Physicians' intentions to use digital tools - a comparative survey, before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, in Southern Sweden.

OBJECTIVES: To describe changes in Swedish primary care physicians' use of, attitudes and intentions toward digital tools in patient care between 2019 and 2022. DESIGN: A survey using a validated questionnaire measuring physician's intentions to use digital tools based on the theory of planned behavior. SETTING: Sample of primary health care centers in southern Sweden. SUBJECTS: Primary care physicians. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-reported use and intentions to use, digital tools including digital consultations by text or video, chronic disease monitoring and artificial intelligence (AI) and the associations between attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and behavioral intentions to use digital tools, in 2019 compared to 2022. RESULTS: In both 2019 (n = 198) and 2022 (n = 93), physicians reported high intentions to use digital tools. Self-reported use of video was slightly higher in 2022 (p = .03). No other changes were seen in the self-reported use or behavioral intentions to use digital tools. CONCLUSION: The slow adoption of patient-related digital tools in Swedish primary health care does not seem to be explained by a low intention to use them among physicians. Future research on implementation of digital tools should include a focus on contextual factors such as organizational, technical and cultural barriers.

Based on the theory of planned behavior a survey was designed and applied in 2019 to measure physicians' use of, attitudes and intentions toward telemedicine (PAIT) and digital tools.A follow up study using PAIT was conducted in 2022.Physicians reported high intentions to use digital tools in both 2019 and 2022.Self-reported use of digital tools was low in both 2019 and 2022.

Lifestyle and cardiovascular risk factors in a Swedish primary care population with self-reported psychiatric symptoms.

Objective: Individuals with psychiatric illness suffer from poorer physical health compared with the general population and have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. This cross-sectional study aims to describe the prevalence of lifestyle and cardiovascular risk factors and the association with self-reported psychiatric symptoms in a population of 40-year-old individuals screened with targeted Health Dialogues in southern Sweden. Methods: All 40-year-old individuals registered at 99 primary healthcare centers in southern Sweden were invited to participate. Self-reported lifestyle habits on a web questionnaire, anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, and blood tests were collected. The Health Dialogue resulted in a risk level assessment for different lifestyle habits and a meeting with a trained coach. Results: A total of 1831 individuals completed a Health Dialogue between 1st January 2021 and 30th June 2022. There were more individuals with high-risk levels for several lifestyle habits in the group with self-reported psychiatric illness compared with the rest of the study population. The analysis showed that physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, high-risk alcohol intake, tobacco use, psychosocial strain, higher BMI, and waist-hip ratio were associated with increased levels of psychiatric symptoms after adjustment for sex and socioeconomic factors. Conclusion: Unhealthy lifestyle habits were associated with self-reported psychiatric symptoms in 40-year-old individuals assessed with targeted Health Dialogues in a primary care context. Organized screening might contribute to early detection of modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Individuals with psychiatric symptoms should be prioritized for screening of unhealthy lifestyle behaviors.

The association of copeptin with metabolic risk markers is modified by region of origin.

Iraqi born immigrants in Sweden have higher prevalence of metabolic diseases compared to native Swedes. Copeptin, a marker for vasopressin, is associated with increased risk of metabolic disease. In this cross-sectional population study based on the MEDIM cohort we investigated differences in copeptin levels between Iraqi and Swedish born individuals and if the association between copeptin and cardiometabolic risk markers differed by region of origin. We included 1109 Iraqi and 613 Swedish born participants (58% men, mean age 47 years). The Swedish participants had a higher concentration of copeptin compared to the Iraqi born group after age and sex adjustment (p < 0.001). This difference existed only among male individuals with the highest copeptin concentrations, i.e. belonging to copeptin quartile 4 (median (25th; 75th percentile) 20.07 (15.27;33.28) pmol/L for the Swedish born versus 15.57 (13.91;19.00) pmol/L for the Iraqi born, p < 0.001). We found a significant interaction between copeptin (continuous ln-transformed) and being born in Iraq regarding the association with plasma triglycerides (Pinteraction = 0.006). The association between copeptin and BMI was stronger amongst the Iraqi born individuals compared to the Swedish born. Together, this could indicate that copeptin is a more potent marker of metabolic disease among individuals born in Iraq compared to Sweden.

HEAD-MIP-(HEAlth Dialogues for patients with Mental Illness in Primary care)-a feasibility study.

