BACKGROUND: Paediatric cancer care poses ethically difficult situations that can lead to value conflicts about what is best for the child, possibly resulting in moral distress. Research on moral distress is lacking in paediatric cancer care in Sweden and most questionnaires are developed in English. The Moral Distress Scale-Revised (MDS-R) is a questionnaire that measures moral distress in specific situations; respondents are asked to indicate both the frequency and the level of disturbance when the situation arises. The aims of this study were to translate and culturally adapt the questionnaire to the context of Swedish paediatric cancer care. In doing so we endeavoured to keep the content in the Swedish version as equivalent to the original as possible but to introduce modifications that improve the functional level and increase respondent satisfaction.

METHODS: The procedure included linguistic translation and cultural adaptation of MDS-R's paediatric versions for Physicians, Nurses and Other Healthcare Providers to the context of Swedish paediatric cancer care. The process of adjustment included: preparation, translation procedure and respondent validation. The latter included focus group and cognitive interviews with healthcare professionals in paediatric cancer care.

RESULTS: To achieve a Swedish version with a good functional level and high trustworthiness, some adjustments were made concerning design, language, cultural matters and content. Cognitive interviews revealed problems with stating the level of disturbance hypothetically and items with negations caused even more problems, after having stated that the situation never happens.

CONCLUSIONS: Translation and cultural adaptation require the involvement of various types of specialist. It is difficult to combine the intention to keep the content as equivalent to the original as possible with the need for modifications that improve the functional level and increase respondent satisfaction. The translated and culturally adapted Swedish MDS-R seems to have equivalent content as well as improved functional level and respondent satisfaction. The adjustments were made to fit paediatric cancer care but it could be argued that the changes are relevant for most areas of paediatric care of seriously ill patients.

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Background: Incident reporting (IR) in health care has been advocated as a means to improve patient safety. The purpose of IR is to identify safety hazards and develop interventions to mitigate these hazards in order to reduce harm in health care. Using qualitative methods is a way to reveal how IR is used and perceived in health care practice. The aim of the present study was to explore the experiences of IR from two different perspectives, including heads of departments and IR coordinators, to better understand how they value the practice and their thoughts regarding future application. Methods: Data collection was performed in Ostergotland County, Sweden, where an electronic IR system was implemented in 2004, and the authorities explicitly have advocated IR from that date. A purposive sample of nine heads of departments from three hospitals were interviewed, and two focus group discussions with IR coordinators took place. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Two main themes emerged from the data: "Incident reporting has come to stay" building on the categories entitled perceived advantages, observed changes and value of the IR system, and "Remaining challenges in incident reporting" including the categories entitled need for action, encouraged learning, continuous culture improvement, IR system development and proper use of IR. Conclusions: After 10 years, the practice of IR is widely accepted in the selected setting. IR has helped to put patient safety on the agenda, and a cultural change towards no blame has been observed. The informants suggest an increased focus on action, and further development of the tools for reporting and handling incidents.

Aims: It is important to predict response to treatment with temozolomide (TMZ) in glioblastoma (GBM) patients. Both MGMT protein expression and MGMT promoter methylation status have been reported to predict the response to TMZ. We investigated the prognostic value of quantified MGMT protein levels in tumour cells and the prognostic importance of combining information of MGMT protein level and MGMT promoter methylation status. Methods: MGMT protein expression was quantified in tumour cells in 171 GBMs from the population-based Region of Southern Denmark (RSD)cohort using a double immunofluorescence approach. Pyrosequencing was performed in 157 patients. For validation we used GBM-patients from a Nordic Study (NS) investigating the effect of radiotherapy and different TMZ schedules. Results: When divided at the median, patients with low expression of MGMT protein (AF-low) had the best prognosis (HR = 1.5, P = 0.01). Similar results were observed in the subgroup of patients receiving the Stupp regimen (HR = 2.0, P = 0.001). In the NS-cohort a trend towards superior survival (HR = 1.6, P = 0.08) was seen in patients with AF-low. Including MGMT promoter methylation status, we found for both cohorts that patients with methylated MGMT promoter and AF-low had the best outcome; median OS 23.1 and 20.0 months, respectively. Conclusion: Our data indicate that MGMT protein expression in tumour cells has an independent prognostic significance. Exclusion of nontumour cells contributed to a more exact analysis of tumour-specific MGMT protein expression. This should be incorporated in future studies evaluating MGMT status before potential integration into clinical practice.

Background: Traditional obesity prevention programs are time-and cost-intensive. Mobile phone technology has been successful in changing behaviors and managing weight; however, to our knowledge, its potential in young children has yet to be examined. Objective: We assessed the effectiveness of a mobile health (mHealth) obesity prevention program on body fat, dietary habits, and physical activity in healthy Swedish children aged 4.5 y. Design: From 2014 to 2015, 315 children were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group. Parents in the intervention group received a 6-mo mHealth program. The primary outcome was fat mass index (FMI), whereas the secondary outcomes were intakes of fruits, vegetables, candy, and sweetened beverages and time spent sedentary and in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Composite scores for the primary and secondary outcomes were computed. Results: No statistically significant intervention effect was observed for FMI between the intervention and control group (mean +/- SD: -0.23 +/- 0.56 compared with -0.20 +/- 0.49 kg/m(2)). However, the intervention group increased their mean composite score from baseline to follow-up, whereas the control group did not (+ 0.36 +/- 1.47 compared with -0.06 +/- 1.33 units; P = 0.021). This improvement was more pronounced among the children with an FMI above the median (4.11 kg/m(2)) (P = 0.019). The odds of increasing the composite score for the 6 dietary and physical activity behaviors were 99% higher for the intervention group than the control group (P = 0.008). Conclusions: This mHealth obesity prevention study in preschool-aged children found no difference between the intervention and control group for FMI. However, the intervention group showed a considerably higher postintervention composite score (a secondary outcome) than the control group, especially in children with a higher FMI. Further studies targeting specific obesity classes within preschool-aged children are warranted.

Background: Oxaliplatin (OXA) is frequently used in the treatment of patients with colorectal cancer, and OXA-induced neurotoxic side effects are common. Reports on real-time patient-reported neurotoxic side effects and impact on the patient's daily activities are sparse in existing studies. Objective: The aim of this study was to identify and assess patient-reported OXA-induced neurotoxic side effects and their impact on the patient's daily activities, during and after chemotherapy. Methods: In a multicenter prospective longitudinal study, 46 chemo-naïve patients with colorectal cancer treated with postoperative adjuvant OXA-based chemotherapy were monitored during treatment and at 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month follow-ups. Patients were recruited from September 2013 to June 2016. In total, 370 Oxaliplatin-Associated Neurotoxicity Questionnaire responses were available for analysis. A mobile phone-based system was used to receive real-time assessments. Results: All patients reported neurotoxic side effects and impact on daily activities during treatment. The side effects changed in character and body location over time and had an impact on the daily activities. Conclusions: The high prevalence of OXA-induced neurotoxic side effects significantly interfered with the patients' daily activities. We found significant differences between baseline data and follow-up time points for neurotoxicity, and the patients had not returned to baseline after 1 year. Implications for Practice: The real-time assessment using mobile phone technology seems to be a valuable tool for monitoring patient-reported neurotoxicity and interventions for tailored care. Effectively identifying neurotoxicity and its impact on the patient's daily activities is important in supportive cancer care.

