Health-Related Quality of Life and Mental Disorders in Finland

Quality of life (QoL) and Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are becoming one of the key outcomes of health care due to increased respect for the subjective valuations and well-being of patients and an increasing part of the ageing population living with chronic, non-fatal conditions. Preference-based HRQoL measures enable estimation of health utility, which can be useful for rational rationing, evidence-based medicine and health policy. This study aimed to compare the individual severity and public health burden of major chronic conditions in Finland, including and focusing on reliably diagnosed psychiatric conditions. The study is based on the Health 2000 survey, a representative general population survey of 8028 Finns aged 30 and over. Depressive, anxiety and alcohol use disorders were diagnosed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (M-CIDI). HRQoL was measured with the 15D and the EQ-5D, with 83% response rate. This study found that people with psychiatric disorders had the lowest 15D HRQoL scores at all ages, in comparison to other main groups of chronic conditions. Considering 29 individual conditions, three of the four most severe (on 15D) were psychiatric disorders; the most severe was Parkinson s disease. Of the psychiatric disorders, chronic conditions that have sometimes been considered relatively mild - dysthymia, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder and social phobia - were found to be the most severe. This was explained both by the severity of the impact of these disorders on mental health domains of HRQoL, and also by the fact that decreases were widespread on most dimensions of HRQoL. Considering the public health burden of conditions, musculoskeletal disorders were associated with the largest burden, followed by psychiatric disorders. Psychiatric disorders were associated with the largest burden at younger ages. Of individual conditions, the largest burden found was for depressive disorders, followed by urinary incontinence and arthrosis of the hip and knee. The public health burden increased greatly with age, so the ageing of the Finnish population will mean that the disease burden caused by chronic conditions will increase by a quarter up to year 2040, if morbidity patterns do not change. Investigating alcohol consumption and HRQoL revealed that although abstainers had poorer HRQoL than moderate drinkers, this was mainly due to many abstainers being former drinkers and having the poorest HRQoL. Moderate drinkers did not have significantly better HRQoL than abstainers who were not former drinkers. Psychiatric disorders are associated with a large part of the non-fatal disease burden in Finland. In particular anxiety disorders appear to be more severe and have a larger public health burden than previously thought.

'Hero to healing' drink driving program for Indigenous communities in Far North Queensland

Issue addressed: Alcohol-related road crashes are a leading cause of the injury burden experienced by Indigenous Australians. Existing drink driving programs are primarily designed for the mainstream population. The ‘Hero to Healing’ program was specifically developed with Indigenous communities and is underpinned by the Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA). This paper reports on the formative evaluation of the program from delivery in two Far North Queensland communities. Methods: Focus groups and semistructured interviews were conducted with drink driver participants (n = 17) and other Elders and community members (n = 8) after each program. Qualitative content analysis was used to categorise the transcripts. Results: The CRA appealed to participants because of its flexible nature and encouragement of rearranging lifestyle factors, without specific focus on alcohol use. Participants readily identified with the social and peer-related risk and protective factors discussed. Cofacilitation of the program with Elders was identified as a key aspect of the program. More in-depth discussion about cannabis and driving, anger management skills and relationship issues are recommended. Conclusions: Participants’ recognition of content reinforced earlier project results, particularly the use of kinship pressure to motivate younger family members to drink drive. Study findings suggest that the principles of the CRA are useful; however, some amendments to the CRA components and program content were necessary. So what?: Treating drink driving in regional and remote Indigenous Australian communities as a community and social issue, rather than an individual phenomenon, is likely to lead to a reduction in the number of road-related injuries Indigenous people experience.

