| 1. |
- Calvert, Clara, et al.
(författare)
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Changes in preterm birth and stillbirth during COVID-19 lockdowns in 26 countries
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature Human Behaviour. - : Springer Nature. - 2397-3374. ; 7:4, s. 529-544
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Preterm birth (PTB) is the leading cause of infant mortality worldwide. Changes in PTB rates, ranging from -90% to +30%, were reported in many countries following early COVID-19 pandemic response measures ('lockdowns'). It is unclear whether this variation reflects real differences in lockdown impacts, or perhaps differences in stillbirth rates and/or study designs. Here we present interrupted time series and meta-analyses using harmonized data from 52 million births in 26 countries, 18 of which had representative population-based data, with overall PTB rates ranging from 6% to 12% and stillbirth ranging from 2.5 to 10.5 per 1,000 births. We show small reductions in PTB in the first (odds ratio 0.96, 95% confidence interval 0.95-0.98, P value <0.0001), second (0.96, 0.92-0.99, 0.03) and third (0.97, 0.94-1.00, 0.09) months of lockdown, but not in the fourth month of lockdown (0.99, 0.96-1.01, 0.34), although there were some between-country differences after the first month. For high-income countries in this study, we did not observe an association between lockdown and stillbirths in the second (1.00, 0.88-1.14, 0.98), third (0.99, 0.88-1.12, 0.89) and fourth (1.01, 0.87-1.18, 0.86) months of lockdown, although we have imprecise estimates due to stillbirths being a relatively rare event. We did, however, find evidence of increased risk of stillbirth in the first month of lockdown in high-income countries (1.14, 1.02-1.29, 0.02) and, in Brazil, we found evidence for an association between lockdown and stillbirth in the second (1.09, 1.03-1.15, 0.002), third (1.10, 1.03-1.17, 0.003) and fourth (1.12, 1.05-1.19, <0.001) months of lockdown. With an estimated 14.8 million PTB annually worldwide, the modest reductions observed during early pandemic lockdowns translate into large numbers of PTB averted globally and warrant further research into causal pathways.
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| 2. |
- Einarsdóttir, Kristjana
(författare)
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Genetic determinants of postmenopausal breast and endometrial cancer
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Breast cancer is overall the most common cancer in women worldwide and endometrial cancer is the most common gynaecological cancer in the industrialized world. History of a first-degree relative with breast or endometrial cancer has been related to a twofold increase in risk of the respective diseases. Whilst genetic risk factors for endometrial cancer in general or for breast cancer in women not carrying any high-penetrance mutations are largely unknown, a polygenic model has been suggested to account for residual familial risk. This model anticipates small effects of common, low-penetrance genetic risk variants in combination with environmental influence. We thus set out to study common variation in key breast and endometrial cancer genes in relation to a) breast or endometrial cancer risk overall or in subgroups of environmental risk factors, b) the risk of tumour characteristics-defined breast cancer, or c) breast cancer death. In this population-based case-control study, we included 1579 breast cancer cases, 705 endometrial cancer cases and 1565 shared controls. All participants donated tissue or whole blood and provided detailed information about various lifestyle factors through questionnaires. The CYP17, ATM, CHEK2 and ERBB2 genes have all been suggested to play a key role in cancer aetiology and progression. They are important candidate genes in breast and endometrial cancer aetiology specifically through their involvement in the estrogen metabolism pathway, DNA-damage response or cell proliferation. We genotyped common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and rare variants in these genes in all cases and controls. Using regression models, we then assessed the effect of the variants and their haplotypes on cancer risk and survival. We found that the rare 1100delC deletion in CHEK2 was more common in breast cancer cases than controls and increased breast cancer risk with an odds ratio of 2.26 (95% CI 0.99 5.15) for carriers versus non-carriers. Our results also indicated an increased risk of developing endometroid endometrial cancer for homozygous carriers of the rare allele (AA) of a tagSNP (rs4987886) in CHEK2 (P = 0.005), when contrasted with GG carriers. In addition, we found a decreased endometrial cancer risk among non-smoking carriers of a haplotype in ATM (P = 0.0007) and among carriers of a haplotype in CHEK2 who had experienced menopause below 49 years of age (P = 0.0009), compared to non-carriers of these haplotypes. We found no effect of genetic variation in CYP17 on breast cancer risk regardless of histopathology or menopausal hormone use. The ATM, CHEK2 or ERBB2 genes did not appear to affect the risk of tumour characteristics-defined breast cancer or breast cancer death. We did not find any evidence supporting a role for the ATM and ERBB2 genes in breast cancer aetiology, and the ERBB2 gene also did not seem to have an effect on endometrial cancer risk. Our estimate of the breast cancer risk related to the CHEK2*1100delC is in line with previous studies published in Northern European populations. Further studies regarding CHEK2 or ATM in relation to endometrial cancer risk are however required for corroboration since our results became statistically non-significant after multiple testing adjustment.
