or a suspicion of it.

Prescription medication use after congenital heart surgery.

BACKGROUND: Improvements in mortality after congenital heart surgery have necessitated a shift in focus to postoperative morbidity as an outcome measure. We examined late morbidity after congenital heart surgery based on prescription medication use. METHODS: Between 1953 and 2009, 10,635 patients underwent congenital heart surgery at <15 years of age in Finland. We obtained 4 age-, sex-, birth-time, and hospital district-matched controls per patient. The Social Insurance Institution of Finland provided data on all prescription medications obtained between 1999 and 2012 by patients and controls. Patients were assigned one diagnosis based on a hierarchical list of cardiac defects and dichotomised into simple and severe groups. Medications were divided into short- and long-term based on indication. Follow-up started at the first operation and ended at death, emigration, or 31 December, 2012. RESULTS: Totally, 8623 patients met inclusion criteria. Follow-up was 99.9%. In total, 8126 (94%) patients required prescription medications. Systemic anti-bacterials were the most common short-term prescriptions among patients (93%) and controls (88%). Patients required betablockers (simple hazard ratio 1.9, 95% confidence interval 1.7-2.1; severe hazard ratio 6.5, 95% confidence interval 5.3-8.1) and diuretics (simple hazard ratio 3.2, 95% CI 2.8-3.7; severe hazard ratio 38.8, 95% CI 27.5-54.7) more often than the general population. Both simple and severe defects required medication for cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, psychiatric, neurologic, metabolic, autoimmune, and infectious diseases more often than the general population. CONCLUSIONS: The significant risk for postoperative cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular disease warrants close long-term follow-up after congenital heart surgery for all defects.