Not in all Walks of Life? : Social Differences in Suicide Mortality

In Finland, the suicide mortality trend has been decreasing during the last decade and a half, yet suicide was the fourth most common cause of death among both Finnish men and women aged 15 64 years in 2006. However, suicide does not occur equally among population sub-groups. Two notable social factors that position people at different risk of suicide are socioeconomic and employment status: those with low education, employed in manual occupations, having low income and those who are unemployed have been found to have an elevated suicide risk. The purpose of this study was to provide a systematic analysis of these social differences in suicide mortality in Finland. Besides studying socioeconomic trends and differences in suicide according to age and sex, different indicators for socioeconomic status were used simultaneously, taking account of their pathways and mutual associations while also paying attention to confounding and mediatory effects of living arrangements and employment status. Register data obtained from Statistics Finland were used in this study. In some analyses suicides were divided into two groups according to contributory causes of death: the first group consisted of suicide deaths that had alcohol intoxication as one of the contributory causes, and the other group is comprised of all other suicide deaths. Methods included Poisson and Cox regression models. Despite the decrease in suicide mortality trend, social differences still exist. Low occupation-based social class proved to be an important determinant of suicide risk among both men and women, but the strong independent effect of education on alcohol-associated suicide indicates that the roots of these differences are probably established in early adulthood when educational qualifications are obtained and health-behavioural patterns set. High relative suicide mortality among the unemployed during times of economic boom suggests that selective processes may be responsible for some of the employment status differences in suicide. However, long-term unemployment seems to have causal effects on suicide, which, especially among men, partly stem from low income. In conclusion, the results in this study suggest that education, occupation-based social class and employment status have causal effects on suicide risk, but to some extent selection into low education and unemployment are also involved in the explanations for excess suicide mortality among the socially deprived. It is also conceivable that alcohol use is to some extent behind social differences in suicide. In addition to those with low education, manual workers and the unemployed, young people, whose health-related behaviour is still to be adopted, would most probably benefit from suicide prevention programmes.

Calidad de la dieta, sobrepeso y obesidad en estudiantes universitarios

Este trabajo se encuentra bajo la licencia Creative Commons Attribution 3.0.

Fotografando a rede de saúde mental para atenção às pessoas com o uso problemático de álcool o outras drogas no município de Volta Redonda: da observação ao observatório

O estudo tem por temática a rede para a atenção às pessoas adoecidas pelo uso problemático de álcool e outras drogas, em particular as percepções de profissionais que participam do processo de construção da rede sobre o cuidado a álcool e outras drogas no município de Volta Redonda por meio dos objetivos específicos: Descrever o processo da construção da rede de Saúde Mental em Volta Redonda; Compreender como ocorrem as decisões na prática do cuidado aos usuários de álcool e drogas; Descrever as dificuldades das equipes/gerentes de unidades de Saúde Mental, no processo de cuidado integrado aos usuários de álcool e drogas e ao final, propor outras formas de organização para a rede de saúde mental no município de Volta Redonda. Em suma pensar a rede de Saúde Mental e fazer um retrato com objetivo de apontar as fragilidades e fortalezas no atendimento às pessoas com o uso problemático de álcool e outras drogas para ofertar proposta de construção de outra realidade. Demarcamos como percurso teórico desta pesquisa, as questões voltadas à atenção em saúde mental e os serviços de saúde e, às questões relativas ao uso problemático de álcool e outras drogas. Escolhemos a metodologia qualitativa como trajetória. Utilizamos como forma de obtenção dos dados a entrevista semi estruturada. Nossos depoentes foram pessoas que participaram do processo de construção da rede de atenção em saúde mental. Os relatos dos entrevistados revelam que a política municipal de saúde mental é uma realidade, porém existem interferências tanto na área gerencial quanto das práticas em saúde, contribuindo para o distanciamento dessa mesma política. Assim foi possível concluir que a rede de serviço é complexa, porém não existe de fato como rede. Isto implica diretamente na perda da dimensão cuidadora que é o princípio básico da integralidade.