Objectives: The quality of epidemiological injury data depends on the reliability of reporting to an injury surveillance system. Ascertaining whether all physicians/physiotherapists report the same information for the same injury case is of major interest to determine data validity. The aim of this study was therefore to analyse the data collection reliability through the analysis of the interrater reliability. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Methods: During the 2016 European Athletics Advanced Athletics Medicine Course in Amsterdam, all national medical teams were asked to complete seven virtual case reports on a standardised injury report form using the same definitions and classifications of injuries as the international athletics championships injury surveillance protocol. The completeness of data and the Fleiss kappa coefficients for the inter-rater reliability were calculated for: sex, age, event, circumstance, location, type, assumed cause and estimated time-loss. Results: Forty-one team physicians and physiotherapists of national medical teams participated in the study (response rate 89.1%). Data completeness was 96.9%. The Fleiss kappa coefficients were: almost perfect for sex (k = 1), injury location (k = 0.991), event (k = 0.953), circumstance (k = 0,942), and age = 0.870), moderate for type (k = 0.507), fair for assumed cause (k = 0.394), and poor for estimated time loss (k = 0.155). Conclusions: The injury surveillance system used during international athletics championships provided reliable data for "sex", "location", "event", "circumstance", and "age". More caution should be taken for "assumed cause" and "type", and even more for "estimated time-loss". This injury surveillance system displays satisfactory data quality (reliable data and high data completeness), and thus, can be recommended as tool to collect epidemiology information on injuries during international athletics championships. (C) 2018 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Background Illnesses impair athletes’ participation and performance. The epidemiology of illness in athletics is limited.

Objective To describe the occurrence and characteristics of illnesses during international athletics championships (indoor and outdoor), and to analyse differences with regards to athletes’ sex and participation in explosive and endurance disciplines.

Methods During 11 international championships held between 2009 and 2017, physicians from both national medical teams and the local organising committees reported daily on all athlete illnesses using a standardised report form. Illness frequencies, incidence proportions (IPs) and rates (IRs), and relative risks (RR) with 95% CIs were calculated.

Results During the 59 days of the 11 athletics championships, 546 illnesses were recorded in the 12 594 registered athletes equivalent to IP of 43.4 illnesses per 1000 registered athletes (95% CI 39.8 to 46.9) or IR of 1.2 per 1000 registered athlete days (95% CI 1.1 to 1.2). The most frequently reported illnesses were upper respiratory tract infections (18.7%), exercise-induced fatigue/hypotension/collapse (15.4%) and gastroenteritis (13.2%). No myocardial infarction was recorded. A total of 28.8% of illnesses were expected to lead to time loss from sport. The illness IP was similar in male and female athletes, with few differences in illness characteristics. During outdoor championships, the illness IP was higher in endurance than explosive disciplines (RR=1.87; 95% CI 1.58 to 2.23), with a considerably higher IP of exercise-induced illness in endurance disciplines, but a similar upper respiratory tract infection IP in both discipline groups.

Conclusions Illness prevention strategies during international athletics championships should be focused on the most frequent diagnoses in each discipline group.

Objective To compare injury rates among professional mens football teams that have a winter break in their league season schedule with corresponding rates in teams that do not. Methods 56 football teams from 15 European countries were prospectively followed for seven seasons (2010/2011-2016/2017)-a total of 155 team-seasons. Individual training, match exposure and time-loss injuries were registered. Four different injury rates were analysed over four periods within the season, and linear regression was performed on team-level data to analyse the effect of winter break on each of the injury rates. Crude analyses and analyses adjusted for climatic region were performed. Results 9660 injuries were reported during 1 447 011 exposure hours. English teams had no winter break scheduled in the season calendar: the other European teams had a mean winter break scheduled for 10.0 days. Teams without a winter break lost on average 303 days more per season due to injuries than teams with a winter break during the whole season (pamp;lt;0.001). The results were similar across the three periods August-December (p=0.013), January-March (pamp;lt;0.001) and April-May (p=0.050). Teams without a winter break also had a higher incidence of severe injuries than teams with a winter break during the whole season (2.1 severe injuries more per season for teams without a winter break, p=0.002), as well as during the period JanuaryMarch (p=0.003). A winter break was not associated with higher team training attendance or team match availability. Climatic region was also associated with injury rates. Conclusions The absence of a scheduled winter break was associated with a higher injury burden, both before and during the two periods following the time that many European teams take a winter break. Teams without a winter break (English clubs) had a higher incidence of severe injuries following the time of the year that other teams (other European clubs) had their scheduled break.

Between June-September 2018, 20 hepatitis A cases were notified in six counties in Sweden. Combined epidemiological and microbiological investigations identified imported frozen strawberries produced in Poland as the source of the outbreak. Sequence analysis confirmed the outbreak strain IB in the strawberries with 100 % identity and the respective batch was withdrawn. Sharing the sequence information internationally led to the identification of 14 additional cases in Austria, linked to strawberries from the same producer.

Sport participation is associated with a risk of sports-related injuries and illnesses, and Paralympic athletes additional medical issues can be a challenge to health care providers and medical staff. However, few prospective studies have assessed sports-related injuries and illnesses in Paralympic sport (SRIIPS) over time. Advances in mobile phone technology and networking systems offer novel opportunities to develop innovative eHealth applications for collection of athletes self-reports. Using eHealth applications for collection of self-reported SRIIPS is an unexplored area, and before initiation of full-scale research of SRIIPS, the feasibility and usability of such an approach needs to be ascertained.

Familial dilated cardiomyopathy is a rare cause of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), especially in childhood. Our aim was to describe the clinical course and the genetic variants in a family where the proband was a four-month-old infant presenting with respiratory problems due to DCM. In the family, there was a strong family history of DCM and sudden cardiac death in four generations. DNA was analyzed initially from the deceased girl using next-generation sequencing including 50 genes involved in cardiomyopathy. A cascade family screening was performed in the family after identification of the TNNT2 and the BAG3 variants in the proband. The first-degree relatives underwent clinical examination including biochemistry panel, cardiac ultrasound, Holter ECG, exercise stress test, and targeted genetic testing. The index patient presented with advanced DCM. After a severe clinical course, the baby had external left ventricular assist as a bridge to heart transplantation. 1.5 months after transplantation, the baby suffered sudden cardiac death (SCD) despite maximal treatment in the pediatric intensive care unit. The patient was shown to carry two heterozygous genetic variants in the TNNT2 gene [TNNT2 c.518G amp;gt; A(p.Arg173Gln)] and BAG3 [BAG3 c.785C amp;gt; T(p.Ala262Val)]. Two of the screened individuals (two females) appeared to carry both the familial variants. All the individuals carrying the TNNT2 variant presented with DCM, the two adult patients had mild or moderate symptoms of heart failure and reported palpitations but no syncope or presyncopal attacks prior to the genetic diagnosis. The female carriers of TNNT2 and BAG3 variants had more advanced DCM. In the family history, there were three additional cases of SCD due to DCM, diagnosed by autopsy, but no genetic analysis was possible in these cases. Our findings suggest that the variants in TNNT2 and BAG3 are associated with a high propensity to life-threatening cardiomyopathy presenting from childhood and young adulthood.

Psychosocial resources may serve as an important link to explain socioeconomic differences in health. Earlier studies have demonstrated that education, income and occupational status cannot be used interchangeably as indicators of a hypothetical latent social dimension. In the same manner, it is important to disentangle the effect of measuring different constructs of psychosocial resources. The aim of this study was therefore to analyse if associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and psychosocial resources differ depending on the measures used. A cross-sectional population-based study of a random sample (n = 1007) of middle-aged individuals (45-69 years old, 50% women) in Sweden was performed using questionnaire and register data. SES was measured as education, occupation, household income and self-rated economy. Psychosocial resources were measured as social integration, social support, mastery, self-esteem, sense of coherence (SOC) and trust. Logistic regression models were applied to analyse the relationships controlling for the effects of possible confounders. The measures of SES were low or moderately correlated to each other as were the measures of psychosocial resources. After controlling for age, sex, country of birth and employment status, household income and self-rated economy were associated with all six psychosocial resources; occupation was associated with three (social integration, self-esteem and trust) and education with two (social integration and self-esteem). Social integration and self-esteem showed a significant and graded relationship with all SES measures; trust was associated with all SES measures except education, whereas SOC and mastery were only associated with household income and self-rated economy. After controlling for other SES measures, no associations with psychosocial resources remained for education or occupation. In conclusion, associations between SES and psychosocial resources did differ depending on the measures used. The findings illustrate the importance of the choice of measure when investigating SES as well as psychosocial resources.