BACKGROUND: Patients with mental illness have an increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality compared to the rest of the population, which is partly related to unhealthy lifestyle habits. To individualise lifestyle counselling in primary care, the Swedish-developed Health Dialogue (HD) can be used as an educative tool at recurrent measurement points with the goal to improve non-healthy lifestyle habits. HD has not been aimed specifically at patients with mental illness, and the effect of a systematic approach with repeated HDs in patients with mental illness in primary care has not been previously studied. The aim of this pilot study was to assess the feasibility of the study design for a larger-scale cohort study using repeated HDs focused on the improvement of lifestyle habits in patients seeking primary care due to anxiety, depression, sleeping problems or stress-related symptoms. METHODS: Patients were recruited after a visit to a Primary Health Care Center due to mental illness between October 2019 until November 2021 and received a Health Dialogue, including an assessment of cardiovascular risk factors through a Health Curve. Specific feasibility objectives measured were dropout rate, time to follow-up, and risk improvement rate for different lifestyle changes. RESULTS: A total of 64 patients were recruited and 29 (45%) attended a second HD, with a mean follow-up time of 15 months. All participants had at least one elevated cardiovascular risk level on the Health Curve for the assessed lifestyles. Risk level improvement rate was good except for tobacco use. CONCLUSION: Despite a higher dropout rate than expected, we suggest that the proposed methodology for a full cohort study within general practice of patients with mental illness in primary care is both acceptable to practice and feasible. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT05181254 . Registered January 6th, 2022. Retrospectively registered.

Cancer, cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality in Iraqi- and Swedish-born individuals in Sweden: the MEDIM cohort study.

Immigrants from the Middle East to Sweden have a twice as high prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity as native-born Swedes. Both obesity and T2D have been linked to increased incidence of cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality (ACM); however, data on differences between ethnicities are scarce. In a population-based cohort we aimed to study the impact of Middle Eastern and European ethnicity on ACM, cancer- and CVD related mortality, incidence of cancer and CVD in an eight-year follow-up study. Methods: People born in Iraq or Sweden, who were 30-75 years of age, were invited from 2010 to 2012 to participate in the population based MEDIM study including a health exam, fasting blood sampling, assessment of insulin secretion and action (through oral glucose tolerance test) and questionnaires assessing history of CVD, cancer and T2D. Register data were retrieved from baseline until the 31st of December 2018 from the Swedish National Patient Register and Cause of Death register regarding CVD diagnosis, cancer diagnosis and cause of death. Information regarding diabetes diagnosis was retrieved from the National Diabetes Register. Individuals with a history of cancer or CVD at baseline were excluded. Cox regression analysis was assessed to study the adjusted hazard ratios (HR) for the relationships between ethnicity and ACM, cancer events, CVD events, death from cancer, and death from CVD, with adjustments for age, sex, anthropometrical measures, T2D and lifestyle. A total of 1398 Iraqi- and 757 Swedish-born residents participated in the study. ACM was considerably lower in Iraqi- compared to Swedish-born individuals HR 0.32 (95% CI 0.13-0.79) (p < 0.05). Furthermore, cancer related morbidity and mortality HR 0.39 (0.22-0.69) (p < 0.01) as well as CVD related morbidity and mortality HR 0.56 (0.33-0.95) (p < 0.05) were lower in the Iraqi-born group compared to the Swedish-born group for. The differences in mortality and cancer rates across ethnicities are not fully explained by anthropometric, environmental or metabolic measures but lie elsewhere. Further studies are needed to increase the understanding of contributing mechanisms.

Structured assessment of modifiable lifestyle habits among patients with mental illnesses in primary care.

Patients with mental illness have an increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity. The Swedish-developed Health Dialogue is a pedagogical tool to individualize lifestyle counselling, used in specific age-groups to improve lifestyle habits and decrease mortality, but not tested specifically for patients with mental illness. Patients > 18 years old seeking primary care due to symptoms related to mental illness and diagnosed with depression, sleeping disorders, stress and anxiety, were included. A nurse-led health dialogue was conducted, focusing on lifestyle habits, anthropometric measurements, and blood samples, resulting in tailored advice regarding the individual's risk profile. All 64 participants had lifestyle areas with increased risk level. Approximately 20% had elevated fasting glucose, blood pressure or cholesterol levels, and over 40% had highest risk level in Waist-Hip-Ratio. 30% were overweight, or physical inactive. The results suggest the need of a larger cohort study with long-term follow up, to establish potentially positive effects on wellbeing, and decreased cardiovascular risk in patients with mental illness.Clinical trial registration: The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov January 6th, 2022, registration number NCT05181254.

