Hay fever, eczema and urticaria in southwest Norway. Lifetime prevalences and association with sex, age, smoking habits, occupational airborne exposures and respiratory symptoms

Information on hay fever, eczema, urticaria, respiratory symptoms, smoking habits and occupational dust or gas exposure was obtained by a self-administered questionnaire from a random sample of 4992 subjects of the general population aged 15-70 years of the Hordaland county, Norway. The response rate was 90% of the sample. The lifetime prevalences of hay fever, eczema and urticaria were 10%, 25% and 9% of the respondents, respectively. Eczema and urticaria were more often reported by women than by men. The lifetime prevalence of hay fever decreased substantially by age in both sexes. A history of hay fever was inversely related to cigarette smoking. The lifetime prevalences of eczema and urticaria were associated with occupational dust or gas exposure after adjusting for sex, age, smoking habits and area of residence. Adjusted odds ratios of respiratory symptoms in subjects with hay fever were almost 2.0 compared with those without.

Internal elastic membrane in the internal mammary and left anterior descending coronary arteries and its relationship to intimal thickening

The internal mammary artery (IMA) is less prone to intimal thickening than coronary arteries and is routinely used in coronary bypass surgery. To resolve whether morphologic differences can explain why IMA develops less intimal thickening, morphometric measurement of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) and IMA was carried out in 62 autopsies from individuals of various age groups. The amount of intimal thickening, the degree of folding of the internal elastic membrane, and media thickness were estimated by appropriate indices. Intimal thickening of LAD was more marked, occurred earlier and could be demonstrated even below one year of age, but was not found before 21 years of age in the IMA. A fold-index of the internal elastic membrane was significantly higher in the IMA than in the LAD and correlated negatively with an intimal thickening index in both arteries (P less than 0.0001 for both). The fold-index decreased with age, most markedly in LAD. Negative correlation was also found between a media thickness index and the intimal thickening index in LAD (P less than 0.02). The fold-index may indicate the magnitude of tangential intimal tension during life and may be of significance for development of intimal thickening and atherosclerosis. Lower fold-index may in part explain the propensity of atherosclerosis in LAD compared with IMA. Also, reduced fold-index with age accompanied the occurrence of atherosclerosis with age.

Smoking habits and lifetime occupational exposure to gases or dusts, including asbestos and quartz, in a Norwegian community

Past or present occupational airborne exposure was recorded with a self-administered questionnaire sent to a random sample (N = 4992) of the 15- to 70-year-old population of Hordaland County, Norway. Completed questionnaires were returned by 90% of the sample. The respondents comprised 39% smokers, 20% ex-smokers, and 41% nonsmokers. Altogether 46% of the men and 12% of the women had a history of occupational gas or dust exposure. Occupational asbestos exposure was reported by 10% of the men and 0.4% of the women, and quartz exposure had been experienced by 8% of the men and 0.4% of the women. Smokers with a history of asbestos exposure represented 5% of the male population. Thirty percent of the smokers reported having been advised to stop smoking by a physician. The asbestos-exposed smokers had not received such advice more often than the smokers not exposed to asbestos. The findings indicate that airborne occupational exposure is widespread in the Norwegian County of Hordaland.

The survival benefit of resection in patients with advanced stomach cancer: the Norwegian multicenter experience. Norwegian Stomach Cancer Trial

Five hundred three of 1,165 patients with stomach cancer included in a national multicenter study received noncurative treatment. This study elucidates whether a palliative resection offered any survival advantage compared to nonresectional treatment. One hundred eighty-two (36%) of 503 patients had gastric resection (including total gastrectomy in 64 patients), 70 (14%) had a bypass procedure, and an exploratory laparotomy was carried out in 156 (31%). Seventy-eight patients (16%) were not subjected to surgery. Resection carried the same postoperative mortality rate as a nonresectional procedure (13% versus 12%). Univariate survival analysis demonstrated that median survival and 1- and 2-year survival rates were significantly higher in resected patients; however, as basic patient characteristics (age, stage, etc.) differed between the 2 main treatment groups, survival and factors affecting survival were analyzed using the Cox proportional hazards model. Given similar age and preoperative weight loss, resection doubled median survival both for stage III disease (9 versus 4.5 mo) and for stage IV disease (6 versus 3 mo) compared to nonresection or no operation. In conclusion, resection seems justified in patients with advanced stomach cancer since a survival benefit is documented.