O consumo de bebidas alcoólicas: um fator de risco para além do alcoolismo

Esta tese analisa o fenômeno do consumo de bebidas alcoólicas desde quando o seu uso abusivo se tornou um problema de saúde - a ponto de ser reconhecido como doença (alcoolismo) - até a atualidade em que os seus consumidores, influenciados pela propaganda ou por uma opção de estilo de vida, acabam correndo riscos de contrair, além do alcoolismo, outras doenças (ex.: Cardiovasculares) ou de sofrer lesões (ex.: Acidentes de trânsito) em função desse ato de beber, mesmo, que socialmente. Na prática, essa situação acaba se refletindo na rede da saúde pública em que o SUS, junto com as operadoras de planos de saúde e as Organizações Sociais que atuam na área da saúde, não conseguem dar um atendimento condigno às pessoas com problemas decorrentes do uso de álcool. Soma-se a isso a ineficácia das Politicas Públicas voltadas para esse tipo de problemas sobre as quais tecemos alguns comentários, a saber: Política de Atenção Integral aos Usuários de Álcool e outras Drogas; Política Nacional de Promoção da Saúde; e Política Nacional sobre o Álcool. Dessa forma, de acordo com o objetivo geral dessa tese, analisamos o último estudo sobre a carga de doenças (Global Burden of Disease GBD) com a finalidade de mostrarmos essa associação entre doenças e lesões e o uso de álcool, como fator de risco, tanto no nível global quanto no Brasil. No complemento dessa análise foram analisados os óbitos decorrentes do alcoolismo no Brasil, bem como, os casos dessa doença cadastrados no Programa Saúde Família PSF.

Narrativas de vida de mulheres alcoolistas: contribuições para a prática da enfermeira no CAPS ad

Estudo de natureza qualitativa utilizou o Método de Narrativa de Vida, cujo objeto foi a motivação da mulher alcoolista para iniciar e aderir ao tratamento no Centro de Atenção Psicossocial de Álcool e outras Drogas (CAPS ad). Os objetivos foram: a) conhecer os motivos que levam a mulher alcoolista a iniciar e aderir ao tratamento; b) descrever o itinerário terapêutico percorrido pela mulher alcoolista; c) identificar os fatores que favorecem a adesão da mulher alcoolista ao tratamento; d) discutir a contribuição das narrativas das mulheres alcoolistas para a prática da enfermeira no CAPS ad. Foram entrevistadas 26 mulheres usuárias de álcool em tratamento no CAPS ad, oriundas de dois cenários distintos no Estado do Rio de Janeiro: um CAPS ad de uma cidade do interior do Estado na região Sul Fluminense no Médio Paraíba e um CAPS ad na cidade do Rio de Janeiro. O arcabouço teórico de sustentação do estudo baseou-se em dois pontos: A Reforma Psiquiátrica no Mundo e no Brasil, a evolução da Política Pública, a Legislação Brasileira para atendimento de usuários de álcool e outras drogas, incluindo Itinerários Terapêuticos, a atuação da Equipe Interdisciplinar no CAPS ad e o papel da Enfermeira e da enfermagem na Saúde Mental e no CAPS ad. O alcoolismo feminino, retratando a evolução do papel da mulher contemporânea na sociedade, questões de gênero e as implicações biológicas, culturais e sociais do alcoolismo onde Edwards e colaboradores discutem as questões biopsicosociais envolvidas na questão. A coleta de dados utilizou a entrevista aberta, com pergunta única: Fale-me a respeito de sua vida que tenha relação com a sua motivação para iniciar e aderir ao tratamento de dependência alcoólica que realiza no CAPS ad. A análise evidenciou: que um dos motivos que caracteriza o alcoolismo feminino refere-se ao prazer proporcionado pelo álcool como escape para as mulheres aliviarem o peso de suas vidas. Estas viveram e experimentaram a solidão, a dor, o sofrimento, a vergonha, a discriminação, as perdas e os agravos físicos e psicológicos decorrentes do uso abusivo de bebida alcoólica. Estas mulheres viveram seus conflitos e suas dores sozinhas com raríssimas exceções, até chegarem ao fim do poço, quando então decidiram procurar e aceitar ajuda. Os itinerários terapêuticos apresentados foram: Hospital Geral; Unidade Básica de Saúde; Pré-natal; Alcoólicos Anônimos (AA); CAPS; CAPS i; Ambulatório de Psiquiatria; Hospital Psiquiátrico e Clínica Especializada de Internação. A motivação para terem iniciado o tratamento foram: desejo de mudarem a realidade que viveram; a perda do poder familiar, ou seja, a perda da guarda dos filhos; a solidão que viveram e a imposição de terceiros para iniciarem o tratamento. Como motivação para adesão ao tratamento foi encontrada na totalidade das narrativas a permanência para conseguir ficar sem uso de bebida alcoólica, e o apoio que receberam da equipe interdisciplinar. Na percepção das mulheres em relação à atuação da equipe interdisciplinar do CAPS ad foi relatada sobre a ajuda que receberam, a escuta, o acolhimento, a paciência, o relacionamento interpessoal entre usuários e profissionais, o cuidado, a força para continuar e a valorização delas como sujeitos essenciais de suas histórias.