Objectives: To investigate health-related factors associated with self-rated race performance outcomes among recreational long-distance runners. Design: Panel study. Methods: Data were collected from runners one month before and after a community-level race event including distances from 8 to 42.2 km. The primary outcome measure was self-rated race performance outcome. The explanatory variables represented health complaints suffered during the build-up year, the pre-race month, and the race and among full marathon runners predicted objective performance outcome (mean pace equal to training pace or faster). Multiple logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with the self-rated performance outcome. Results: Two-hundred forty-five runners (29%) provided complete data sets. Seventy-four percent of the runners reached their desired race performance outcome. Achievement of the performance outcome was more likely when having avoided illness during the build-up and pre-race periods (OR = 3.8; 95% CI:1.8-8.0, p amp;lt; 0.001), having avoided per-race injury (OR=3.0; 95% CI:1.2-7.4, p = 0.02) and avoided perrace illness (OR= 4.1; 95% CI:1.3-15, p = 0.020). Having obtained the self-rated performance outcome was also associated with running a shorter distance (OR=3.6; 95% CI: 1.7-8.0,p = 0.001) and being younger than 50 years of age (OR= 2.4; 95% CI:1.1-5.3-8.3, p = 0.03). Having met the predicted objective performance outcome predisposed marathon runners to also obtain the self-rated performance outcome (OR= 4.7, 95% CI: 1.5-16, p amp;lt; 0.01). Conclusions: Having avoided illness during build-up and pre-race was positively associated with self-rated race performance outcome among recreational runners. Adjusting the desired performance outcomes with regard to recent illness and age may help recreational runners to more often achieve their goals and thereby prevent them from leaving the sport. (C) 2019 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The objective of this study was to investigate a sudden increase in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) cases primarily in one maternity ward at the Center for Childrens and Womens Health at Linkoping University Hospital, Sweden. Approximately 300 individuals including patients, their family members, and healthcare workers were screened for MRSA. The antibiotic susceptibility was tested and isolates polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-positive for the mecA gene were spa typed. Isolates with the same antibiogram and spa type were further whole genome sequenced. Compliance to current cleaning and hygiene routines was also controlled, and environmental samples collected. The results showed that a total of 13 individuals were involved in the outbreak. It was caused by a t386 MRSA strain (ST-1, NCBI-accession AB505628) with additional resistance to erythromycin and clindamycin. All cases were epidemiologically connected to the index patient, who had recently emigrated from a high-endemic area for MRSA. With improved cleaning and better compliance to basic hygiene routines, no further cases were reported. This study demonstrates how rapid an MRSA strain can disseminate in a ward with susceptible patients and insufficient cleaning and hygiene. For a better control of MRSA, clinical cultures and screening samples need to be obtained early and more extensively than according to the current recommendations.

Introduction: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common problem among patients with glioblastoma multi-forme (GBM) and with some other cancers. Here, we evaluated genetic and non-genetic potential risk factors for VTE among GBM patients. Materials and methods: A cohort of 139 patients treated with concomitant radiotherapy and temozolomide were included in the study. Next generation sequencing and genotyping approaches were applied to assess genetic risk factors in the haemostatic system. Clinical data including surgery, reoperation as well as blood group and patient information such as age and gender were available from patient records. Logistic regression analysis was performed to asses VTE risk. Results: In the study 47 patients (34%) were diagnosed for VTE during the course of their disease. When genetic and non-genetic potential risk factors were evaluated, only B blood group was found to be significantly associated with VTE incidence (odds ratio [OR] = 6.91; confidence interval [CI] = 2.19-24.14; P = 0.001). In contrast, A and O blood groups did not correlate with VTE risk. Frontal lobe tumor location also seemed to slightly increase VTE risk compared to other brain sites (OR = 3.14; CI = 1.1-10.7) although the significance level was at borderline (P = 0.05). Current study identified B blood group as the component in non-O blood groups that is responsible for increased VTE risk. Conclusion: In conclusion, these results suggest for the first time that B blood group is predictive for VTE incidence among patients with glioblastoma, information that may be potentially valuable when selecting GBM patients who are at risk for VTE for anticoagulant prophylaxis.

Background Despite a rapidly growing body of research, a systematic evidence compilation of the risk and protective factors for middle- and long-distance running-related injury (RRI) was lacking. Objectives Our objective was to compile the evidence about modifiable and non-modifiable training-related and behavioral risk and protective factors for middle- and long-distance RRI. Methods We searched five databases (PubMed, CINAHL, MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, and PsycINFO) for the dates 1 January 1970 to 31 December 2015, inclusive, for original peer-reviewed articles. The eligible designs were cross-sectional, case-control, longitudinal observational studies, and randomized controlled trials involving runners competing at distances from amp;gt;= 800 m to amp;lt;= 42.2 km. Outcomes were any specific and/or general RRI, and exposures included training-related and behavioral factors. We extracted authors and date, study design, injury type(s), descriptors and comparators for each exposure, and results and measures of association from the selected studies. Methodological quality was independently appraised using two separate checklists: a modified checklist for observational study designs and the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale for randomized controlled trials. Results Among 73 articles eligible for inclusion, 19 (26.0%) and 30 (41.0%) were of high or satisfactory methodological quality, respectively. As a non-modifiable exposure, a history of previous injury was found to be associated with an increased risk of both general and specific RRI. In terms of modifiable exposures, irregular and/or absent menstruation was found to be associated with an increased risk of stress fracture development, whereas the use of oral contraceptives was found to be associated with a decreased risk. High clinical, methodological, and statistical heterogeneity meant it was not feasible to estimate a pooled effect size across similar studies. Conclusions A history of previous injury was associated with an increased risk of both general and specific RRI. The use of oral contraceptives was found to be associated with a decreased risk of skeletal stress fracture. Conversely, irregular and/or absent menstruation was associated with an increased risk. The varied effect directions and/or a number of statistically insignificant results associated with the majority of factors hindered our ability to draw any definitive conclusions about their relationship to RRI risk.

Background The incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) continues to increase in most countries worldwide and the majority are diagnosed with thin tumours (<= 1 mm). Objectives The aim of the present study was to investigate the melanoma-specific survival (MSS) as well as conditional MSS (CMSS) in patients with thin CMM in Sweden. Patients and methods Clinical and histological parameters were obtained from the Swedish Melanoma Registry for patients diagnosed with thin CMM between 1990 and 2017. Patients were followed until the end of 2017. MSS as well as CMSS for different thickness groups were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analyses were used to calculate for survival differences between thickness groups. Results There were 31 670 patients included for final analyses. The overall 10- and 20-year MSS for thin CMMs was 97% [95% confidence interval (CI) 97-97] and 95% (95% CI 95-96), respectively. From 0 center dot 7 mm and above, MSS decreased significantly with increasing thickness level. All thickness groups had an increased survival over time. The lowest CMSS was confirmed for men with 1 center dot 0 mm in thickness but their 10-year CMSS increased steadily over time. Women had overall better MSS as well as CMSS than men. However, the relation between MSS and CMSS was similar for both sexes. Conclusions MSS was confirmed as excellent for patients with thin CMMs in Sweden. Although we could show a decreased MSS for patients with 0 center dot 7 mm thickness and above, the long-term survival and, in addition, a very favourable CMSS for those patients do not support more extended follow-up programmes than the current recommendations in Sweden. What is already known about this topic? The majority of patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma are diagnosed with thin melanomas (<= 1 mm) and the survival is generally reported as favourable. What does this study add? Our national population-based designed study, including 31 670 patients with thin melanomas, is exclusive when it comes to melanoma survival data, as many former studies are based on selected and smaller cohorts of patients (e.g. referral centres/hospital-based registries). In addition to an excellent overall melanoma-specific survival (MSS), we could also report an increasing conditional MSS with time from diagnosis for patients with thin melanomas in Sweden.

