Use of pain management in childbirth among migrant women in Iceland: A population-based cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Immigration is rapidly increasing in Iceland with 13.6% of the population holding foreign citizenship in 2020. Earlier findings identified inequities in childbirth care for some women in Iceland. To gain insight into the quality of intrapartum midwifery care, migrant women's use of pain management methods during birth in Iceland was explored. METHODS: A population-based cohort study including all women with a singleton birth in Iceland between 2007 and 2018, in total 48 173 births. Logistic regression analyses with odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to investigate the relationship between migrant backgrounds defined as holding foreign citizenship and the use of pain management during birth. The main outcome measures were use of nonpharmacological and pharmacological pain management methods. RESULTS: Data from 6097 migrant women were included. Migrant women had higher adjusted OR (aORs) for no use of pain management (aOR = 1.23 95% CI [1.12, 1.34]), when compared to Icelandic women. Migrant women also had lower aORs for the use of acupuncture (0.73 [0.64, 0.83]), transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) (0.92 [0.01, 0.67]), shower/bath (0.73 [0.66, 0.82]), aromatherapy (0.59 [0.44, 0.78]), and nitrous oxide inhalation (0.89 [0.83, 0.96]). Human Development Index (HDI) scores of countries of citizenship <0.900 were associated with lower aORs for the use of various pain management methods. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that being a migrant in Iceland is an important factor that limits the use of nonpharmacological pain management, especially for migrant women with citizenship from countries with HDI score <0.900.

Dietary supplement use in the older population of Iceland and association with mortality.

Dietary supplements are often used by the elderly to improve their nutritional status. However, intake above the recommended dietary levels may be detrimental, and uncertainty exists on the potential health benefits of supplementation in this population. The aim of this study was to describe supplement use among Icelandic older adults and to assess its association with total mortality and CVD-related mortality. This study used data from the Age Gene/Environment Susceptibility-Reykjavik study, which recruited 5764 participants aged 66-98 years in 2002-2006. Intake of vitamins and minerals from dietary supplements was estimated from interviews. Hazard ratios (HR) for mortality were estimated in multivariate analyses with follow-up ending in 2009. The results showed that most (77 %) of the participants used supplements. Overall, the consumption of vitamins and minerals from supplements was moderate although 22 and 14 % of users exceeded the upper recommended intake levels for vitamin B6 and Zn, respectively. Supplement users followed in general a healthier lifestyle than non-users. There were 1221 deaths including 525 CVD-related deaths during the follow-up period. When comparing multivitamin users with non-users in multivariable models, no associations with total mortality (HR 0·91; 95 % CI: 0·77, 1·08) or CVD-related mortality (HR 0·91; 95 % CI 0·70, 1·18) were observed. In conclusion, users of supplements generally lead healthier lifestyles than non-users and supplements did not confer any added advantage or harm relative to mortality risk. However, the intake of vitamin B6 and Zn from dietary supplements exceeded the recommended daily intake for almost a quarter of the supplement users.

Effect of private insurance incentive policy reforms on trends in coronary revascularisation procedures in the private and public health sectors in Western Australia: a cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The Australian federal government introduced private health insurance incentive policy reforms in 2000 that increased the uptake of private health insurance in Australia. There is currently a lack of evidence on the effect of the policy reforms on access to cardiovascular interventions in public and private hospitals in Australia. The aim was to investigate whether the increased private health insurance uptake influenced trends in emergency and elective coronary artery revascularisation procedures (CARPs) for private and public patients. METHODS: We included 34,423 incident CARPs from Western Australia during 1995-2008 in this study. Rates of emergency and elective CARPs were stratified for publicly and privately funded patients. The average annual percent change (AAPC) in trend was calculated before and after 2000 using joinpoint regression. RESULTS: The rate of emergency CARPs, which were predominantly percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) with stenting, increased throughout the study period for both public and private patients (AAPC=12.9%, 95% CI=5.0,22.0 and 14.1%, 95% CI=9.8,18.6, respectively) with no significant difference in trends before and after policy implementation. The rate of elective PCIs with stenting from 2000 onwards remained relatively stable for public patients (AAPC=-6.0, 95% C= -16.9,6.4), but increased by 4.1% on average annually (95% CI=1.8,6.3) for private patients (pdifference=0.04 between groups). This rate increase for private patients was only seen in people aged over 65 years and people residing in high socioeconomic areas. CONCLUSIONS: The private health insurance incentive policy reforms are a likely contributing factor in the shift in 2000 from public to privately-funded elective PCIs with stenting. These reforms as well as the increasing number of private hospitals may have been successful in increasing the availability of publicly-funded beds since 2000.

Effect of a single 'megadose' intramuscular vitamin D (600,000 IU) injection on vitamin D concentrations and bone mineral density following biliopancreatic diversion surgery.

BACKGROUND: Vitamin D (VitD) deficiency is common following biliopancreatic diversion (BPD). We conducted a prospective open-label study to evaluate the efficacy of a single intramuscular injection with 600,000 IU of cholecalciferol in an arachis oil depot formulation (VitD3, Arachitol Solvay Pharmacia) as an adjunct to regular oral VitD supplementation (Citrical+D) for a period of 12 months following BPD surgery. METHODS: Some 29 patients who had undergone BPD during 2000-2005 were recruited and received a single injection of 600,000 IU of cholecalciferol. Venous blood VitD, parathyroid hormone (PTH), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), ionised calcium and urinary N-telopeptide (NTX) were assessed at baseline and at 1.5, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months post-injection. Bone mineral density (BMD) was determined at baseline and 12 months post-injection. RESULTS: VitD concentrations (mean +/- SD) were significantly increased from baseline values (61.5 +/- 18.8 nmol/L) at 1.5 months (92.4 +/- 21.5, p < 0.001), 3 months (100.5 +/- 24.4, p < 0.001) and 6 months (79.1 +/- 20.9, p = 0.014) post-injection, with non-significant elevations at 9 months (73.3 +/- 15.1, p = 0.248) and 12 months (73.4 +/- 17.3, p = 0.278). The proportion of patients with 'normalised' VitD levels was significantly higher at all post-injection time points (range, 93-100%) compared with baseline (71.4%; p < 0.01). Ionised calcium and ALP remained within normal levels at baseline and all follow-up time points, although ionised calcium decreased by 3.4% (p = 0.015) and ALP increased by 14.6% (p = 0.021) at 12 months compared with baseline. No significant change in PTH, NTX or BMD was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Intramuscular cholecalciferol injection, as an adjunct to oral supplementation, appears a safe and effective method to increase and maintain VitD levels after BPD.