Characteristics of patients operated on because of suspected arterial embolism: a multivariate analysis

In order to improve the understanding and classification of patients with suspected arterial embolism, we performed a loglinear analysis to study the interactions among eight characteristics in 202 patients operated on as a result of this diagnosis. Female patients were generally older, were in a poorer cardiac state (NYHA class), and had shorter duration of symptoms before operation than male patients. Atrial dysrhythmias were more common in women than in men less than 75 years of age. After the age of 75, however, the incidence was similar in both sexes. Thus, apparently, poor cardiac function is more commonly associated with acute arterial occlusion in women than in men. In men arterial thrombosis secondary to arteriosclerotic occlusive disease may be more frequent. Ischemic heart disease, age of more than 75 years, and the fact that the patient was a woman were independent predictors of poor cardiac function. Atrial dysrhythmias increased the odds for proximal arterial occlusion compared with distal occlusion, but only in NYHA class 1-2, which suggests that low cardiac output might be of importance in distal thrombotic occlusion in patients with both atrial dysrhythmia and poor cardiac function. Patients with arteriosclerosis had symptoms of longer duration than patients without arteriosclerosis and men had symptoms of longer duration than women, which indicate that the diagnosis was more uncertain, or the disease less severe, in these patients. In patients without evidence of ischemic heart disease, poor cardiac function was a predictor of short duration of symptoms, which suggests that patients with nonatherosclerotic heart disease were correctly treated for arterial emboli without undue delay.

Treatment of stomach cancer, a national experience

A total of 1165 patients with stomach cancer were entered into a prospective, observational national study. They represented 54 per cent of all stomach cancer patients reported to the Cancer Registry in Norway during the study period, and data are analysed for three hospital levels (local, county and university hospitals). The median age was 71 years (range 18-96 years). The median pretreatment delay was 113 days, and 46 per cent of patients had a performance status (Karnofsky index) of less than or equal to 80. The diagnosis was confirmed by pre-operative histology in 88 per cent of cases. In all, 88 per cent of patients underwent surgery, the resectability rate was 67 per cent and 50 per cent had a potential curative operation. Total gastrectomy was most commonly performed. Lymph node dissection was performed in 14 per cent of those undergoing a curative resection. The postoperative complication rate was 27 per cent but varied with the type of operation, being highest in proximal resection (55 per cent) and lowest after distal resection (19 per cent). A total of 7 per cent of the patients died postoperatively. Most patients had advanced disease at the time of treatment and only 6 per cent had stage I tumours. There were significant differences in patient and treatment characteristics between the three hospital levels. In conclusion, patient selection bias which will influence results does occur. A fairly aggressive attitude towards local disease was found, but the low proportion of patients undergoing lymph node dissection not only leads to questions regarding the efficacy of this treatment policy, but also casts doubt on the validity of staging of stomach cancer. Morbidity and mortality rates are still high. The consequences of the differences revealed between hospital groups are difficult to interpret. Proponents of both regionalization of treatment and small hospital care may find arguments for their case in the data.

Postoperative complications and mortality after surgery for gastric cancer

Complication rates and postoperative mortality were studied in 1010 consecutive patients entered into the Norwegian Stomach Cancer Trial. Twenty-eight per cent of the patients had one or more complications (31% of the men and 21% of the women). General complications (pneumonia, thromboembolic, and cardiac) were most frequent. The postoperative mortality rate for resected patients was 8.3% (63 of 763). Complication and mortality rates were highest for proximal resections (52% and 16%) followed by total gastrectomy (38% and 8%), subtotal resection (28% and 10%), and distal resection (19% and 7%). By logistic regression analysis it was found that age, sex, operative procedure, prophylactic antibiotics, and splenectomy were significantly related to postoperative complications. The odds ratio for complication for men versus women was 1.75: for no antibiotics versus antibiotic prophylaxis it was 2.5. Relative to distal resection the odds ratio for complications after subtotal resection was 2.2, for total gastrectomy was 3.9, and for proximal resection was 7.6. Age and sex were the only factors that affected operative mortality. The odds ratio for mortality for men versus women was 2.3. The odds ratio for operative mortality was 2.2 when the age of the patient increased with 10 years.