Insulin action and secretion independent of traditional risk factors predict new-onset type 2 diabetes in Iraqi and Swedish born citizens - The MEDIM cohort study.

AIMS: Our aim was to study the incidence of type 2 diabetes in a population-based cohort of Swedish and Iraqi born individuals, focussing on traditional risk factors, insulin action, insulin secretion and ethnicity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The cohort consisted of 1164 Iraqi and 693 Swedish-born citizens. We investigated the association between new-onset type 2 diabetes and the predictors including lifestyle factors, metabolic risk markers, country of birth, insulin sensitivity and secretion assessed by Matsuda index with Cox regression. RESULTS: Eighty-nine individuals were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes with a mean follow-up of 7.5 years. Both lower insulin sensitivity (ISI, HR 0.02 [0.01-0.08]) as well as insulin secretion (CIR, HR 0.13 [0.07-0.24]) at baseline predicted type 2 diabetes onset, independent of traditional risk factors. Our results were not modified by country of birth. Regarding traditional risk factors, WHR (1.05 [1.00-1.09]), blood glucose (3.27 [2.35-4.55]), LDL/HDL (1.46 [1.20-1.78]) and diastolic blood pressure (1.04 [1.00-1.07]) predicted diabetes incidence in the full model. CONCLUSIONS: Both impaired insulin sensitivity index and corrected insulin response predicted type 2 diabetes onset, independent of traditional risk factors. We conclude that insulin secretion and action might be useful additional predictors for type 2 diabetes in populations of European and Middle Eastern ethnicities.

Attitudes, Barriers, and Concerns Regarding Telemedicine Among Swedish Primary Care Physicians: A Qualitative Study.

PURPOSE: The primary care physician's traditional patient contacts are challenged by the rapidly accelerating digital transformation. In a quantitative survey analysis based on the theory of planned behavior, we found high behavioral intention to use telemedicine among Swedish primary care physicians, but low reported use. The aim of this study was to further examine the physicians' experiences regarding telemedicine, with a focus on possible explanations for the gap between intention and use, through analysis of the free-text comments supplied in the survey. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The material was collected through a web-based survey which was sent out to physicians at 160 primary health care centers in southern Sweden from May to August 2019. The survey covered four areas: general experiences of telemedicine, digital contacts, chronic disease monitoring with digital tools, and artificial intelligence. A total of 100 physicians submitted one or more free-text comments. These were analyzed using qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach. RESULTS: The primary care physicians expressed attitudes towards telemedicine that focused on clinical usefulness. Barriers to use were the loss of personal contact with patients and a deficient technological infrastructure. The major concerns were that these factors would result in patient harm and an increased workload. The connection between intention and use postulated by the theory of planned behavior was not applicable in this context, as external factors in the form of availability and clinical usefulness of the specific technology were major impediments to use despite a generally positive attitude. CONCLUSION: All telemedicine tools must be evaluated regarding clinical usefulness, patient safety, and effects on staff workload, and end users should be included in this process. Utmost consideration is needed regarding how to retain the benefits of personal contact between patient and provider when digital solutions are introduced.

Swedish Primary Care Physicians' Intentions to Use Telemedicine: A Survey Using a New Questionnaire - Physician Attitudes and Intentions to Use Telemedicine (PAIT).

