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A prospective cohort of 74,332 men and women was used to investigate the association of body mass index and height with suicide, anxiety, and depression. Participants in the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (Norway, 1984- 1986) (HUNT 1) were... more
A prospective cohort of 74,332 men and women was used to investigate the association of body mass index and height with suicide, anxiety, and depression. Participants in the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (Norway, 1984- 1986) (HUNT 1) were aged 20 years or more and followed up until December 31, 2002. Anxiety and depression were measured with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression
Research Interests: Depression, Obesity, Suicide, Linear models, Comorbidity, and 27 moreAnxiety, Norway, Prospective studies, Humans, Standard Deviation, Smoking, Mathematical Sciences, Female, Alcohol Drinking, Male, American, Body Mass Index, Risk factors, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Rating Scale, Middle Aged, Adult, Odds ratio, Health surveys, Risk Factors, ANXIETY, Body Height, Prospective Study, General Population, Confidence Interval, Cohort Studies, and Socioeconomic Factors
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IN PRESS: Sleep problems are reported as common among performing artists and musicians. However, epidemiological research comparing musicians to different groups of the general population is lacking. 4,168 members of the Norwegian... more
IN PRESS: Sleep problems are reported as common among performing artists and musicians. However, epidemiological research comparing musicians to different groups of the general population is lacking. 4,168 members of the Norwegian Musician’s Union were invited to an online survey regarding work and health. Of the 2,121 (51%) respondents, 1,607 were active performing musicians. We measured prevalence of insomnia symptoms using the Bergen Insomnia Scale (BIS), and compared this sample to a representative sample of the general Norwegian population (n=2,645). Overall, musicians had higher prevalence of insomnia symptoms compared to the general population (Prevalence Difference 6.9, 95% Confidence Interval 3.9-10.0). Item response analysis showed that this difference was mainly explained by nonrestorative sleep and dissatisfaction with sleep among musicians. An additional analysis, comparing musicians to the general Norwegian workforce (n=8,518) on sleep difficulties, confirmed this tend...
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Examining the associations between health and lifestyle factors recorded in the participants' early teens and development of suicidal thoughts recorded 4 years later. Population-based prospective cohort study. All students in the two... more
Examining the associations between health and lifestyle factors recorded in the participants' early teens and development of suicidal thoughts recorded 4 years later. Population-based prospective cohort study. All students in the two relevant year classes in Nord-Trøndelag County were invited, 80% attended both waves of data collection. 2399 secondary school students who participated in the Young-HUNT1 study in 1995-1997 (13-15 years old) were included in a follow-up study 4 years later (17-19 years old). Suicidal thoughts reported at age 17-19 years. 408 (17%, 95% CI 15.5% to 18.5%) of the adolescents reported suicidal thoughts at follow-up, 158 (14.2%, CI 13.6% to 16.4%) boys and 250 (19.5%, CI 18.8% to 22.0%) girls. Baseline anxiety and depressive symptoms (adjusted OR (aOR) 1.9, CI 1.4 to 2.6), conduct problems (aOR 1.8, CI 1.3 to 2.6), overweight (aOR 1.9 CI 1.4 to 2.4), and muscular pain and tension (aOR 1.8, CI 1.4 to 2.4), were all associated with reporting suicidal thou...
Research Interests: Epidemiology, Depression, Obesity, Public Health, Adolescent, and 19 moreAnxiety, Paediatrics, Students, Prospective studies, Humans, Female, Male, Young Adult, Follow-up studies, Musculoskeletal pain, Mental Disorders, Risk factors, Suicidal Ideation, Adult, Sex Factors, Odds ratio, Risk Factors, ANXIETY, and Adolescent Behavior
Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Anxiety Disorders, Higher Education, Depression, and 15 moreHumans, Sampling methods, Cohort Study, Follow-up studies, Social Psychiatry, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Clinical Sciences, Rating Scale, Validity and Reliability, Questionnaires, Depressive Symptoms, Level, Syndrome, General Population, and Disabled Persons
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Research Interests: Psychology, Inflammation, Comorbidity, Multivariate Analysis, Psychological Medicine, and 19 moreNorway, Humans, Psychological, Female, Male, Depressive Disorder, Risk factors, Aged, Middle Aged, C reactive protein, Myocardial Infarction, Public health systems and services research, Biological markers, Risk Factors, Population Study, Cross Sectional Studies, Neurosciences, Logistic Models, and Case Control Studies
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Research Interests: Depression, Nonparametric Statistics, Linear models, Anxiety, Multivariate Analysis, and 23 moreNorway, Osteoporosis, Humans, Affective Disorders, Female, Male, Young Adult, Bone Density, Risk factors, Aged, Middle Aged, Longitudinal Studies, Affective, Adult, Cross Section, Sex Factors, Bone Mineral Density, Chi Square Distribution, Risk Factors, ANXIETY, Depressive Symptoms, Cross Sectional Studies, and General Population
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Mental illness is consistently underrecognized in general health care, which may lead to underestimation of its effects on awards for social security payments. The authors investigated empirically the contribution of psychiatric morbidity... more
Mental illness is consistently underrecognized in general health care, which may lead to underestimation of its effects on awards for social security payments. The authors investigated empirically the contribution of psychiatric morbidity to the award of disability pensions, in particular those awarded for physical diagnoses. Using a historical cohort design, the authors utilized a unique link between a large epidemiological cohort study and a comprehensive national database. Baseline information on mental and physical health was gathered from a 1995-1997 population-based health study of those of working age (20-66 years) in Nord-Trøndelag County, Norway, who were not recipients of disability pension (N=45,782). The outcome assessed was the awarding of disability pensions ascribed to specific ICD-10 diagnoses within 6 to 30 months as registered in the National Insurance Administration. Anxiety and depression were robust predictors of disability pension awards in general, even when disability pensions awarded for any mental disorder were excluded. These effects were only partly explained by baseline somatic symptoms and diagnoses and were stronger in individuals aged 20-44 than in those aged 45-66. Somatic symptoms accounted for far more disability pension awards than did somatic diagnoses. The cost of common mental disorders in terms of disability pensions and lost productivity may have been considerably underestimated by official statistics, particularly for younger claimants. The results suggest this might be due both to overuse of physical diagnoses and underrecognition of common mental disorders in primary care.
