To Örebro University

BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic status may influence weight loss, postoperative complications, and health-related quality of life after bariatric surgery. Chronic use of opioid analgesics is a known risk after bariatric surgery, but whether socioeconomic factors are associated with new chronic use of opioid analgesics has not been investigated in depth.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to identify socioeconomic factors associated with the development of new chronic use of opioid analgesics after gastric bypass surgery.

SETTING: All hospitals performing bariatric surgery in Sweden.

METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study with prospectively collected data including all primary gastric bypass procedures in Sweden between 2007 and 2015. Data were collected from the Scandinavian Obesity Surgery Registry, the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register, and Statistics Sweden. The primary outcome was new chronic opioid use.

RESULTS: Of the 44,671 participants, 1438 patients became new chronic opioid users. Longer education (secondary education; odds ratio [OR] = .71; 95% CI, .62-.81) or higher education (OR = .45; 95% CI, .38-.53), higher disposable income (20th-50th percentile: OR = .75; 95% CI, .66-.85; 50th-80th percentile: OR = .50; 95% CI, .43-.58; and the highest 80th percentile: OR = .40; 95% CI, .32-.51) were significantly associated with lower risk for new chronic opioid use. Being a second-generation immigrant (OR = 1.54; 95% CI, 1.24-1.90), being on a disability pension or early retirement (OR = 3.04; 95% CI, 2.67-3.45), receiving social benefits (OR = 1.88; 95% CI, 1.59-2.22), being unemployed for <100 days (OR = 1.25; 95% CI, 1.08-1.45), being unemployed for >100 days (OR = 1.41; 95% CI, 1.16-1.71), and being divorced or a widow or widower (OR = 1.35; 95% CI, 1.17-1.55) were significantly associated with a higher risk for chronic opioid use.

CONCLUSION: Given that long-term opioid use has detrimental effects after bariatric surgery, it is important that information and follow-up are optimized for patients with shorter education, lower income, and disability pension or early retirement because they are at an increased risk of new chronic opioid analgesics use.

OBJECTIVE: To compare opioid use in patients with obesity treated with bariatric surgery versus adults with obesity who underwent intensive lifestyle modification. SUMMARY OF

BACKGROUND DATA: Previous studies of opioid use after bariatric surgery have been limited by small sample sizes, short follow-up, and lack of control groups.

METHODS: Nationwide matched cohort study including individuals from the Scandinavian Obesity Surgery Registry and the Itrim health database with individuals undergoing structured intensive lifestyle modification, between August 1, 2007 and September 30, 2015. Participants were matched on Body Mass Index, age, sex, education, previous opioid use, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and psychiatric status (n = 30,359:21,356). Dispensed opioids were retrieved from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register from 2 years before to up to 8 years after intervention.

RESULTS: During the 2-year period before treatment, prevalence of individuals receiving ≥1 opioid prescription was identical in the surgery and lifestyle group. At 3 years, the prevalence of opioid prescriptions was 14.7% versus 8.9% in the surgery and lifestyle groups (mean difference 5.9%, 95% confidence interval 5.3-6.4) and at 8 years 16.9% versus 9.0% (7.9%, 6.8-9.0). The difference in mean daily dose also increased over time and was 3.55 mg in the surgery group versus 1.17 mg in the lifestyle group at 8 years (mean difference [adjusted for baseline dose] 2.30 mg, 95% confidence interval 1.61-2.98).

CONCLUSIONS: Bariatric surgery was associated with a higher proportion of opioid users and larger total opioid dose, compared to actively treated obese individuals. These trends were especially evident in patients who received additional surgery during follow-up.

In general, most infectious and/or lifestyle-related diseases are defined as being present when sufficient signs or symptoms occurs in an individual. The term "sufficient" is a relative concept and a disease can therefore be measured with different degrees of certainty. These symptoms are commonly defined in such a way that it is possible to determine the incidence and prevalence of the disease and also the proportion of individuals that are cured from the disease. If dental caries is an individual disease which can be compared to other diseases regarding incidence and prevalence, it is important to determine for how long an individual must be free from new signs of the disease before being considered cured or free from the disease and to define the "sufficient" signs or symptoms needed for a diagnose. Based on these thoughts, the purpose of this study was to calculate caries incidence and prevalence in a group of adolescents from a definition of dental caries based on ICD-10. This study included all 12 year olds in 1990 who attended a clinical dental examination in 1990-1995 in Orebro County, Orebro, Sweden, yearly during these six years. Dental caries disease at the individual level was defined as Ko2.1 (dentinal caries) according to ICD-bo while freedom of caries was defined as the absence of Ko2.1 during a three-year period. In this study the yearly prevalence was 12%, the three year cumulative incidence was 18% and the incidence rate 13%. Results of this study highlight the poor outcomes in curing caries disease in this age-group, according to the criteria in this study, as only 17% of the children with caries at the outset of the study were free from the disease three years later. Defining both a practical level to measure signs of dental caries, and the period an individual must be free from them to be classified as cured from the disease create new opportunities to compare and communicate the disease of dental caries with other diseases. This way of registration is also of advantage for planning purposes as there the centre of interest must be the individual patient and not the tooth or surface.

Background: Hirsutism has a negative impact on women’s quality of life. The relation between quality of life, anxiety, depression and the level of hairiness has not been described.