BACKGROUND: Research on intentions to use telemedicine in primary care is sparse. This survey study explored primary care physicians' intentions to use telemedicine by using a newly developed questionnaire: Physician Attitudes and Intentions to use Telemedicine. METHODS: An anonymous web-survey with questions focusing on theory-based predictors of behavioral intentions such as Attitudes, Subjective norms and Perceived behavioral control was designed, validated, and sent to all primary care physicians at 160 primary health care centers in southern Sweden from May to August 2019. The questionnaire had 29 subject items (including 49 multiple-choice sub-items). Main outcome measures were intentions to use three domains of telemedicine and correlation between theory-based predictors and behavioral intentions for using telemedicine. RESULTS: The survey was validated by an expert group, amended, and then tested and retested. A majority of the 198 physicians who returned the web-surveys reported that they did not use e-mails (68%), nor video consultations (78%), chat (81%), or text messages (86%) in their everyday patient work. Yet, most physicians described a positive intention to use telemedicine in patient care for all three studied domains with Attitudes and Perceived behavioral control being significant predictors (p<0.01) for Intentions to use digital contacts (R2 = 0.54), chronic disease monitoring with digital tools (R2 = 0.47) and artificial intelligence (R2 = 0.54). A structural validation of a preliminary instrument - Physician Attitudes and Intention to use Telemedicine (PAIT) - containing 28 sub-items was done by exploratory factor analysis with acceptable explanatory, reliability and sampling adequacy measures. Five factors emerged with Eigenvalues between 1.6 and 11.1 explaining 72% of the variance. Total Cronbach's alpha was 0.91 and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkirk 0.79. CONCLUSION: Before the covid-19 pandemic, Swedish primary care physicians reported a low use yet high behavioral intention to use telemedicine in a study where we developed the preliminary instrument Physician Attitudes and Intention to use Telemedicine. Perceived behavioral control had the largest predictive value of behavioral intention to use telemedicine. Thus, interventions aiming to increase the use of digital tools in primary care should possibly focus on empowering physicians' self-efficacy towards using them.

Country of birth and mortality risk in hypertension with and without diabetes: the Swedish primary care cardiovascular database.

OBJECTIVES: Hypertension and diabetes are common and are both associated with high cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. We aimed to investigate associations between mortality risk and country of birth among hypertensive individuals in primary care with and without concomitant diabetes, which has not been studied previously. In addition, we aimed to study the corresponding risks of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke. METHODS: This observational cohort study of 62 557 individuals with hypertension diagnosed 2001-2008 in the Swedish Primary Care Cardiovascular Database assessed mortality by the Swedish Cause of Death Register, and myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke by the National Patient Register. Cox regression models were used to estimate study outcome hazard ratios by country of birth and time updated diabetes status, with adjustments for multiple confounders. RESULTS: During follow-up time without diabetes using Swedish-born as reference, adjusted mortality hazard ratios per country of birth category were Finland: 1.26 (95% confidence interval 1.15-1.38), high-income European countries: 0.84 (0.74-0.95), low-income European countries: 0.84 (0.71-1.00) and non-European countries: 0.65 (0.56-0.76). The corresponding adjusted mortality hazard ratios during follow-up time with diabetes were high-income European countries: 0.78 (0.63-0.98), low-income European countries: 0.74 (0.57-0.96) and non-European countries: 0.56 (0.44-0.71). During follow-up without diabetes, the corresponding adjusted hazard ratio of myocardial infarction was increased for Finland: 1.16 (1.01-1.34), whereas the results for ischemic stroke were inconclusive. CONCLUSION: In Sweden, hypertensive immigrants (with the exception for Finnish-born) with and without diabetes have a mortality advantage, as compared to Swedish-born.

The impact of diabetes, education and income on mortality and cardiovascular events in hypertensive patients: A cohort study from the Swedish Primary Care Cardiovascular Database (SPCCD).

OBJECTIVE: In this study we aimed to estimate the effect of diabetes, educational level and income on the risk of mortality and cardiovascular events in primary care patients with hypertension. METHODS: We followed 62,557 individuals with hypertension diagnosed 2001-2008, in the Swedish Primary Care Cardiovascular Database. Study outcomes were death, myocardial infarction, and ischemic stroke, assessed using national registers until 2012. Cox regression models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios of outcomes according to diabetes status, educational level, and income. RESULTS: During follow-up, 13,231 individuals died, 9981 were diagnosed with diabetes, 4431 with myocardial infarction, and 4433 with ischemic stroke. Hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for diabetes versus no diabetes: mortality 1.57 (1.50-1.65), myocardial infarction 1.24 (1.14-1.34), and ischemic stroke 1.17 (1.07-1.27). Hazard ratios for diabetes and ≤9 years of school versus no diabetes and >12 years of school: mortality 1.56 (1.41-1.73), myocardial infarction 1.36 (1.17-1.59), and ischemic stroke 1.27 (1.08-1.50). Hazard ratios for diabetes and income in the lowest fifth group versus no diabetes and income in the highest fifth group: mortality 3.82 (3.36-4.34), myocardial infarction 2.00 (1.66-2.42), and ischemic stroke 1.91 (1.58-2.31). CONCLUSIONS: Diabetes combined with low income was associated with substantial excess risk of mortality, myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke among primary care patients with hypertension.

