| 1. |
- Ekerstad, Niklas, 1969-, et al.
(author)
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A Tentative Consensus-Based Model for Priority Setting : An Example from Elderly Patients with Myocardial Infarction and Multi-morbidity
- 2011
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In: Scandinavian Journal of Public Health. - : Sage. - 1403-4948 .- 1651-1905. ; 39:4, s. 345-353
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: In most Western countries the growing gap between available resources and greater potential for medical treatment has brought evidence-based guidelines into focus. However, such guidelines are difficult to use when the evidence base is weak. Priority setting for frail elderly patients with heart disease illustrates this problem. We have outlined a tentative model for priority setting regarding frail elderly heart patients. The model takes cardiovascular risk, frailty, and comorbidity into account. Objective: Our aim is to validate the model’s components. We want to evaluate the inter-rater reliability of the study experts’ rankings regarding each of the model’s categories. Methods: A confidential questionnaire study consisting of 15 authentic and validated cases was conducted to assess the views of purposefully selected cardiology experts (n = 58). They were asked to rank the cases regarding the need for coronary angiography using their individual clinical experience. The response rate was 71%. Responses were analysed with frequencies and descriptive statistics. The inter-rater reliability regarding the experts’ rankings of the cases was estimated via an intra-class correlation test (ICC). Results: The cardiologists considered the clinical cases to be realistic. The intra-class correlation (two-way random, consistency, average measure) was 0.978 (95% CI 0.958–0.991), which denotes a very good inter-rater reliability on the group level. The model’s components were considered relevant regarding complex cases of non-ST elevation myocardial infarction. Comorbidity was considered to be the most relevant component, frailty the second most relevant, followed by cardiovascular risk. Conclusions: A framework taking comorbidity, frailty, and cardiovascular risk into account could constitute a foundation for consensus-based guidelines for frail elderly heart patients. From a priority setting perspective, it is reasonable to believe that the framework is applicable to other groups of elderly patients with acute disease and complex needs.
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| 2. |
- Ekerstad, Niklas, et al.
(author)
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Elderly people with multi-morbidity and acute coronary syndrome: Doctors' views on decision-making
- 2010
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In: Scandinavian Journal of Public Health. - : SAGE Publications. - 1403-4948 .- 1651-1905. ; 38:3, s. 325-331
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: In most Western countries the growing gap between available resources and greater potential for medical treatment has brought evidence-based guidelines into focus. However, problems exist in areas where the evidence base is weak, e.g. elderly patients with heart disease and multiple co-morbidities. Objective: Our aim is to evaluate the views of Swedish cardiologists on decision-making for elderly people with multiple co-morbidities and acute coronary syndrome without ST-elevation (NSTE ACS), and to generate some hypotheses for testing. Methods: A confidential questionnaire study was conducted to assess the views of cardiologists/internists (n = 370). The response rate was 69%. Responses were analyzed with frequencies and descriptive statistics. When appropriate, differences in proportions were assessed by a chi-square test. A content analysis was used to process the answers to the open-ended questions. Results: 81% of the respondents reported extensive use of national quidelines for care of heart disease in their clinical decision-making. However, when making decisions for multiple-diseased elderly patients, the individual physician's own clinical experience and the patient's views of treatment choice were used to an evidently greater extent than national guidelines. Approximately 50% estimated that they treated multiple-diseased elderly patients with NSTE ACS every day. Preferred measures for improving decision-making were: (a) carrying out treatment studies including elderly patients with multiple co-morbidities, and (b) preparing specific national guidelines for multiple-diseased elderly patients. Conclusions: In the future, national guidelines for heart disease should be adapted in order to be applicable for elderly patients with multiple co-morbidities.
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| 3. |
- Ekerstad, Niklas, et al.