A prospective study of reproductive factors and breast cancer. I. Parity

The relation between childbearing and breast cancer risk was investigated in a prospective study of 63,090 Norwegian women, among whom 1,565 breast cancer cases occurred in a follow-up from 1961 through 1980. The authors observed a strong and highly significant inverse association between the number of full-term pregnancies and the risk of breast cancer. The association was consistently found in all subgroups according to demographic variables and was obtained for all histologic subtypes except for cases classified as Paget's disease. The relation with parity could not be explained by confounding with age at first birth or other reproductive factors. The apparent protective effect of high parity was strongest in the groups with an early first birth, and no such effect could be established among women with their first birth at age 35 or later. The protective effect of multiparity was observed for cancers in all age groups. Uniparous women had, however, higher risk of developing breast cancer under age 60 than nulliparous women. Those who reported at least one abortion had somewhat lower risk than those who did not, but no trend according to the number of abortions was observed.

Statistical analysis of clinicopathological features, radiotherapy, and survival in 170 cases of oligodendroglioma

The postoperative survival time of 170 nonrandomized patients treated for cerebral oligodendrogliomas in Norway from 1953 to 1977 was studied. Survival times were significantly prolonged if postoperative irradiation was performed in addition to surgery (median survival time 26.5 vs. 38 months, p = 0.039). In the group without postoperative radiotherapy, the 5-year rate of survival was 27% compared with 36% in the irradiated patients. The respective survival rates after 8 years were 14% versus 17%; thus, there was little effect on long-term survival. Irradiation appears not to be of benefit after "total" removal. Patients with partly resected lesions appeared to benefit from postoperative radiotherapy; the median survival period after subtotal tumor resection was 37 months with and 26 months without radiotherapy (p = 0.0089). The findings also indicate that irradiation doses between 40 and 50 Gy were as effective as doses between 50 and 60 Gy in increasing the patients' probability of surviving 5 years after subtotal tumor resection. Since the risk of radiation necrosis is proportional to the dose applied, the lower dose is recommended. These conclusions were also valid when adjustments were made for prognostically significant histological and clinical features.

Patient survival and limb prognosis after arterial embolectomy

Mortality and morbidity after arterial thromboembolectomy were studied in 202 patients. Factors affecting reoperation and survival were identified according to Cox's proportional hazards model. 30-day mortality was 26% and amputation rate 18.5%. NYHA classification was the most important predictor for survival; class 3-4 had a 3.35 times higher death rate than class 1-2. An age greater than 75 years increased the death rate by 2.35 times and the presence of ischaemic heart or peripheral arteriosclerotic disease increased it by 1.69 and 1.65 times, respectively. Symptoms less than or equal to 1 day in duration were associated with a death rate 1.53 times higher than for a longer duration. Reoperation rate was 2.15 times greater in the absence of atrial dysrhythmias. The amputation rate was 3.79 times higher in NYHA class 3-4 than in class 1-2, and 2.47 times higher in the presence of peripheral arteriosclerotic disease. Apparently, thrombosis rather than recurrent embolism is the most important cause of reoperation and amputation. The severity of pre-existing cardiopulmonary disease largely determines prognosis regardless of the severity of the superimposed acute occlusion.

Stomach cancer: a prospective study of anastomotic failure following total gastrectomy

The incidence and cause of esophagojejunal anastomotic leakage were prospectively studied in 350 patients following total gastrectomy for stomach cancer. Anastomotic leak was demonstrated in 30 patients (8.6%), ten of whom underwent reoperation. Nine of the 30 patients died. Statistical analysis revealed that the outcome was better for patients with stapled esophagojejunostomy than when the anastomosis was hand-sutured. The odds for leakage were 2.37 times higher in patients with hand-sutured, than in those with stapled anastomosis. Antibiotic prophylaxis may be significant in preventing leakage. No association was found between anastomotic leakage and type of hospital, patient age or sex, preoperative weight loss, concomitant splenectomy or residual tumor in the resection margin.

Risk of carcinoma following gastric operations for benign disease. A historical cohort study of 3470 patients

The risk of stomach cancer was analysed in a cohort of 3470 patients who had had gastric surgery for benign disease between 1900 and 1969. In 87 patients (2.2%) stomach-stump cancer was diagnosed in the follow-up period 1970-84. By comparison with the total incidence of stomach cancer in the same region during the same time period, the observed versus expected ratio in the post-surgery group was 2.1 (p less than 0.001) and did not differ between men and women. At 5-10 years postoperative the risk of cancer was no different from that in the total population, whereas after 40-45 years it was 7.3-fold higher. The risk was unrelated to primary diagnosis or type of operation.