C-peptide predicts all-cause and cardiovascular death in a cohort of individuals with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. The Skaraborg diabetes register.

AIMS: To study the association between baseline level of C-peptide and all-cause death, cardiovascular death and cardiovascular complications among persons with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. METHODS: The Skaraborg Diabetes Register contains data on baseline C-peptide concentrations among 398 persons <65 years with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes 1996-1998. National registries were used to determine all-cause death, cardiovascular death and incidence of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke until 31 December 2014. The association between baseline C-peptide and outcomes were evaluated with adjustment for multiple confounders by Cox regression analysis. Missing data were handled by multiple imputation. RESULTS: In the imputed and fully adjusted model there was a significant association between 1 nmol/l increase in C-peptide concentration and all-cause death (HR 2.20, 95% CI 1.49-3.25, p < 0.001, number of events = 104), underlying cardiovascular death (HR 2.69, 1.49-4.85, p = 0.001, n = 35) and the composite outcome of underlying cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction or ischemic stroke (HR 1.61, 1.06-2.45, p = 0.027, n = 90). CONCLUSIONS: Elevated C-peptide levels at baseline in persons with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes are associated with increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. C-peptide might be used to identify persons at high risk of cardiovascular complications and premature death.

Comparative effects of low-dose versus standard-dose alteplase in ischemic patients with prior stroke and/or diabetes mellitus: The ENCHANTED trial.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: History of prior stroke (PS) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are considered relative contraindications to the use of intravenous alteplase in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). We aimed to assess whether a history of PS and DM modified the comparative effects of low- versus standard-dose alteplase in patients who participated in the alteplase-dose arm of the Enhanced Control of Hypertension and Thrombolysis Stroke Study (ENCHANTED). METHODS: Data from an international, multi-center, prospective, randomized, open-label, blinded-endpoint trial were used to assess the benefits and risks of low (0.6mg/kg) versus standard-dose (0.9mg/kg) intravenous alteplase in thrombolysis-eligible AIS patients. Logistic regression was used for analysis of patient subgroups defined by history of PS and DM on efficacy and safety outcomes, adjusted for confounding variables. RESULTS: After adjusting for baseline characteristics and management variables over the first seven days in 3288 AIS patients (431 PS, 489 DM, and 157 with both), history of PS and DM were not associated with poor outcome at 90-days: whether defined by modified Rankin scale (mRS) scores 2-6 (odds ratio [OR] 0.85, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.55-1.32; P=0.476) or mortality (OR 1.25, 95%CI 0.62-2.52; P=0.533). There was no differential effect of low-versus standard-dose alteplase on dichotomized mRS (0-1 vs. 2-6), ordinal shift in mRS scores, mortality, or symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage, by a history of PS and DM. CONCLUSIONS: A history of PS and DM was not an independent predictor of poor outcome in thrombolysis-treated AIS patients. We were not able to demonstrate any effect of these variables in modifying the differences in effects of low- versus standard-dose alteplase. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. UNIQUE IDENTIFIER: NCT01422616.

Prediction of treatment response in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes: the Skaraborg diabetes register.

AIMS: Type 2 diabetes is associated with cardiovascular complications. It is largely unknown which patients have poor treatment response and high complication risk; biomarkers are studied for this purpose. The aim of the study was to investigate the association between clinical factors such as HbA1c, level of biomarkers (C-peptide, copeptin) at diagnosis and changes in HbA1c, blood pressure or body mass index (BMI) after five years. METHODS: Clinical data and blood samples from 460 newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients from the Skaraborg diabetes register (SDR) at diagnosis and after 5years and were analyzed with linear and logistic regressions. RESULTS: High BMI at diagnosis and smoking were associated with less reduction of HbA1c i.e. poorer treatment outcome after 5years. A high HbA1c at baseline predicted a greater reduction of HbA1c and need for insulin treatment. High systolic blood pressure and BMI at baseline were associated with greater reduction. The biomarkers were not associated with increase of blood pressure, HbA1c, BMI or need for insulin treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Smokers and patients with high HbA1c at diagnosis respond poorer to treatment over 5years. This highlights the importance of advice for non-smoking and weight reduction and more intensive treatment over time.