Research Interests: Anxiety Disorders, Social Security, Comorbidity, Norway, Social Welfare, and 16 morePensions, Humans, Male, Confidence intervals, Cohort Study, American, Depressive Disorder, Mental Disorders, Common Mental Disorders, Aged, Middle Aged, Adult, Sex Factors, Odds ratio, Age Factors, and Cohort Studies
Research Interests: Depression, Obesity, Suicide, Linear models, Comorbidity, and 27 moreAnxiety, Norway, Prospective studies, Humans, Standard Deviation, Smoking, Mathematical Sciences, Female, Alcohol Drinking, Male, American, Body Mass Index, Risk factors, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Rating Scale, Middle Aged, Adult, Odds ratio, Health surveys, Risk Factors, ANXIETY, Body Height, Prospective Study, General Population, Confidence Interval, Cohort Studies, and Socioeconomic Factors
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The recommendation of adjuvant chemotherapy for colon cancer with lymph node metastases, based on two studies from USA, was reluctantly accepted by Norwegian medical doctors. It was therefore decided to assess the role of adjuvant therapy... more
The recommendation of adjuvant chemotherapy for colon cancer with lymph node metastases, based on two studies from USA, was reluctantly accepted by Norwegian medical doctors. It was therefore decided to assess the role of adjuvant therapy with 5fluorouracil (5-FU) combined with levamisole (Lev) in a confirmatory randomised study. Four hundred and twenty five patients with operable colon and rectum cancer, Stage II and III (Dukes' stage B and C), were from January 1993 to October 1996, included in a randomised multicentre trial in Norway. The age limits were 18-75 years. Therapy started with a loading course of bolus i.v. 5-FU (450 mg/m(2)) daily for 5 days and p.o. doses of Lev (50 mg x 3) for 3 days. From day 28 a weekly i.v. 5-FU dose (450 mg/m(2)) were administered for 48 weeks. From day 28 also p.o. doses of Lev (50 mg x 3) for 3 days were given every 14 days. In total 214 patients were randomised to 5FU/Lev and 211 were included in the control group with surgery alone. Some did not comply with the inclusion and exclusion criteria, thus leaving 206 evaluable patients in each group. There was no significant survival difference between the two groups at 5 years: Disease-free survival (DFS) was 73% after chemotherapy, 68% (p=0.24) in the control group, and corresponding cancer specific survival (CSS) 75% and 71%, respectively (p=0.69). There was no difference between the two groups when analysed for colon and rectum separately. However, the subgroup of colon cancer with stage III exhibited a statistically significant difference both for DFS, 58% vs. 37% (p=0.012) and CSS, 65% vs. 47% (p=0.032) in favour of adjuvant chemotherapy. The benefit was further statistically significant for women but not for men. Toxicity was generally mild and acceptable with no drug related fatalities. Colon cancer patients with lymph node metastases benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy with 5-FU/Lev with acceptable toxicity. In a subgroup analysis females did better than males. Rectal cancer does not benefit from this regimen.
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This study investigated frequencies of smoking, alcohol use, and illicit drug use by diagnostic category in 566 adolescent psychiatric patients, comparing this sample with 8173 adolescents from the general population in Norway who... more
This study investigated frequencies of smoking, alcohol use, and illicit drug use by diagnostic category in 566 adolescent psychiatric patients, comparing this sample with 8173 adolescents from the general population in Norway who completed the Young-HUNT 3 survey. Frequencies of current alcohol use were high in both samples but were lower among psychiatric patients. Compared with adolescents in the general population, adolescents in the clinical sample had a higher prevalence of current smoking and over four times higher odds of having tried illicit drugs. In the clinical sample, those with mood disorders reported the highest frequencies of smoking, alcohol use, and illicit drug use, whereas those with autism spectrum disorders reported the lowest frequencies. Our results show an increased prevalence of risky health behaviors among adolescents with psychiatric disorders compared with the general population. The awareness of disorder-specific patterns of smoking and substance use ma...