Laeknabladid最新文献

Introduction: Rural medicine is in many ways different from urban primary care. In addition to providing primary care for a population, the rural doctor is tasked with the initial evaluation and stabilization of all emergencies usually managed by an Emergency Department in urban areas. The goal of this study was to assess rural doctors' in Iceland attendance of courses in Emergency Medicine (EM), how rural doctors grade their own ability to respond to emergencies and evaluate their Continuous Medical Education (CME) within the field of EM.

Materials and methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, all rural general practitioners (GP) in Iceland with at least two years of experience post foundation training and who practiced at least a quarter of every year outside the capital area were surveyed using an electronic questionnaire. T-test and qi-square test were used for analysis and significance determined if p<0.05.

Results: The survey was sent to 84 doctors with 47 (56%) completing the survey. Over 90% of the participants reported having completed a course in Advanced Life Support (ALS) but only 18% had completed a course in prehospital EM specifically designed for this group of doctors. Over half of the participants considered themselves to have good training to perform 7 out of 11 surveyed emergency procedures. Over 40% of participants considered it necessary to improve their CME in 7 out of 10 categories of EM. The majority of rural GPs considered shortage of doctors in the rural environment a significant factor limiting their CME.

Conclusions: The majority of rural doctors in Iceland consider themselves to have a good training to provide initial EM care in their community. Efforts to improve their training in this field of medicine should focus on scene safety and working in the prehospital setting, pediatrics, labor and deliveries and gynecological emergencies. Rural doctors need to have access to appropriate EM training courses.

Introduction: The use of proton pump inhibitors (PPI) has increased over the past decades. Some patients use the medication without an indication. It is possible that new use will start following surgery. The study aimed to examine the incidence of postoperative use of PPI following surgeries and the ratio of new persistent users over three months postoperatively as well as patient- and procedural variables associated with new use and new persistent use.

Methods: Data of surgeries among adults that had undergone surgeries at the National University Hospital of Iceland from 2006 to 2018. The data were from the Icelandic perioperative database, containing information regarding medication usage preceding and following surgeries. The ratio of those who started using PPI within three months of surgery was assessed, and the ratio of persistent users.

Results: Altogether, 2886 out of 42.530 patients filled PPI prescription within three months after their first surgery. Annual incidence was 67 per 1.000 surgeries, and the ratio of persistent users was 54%, although both the varied between years. The use was more common among women, highest in age group 56-65 years old, patients with polypharmacy (5-9 medicines) and who underwent abdominal surgeries.

Conclusions: New postoperative PPI use is common following surgery and half of the patients with new use develop new persistent use. The usage increased similar to the increased number of prescriptions and sales of PPI in other patient groups during the period. The results indicate the need for further monitoring of patients with PPI prescriptions following surgeries in Iceland.

Introduction: Our objective was to investigate the effect of obesity on short-term complications and long-term survival after surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) for aortic stenosis (AS).

Material and methods: A retrospective study on 748 patients who underwent SAVR for AS in Iceland 2003-2020. Patients were divided into groups based on body mass index (BMI): normal (18.5-24.9 kg/m2, n=190), overweight (25-29.9 kg/m2, n=339), obese (30-34.9 kg/m2, n=165) and severely obese (≥35 kg/m2, n=54). Six patients with BMI p<18,5 kg/m2 were excluded. Clinical information regarding patient history, risk factors, together with complications and 30-day mortality were collected from patient records. The four BMI groups were compared and long-term survival estimated with Kaplan-Meier plots and risk factors for long-term survival evaluated with Cox multivariate analysis.

Results: Severely obese patients were on average four years younger than patients with normal BMI, more often had risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and their EuroSCORE II was higher (5.3 vs. 4.4%, p=0.03). On the other hand, severely obese patients bled less the first 24 hours post-surgery, compared to normal BMI-patients (558 vs. 1091 ml, p<0.001), stroke was less frequent (0 vs 6.4%, p=0.03), but they more often experienced sternum dehiscence (5.6 vs 2.7%, p=0.04), deep sternal wound infection (3.7 vs 0%, p=0.04) and acute kidney injury (26.4 vs 15.2%, p=0.005). Thirty-day mortality and long-term survival did not differ significantly between the groups and BMI was not an independent predictor of long-term survival in multivariate analysis.

Conclusions: The outcome for obese patients undergoing SAVR for AS is good and both short-term complications and long-term survival do not differ significantly from patients with a normal BMI. Therefore, a high BMI itself should not be a contraindication for SAVR due to AS.

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.