Laeknabladid最新文献

Introduction: Coercion is considered controversial and is criticized around the world. Involuntary medication is one type of coercion, but the extent of its use in Iceland is not well known. The aim of this study is to shed light on the extent and time of involuntary medication in Landspitali University Hospital in Iceland, when it is most often used and whether there is a difference between patients who receive involuntary medication and those who do not receive such treatment.

Material and methods: This study is a quantitative descriptive retrospective study using data obtained from medical records. The sample consisted of all patients admitted to the psychiatric inpatient wards at Landspitali University Hospital in Iceland in the years 2014-2018 (N=4053). The sample was divided into two groups, group 1 with patients who received involuntary medication n=400 (9.9%) and group 2 with patients who did not receive such treatment n=3653 (90.1%).

Results: The total number of involuntary medications was 2438 and about 1% of the total sample received about half of all involuntary medication. Involuntary medications were most frequent during the daytime during weekdays and late at night, but no notable difference was seen between months of the year. When comparing the groups, it appears that proportionally more men and patients with foreign citizenship are in group 1 than in group 2, but no notable difference is seen in age between groups. Patients in group 1 had more visits to the emergency services at Landspitali, more admissions, and patient days per patient at psychiatric wards in Landspitali than those in group 2. The most common medical diagnosis in group 1 were within the schizophrenia spectrum (F20-F29) and mood disorders (F30-39) but in group 2 the most common medical diagnosis were mental and behavioral disorders due to psychoactive substance use (F10-19) and mood disorders (F30-F39).

Conclusion: Findings indicate certain risk factors for involuntary medication regarding demographic, medical diagnosis, use of services as well as external factors such as timing of involuntary medication. A more detailed analysis could be used to reduce the use of coercive treatment. Further research is needed on the use of coercion in psychiatric wards in Iceland.

For decades, breast implants have been available for breast reconstructions and breast augmentations to improve the patients' health-related quality of life. Silicone implants (SI) have been used since the middle of the last century for breast reconstruction, for example after breast cancer, for birth defects, gender confirmation procedures, or for breast augmentation. Every year, several hundred SI are performed in Iceland for these purposes, but no central register is maintained. It can be estimated that at least 1000 - 3000 women have SI in Iceland and that around 300 Icelandic patients get SI every year. This informal review article discusses the so-called ASIA syndrome, the immunological effects of silicone and the possible relationship of SI to autoimmune diseases, symptoms, and diagnosis. In the methodology, this paper does not rely on the strict conditions of systematic reviews, but the authors relied only on peer-reviewed sources through PubMed, UpToDate and Scopus. The keywords used are silicon, silicon implant, silicon particles, immune response, autoimmunity, autoinflammation, Autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by aduvants, ASIA, ASIA syndrome, breast implant illness. The paper reviews known facts about the disease, its characteristics, and statistical aspects.

The common femoral artery is a widely used for access in endovascular interventions. Various complications, such as hematoma, pseudoaneurysm and AV-fistula (AVF), can arise from arterial punctures with estimated prevalence between 1-10%. AVF is a rare complication with prevalence p<1%. AVF can cause a hemodynamic change in the form of a arteriovenous shunt (AV-shunt). AV-shunts in the groin are usually small and asymptomatic but tend to be symptomatic with larger and persistent AVFs which can present with leg claudication or high outpute heart failure.

Introduction: To limit exposure to methylmercury several countries have implimented specific advice on fish intake to pregnant women as well a measuring compliance through regular human biomonitoring. Despite fish intake being relatively high in Iceland, human biomonitoring data on mercury is scarce.

Materials and mehods: We measured mercury in hair from 120 pregnant women recruited in 2021 from the the Reykjavik Capital area. At recruitment, information on fish intake during the past four months was recorded. Hair mercury concentrations were compared to existing health based guidance values and associatons with fish intake was explored.