Aims: To investigate the correlations between the levels of hairiness, quality of life, anxiety and depression. Methods: 200 patients from Malmö, Örebro and Uppsala, who had been in contact with the clinics for problems with excessive hair growth, were invited to answer a self-administered questionnaire including sociodemographic questions, EQ- 5D index score, Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Ferriman- Gallwey scale (F-G); of these, 127 women participated in the study.

Results: The mean values were: EQ-5D index 0.73 (SD = 0.27), EQ visual analogue scale 61.0 (SD = 22.6), HADSanxiety 9.5 ± 5.3 and HADS-depression 6.5 ± 4.6. The mean DLQI was 11.8 ± 8.4, indicating a very large effect on patients’ lives. All were significantly correlated with the amount of hairiness.  

Conclusions: Higher levels of hair growth were significantly correlated with a lower level of quality of life and symptoms of both anxiety and depression.

Hirsutism is excessive hair growth in women. The prevalence is estimated at 5%. The aim of this thesis was to describe different aspects of how life is affected for women suffering from hirsutism. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Study I showed that hirsutism deeply affects women’s experiences of their bodies in a negative way and was experienced as a life sorrow. In Study II the patient-physician relationship was described. The patient-physician relationship from the patient’s perspective was suboptimal, as most meetings included feelings of being rejected and even humiliation. In Study III the aim was to translate and psychometrically evaluate an instrument that measures perceived social support, “The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support” (MSPSS). The translation was performed according to WHO:s official process, and validation was performed in a sample that consisted of 281 participants, 127 women with hirsutism (main sample) and 154 nursing students. MSPSS had good psychometric properties with regard to factor structure, construct validity, internal consistency and reproducibility. Study IV described different aspects of HRQoL in the main sample, the correlation of anxiety, depression, level of hairiness, age and BMI. The F-G scores were dichotomized into minor (F-G ≤14) and major (F-G≥15) hair growth. Higher levels of hair growth were significantly correlated to a lower level of QoL measured by DLQI, EQ-5D and symptoms of both anxiety and depression measured by HADS. Study V investigated if social support was associated with quality of life and outcome of HRQoL compared to a reference group of women (n=1115). SF-36, the MSPSS and the F-G scale were used. Compared to the reference group, women with hirsutism reported lower quality of life in all dimensions of SF-36 (p<0.01) The dimension most affected was vitality (VT=41.2), which had a lower value than has been reported for patients with MS and myasthenia gravis. A Multiple Regression Analysis showed a significant relation between quality of life and social support, indicating its importance for the ability to adapt, in spite of low quality of life.

Background: The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) is a short instrument, developed to assess perceived social support. The original English version has been widely used. The original scale has demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties in different settings, but no validated Swedish version has been available. The aim was therefore to translate, adapt and psychometrically evaluate the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support for use in a Swedish context.

Method: In total 281 participants accepted to join the study, a main sample of 127 women with hirsutism and a reference sample of 154 nursing students. The MSPSS was translated and culturally adapted according to the rigorous official process approved by WHO. The psychometric evaluation included item analysis, evaluation of factor structure, known-group validity, internal consistency and reproducibility.

Results: The original three-factor structure was reproduced in the main sample of women with hirsutism. An equivalent factor structure was demonstrated in a cross-validation, based on the reference sample of nursing students. Known-group validity was supported and internal consistency was good for all scales (alpha = 0.91-0.95). The test-retest showed acceptable to very good reproducibility for the items (kappa(w) = 0.58-0.85) and the scales (ICC = 0.89-0.92; CCC = 0.89-0.92).

Conclusion: The Swedish version of the MSPSS is a multidimensional scale with sound psychometric properties in the present study sample. The simple and short format makes it a useful tool for measuring perceived social support.

Many women suffer from excessive hair growth, often in combination with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). It is unclear how hirsutism influences such women's experiences of their bodies. Our aim is to describe and interpret women's experiences of their bodies when living with hirsutism. Interviews were conducted with 10 women with hirsutism. We used a qualitative latent content analysis. Four closely intertwined themes were disclosed: the body was experienced as a yoke, a freak, a disgrace, and as a prison. Hirsutism deeply affects women's experiences of their bodies in a negative way.

Background: Women with hirsutism report more anxiety, depression and lower quality of life. However, their social situation with a family and employment does not differ from other women. Social support is a factor that might increase quality of life in chronic diseases. Little is known about social support and skin diseases.

Objectives: The aim was to evaluate the relation between health-related quality of life and social support among women with hirsutism.

Methods: A questionnaire including socio-demographic questions, Short Form 36 (SF-36), the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and a self-estimation of hairiness using the Ferriman-Gallway scale (F-G scale) was filled out by 127. MSPSS has three sub-scales (family, friends, significant others) and a total score, that was used for calculation.

Results: Compared to a Swedish population based reference group women with hirsutism reported lower quality of life in all dimensions of SF-36 (p<0.01). Multiple regression analysis showed a significant correlation between the MSPSS and SF-36 in the initial and adjusted model.

Conclusions: There is a significant positive relation between quality of life and social support, demonstrating its importance for the ability to adapt to problems associated with hirsutism. It can be postulated that social support is important for the quality of life in chronic skin diseases wich merits further investigations.