Fatores associados à recaída do tabagismo em pacientes assistidos em unidades de saúde da zona oeste do município do Rio de Janeiro

Essa dissertação de mestrado avaliou os fatores associados à recaída do tabagismo de pacientes assistidos em unidades básicas de saúde. Avaliou-se o índice de recaída do tratamento do fumante no Programa Nacional de Controle de Tabagismo, e a associação entre tempo de recaída e preocupação com peso, depressão e/ou ansiedade. Trata-se de um estudo de coorte prospectivo, composta por 135 pacientes, sendo 95 mulheres e 40 homens, que pararam de fumar após 4 semanas de adesão ao tratamento, sendo acompanhados até 6 meses. O índice de recaída encontrado foi semelhantes em ambos os sexos, sendo próximo de 30% aos 3 meses e 50% aos 6 meses. O tempo de sobrevivência mediano também foi semelhante, em torno de 130 dias. A média de ganho de peso foi maior entre os homens aos 3 e 6 meses. Para avaliar os fatores associados ao tempo de recaída foram calculadas as Hazard Ratios (HR) e respectivos intervalos de confiança de 95% (IC 95%), através do modelo semiparamétrico de riscos proporcionais de Cox. Na análise bivariada, as mulheres que achavam que fumar emagrece ou que faziam dieta apresentaram um risco maior de recaída, porém não estatisticamente significante. Entre as que referiram fazer acompanhamento psicológico e/ou psiquiátrico, o tempo de recaída foi 2,62 vezes menor se comparado àquelas que não o faziam. O risco também mostrou-se aumentado com o uso de álcool (HR=2,11, IC 95%1,15-3,89). Entre os homens, os dois pacientes que faziam uso de medicamentos para depressão e/ou ansiedade tiveram recaída. As demais variáveis analisadas não se mostraram associadas ao risco de recaída por apresentarem HR com intervalos não estatisticamente significativos. Os fumantes poderiam se beneficiar de tratamentos que oferecessem de forma complementar atendimentos para nutrição e saúde mental. O aprimoramento das estratégias de cessação do tabagismo devem levar em conta as diferenças de gênero, a necessidade de assistência a problemas psicológicos e psiquiátricos e o controle de peso para os pacientes com maior dificuldade; passos essenciais para o sucesso das políticas públicas de controle do tabagismo no país.

Consumos de bebidas alcoólicas e falsos conceitos - questões de género numa população que recorre aos serviços da Unidade de Cuidados de Saúde Personalizados em Peso da Régua

Dissertação apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Psicologia, ramo de Psicologia Clínica e da Saúde

Monitoring behaviours and experiences before, during and after pregnancy in Ireland