Background

Cutaneous melanoma is steadily increasing worldwide. The new AJCC 8th edition was recently launched and introduced several changes in melanoma staging, particularly for stage III. We conducted a population-based registry study with the purpose to evaluate the impact and prognostic accuracy of the new classification in Sweden.

Methods

Consecutive patients diagnosed with stage III melanoma between January 2005 and September 2017 were identified by the Swedish Melanoma Registry (SMR) and included for analyses. Patients with multiple primary melanomas were excluded. Patients were classified according to the AJCC 7th as well as the 8th edition. Melanoma-specific survival (MSS) was retrieved from the Swedish Cause of Death Registry.

Results

A total of 2067 eligible patients were identified from the SMR; 1150 patients (57%) changed stage III subgroup when reclassified according to the AJCC 8th edition. The median 5- and 10-year MSS for the whole cohort of stage III melanoma patients was 59% and 51% respectively. The MSS for substage IIIA, B, and C were all improved when patients were reclassified by using to the AJCC 8th edition. The newly defined substage IIID had the worst prognosis with a 10-year MSS of 16%.

Conclusions

A high proportion of patients diagnosed with stage III melanoma in Sweden between 2005 and 2017 was restaged to another subgroup, when they were reclassified according to the AJCC 8th of staging manual. We established an improved MSS for all substages compared with the former AJCC 7th edition. This may have implications on decisions about adjuvant treatment.

BackgroundSentinel lymph node (SLN) metastasis in patients with thin melanomas (1mm) is uncommon but adverse prognostic factors may indicate an increased risk. We sought to determine how often SLN biopsy (SLNB) was performed in patients with thin melanomas, establish the frequency of SLN metastasis and evaluate the predictive value of ulceration, tumor mitotic rate, and thickness for SLN involvement. MethodsMelanoma patients with a Breslow thicknessgreater than or equal to 0.5 to less than or equal to 1mm, diagnosed 2009-2016, were identified in the Swedish Melanoma Register (SMR) and the Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA) Database. ResultsIn total 8165 patients were included from the SMR and 1603 from MIA. SLNB was performed in 9.5% and 16.2% of patients, respectively. Corresponding figures for T1b (American Joint Committee on Cancer [AJCC] 7th Edition) were 19.5% and 24.6%. The SLN positivity rate were 4.4% (Sweden) and 5.8% (MIA). SLN metastasis was more frequent in tumors with ulceration, mitoses, and Breslow thickness greater than or equal to 0.9mm but none were statistically significant. Younger age was identified as a significant risk factor for SLN positivity at MIA. ConclusionsA minority of patients with thin melanomas had SLNB performed and the SLN positivity rate was low. This study did not confirm tumor ulceration, mitoses, or thickness as statistically significant predictors for SLN metastasis.

Engaging in competitive sports as a youth can have many health benefits, but recent studies also report a high risk for injury. The long-term purpose of this Swedish research program is to develop a framework for safe track and field training for young athletes (aged 12-15years). The aim of this study was to establish what is perceived to contribute and cause injuries in youth track and field by compiling the best available experiential knowledge about the underlying factors and use this knowledge to identify appropriate areas to handle these in practical ways. Nine focus group interviews with in total 74 participants and confirming interviews with five individuals were performed in seven Swedish regions. Qualitative research methods were used for data analysis. Injuries in youth athletes were not considered to be strictly the result of individual factors but rather the result of the interactions between factors at different levels. Three major factors emerged as follows: Insufficient knowledge for athletic development in daily practice; shortsighted communities of practice and sports policies not adjusted to youth; and societal health behaviors. The experiential knowledge in the national sporting community suggests that if effective and sustainable injury prevention processes are to be implemented for youth track and field, an ecological (holistic-developmental) approach to injury prevention is needed. Such an approach allows a longitudinal development-focused strategy for prevention that spans an athletes entire career.

Objective

To investigate the modulation of the inflammatory response after sclerotherapy for hydrocoele/spermatocoele.

Patients and Methods

All patients with hydrocoele or spermatocoele presenting at the Department of Urology, University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden, from 2006 to 2012, were included in this prospective observational study of sclerotherapy for hydrocoele/spermatocoele using polidocanol as a sclerosing agent and adjuvant antibiotic and anti‐inflammatory medication (AAAM) for modulation of the inflammatory response. Patients were clinically evaluated within 24–48 h after a complication or adverse event possibly related to sclerotherapy. Evaluation of cure was scheduled after 3 months and re‐treatment, if necessary was carried out in the same manner as the first treatment. Groups of patients were compared using the chi‐squared test and logistic regression analysis.

Results

From a total of 191 patients, AAAM was given to 126, of whom 5% had subclinical epididymitis/swelling (SES) compared to 26% of the patients without AAAM (P < 0.001). No other complication was observed. The rate of cure for the whole group of patients was 93% after one or two treatments and significantly higher in the group with AAAM than in the group without AAAM (96% vs 88%, P = 0.03).

Conclusions

Modulation of the inflammatory response after sclerotherapy resulted in a lower incidence of SES and an increased cure rate.

Background

Both high socioeconomic status (SES) and high physical activity (PA) are associated with better self-rated health (SRH) and higher quality-of-life (QoL).

Aim

To investigate whether high levels of PA may compensate for the association between low SES and subjective health outcomes in terms of poorer SRH and lower QoL.

Method

Data from a cross-sectional, population-based study (n = 5326) was utilized. Multiple logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the associations between indicators of SES (economic situation and educational level), SRH and QoL, as well as between the combination of SES and PA in relation to SRH and QoL.

Result

Participants with high PA and economic problems had approximately the same OR for good SRH as those with low PA and without economic problems (OR 1.75 [95% CI 1.20–2.54] and 1.81 [1.25–2.63] respectively). Participants with high PA and low education had higher odds for good SRH (OR 3.34 [2.96–5.34] compared to those with low PA and high education (OR 1.46 [0.89–2.39]).Those with high PA and economic problems had an OR of 2.09 [1.42–3.08], for high QoL, while the corresponding OR for those with low PA and without economic problems was 4.38 [2.89–6.63].

Conclusion

Physically active people with low SES, had the same or even better odds to report good SRH compared to those with low PA and high SES. For QoL the result was not as consistent. The findings highlight the potential for promotion of PA to reduce SES-based inequalities in SRH.