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| 3. |
- Frier, Emily M, et al.
(författare)
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Consortium for the Study of Pregnancy Treatments (Co-OPT): An international birth cohort to study the effects of antenatal corticosteroids.
- 2023
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Ingår i: PloS one. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 18:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Antenatal corticosteroids (ACS) are widely prescribed to improve outcomes following preterm birth. Significant knowledge gaps surround their safety, long-term effects, optimal timing and dosage. Almost half of women given ACS give birth outside the "therapeutic window" and have not delivered over 7 days later. Overtreatment with ACS is a concern, as evidence accumulates of risks of unnecessary ACS exposure.The Consortium for the Study of Pregnancy Treatments (Co-OPT) was established to address research questions surrounding safety of medications in pregnancy. We created an international birth cohort containing information on ACS exposure and pregnancy and neonatal outcomes by combining data from four national/provincial birth registers and one hospital database, and follow-up through linked population-level data from death registers and electronic health records.The Co-OPT ACS cohort contains 2.28 million pregnancies and babies, born in Finland, Iceland, Israel, Canada and Scotland, between 1990 and 2019. Births from 22 to 45 weeks' gestation were included; 92.9% were at term (≥ 37 completed weeks). 3.6% of babies were exposed to ACS (67.0% and 77.9% of singleton and multiple births before 34 weeks, respectively). Rates of ACS exposure increased across the study period. Of all ACS-exposed babies, 26.8% were born at term. Longitudinal childhood data were available for 1.64 million live births. Follow-up includes diagnoses of a range of physical and mental disorders from the Finnish Hospital Register, diagnoses of mental, behavioural, and neurodevelopmental disorders from the Icelandic Patient Registers, and preschool reviews from the Scottish Child Health Surveillance Programme. The Co-OPT ACS cohort is the largest international birth cohort to date with data on ACS exposure and maternal, perinatal and childhood outcomes. Its large scale will enable assessment of important rare outcomes such as perinatal mortality, and comprehensive evaluation of the short- and long-term safety and efficacy of ACS.
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| 4. |
- KC, Ashish, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
-
Changes in preterm birth and stillbirth during COVID-19 lockdowns in 26 countries.
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Nature human behaviour. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2397-3374. ; 7:4, s. 529-544
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Preterm birth (PTB) is the leading cause of infant mortality worldwide. Changes in PTB rates, ranging from -90% to +30%, were reported in many countries following early COVID-19 pandemic response measures ('lockdowns'). It is unclear whether this variation reflects real differences in lockdown impacts, or perhaps differences in stillbirth rates and/or study designs. Here we present interrupted time series and meta-analyses using harmonized data from 52 million births in 26 countries, 18 of which had representative population-based data, with overall PTB rates ranging from 6% to 12% and stillbirth ranging from 2.5 to 10.5 per 1,000 births. We show small reductions in PTB in the first (odds ratio 0.96, 95% confidence interval 0.95-0.98, P value <0.0001), second (0.96, 0.92-0.99, 0.03) and third (0.97, 0.94-1.00, 0.09) months of lockdown, but not in the fourth month of lockdown (0.99, 0.96-1.01, 0.34), although there were some between-country differences after the first month. For high-income countries in this study, we did not observe an association between lockdown and stillbirths in the second (1.00, 0.88-1.14, 0.98), third (0.99, 0.88-1.12, 0.89) and fourth (1.01, 0.87-1.18, 0.86) months of lockdown, although we have imprecise estimates due to stillbirths being a relatively rare event. We did, however, find evidence of increased risk of stillbirth in the first month of lockdown in high-income countries (1.14, 1.02-1.29, 0.02) and, in Brazil, we found evidence for an association between lockdown and stillbirth in the second (1.09, 1.03-1.15, 0.002), third (1.10, 1.03-1.17, 0.003) and fourth (1.12, 1.05-1.19, <0.001) months of lockdown. With an estimated 14.8 million PTB annually worldwide, the modest reductions observed during early pandemic lockdowns translate into large numbers of PTB averted globally and warrant further research into causal pathways.
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