(author)
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Frailty is independently associated with 1-year mortality for elderly patients with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction
- 2014
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In: European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. - : Sage Publications. - 2047-4873 .- 2047-4881. ; 21:10, s. 1216-1224
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: For the large population of elderly patients with cardiovascular disease, it is crucial to identify clinically relevant measures of biological age and their contribution to risk. Frailty is denoting decreased physiological reserves and increased vulnerability. We analysed the manner in which the variable frailty is associated with 1-year outcomes for elderly non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: Patients aged 75 years or older, with diagnosed NSTEMI were included at three centres, and clinical data including judgment of frailty were collected prospectively. Frailty was defined according to the Canadian Study of Health and Aging Clinical Frailty Scale. Of 307 patients, 149 (48.5%) were considered frail. By Cox regression analyses, frailty was found to be independently associated with 1-year mortality after adjusting for cardiovascular risk and comorbid conditions (hazard ratio 4.3, 95% CI 2.4-7.8). The time to the first event was significantly shorter for frail patients than for nonfrail (34 days, 95% CI 10-58, p = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Frailty is strongly and independently associated with 1-year mortality. The combined use of frailty and comorbidity may constitute an important risk prediction concept in regard to cardiovascular patients with complex needs.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Ekerstad, Niklas, et al.
(author)
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Frailty Is Independently Associated With Short-Term Outcomes for Elderly Patients With Non-ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction
- 2011
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In: Circulation. - Dallas, USA : American Heart Association. - 0009-7322 .- 1524-4539. ; 124:22, s. 2397-2404
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: For the large and growing population of elderly patients with cardiovascular disease, it is important to identify clinically relevant measures of biological age and their contribution to risk. Frailty is an emerging concept in medicine denoting increased vulnerability and decreased physiological reserves. We analyzed the manner in which the variable frailty predicts short-term outcomes for elderly non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients. Methods and results: Patients aged ≥ 75 years, with diagnosed non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction were included at 3 centers, and clinical data including judgment of frailty were collected prospectively. Frailty was defined according to the Canadian Study of Health and Aging Clinical Frailty Scale. The impact of the comorbid conditions on risk was quantified by the coronary artery disease-specific index. Of 307 patients, 149 (48.5%) were considered frail. By multiple logistic regression, frailty was found to be strongly and independently associated with risk for the primary composite outcome (death from any cause, myocardial reinfarction, revascularization due to ischemia, hospitalization for any cause, major bleeding, stroke/transient ischemic attack, and need for dialysis up to 1 month after inclusion) (odds ratio, 2.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.3-3.7) in-hospital mortality (odds ratio, 4.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.3-16.8), and 1-month mortality (odds ratio, 4.7; 95% confidence interval, 1.7-13.0). Conclusions: Frailty is strongly and independently associated with in-hospital mortality, 1-month mortality, prolonged hospital care, and the primary composite outcome. The combined use of frailty and comorbidity may constitute an ultimate risk prediciton concept in regard to cardiovascular patients with complex needs.
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| 6. |
- Ekerstad, Niklas, 1969-
(author)
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Micro Level Priority Setting for Elderly Patients with Acute Cardiovascular Disease and Complex Needs : Practice What We Preach or Preach What We Practice?
- 2011
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Demographic trends and other factors are expected to continue widening the gap between health care demands and available resources, especially in elder services. This growing imbalance signals a need for priority setting in health care. The literature has previously described problems in constructing useable means of priority setting, particularly when evidence is sparse, when patient groups are not satisfactorily defined, when interpretation of the term patient need is unclear, and when uncertainty prevails on how to weigh different ethical values. The chosen study object illustrates these problems. Moreover, the Swedish Government recently stated that care for elderly persons with complex health care needs remains underfunded. The general aim of this thesis is: to study micro-level priority setting for elderly heart patients with complex needs, as illustrated by those with non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI); to relate the findings to evidence-based priority setting, e.g. guidelines for heart disease; and to analyse how complex needs could be appropriately categorised from a perspective of evidence-based priority setting.Paper I presents a register study that uses data from the Patient Register to describe inpatient care utilization, costs, and characteristics of elderly patients with multiple diseases. Paper II presents a confidential survey study from a random sample of 400 Swedish cardiologists. Paper III presents a prospective, clinical, observational multicentre-study of elderly patients with myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). Paper IV presents a questionnaire study from a purposeful, stratified sample of Swedish cardiologists.The results from Paper I show that elderly patients with multiple diseases have extensive and complex needs, frequently manifesting chronic and intermittently acute disease and consuming health care at various levels. A large majority have manifested cardiovascular disease. Results from Paper II indicate that although 81% of cardiologists reported extensive use of national guidelines in their clinical decision-making generally, the individual clinician’s personal clinical experience and the patient’s views were used to a greater extent than national guidelines, when making decisions about elderly multiple-diseased patients. Many elderly heart disease patients with complex needs manifest severe, acute or chronic, comorbid conditions that constitute exclusion criteria in evidence-generating studies, thereby limiting the generalisability of evidence and applicability of guidelines for these patients. This was indicated in papers I-IV. Paper III reports that frailty is a strong independent risk factor for adverse, short-term, clinical outcomes, e.g. one-month mortality for elderly NSTEMI patients. Particularly frail patients with a high comorbidity burden manifested a markedly increased risk.In the future, prospective clinical studies and registries with few exclusion criteria should be conducted. Consensus-based judgments based on a framework for priority setting as regards elderly patients with complex needs may offer an alternative, estimating the benefitrisk ratio of an intervention and the time-frame of expected benefits in relation to expected life-time. Such a framework, which is tentatively outlined in this thesis, should take into account comorbidity, frailty, and disease-specific risk.