Objective: To develop a valid and reliable questionnaire addressing the experiences of healthcare personnel of communicating over language barriers and using interpreters in paediatric healthcare. Methods: A multiple- methods approach to develop and evaluate the questionnaire, including focus groups, cognitive interviews, a pilot test and test-retest. The methods were chosen in accordance with questionnaire development methodology to ensure validity and reliability. Results: The development procedure showed that the issues identified were highly relevant to paediatric healthcare personnel and resulted in a valid and reliable Communication over Language Barriers questionnaire (CoLB-q) with 27 questions. Conclusion: The CoLB-q is perceived as relevant, important and easy to respond to by respondents and has satisfactory validity and reliability.amp; nbsp; Practice implications: The CoLB-q can be used to map how healthcare personnel overcome language barriers through communication tools and to identify problems encountered in paediatric healthcare. Furthermore, the transparently described process could be used as a guide for developing similar questionnaires. (C) 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

This study set out to identify factors critical for the usability of electronic data collection in association with championships in individual sports. A qualitative analysis of electronic data collection system usability for collection of data on pre-participation health from athletes and in-competition injury and illness from team physicians was performed during the 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships. A total of 15 athletes and team physicians participated. Athletes were found to experience few problems interacting with the electronic data collection system, but reported concerns about having to reflect on injury and illness before competitions and the medical terminology used. Team physicians encountered problems when first navigating through the module for clinical reporting, but they were not subjected to motivational problems. We conclude that athletes motivation to self-report health data and the design of the human-computer interface for team physicians are key issues for the usability of electronic data collection systems in association with championships in individual sports.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a primary autosomal-dominant disorder of the myocardium with variable expressivity and penetrance. Occasionally, homozygous sarcomere genetic variants emerge while genotyping HCM patients. In these cases, a more severe HCM phenotype is generally seen. Here, we report a case of HCM that was diagnosed clinically at 39years of age. Initial symptoms were shortness of breath during exertion. Successively, he developed a wide array of severe clinical manifestations, which progressed to an ominous end-stage heart failure that resulted in heart transplantation. Genotype analysis revealed a missense MYBPC3 variant NM_000256.3:c.2618Camp;gt;A,p.(Pro873His) that presented in the homozygous form. Conflicting interpretations of pathogenicity have been reported for the Pro873His MYBPC3 variant described here. Our patient, presenting with two copies of the variant and devoid of a normal allele, progressed to end-stage heart failure, which supports the notion of a deleterious effect of this variant in the homozygous form.

Fast-track programmes are aimed at improving perioperative care. The purpose of this study was to identify and explore patient participation among patients who had surgery for liver, bile duct or pancreatic cancer and followed a fast-track programme. A total of 116 questionnaires to investigate patient participation were analysed. Information was important for the patients, as was having the opportunity to ask questions and express personal views. The results showed differences by sex; men responded to a greater extent that they did not want to make decisions as a patient (p = 0.044) and that they had been motivated to take more responsibility for their future health (p = 0.011). Patients with pancreatic cancer discussed treatment goals with doctors to a greater extent than did patients with liver cancer (p = 0.041). Half of the patients perceived that they had not been involved in their care planning after discharge but had a desired to be involved. This seems to be an important point to improve in future care, and also that professionals should be aware of patients' needs for information and participation, especially at discharge.

Introduction Our primary objective was to test the hypothesis that human epididymal protein 4 (HE4) and risk of ovarian malignancy index outperform the CA 125 and risk of malignancy index tests in categorizing a pelvic mass into high or low risk of malignancy in a Swedish population. Furthermore, cut-off values needed to be defined for HE4 and ROMA in premenopausal and postmenopausal women prior to their introduction to clinical practice. A third objective was to investigate the correlation between HE4 levels in serum and urine. Material and methods Women with a pelvic mass scheduled for surgery were recruited from nine hospitals in south-east Sweden. Preoperative blood samples were taken for analyzing CA125 and HE4 as well as urine samples for analyzing HE4. Results We enrolled a total of 901 women, of whom 784 were evaluable. In the premenopausal and postmenopausal groups, no significant differences were found for sensitivity, positive and negative predictive value, either for RMI vs ROMA or for CA125 vs HE4 using a fixed specificity of 75%. Cut-off values indicating malignancy were established for HE4 and ROMA in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. We found no correlation between HE4 concentration in serum and urine. Conclusions We could not confirm that ROMA had diagnostic superiority over RMI in categorizing women with a pelvic mass into low-risk or high-risk groups for malignancy in a Swedish population. We have defined cut-off values for HE4 and ROMA. The lack of correlation between serum and urine HE4 obviates the introduction of urine HE4 analysis in clinical diagnostics.

Background

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease have lifelong needs to learn how to manage their symptoms and life situation. The range of actions that patients take in order to manage daily life and maintain health is referred to as self-care. Assessment of self-care in patients with inflammatory bowel disease could allow targeted support and education by health careprofessionals. There are no existing measures assessing self-care in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Objectives

The aim was to develop and evaluate the self-care questionnaire for assessment of self-care among patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Methods

Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to develop the inflammatory bowel disease self-care questionnaire. The development and evaluation process was performed in three phases: (1) item generation based on interviews with patients with inflammatory bowel disease (n = 20), (2) content validation in a panel of experts (n = 6) and patients (n = 100) assessed with the content validity index, cognitive interviews and quantifying and ranking the items to determine the usability of the questionnaire, and (3) final evaluation through a pilot study (n = 93) with test-retest evaluation (n = 50). An expert review group of three nurses and one physician continuously discussed the result during the development process.

Results

A total of 91 patients with Crohn's disease and 102 with ulcerative colitis participated. The final self-care questionnaire consists of 22 items. Assessment of content validity indicated that the items were adequate and easy to understand. Test-retest reliability was confirmed with intraclass correlations above 0.6 after a three week interval, for all items except one.

Conclusion

An inflammatory bowel disease-specific self-care questionnaire was developed using structured methods. The evaluation indicated good validity and reliability. The questionnaire may be a useful tool to assess the ability of patients with inflammatory bowel disease to perform routine self-care.

Från och med 2009 erbjuds praktiska färdighetsövningar på Clinicum där läkarstudenter under handledning går genom teoretisk bakgrund och övar genomförande av praktiska färdigheter kopplade till mål inom cirkulation, respiration och ortopedi på anatomiska modeller. En observationsstudie genomfördes med fokus på studentcentrerat lärande, meningsfullhet och relevans, samt lärande i samarbete med andra. Det konstaterades att lärmomentet genomförs i enlighet med grundläggande principer för PBL, är stark kopplat till den kliniska praktiken, samt att det bjuder in till att lära i samarbete med andra.

Förbättringsmöjligheter identifierades i tillgänglighet av referensmaterial om teoretisk bakgrund före utbildningsmomentet för att underlätta undervisningens anpassning till studenternas aktuella kunskaper. Att dessutom göra det möjligt att skicka frågor till lärarna som förberedelse skulle bidra till ökad individualisering och effektivisering av utbildningsmomenten.

Introduction: A pilot study of temozolomide (TMZ) given before radiotherapy (RT) for anaplastic astrocytoma (AA) and glioblastoma (GBM) resulted in prolonged survival compared to historical controls receiving RT alone. We therefore investigated neoadjuvant TMZ (NeoTMZ) in a randomized trial. During enrollment, concomitant and adjuvant radio-chemotherapy with TMZ became standard treatment. The trial was amended to include concurrent TMZ.Patients and methods: Patients, after surgery for GBM or AA, age 60 years and performance status (PS) 0-2, were randomized to either 2-3 cycles of TMZ, 200mg/m(2) days 1-5 every 28 days, followed by RT 60Gy in 30 fractions or RT only. Patients without progressive disease after two TMZ cycles, received the third cycle. From March 2005, TMZ 75mg/m(2) was administered daily concomitant with RT. TMZ was recommended first-line treatment at progression. Primary endpoint was overall survival and secondary safety.Results: The study closed prematurely after enrolling 144 patients, 103 with GBM and 41 with AA. Median age was 53 years (range 24-60) and 89 (62%) were male. PS was 0-1 for 133 (92%) patients, 53 (37%) had complete surgical resection and 18 (12%) biopsy. Ninety-two (64%) received TMZ concomitant with RT. Seventy-two (50%) were randomized to neoadjuvant treatment. For the overall study population survival was 20.3 months for RT and 17.7 months for NeoTMZ (p=.76), this not reaching the primary objective. For the preplanned subgroup analysis, we found that NeoTMZ AA patients had a median survival of 95.1 months compared to 35.2 months for RT (p=.022). For patients with GBM, no difference in survival was observed (p=.10). MGMT and IDH status affected outcome.Conclusions: No advantage of NeoTMZ was noted for the overall study population or subgroup of GBM, while NeoTMZ resulted in 5 years longer median survival for patients diagnosed as AA.