Results: Mean (standard deviation) mercury concentration in hair was 0.48 μg/g (0.33). All participants had concentrations in hair below 1.8 μg/g, which corresponds to the hair value that the tolerable daily intake set by the European Food Safety Authority is derived from, while 5% had concentrations above 1.1 μg/g, which corresponds to the hair value that the US-EPA reference dose is derived from. Mean mercury concentrations in hair increased in a dose dependent manner (p for trend p<0.001) from 0.25 μg/g among women who consumed fish ≤ 3/month (n=24) and up to 0.80 mg/g among those consuming fish 3-4/ week (n=16). The few (n=3) women who reported to have eaten shark (p<1/month) were all at the higher end of the exposure distribution.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that exposure is generally below the tolerable daily intake set by EFSA but may in some women exceed the reference dose established by the US-EPA.

Introduction: Maternal deaths are rare and an indirect measure of the societal framework surrounding pregnancy and childbirth. We surveyed and classified maternal mortality in Iceland using international guidelines, calculating changes over a 40-year period.

Material and methods: Information from Statistics Iceland on women aged 15-49 years who died in 1985-2015 were cross-checked against birth registration and hospital admission data to identify women who died in pregnancy or ≤42 and within 43-365 days from birth or termination of a pregnancy. Data for 1976-1984 were searched manually. Case records and autopsy reports were scrutinized. Deaths were classified as direct, indirect or coincidental and as early or late.

Results: Among 1600 women 48 died in pregnancy or within a year after pregnancy. Births totaled 172369 and overall maternal mortality was 27.8/100.000 births. Maternal mortality by World Health Organization criteria (direct/indirect ≤42 days) occurred in 14 instances giving a maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 8.1/100.000. Rates lowered between the first and last 10-year periods, particularly initially followed by a lesser downward trend. Direct deaths were 6, indirect 20, coincidental 22 (accidents, diseases). Causes of direct deaths were severe preeclampsia, pulmonary embolism and choriocarcinoma. Underlying causes of indirect deaths included cancer, diabetes, brain/heart conditions and suicide. No deaths occurred from ectopic pregnancy, hemorrhage or anesthesia.

Conclusions: Maternal mortality in Iceland is among the lowest reported. Women died because of the pregnancy, from worsening of underlying conditions or coincidentally. Risk groups require better support. Continued attention to adverse health connected to maternity is essential.

We report a case of a man with a 30-year history of treatment-resistant hypertension, hydropoiesis, tachycardic spells and dysgeusia. Despite repeated visits to the emergency department and work-up in an out-patient clinic, the diagnosis was unknown. Three years prior to remittance to an endocrinologist, the hypertension worsened, and he developed diabetes type-II. Further work-up revealed a 3 cm extra-adrenal pheochromocytoma, a paraganglioma. After surgical removal of the tumor, he is without medication and symptom free. Pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma are rare causes of hypertension, estimated to explain 0.1-0.6% of all cases, but nonetheless an important diagnosis to make, due to serious side effects.

Introduction: Chronic pain is a health problem that is one of leading cause of disability. Studies have shown that various aspects of a person's history, such as difficult experiences in early life, can affect lifestyle and health later. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between chronic pain, adverse childhood experience (ACE) and violence in adulthood in the general population of Iceland.  MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study. The sample was 12.400 individuals, 18-80 years of age, randomly selected from respondents' group of the data collection company MASKINA (National Portal). Data on chronic pain, ACE and experience of violence in adulthood were examined. Statistical processing was carried out in IBM SPSS Statistics 28th edition.  RESULTS: Response rate was 44.8% (female 57.1%, M=56 years). Prevalence of chronic pain (≥3 months) was 40.1%. A total of 91.1% of participants answered questions about ACE, of which 16.1% ≥4 ACE-scores. There was a positive relationship between ACE and chronic pain (OR = 1.675, 95% CI: 1.420 - 1.977). Those who had ≥4 ACE-scores were more likely to have experienced violence in adulthood.  CSONCLUSION: The results of this study show that chronic pain and violence in adulthood can be associated with psychological childhood trauma. People who experience psychological childhood trauma and violence in adulthood are more likely to suffer from chronic pain. It is important to be aware of experiences of childhood psychological trauma and violence when people seek healthcare for chronic pain.