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| 7. |
- Jacobsson, Lars, et al.
(author)
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ADHD : Diagnostik och behandling, vårdens organisation och patientens delaktigheten systematisk litteraturöversikt
- 2013
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Reports (peer-reviewed)abstract
- ADHD En funktionsnedsättning med debut i baranåren. Kärmsymtom karaktäriseras av uppmärksamhetsproblem, impulsivitet ioch hyperaktivitet.I ett antal fall sker en normalisering eller mognadsprocess, i andra fall kan någon form av psykisk ohälsa förekommma samtidigt. Den diagnostiska utredningen är omfattande, och både instrument för diagnostik och den diagnostiska processen bör undersökas bättre.Många olika insatser och behandlingar, förutom läkemedel förekommer idag, men kunskapen om eras nytta, risker och kostnader måste förbättras. Vissa läkemedel lindrar ADHD symtom vid korttidsbehandling, men nyttan av långtidsbehandling går inte att bedöma. Vanliga biverjkningar av dessa läkemedel är illamående och nedsatt aptit, för barn viktminskning och pulsökning.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Lindström, Eva, et al.
(author)
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Schizofreni - läkemedelsbehandling, patientens delaktighet och vårdens organisation : En systematisk litteraturöversikt
- 2012
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Schizofreni är i de flesta fall en kronisk och invalidiserande psykisk sjukdom. Antipsykotiska läkemedel (neuroleptika) är namnet på den grupp läkemedel som är avsedd att lindra de psykotiska symtomen som uppstår vid schizofreni. Antipsykotiska läkemedel kan indelas i första generationens antipsykotika och andra generationens antipsykotika. Denna litteraturöversikt kompletterar SBU:s systematiska översikt från år 1997 med en granskning av andra generationens antipsykotika. I översikten ingår också ett kapitel om den kunskap man idag har om hur personer med schizofreni upplever sin medverkan och sin delaktighet i behandling och vård. Dessutom ingår ett kapitel där man undersökt värdet av integrerade vårdformer för personer med olika psykiatriska tillstånd där huvuddelen av dem har schizofreni.
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| 10. |
- Nilstun, Tore, et al.
(author)
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Scientific dishonesty--questionnaire to doctoral students in Sweden.
- 2010
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In: Journal of Medical Ethics. - : BMJ. - 1473-4257 .- 0306-6800. ; 36:5, s. 315-318
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- 'Scientific dishonesty' implies the fabrication, falsification or plagiarism in proposing, performing or reviewing research or in reporting research results. A questionnaire was given to postgraduate students at the medical faculties in Sweden who attended a course in research ethics during the academic year 2008/2009 and 58% answered (range 29%-100%). Less than one-third of the respondents wrote that they had heard about scientific dishonesty in the previous 12 months. Pressure, concerning in what order the author should be mentioned, was reported by about 1 in 10 students. We suggest that all departments conducting research should have a written policy about acceptable research behaviour and that all doctoral students should be informed of the content of this policy. Participants in the research groups concerned should also be required to analyse published articles about scientific dishonesty and critically discuss what could be done about unethical conduct.
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