BACKGROUND: Heavy consumption of alcohol among university students is a global problem, with excessive drinking being the social norm. Students can be a difficult target group to reach, and only a minority seek alcohol-related support. It is important to develop interventions that can reach university students in a way that does not further stretch the resources of the health services. Text messaging (short message service, SMS)-based interventions can enable continuous, real-time, cost-effective, brief support in a real-world setting, but there is a limited amount of evidence for effective interventions on alcohol consumption among young people based on text messaging. To address this, a text messaging-based alcohol consumption intervention, the Amadeus 3 intervention, was developed.

OBJECTIVE: This study explored self-reported changes in drinking habits in an intervention group and a control group. Additionally, user satisfaction among the intervention group and the experience of being allocated to a control group were explored.

METHODS: Students allocated to the intervention group (n=460) were asked about their drinking habits and offered the opportunity to give their opinion on the structure and content of the intervention. Students in the control group (n=436) were asked about their drinking habits and their experience in being allocated to the control group. Participants received an email containing an electronic link to a short questionnaire. Descriptive analyses of the distribution of the responses to the 12 questions for the intervention group and 5 questions for the control group were performed.

RESULTS: The response rate for the user feedback questionnaire of the intervention group was 38% (176/460) and of the control group was 30% (129/436). The variation in the content of the text messages from facts to motivational and practical advice was appreciated by 77% (135/176) participants, and 55% (97/176) found the number of messages per week to be adequate. Overall, 81% (142/176) participants stated that they had read all or nearly all the messages, and 52% (91/176) participants stated that they were drinking less, and increased awareness regarding negative consequences was expressed as the main reason for reduced alcohol consumption. Among the participants in the control group, 40% (52/129) stated that it did not matter that they had to wait for access to the intervention. Regarding actions taken while waiting for access, 48% (62/129) participants claimed that they continued to drink as before, whereas 35% (45/129) tried to reduce their consumption without any support.

CONCLUSIONS: Although the main randomized controlled trial was not able to detect a statistically significant effect of the intervention, most participants in this qualitative follow-up study stated that participation in the study helped them reflect upon their consumption, leading to altered drinking habits and reduced alcohol consumption.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number ISRCTN95054707; http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN95054707 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/705putNZT).

The number of citations that a research paper receives can be used as a measure of its scientific impact. The objective of this study was to identify and to examine the characteristics of top 100 cited articles in the field of Medical Informatics based on data acquired from the Thomson Reuters Web of Science (WOS) in October, 2016. The data was collected using two procedures: first we included articles published in the 24 journals listed in the "Medical Informatics" category; second, we retrieved articles using the key words: "informatics", "medical informatics", "biomedical informatics", "clinical informatics" and "health informatics". After removing duplicate records, articles were ranked by the number of citations they received. When the 100 top cited articles had been identified, we collected the following information for each record: all WOS database citations, year of publication, journal, author names, authors affiliation, country of origin and topics indexed for each record. Citations for the top 100 articles ranged from 346 to 7875, and citations per year ranged from 11.12 to 525. The majority of articles were published in the 2000s (n=43) and 1990s (n=38). Articles were published across 10 journals, most commonly Statistics in medicine (n=71) and Medical decision making (n=28). The articles had an average of 2.47 authors. Statistics and biostatistics modeling was the most common topic (n=71), followed by artificial intelligence (n=12), and medical errors (n=3), other topics included data mining, diagnosis, bioinformatics, information retrieval, and medical imaging. Our bibliometric analysis illustrated a historical perspective on the progress of scientific research on Medical Informatics. Moreover, the findings of the current study provide an insight on the frequency of citations for top cited articles published in Medical Informatics as well as quality of the works, journals, and the trends steering Medical Informatics.

Patient participation for safer health care - interviews with physicians and nurses

Patient participation to achieve safer care is an area of growing policy, research and health care management and practice interest. Patients are uniquely placed to observe their treatment, care and physical environment throughout their journey in the health care system. However, very few studies have investigated health care providers attitudes and beliefs concerning patient participation for improved patient safety. This study explored factors that acted as facilitators and/or barriers to patient participation for safer care, as perceived by physicians and nurses in Swedish health care. Interviews were conducted with 13 physicians and 11 nurses, using a purposeful sampling strategy to achieve a heterogeneous sample of providers. We identified nine categories of factors, many of which functioned as barriers to patient participation to achieve safer care.

Objectives To describe the implementation of a trigger tool in Sweden and present the national incidence of adverse events (AEs) over a 4-year period during which an ongoing national patient safety initiative was terminated. Design Cohort study using retrospective record review based on a trigger tool methodology. Setting and participants Patients amp;gt;= 18 years admitted to all somatic acute care hospitals in Sweden from 2013 to 2016 were randomised into the study. Primary and secondary outcome measures Primary outcome rneasure was the incidence of AEs, and secondary measures were type of injury, severity of harm, preventability of AEs, estimated healthcare cost of AEs and incidence of AEs in patients cared for in another type of unit than the one specialised for their medical needs (off-site). Results In a review of 64 917 admissions, the average AE rates in 2014 (11.6%), 2015(10.9%) and 2016 (11.4%) were significantly lower than in 2013 (13.1 %). The decrease in the AE rates was seen in different age groups, in both genders and for preventable and non-preventable AEs. The decrease comprised only the least severe AEs. The types of AEs that decreased were hospital-acquired infections, urinary bladder distention and compromised vital signs. Patients cared for off-site had 84% more preventable AEs than patients cared for in the appropriate units. The cost of increased length of stay associated with preventable AEs corresponded to 13%-14% of the total cost of somatic hospital care in Sweden. Conclusions The rate of AEs in Swedish somatic hospitals has decreased from 2013 to 2016. Retrospective record review can be used to monitor patient safety over time, to assess the effects of national patient safety interventions and analyse challenges to patient safety such as the increasing care of patients off-site. It was found that the economic burden of preventable AEs is high.

Background: During the recent decades, breast cancer survival has gradually improved but there is limited knowledge on the improvement in population-based studies of patients diagnosed with different stages of the disease and in different age groups.Patients and methods: In two Swedish health care regions a total of 42,220 female breast cancer patients below 90years of age were diagnosed between 1989 and 2013. They were treated and followed according to national and regional guidelines and formed a population-based cohort.Results: Using patients diagnosed in 1989-1993 as a reference to the relative risk, 5-year mortality decreased with 49% for patients diagnosed at the end of the observation period (CI 95% 45-58). The mortality tended to decrease for patients with all stages of breast cancer and test for trend resulted in a statistically significant improvement over time in 5-year relative survival in stage III and IV and in 10-year survival in stage I and III. For each operable stage of disease, patients aged below 40years or more than 70years when diagnosed tended to have less favorable survival than patients diagnosed between 40-69years of age. Test for trend resulted in statistically significant improvements over time for patients diagnosed at ages below 40, 40-54 and 54-69, but less marked improvements for patients older than 70 when diagnosed.Conclusions: During the period 1989-2013 the relative risk of 5-year mortality decreased with 49%. Improvements were seen in all age groups but were unevenly distributed between stages and age groups pointing to the need for further improvements for younger and elderly patients.

