Danish medical journal
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Danish medical journal · Apr 2015
ReviewMigration and health: exploring the role of migrant status through register-based studies.
This thesis aims to explore migrant status as a determinant in register-based studies on migrant health. It is based on eight studies that investigate the following three main issues: 1) What is the importance of migrant status for morbidity patterns among migrants compared with Native Danes? 2) Do migrant status and ethnicity affect clinical indicators of access among migrants compared with native Danes? 3) What is the importance of migrant status for mortality patterns among migrants compared with Native Danes? The thesis builds on a register-based historical prospective cohort design. Through Statistics Denmark, all refugees (n = 29,174) and family reunification immigrants (n = 33,287) who received residence permits in Denmark from 1 January 1993 to 31 December 1999 were included and matched 4:1 on age and sex with Native Danes. ⋯ It also demonstrates the role of migrant status as a useful variable in migrant studies in addition to ethnicity. Across all three sub-themes, inequalities in morbidity patterns were sometimes in favour of migrants and sometimes in favour of native Danes. Finally, inequalities in health were more pronounced for the refugee group, which was consistently more at risk compared with native Danes or which apparently benefited less from the protective factors of being a migrant compared with family reunification immigrants.
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Danish medical journal · Apr 2015
Comparative StudyDiagnosis and treatment of unexplained anemia with iron deficiency without overt bleeding.
A general overview is given of the causes of anemia with iron deficiency as well as the pathogenesis of anemia and the para-clinical diagnosis of anemia. Anemia with iron deficiency but without overt GI bleeding is associated with a risk of malignant disease of the gastrointestinal tract; upper gastrointestinal cancer is 1/7 as common as colon cancer. Benign gastrointestinal causes of anemia are iron malabsorption (atrophic gastritis, celiac disease, chronic inflammation, and bariatric surgery) and chronic blood loss due to gastrointestinal ulcerations. ⋯ Oral treatment with a 100-200 mg daily dose of elemental iron is recommended (lower dose if side effects), but 3-6 months of oral iron therapy is often required to achieve therapeutic goals. Intravenous iron therapy is used if oral treatment lacks efficacy or causes side effects or in the presence of intestinal malabsorption or prolonged inflammation. Three algorithms are given for the following conditions: a) the paraclinical diagnosis of anemia with iron deficiency; b) the diagnostic work-up for unexplained anemia with iron deficiency without overt bleeding; and c) how to proceed after negative bidirectional endoscopy of the gastrointestinal tract.