Scandinavian journal of public health
-
Scand J Public Health · Aug 2013
Large differences between patients with acute myocardial infarction included in two Swedish health registers.
Acute myocardial infarction (MI) is a leading cause for morbidity and mortality in Sweden. We aimed to compare patients with an acute MI included in the Register of information and knowledge about Swedish heart intensive care admissions (RIKS-HIA, now included in the register Swedeheart) and in the Swedish statistics of acute myocardial infarctions (S-AMI). ⋯ Approximately half of all patients with an acute MI were included in RIKS-HIA. They represented a relatively more healthy population than patients included in S-AMI only. S-AMI covered almost all patients with an acute MI but had limited information about the patients. Used in combination, these two registers can give better prerequisites for improved quality of care of all patients with acute coronary syndromes.
-
Scand J Public Health · Aug 2013
COPD in Helsinki, Finland: socioeconomic status based on occupation has an important impact on prevalence.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is globally a major, but often undiagnosed, cause of morbidity and mortality. The aims of this study were to assess the prevalence of COPD in Helsinki, Finland, with international diagnostic criteria and to analyse risk factors including socioeconomic status, and disease severity. ⋯ Although smoking is the main modifiable risk factor for COPD, the disease was significantly related to manual workers and non-manual assistant employees, i.e. socioeconomic groups reflecting occupation.
-
Scand J Public Health · Aug 2013
Does municipal co-financing reduce hospitalisation rates in Denmark?
To provide a preliminary answer to the question of whether the economic incentives introduced by the municipal co-financing of hospital services work as intended in the reform. ⋯ The study does not support one of the fundamental theoretical assumptions behind the municipal co-financing introduced in the 2007 structural reform in Denmark. While the study failed to establish systematic links between municipal public health efforts and hospitalisation levels, it appears from other studies that municipalities are in fact increasing their activities in public health. This presents a theoretical puzzle and we present several possible explanations for further empirical work.