Background: On-going surveillance of behaviours during pregnancy is an important but overlooked population health activity that is particularly lacking in Ireland. Few, if any, nationally representative estimates of most maternal behaviours and experiences are available. While on-going surveillance of maternal behaviours has not been a priority thus far in European countries including Ireland, on-going surveillance was identified as a key priority in the United States (US) during the 1980’s when the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), was established. Today, PRAMS is the only surveillance programme of maternal behaviours and experiences world-wide. Although on-going prevalence estimates are required in Ireland, studies which examine the offspring health effects of maternal behaviours are also required, since various questions regarding maternal exposures and their offspring health effects remain unanswered. Gestational alcohol consumption is one such important maternal exposure which is common in pregnancy, though its offspring health effects are unclear, particularly at lower or moderate levels. Thus, guidelines internationally have not reached consensus on safe alcohol recommendations for pregnant women. The aims of this thesis are to implement the PRAMS in Ireland (PRAMS Ireland), to describe the prevalence of health behaviours around the time of pregnancy in Ireland and to examine the effect of health behaviours on pregnancy and child outcomes (specifically the relationship between alcohol use during pregnancy and infant and child growth). Structure: In Chapter 1, a brief background and rationale for the work, as well as the thesis aims and objective is provided. A detailed description of the design and implementation of PRAMS Ireland is described in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 describe the methodological results of the implementation of the PRAMS Ireland pilot study and PRAMS Ireland main study. In Chapter 5, a comparison of alcohol prevalence in two Irish studies (PRAMS Ireland and Growing up in Ireland (GUI)) and one multi-centre prospective cohort study, Screening for Pregnancy Endpoints (SCOPE) Study is detailed. Chapter 6 describes findings on adherence to National Clinical Guidelines on health behaviours and nutrition around the time of pregnancy in PRAMS Ireland. Findings on exposure to alcohol use in pregnancy and infant growth outcomes are described in Chapter 7 and Chapter 8. The results of analysis conducted to examine the impact of gestational alcohol use on offspring growth trajectories to age ten are described in Chapter 9. Finally, a discussion of the findings, strengths and limitations of the thesis, direction for future research, policy, practice and public health implications are discussed in Chapter 10.Results: Implementation of PRAMS: PRAMS may be an effective system for the surveillance of health behaviours around the time of pregnancy in the Irish context. PRAMS Ireland had high response rates (67% and 61% response rates in the pilot and main study respectively), high item completion rates and valid prevalence estimates for many health behaviours. Examining prevalence of health behaviours: We found high levels of alcohol consumption before and during pregnancy, poor adherence to healthy diets and high levels of smoking before and during pregnancy among women in Ireland. Socially disadvantaged women had higher rates of deleterious health behaviours before pregnancy, although women with the most deleterious behaviour profiles before pregnancy appeared to experience the greatest gain in protective health behaviours during pregnancy. The impact of alcohol use on infant and offspring growth: We found that low and moderate levels of alcohol use did not impact on birth outcomes or offspring growth whereas heavy alcohol consumption resulted in reduced birth length and birth weight; however, this finding was not consistently observed across all studies. Selection, reporting and confounding biases which are common in observational research could be masking harmful effects. Conclusion: PRAMS is a valid and feasible method of surveillance of health behaviours around the time of pregnancy in Ireland. A surveillance program of maternal behaviours and experiences is immediately warranted due to high levels of deleterious health behaviours around the time of pregnancy in Ireland. Although our results do not indicate any evidence of harm, given the quality of evidence available, abstinence and advice of abstinence from alcohol may be the most prudent choice for patients and healthcare professionals respectively. Further studies of the effects of gestational alcohol use are required; particularly those which can reduce selection bias, reporting bias and confounding.

Reduction of quantity smoked predicts future cessation among older smokers.

AIM: To examine whether smokers who reduce their quantity of cigarettes smoked between two periods are more or less likely to quit subsequently. STUDY DESIGN: Data come from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative survey of older Americans aged 51-61 in 1991 followed every 2 years from 1992 to 1998. The 2064 participants smoking at baseline and the first follow-up comprise the main sample. MEASUREMENTS: Smoking cessation by 1996 is examined as the primary outcome. A secondary outcome is relapse by 1998. Spontaneous changes in smoking quantity between the first two waves make up the key predictor variables. Control variables include gender, age, education, race, marital status, alcohol use, psychiatric problems, acute or chronic health problems and smoking quantity. FINDINGS: Large (over 50%) and even moderate (25-50%) reductions in quantity smoked between 1992 and 1994 predict prospectively increased likelihood of cessation in 1996 compared to no change in quantity (OR 2.96, P<0.001 and OR 1.61, P<0.01, respectively). Additionally, those who reduced and then quit were somewhat less likely to relapse by 1998 than those who did not reduce in the 2 years prior to quitting. CONCLUSIONS: Reducing successfully the quantity of cigarettes smoked appears to have a beneficial effect on future cessation likelihood, even after controlling for initial smoking level and other variables known to impact smoking cessation. These results indicate that the harm reduction strategy of reduced smoking warrants further study.