Preventable hospital acquired infections are common A modified GTT (Global trigger tool) was used for 480 patient records from 15 departments at Linköping University Hospital. Sixty-three hospital-acquired infections (HAI) were detected at 59 admissions. Postoperative wound infections were most common (44.4 %). Catheter-related urinary infections occurred in 15.9 %, infections associated with a central venous catheter in 7.9 % and hospital-acquired pneumonia in 6.3 % of all HAI.  Other types of HAI consisting of any abscess or oral Candida infection composed 17.5 %. Some 221 patients were operated (46.0 %). Postoperative wound infections were diagnosed in 28 of them (12.7 %), the majority after discharge from hospital. Most urinary infections were diagnosed in emergency patients (8/10). Prolonged hospital stay or unplanned return to hospital occurred in 54 %. Out of 63 HAI some 76.2 % were judged as probably preventable, and 11.1 % as preventable.

Background: The Short Form 36-Item Survey is one of the most commonly used instruments for assessing health-related quality of life. Two identical versions of the original instrument are currently available: the public domain, license free RAND-36 and the commercial SF-36.RAND-36 is not available in Swedish. The purpose of this study was threefold: to translate and culturally adapt the RAND-36 into Swedish; to evaluate its reliability and responsiveness using Svensson's method for paired ordered categorical data; and to assess the usability of an electronic version of the questionnaire.The translation process included forward and backward translations and reconciliation. Test-retest reliability was examined during a period of two-weeks in 84 patients undergoing dialysis for chronic kidney disease. Responsiveness was examined in 97 patients before and 2 months after a cardiac rehabilitation program. Usability tests and cognitive debriefing of the electronic questionnaire were carried out with 18 patients.

Results: The Swedish translation of the RAND-36 was conceptually equivalent to the English version. Test-retest reliability was supported by non-significant relative position (RP) values among dialysis patients for all RAND-36 subscales (range - 0.02 to 0.10; all confidence intervals (CI) included zero). Responsiveness was demonstrated by significant improvements in RP values among cardiac rehabilitation patients for all subscales (range 0.22-0.36; lower limits of all CI > 0.1) except two subscales (General health, RP -0.02; CI -0.13 to 0.10; and Role functioning/emotional, RP 0.03; CI -0.09 to 0.16). In cardiac rehabilitation patients, sizable individual variation (RV > 0.2) was also shown for the Pain, Energy/fatigue and Social functioning subscales.The electronic version of RAND-36 was found easy and intuitive to use.

Conclusions: Our results provide evidence supporting the reliability and responsiveness of the newly translated Swedish RAND-36 and the user-friendliness of the electronic version. Svensson's method for paired ordinal data was able to characterize not only the direction and size of differences among the patients' responses at different time points but also variations in response patterns within groups. The method is therefore, besides being suitable for ordinal data, also an important and novel tool for gaining insights into patients' response patterns to treatment or interventions, thus informing individualized care.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the use of second-look resection (SLR) in stage T1 bladder cancer (BC) in a population-based Swedish cohort. Materials and methods: All patients diagnosed with stage T1 BC in 2008-2009 were identified in the Swedish National Registry for Urinary Bladder Cancer. Registry data on TNM stage, grade, primary treatment and pathological reports from the SLR performed within 8weeks of the primary transurethral resection were validated against patient charts. The endpoint was cancer-specific survival (CSS). Results: In total, 903 patients with a mean age of 74years (range 28-99 years) were included. SLR was performed in 501 patients (55%), who had the following stages at SLR: 172 (35%) T0, 83 (17%) Ta/Tis, 210 (43%) T1 and 26 (5%) T2-4. The use of SLR varied from 18% to 77% in the six healthcare regions. Multiple adjuvant intravesical instillations were given to 420 patients (47%). SLR was associated with intravesical instillations, age younger than 74 years, discussion at multidisciplinary tumour conference, G3 tumour and treatment at high-volume hospitals. Patients undergoing SLR had a lower risk of dying from BC (hazard ratio 0.62, 95% confidence interval 0.45-0.84, pamp;lt;.0022). Five-year CSS rates were as follows, in patients with the indicated tumours at SLR (p=.001): 82% in those with T1, 90% in T0, 90% in Ta/Tis and 56% in T2-4. Conclusions: There are large geographical differences in the use of SLR in stage T1 BC in Sweden, which are presumably related to local treatment traditions. Patients treated with SLR have a high rate of residual tumour but lower age, which suggests that a selection bias affects CSS.

Background: The Hospital Ethical Climate Survey (HECS) was developed in the USA and later shortened (HECS-S). HECS has previously been translated into Swedish and the aim of this study was to describe a process of translating and culturally adapting HECS-S and to develop a Swedish multi-professional version, relevant for paediatrics. Another aim was to describe decisions about retaining versus modifying the questionnaire in order to keep the Swedish version as close as possible to the original while achieving a good functional level and trustworthiness. Methods: In HECS-S, the respondents are asked to indicate the veracity of statements. In HECS and HECS-S the labels of the scale range from almost never true to almost always true; while the Swedish HECS labels range from never to always. The procedure of translating and culturally adapting the Swedish version followed the scientific structure of guidelines. Three focus group interviews and three cognitive interviews were conducted with healthcare professionals. Furthermore, descriptive data were used from a previous study with healthcare professionals (n = 89), employing a modified Swedish HECS. Decisions on retaining or modifying items were made in a review group. Results: The Swedish HECS-S consists of 21 items including all 14 items from HECS-S and items added to develop a multi-professional version, relevant for paediatrics. The descriptive data showed that few respondents selected never and always. To obtain a more even distribution of responses and keep Swedish HECS-S close to HECS-S, the original labels were retained. Linguistic adjustments were made to retain the intended meaning of the original items. The word respect was used in HECS-S with two different meanings and was replaced in one of these because participants were concerned that respecting patients wishes implied always complying with them. Conclusions: The process of developing a Swedish HECS-S included decisions on whether to retain or modify. Only minor adjustments were needed to achieve a good functional level and trustworthiness although some items needed to be added. Adjustments made could be used to also improve the English HECS-S. The results shed further light on the need to continuously evaluate even validated instruments and adapt them before use.

Purpose Assess exertional heat illness (EHI) history and preparedness in athletes competing in a World Athletics Championships under hot/humid conditions and identify the factors associated with preparedness strategies. Methods Of the 207 registered national teams invited to participate in the study, 50 (24%) accepted. The 957 athletes (49% of all 1965 registered) in these teams were invited to complete a precompetition questionnaire evaluating EHI history, heat stress prevention (heat acclimatisation, precooling and hydration) and recovery. Responses from 307 (32%) athletes were separated in field events, sprints, middle-distance and long-distance running, and decathlon/heptathlon for analysis. Results 48% of athletes had previously experienced EHI symptoms and 8.5% had been diagnosed with EHI. 15% heat acclimatised (similar to 20 days) before the championships. 52% had a precooling strategy, ice slurry ingestion (24%) being the most prevalent and women using it more frequently than men (p=0.005). 96% of athletes had a fluid consumption strategy, which differed between event categories (pamp;lt;0.001). The most common volumes planned on being consumed were 0.5-1 L (27.2%) and amp;gt;= 2 L (21.8%), water being the most frequent. 89% of athletes planned on using at least one recovery strategy. Female sex (p=0.024) and a previous EHI diagnosis increased the likelihood of using all 3 prevention strategies (pamp;lt;0.001). Conclusions At a World Championships with expected hot/humid conditions, less than one-fifth of athletes heat acclimatised, half had a precooling strategy and almost all a hydration plan. Women, and especially athletes with an EHI history, were more predisposed to use a complete heat stress prevention strategy. More information regarding heat acclimatisation should be provided to protect athlete health and optimise performance at major athletics competitions in the heat.