The prognostic value of Laurén's histopathological classification system and ABO blood groups in patients with stomach carcinoma

The prognostic value of Laurén's histopathological classification system and the ABO blood group system has been studied in 275 patients with cancer of the stomach. The study disclosed a higher rate of tumours of intestinal type in females aged 70 years or more compared with those under 70 years, but no such relation for males. We found no relation between histopathological classification and blood groups. For patients with blood group A the 5-year survival was 17.5%, compared to 8.4% for blood group O (P less than 0.05). Survival for patients with intestinal and diffuse tumours was 17.7% and 4.8% respectively (P less than 0.01). A multivariate analysis showed that the histopathological classification system, independently, was an important factor with respect to survival (all other factors constant). Blood group might also be of importance as a prognostic factor, but further studies are necessary to confirm this.

Microsphere method in measurement of blood flow to wall layers of small intestine

Microspheres of 10.90 +/- 0.65 micron (SD) were injected in the superior mesenteric artery of cats and their intramural distribution and diameter in the small intestine were studied microscopically under basal conditions and after vasodilation by isoproterenol. Approximately 2% of the spheres were shunted through the small intestinal vasculature and could be recovered in the liver. Analysis of the tissue distribution suggested that all spheres arrested in villi represented villous blood flow, spheres arrested in the crypt layer represented flow to the crypts, and the majority of microspheres trapped in the submucosa also represented crypt flow. Nutritive blood flow to the submucosa constituted only 1.5% of total intestinal flow. Log-linear analyses identified factors responsible for sphere distribution, including effects of sphere size, isoproterenol treatment, and local blood flow or vascular resistance. Spheres with diameters greater than 11.08 micron had 1.35 times larger odds than smaller spheres to embolize in the muscularis rather than in the mucosa, but no consistent difference between diameter profiles in the crypts and villi was found. With this reservation, 11-micron spheres seem to be appropriate for measuring blood flow to the muscle, crypt, and villous layers of the small intestine.

Oligodendroglioma. Histologic evaluation and prognosis

All oligodendrogliomas registered in Norway during a 25-year period (1953-1977) were studied to establish the frequency of different histologic features and to compare them with survival data of the patients. The minimum observation time was five years. The original tumor specimens from 208 patients were independently reexamined by two pathologists. The characteristic oligodendroglioma of this series was of medium cell density (53% of lesions), with moderate nuclear atypia, with vascular endothelial proliferation (53%), calcification (56%), with from one to five mitotic figures per ten high power fields, and without microcystic degenerative changes (58%). Subpial tumor cell infiltration, perivascular lymphocytic infiltration and local leptomeningeal invasion were present in a minority of cases. In 11 cases autopsy material was the only source of diagnosis. Microcysts, necrosis, and cell density were the only histologic features of prognostic significance. Subpial infiltrative growth was of suggestive prognostic value. There was no significant association between the number of mitotic figures and survival. Vascular endothelial proliferation, calcification, pronounced nuclear atypia, perivascular lymphocytic infiltration and local leptomeningeal invasion were of no significant prognostic value. Age at operation did not alter these conclusions, neither did sex nor duration of preoperative symptoms.

Conditions relevant to the occurrence of acid-fast bacilli in sphagnum vegetation

Biotopes with intact sphagnum vegetation were studied in Naustdal, West Norway: the health district with the former highest leprosy incidence rates in Norway. Concentration of acid-fast bacilli and concentration of non-cultivable acid-fast bacilli found in the vegetation fluid were compared with a series of variables related to the local environment and to the samples of vegetation. In bivariate analyses high concentrations were found in biotopes with orientation toward South, with a high coverage of vascular plants and with presence of Ericaceae. High concentrations were also found where dry weight of a vegetation was high, where pH in the fluid was low and where dry weight of the fluid was high. In a multivariate analysis, log-linear model, based on concentration of acid-fast bacilli as the dependent variable and orientation, pH, dry weight of vegetation and dry weight of fluid as the independent variables, all two-factor effects including the dependent variable were retained in the model. Furthermore, orientation versus dry weight of vegetation and dry weight of fluid versus dry weight of vegetation were retained.