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- Wiklund, Tobias, 1986-
(författare)
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Insomnia Symptoms in Chronic Pain : Clinical presentation, risk and treatment
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In recent years, chronic and recurrent pain have gained interest as distinct conditions interacting both with peripheral and central parts of the nervous system as well as with the immune system. The risk of getting affected by abnormal pain modulation i.e., chronic pain is not equally distributed in the population and the search for risk factors is therefore of interest. One potential risk factor for chronic pain is insomnia symptoms i.e., difficulties falling asleep or maintaining sleep. In turn, insomnia symptoms are overrepresented in persons with chronic pain. Common current pain treatments lead to limited improvement of insomnia symptoms calling for treatments specifically directed to improve sleep. The overall aim of this thesis is therefore to investigate the distribution of insomnia severity in patients seeking specialized care for chronic pain, to investigate the role of insomnia severity as a risk factor for spreading of pre-existing pain, and to evaluate potential treatments for insomnia symptoms comorbid to chronic pain.Study I highlighted the high prevalence rates of insomnia symptoms in patients with chronic pain conditions. Roughly, insomnia was six times more common in our sample compared to the general population. We also showed that there were weak connections between insomnia symptoms and other variables (primarily psychological symptoms and pain intensity). In Study II physical exercise was more efficacious than Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-based stress management and the active control group in reducing insomnia symptoms and pain intensity short term. Improvements in physical exercise were largely maintained after twelve months but pain intensity had then also declined in the control group. No improvements in the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-based stress management remain significant when an intention to treat principles were applied. In Study III, a dose-dependent increase in risk for spreading of pain was confirmed in subjects reporting moderate and severe insomnia symptoms. Though, there was no increase in the risk of pain spreading in subjects reporting sub-threshold insomnia symptoms (according to Insomnia Severity Index). In Study IV patients in the Internet-delivered Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for insomnia group, showed a more rapid improvement in insomnia symptoms than patients in the internet-delivered applied relaxation. The effect of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for insomnia had declined slightly after six months and the Applied Relaxation group had continued to improve, leading to a comparable outcome on the Insomnia Severity Index at six-month follow-up.In conclusion, insomnia symptoms are common in patients seeking specialized pain care. High levels of insomnia symptoms increase the risk of spreading of pre-existing pain and this in a dose-dependent manner. Physical exercise has significant, but not clinically meaningful effects on pain intensity and insomnia symptoms. Internet-delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for insomnia leads to a more rapid reduction of insomnia symptoms compared to applied relaxation, although long-term effects are uncertain
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| 2. |
- Bill-Axelson, Anna, 1965-
(författare)
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Localized Prostate Cancer : Results From a Randomized Clinical Trial
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aims of the thesis were to• explore whether radical prostatectomy is beneficial compared with watchful waiting in survival and disease progression• find possible effect modifiers• evaluate a protocol of multiple biopsies and investigate if men with previous benign prostate biopsies are a group at risk for later prostate cancer• inquire into patients’ and clinicians’ experiences of randomization in order to find out what made this study possible to conduct, and thereby contribute to improve randomization in the futureThe background material was a large randomized clinical trial, the Scandinavian Prostatic Cancer Group Study Number 4, or SPCG-4, which was open for inclusion from February 1989 through December 1999. It comprised 695 men in Sweden, Finland and Iceland who had localized prostate cancer and were randomized to either radical prostatectomy or watchful waiting. After a mean follow-up time of 6.2 years the first analyses, according to intention-to-treat, showed that radical prostatectomy reduced disease specific mortality, risk of metastases and risk of local progression but did not statistically significantly reduce overall mortality. The second analyses confirmed our earlier findings and furthermore, at ten years, radical prostatectomy also statistically significantly reduced overall mortality. Age appeared as an independent effect modifier that will be further investigated.A total of 547 men, with a suspicion of prostate cancer that had undergone multiple biopsies, and whose biopsies had benign histology were later compared with the background population to evaluate whether they were a group at risk of developing prostate cancer. Within six years of follow-up, there was no increased risk of prostate cancer.Patients as well as clinicians used individual strategies to cope with the situation. The randomizing clinician has to understand the patient’s strategy and his expectations in order to individualize the information accordingly.
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| 3. |
- Wiklund, Peder, 1985-
(författare)
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Adipose tissue, the skeleton and cardiovascular disease
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the Western World, although the incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) has declined over the last decades. However, obesity, which is one of the most important risk factors for CVD, is increasingly common. Osteoporosis is also on the rise because of an aging population. Based on considerable overlap in the prevalence of CVD and osteoporosis, a shared etiology has been proposed. Furthermore, the possibility of interplay between the skeleton and adipose tissue has received increasing attention the last few years with the discovery that leptin can influence bone metabolism and that osteocalcin can influence adipose tissue. A main aim of this thesis was to investigate the effects of fat mass distribution and bone mineral density on the risk of MI. Using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) we measured 592 men and women for regional fat mass in study I. In study II this was expanded to include 3258 men and women. In study III 6872 men and women had their bone mineral density measured in the total hip and femoral neck using DEXA. We found that a fat mass distribution with a higher proportion of abdominal fat mass was associated with both an adverse risk factor profile and an increased risk of MI. In contrast, a higher gynoid fat mass distribution was associated with a more favorable risk factor profile and a decreased risk of MI, highlighting the different properties of abdominal and gynoid fat depots (study I-II). In study III, we investigated the association of bone mineral density and risk factors shared between CVD and osteoporosis, and risk of MI. We found that lower bone mineral density was associated with hypertension, and also tended to be associated to other CVD risk factors. Low bone mineral density was associated with an increased risk of MI in both men and women, apparently independently of the risk factors studied (study III). In study IV, we investigated 50 healthy, young men to determine if a high-impact loading intervention in the form of a series of jumps would lead to changes in glucose and lipid metabolism. We found that the intervention group had significantly lowered serum glucose levels compared to the control group. Changes in all metabolic parameters favored the intervention group with an increase in lipolysis from baseline and a decrease in cholesterol. In summary, the proportion of abdominal and gynoid fat mass displayed contrasting associations to both CVD risk factors and MI risk. Abdominal fat mass was associated with a higher risk while a high proportion of gynoid fat mass was associated with a lower risk. Bone mineral density displayed an inverse association with MI risk, seemingly independently of CVD risk factors, suggesting other explanations to a shared pathogenesis. Finally, high impact loading on the skeleton in young, healthy men decreased serum glucose levels and tended to improve other metabolic parameters, suggesting that the skeleton can affect energy metabolism.
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