Background and aims: Quality of care is important in lifelong illnesses such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Valid, reliable and short questionnaires to measure quality of care among persons with IBD are needed. The aim of this study was to develop a patient-derived questionnaire measuring quality of care in persons with IBD.Methods and results: The development of the questionnaire The Quality of Care -Questionnaire (QoC-Q) was based on a literature review of studies measuring quality of care, and the results of two qualitative studies aiming to identify the knowledge need and perception of health care among persons with IBD. Further development and evaluation was done by focus groups, individual testing and cognitive interviews with persons with IBD, as well as evaluation by a group of professionals. After the development, the questionnaire was tested for validity and test-retest reliability in 294 persons with IBD.Conclusions: The QoC-Q is showing promising validity and reliability for measuring the subjective perception of quality of care. Further testing in clinical practice is suggested to assess if the QoC-Q can be used to evaluate care and areas of improvement in health care for persons living with IBD.

Background One common model utilized to understand clinical staff and patients technology adoption is the technology acceptance model (TAM). Objective This article reviews published research on TAM use in health information systems development and implementation with regard to application areas and model extensions after its initial introduction. Method An electronic literature search supplemented by citation searching was conducted on February 2017 of the Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus databases, yielding a total of 492 references. Upon eliminating duplicates and applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 134 articles were retained. These articles were appraised and divided into three categories according to research topic: studies using the original TAM, studies using an extended TAM, and acceptance model comparisons including the TAM. Results The review identified three main information and communication technology (ICT) application areas for the TAM in health services: telemedicine, electronic health records, and mobile applications. The original TAM was found to have been extended to fit dynamic health service environments by integration of components from theoretical frameworks such as the theory of planned behavior and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, as well as by adding variables in specific contextual settings. These variables frequently reflected the concepts subjective norm and self-efficacy, but also compatibility, experience, training, anxiety, habit, and facilitators were considered. Conclusion Telemedicine applications were between 1999 and 2017, the ICT application area most frequently studied using the TAM, implying that acceptance of this technology was a major challenge when exploiting ICT to develop health service organizations during this period. A majority of the reviewed articles reported extensions of the original TAM, suggesting that no optimal TAM version for use in health services has been established. Although the review results indicate a continuous progress, there are still areas that can be expanded and improved to increase the predictive performance of the TAM.

Purpose: This review set out to summarise, define, and provide future direction towards the use of performance outcome measures as endpoints in research performed at international benchmark events in athletics. Methods: Scoping review methodology was applied through a search of the PubMed and Sports Discus databases and a systematic article selection procedure. Articles that met the inclusion criteria underwent triage for further quantitative and qualitative analysis. A concept chart was generated to describe the methods by which performance had been measured and introduce descriptive labels for theoretical and practical application. Results: None of 2972 articles primarily identified from the database search met the triage standards for quantitative data extraction. Eleven articles were included in a qualitative analysis. The analysis identified the common methods by which performance has been measured, reported and analysed. The resulting concept chart collates labels from the qualitative analysis (categories, themes, and constructs) with sports practice labels (performance metrics, framework, and analysis). Conclusions: The state of knowledge concerning methods to employ performance metrics as endpoints in studies performed at major competitions in athletics has been summarised. Constructing a methodology that combines the performance metric variables (continuous and ordinal) that are currently utilised as endpoints remains a challenge.

Recognized side effects on health associated with sports participation in youth include overtraining, doping, and exposure to harassment and violence. Many of these effects originate in contexts where young athletes are beginning to make decisions about their sports practices on their own. This study sets out to explore knowledge and reasoning about health among adolescent athletes and to describe how health knowledge management structures are associated with different social systems. Qualitative data were collected from focus groups involving 65 young Swedish athletes aged 16-17years. The participants knowledge and reasoning about health were examined using a deductive thematic analysis, categories from Blooms taxonomy of educational objectives, and Luhmanns social systems theory. The meaning of health was found to have a dynamic character for the young athletes, associated with constantly striving to satisfy immediate needs and fulfill short-time life goals. The athletes thinking about health was associated with a pragmatic health-as-a-resource perspective, characterized by group self-comparisons, rapid cognitive processing, and opportunistic substitutions. They expressed a particular interest in experiential learning and personally relevant procedural knowledge, and they perceived that their factual knowledge about health was saturated. The results of this study add emphasis to the importance of involving adolescent sportspersons in the development of health education programs and contextualizing the programs to the athletes specific age and social environment.

Background: Tamoxifen is a well established treatment for breast cancer, but its long-term effects on the incidence of secondary cancers are not fully evaluated.Material and methods: We have studied 4128 postmenopausal patients with early stage breast cancer who were alive and free of breast cancer recurrence after two years of tamoxifen, and who were randomized to receive totally two or five years of therapy.Results: Compared to patients randomized to two years of tamoxifen the incidence of contralateral breast cancer [hazard ratio (HR) 0.73; 95% CI 0.56-0.96] and of lung cancer (HR 0.45; 95% CI 0.27-0.77), especially squamous cell and small cell lung cancer, were reduced in the five-year group, and similar results were seen when restricting the analysis to the 10-year period after treatment stopped. An increased incidence of endometrial cancer was observed in the five-year group, but the excess risk decreased over time.Conclusion: Further studies of the effects of tamoxifen on the risk of different histological types of lung cancer are needed.

Background: International middle- and long-distance running competitions attract millions of spectators in association with city races, world championships, and Olympic Games. It is therefore a major concern that ill health and pain, as a result of sports overuse, lead to numerous hours of lost training and decreased performance in competitive runners. Despite its potential for sustenance of performance, approval of mHealth self-report monitoring (mHSM) in this group of athletes has not been investigated. Objective: The objective of our study was to explore individual and situational factors associated with the acceptance of long-term mHSM in competitive runners. Methods: The study used qualitative research methods with the Technology Acceptance Model as the theoretical foundation. The study population included 20 middle- and long-distance runners competing at national and international levels. Two mHSM apps asking for health and training data from track and marathon runners were created on a platform for web survey development (Briteback AB). Data collection for the technology acceptance analysis was performed via personal interviews before and after a 6-week monitoring period. Preuse interviews investigated experience and knowledge of mHealth monitoring and thoughts on benefits and possible side effects. The postuse interviews addressed usability and usefulness, attitudes toward nonfunctional issues, and intentions to adhere to long-term monitoring. In addition, the runners trustworthiness when providing mHSM data was discussed. The interview data were investigated using a deductive thematic analysis. Results: The mHSM apps were considered technically easy to use. Although the runners read the instructions and entered data effortlessly, some still perceived mHSM as problematic. Concerns were raised about the selection of items for monitoring (eg, recording training load as running distance or time) and about interpretation of concepts (eg, whether subjective well should encompass only the running context or daily living on the whole). Usefulness of specific mHSM apps was consequently not appraised on the same bases in different subcategories of runners. Regarding nonfunctional issues, the runners competing at the international level requested detailed control over who in their sports club and national federation should be allowed access to their data; the less competitive runners had no such issues. Notwithstanding, the runners were willing to adhere to long-term mHSM, provided the technology was adjusted to their personal routines and the output was perceived as contributing to running performance. Conclusions: Adoption of mHSM by competitive runners requires clear definitions of monitoring purpose and populations, repeated in practice tests of monitoring items and terminology, and meticulousness regarding data-sharing routines. Further naturalistic studies of mHSM use in routine sports practice settings are needed with nonfunctional ethical and legal issues included in the evaluation designs.

Patients had several suggestions on how to improve healthcare meetings in order to create safer care An open question "Do you have suggestions on how to improve meetings between patients and healthcare professionals in order to create safer care?" was incorporated into a questionnaire survey to 2673 patients in Sweden. The survey addressed patient participation for safer care. The open question was answered by 591 respondents. Content analysis was used to analyze the responses. The proposed suggestions concerned both the individual level (healthcare staffs competence and trust in the patient) and the system level (forms of communication, planning and structure, and time and staffing). The study findings show that there are many ways to improve meetings in healthcare of potential relevance for patient safety. Further research is needed to develop, apply and evaluate interventions based on patient suggestions.