Association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and obesity and hypertension in early adulthood: a population-based study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the associations between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, obesity and hypertension in young adults in a large population-based cohort. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: The study population consisted of 15,197 respondents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative sample of adolescents followed from 1995 to 2009 in the United States. Multinomial logistic and logistic models examined the odds of overweight, obesity and hypertension in adulthood in relation to retrospectively reported ADHD symptoms. Latent curve modeling was used to assess the association between symptoms and naturally occurring changes in body mass index (BMI) from adolescence to adulthood. RESULTS: Linear association was identified between the number of inattentive (IN) and hyperactive/impulsive (HI) symptoms and waist circumference, BMI, diastolic blood pressure and systolic blood pressure (all P-values for trend <0.05). Controlling for demographic variables, physical activity, alcohol use, smoking and depressive symptoms, those with three or more HI or IN symptoms had the highest odds of obesity (HI 3+, odds ratio (OR)=1.50, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.22-2.83; IN 3+, OR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.02-1.44) compared with those with no HI or IN symptoms. HI symptoms at the 3+ level were significantly associated with a higher OR of hypertension (HI 3+, OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.01-1.51; HI continuous, OR = 1.04, 95% CI = 1.00-1.09), but associations were nonsignificant when models were adjusted for BMI. Latent growth modeling results indicated that compared with those reporting no HI or IN symptoms, those reporting 3 or more symptoms had higher initial levels of BMI during adolescence. Only HI symptoms were associated with change in BMI. CONCLUSION: Self-reported ADHD symptoms were associated with adult BMI and change in BMI from adolescence to adulthood, providing further evidence of a link between ADHD symptoms and obesity.

Tobacco smoking increases the risk of high-grade dysplasia and cancer among patients with Barrett's esophagus

Background & Aims: Esophageal adenocarcinoma arises from Barrett's esophagus (BE); patients with this cancer have a poor prognosis. Identification of modifiable lifestyle factors that affect the risk of progression from BE to esophageal adenocarcinoma might prevent its development. We investigated associations among body size, smoking, and alcohol use with progression of BE to neoplasia. Methods: We analyzed data from patients with BE identified from the population-based Northern Ireland BE register, diagnosed between 1993 and 2005 with specialized intestinal metaplasia (n = 3167). Data on clinical, demographic, and lifestyle factors related to diagnosis of BE were collected from hospital case notes. We used the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry to identify which of these patients later developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, adenocarcinomas of the gastric cardia, or esophageal high-grade dysplasia. Cox proportional hazards models were used to associate lifestyle factors with risk of progression.
Results: By December 31, 2008, 117 of the patients with BE developed esophageal high-grade dysplasia or adenocarcinomas of the esophagus or gastric cardia. Current tobacco smoking was significantly associated with an increased risk of progression (hazard ratio = 2.03; 95% confidence interval, 1.29-3.17) compared with never smoking, and across all strata of smoking intensity. Alcohol consumption was not related to risk of progression. Measures of body size were infrequently reported in endoscopy reports, and body size was not associated with risk of progression.
Conclusions: Smoking tobacco increases the risk of progression to cancer or high-grade dysplasia 2-fold among patients with BE, compared with patients with BE that have never smoked. Smoking cessation strategies should be considered for patients with BE.

Low workplace social capital as a predictor of depression - The Finnish public sector study

In a prospective cohort study of Finnish public sector employees, the authors examined the association between workplace social capital and depression. Data were obtained from 33,577 employees, who had no recent history of antidepressant treatment and who reported no history of physician-diagnosed depression at baseline in 2000-2002. Their risk of depression was measured with two indicators: recorded purchases of antidepressants until December 31, 2005, and self-reports of new-onset depression diagnosed by a physician in the follow-up survey in 2004-2005. Multilevel logistic regression analysis was used to explore whether self-reported and aggregate-level workplace social capital predicted indicators of depression at follow-up. The odds for antidepressant treatment and physician-diagnosed depression were 20-50% higher for employees with low self-reported social capital than for those reporting high social capital. These associations were not accounted for by sex, age, marital status, socioeconomic position, place of work, smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, and body mass index. The association between social capital and self-reported depression attenuated but remained significant after further adjustment for baseline psychological distress (a proxy for undiagnosed mental health problems). Aggregate-level social capital was not associated with subsequent depression.