Finnish Population Register Centre Research Articles

Prevalence of and Risk Factors for Back Pain Among Young Male Conscripts During Compulsory Finnish Military Service.

Back pain is a major reason for sick leaves and disability pension in primary health care. The prevalence of back pain among adolescents and young adults is believed to be increasing, and back pain during military service predicts unspecified back pain during later life. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of back pain among conscripts in compulsory Finnish military service during the period 1987-2005. The Finnish Defence Forces recruit all men aged 18 years for compulsory military service, and new conscripts enter the service twice a year. Before entering the service, all conscripts must pass a medical examination and conscripts entering the service are generally healthy.Health care in Finnish military service is organized by the public Garrison Health Center, and all medical records are stored as part of the Finnish health care operation plan. For this study, we randomly selected 5,000 men from the Finnish Population Register Centre, according to their year of birth from five different age categories (1969, 1974, 1979, 1984, and 1989). We gathered 4,029 documents for the analysis. The incidence of back pain varied between 18% and 21% and remained unchanged during the examination period. The risk factors for back pain were smoking (risk ratio 1.35, P-value <.001), elementary school only as education (risk ratio 1.55, P-value <.001), and back problems reported before military service (risk ratio 2.03, P-value .002). Half of the back pain incidences occurred during the first months of service. The prevalence of back pain among male Finnish military service conscripts has not changed in the last 25 years. Twenty percent of conscripts suffer from back-related problems during their military service. The majority of the visits to health centers occurred in the first service months. The risk factors for back pain include smoking, low education level, and musculoskeletal disorders in general. Educating the young people about harms of tobacco and supporting education is a way to influence the back pain prevalence. Strength of this study is a good generalized population sample of young Finnish adult males because of the fact that the Finnish military service is compulsory for all men. All medical records of all visits to the Garrison Health Care Centre were available, and all the conscripts filled the same pre-service questionnaire, minimizing the possibility of selection bias. The sample size was also large. Weakness of this study is that the service time changed during the study period and in the latest conscript group born in 1989, data collection and the data available for this cohort was limited, because nearly half of the conscripts had not yet started their service. The Finnish military service is compulsory only for men and because of the low number of female conscripts, they were excluded from this study. Diagnoses were also missing from 70% of the back-related visits, and these visits were recorded as back pain-related visits according to the reason for seeking care.

Preterm Birth Is Associated With Depression From Childhood to Early Adulthood

There have been inconsistent findings on the associations among prematurity, poor fetal growth, and depression. We examined the associations among gestational age, poor fetal growth, and depression in individuals aged 5 to 25 years. We identified 37,682 case subjects based on International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision code 2961 and International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes F32.0-F32.9 and F33.0-F33.9 from the Care Register for Health Care, and 148,795 matched controls from the Finnish Central Population Register. Conditional logistic regression examined the associations between gestational age by each gestational week, poor fetal growth, and depression. The associations were adjusted for parental age and psychopathology, paternal immigrant status, maternal substance abuse, depression, number of previous births, marital status, socio-economic status, smoking during pregnancy, and the infant's birthplace. In the adjusted models, increased risk of depression was found in children born≤25 weeks (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.89, 95% CI 1.08-3.31), at 26 weeks (aOR 2.62, 95% CI 1.49-4.61), at 27 weeks (aOR 1.93, 95% CI 1.05-3.53), and≥42 weeks (aOR 1.11, 95% CI 1.05-1.19). In girls, extremely preterm birth was associated with depression diagnosed at 5 to 12 years (aOR 2.70, 95% CI 1.83-3.98) and 13 to 18 years (aOR 2.97, 95% CI 1.84-4.78). In boys, postterm birth (≥42 weeks) was associated with depression diagnosed at 19 to 25 years (aOR 1.28, 95% CI 1.07-1.54). Poor fetal growth was associated with an increased risk of depression in full-term infants (aOR 1.06, 95% CI 1.03-1.10) and postterm infants (aOR 1.24, 95% CI 1.08-1.43). Preterm birth before 28 weeks of gestation appeared to play a role in the development of childhood depression. Smaller effects were also seen in postterm births, especially in boys.

Purchases of psychotropic drugs among the migrant population in Finland: a nationwide register-based cohort study.

Migrant populations may have different mental health service needs when compared with native populations. One indicator of service use is the use of psychotropic medication. The aim of this study was to compare the purchases of psychotropic drugs among different migrant populations with the native population in Finland. Foreign-born participants (n = 184805) and their Finnish-born controls (n = 185183) were identified from the Finnish Central Population Register. Information on their purchases of psychotropic drugs in 2011-15 was collected from the National Prescription Register. A washout period of 2009-10 was used to define incident purchases. Cox regression analysis was the statistical method used. At least one incident purchase of a psychotropic drug was identified for 11.1% of migrant women, 11.4% of Finnish-born women, 8.7% of migrant men and 9.8% of Finnish-born men. When controlled for age, sex, marital status, socioeconomic status and social assistance, migrants were less likely to purchase psychotropic drugs (adjusted hazard ratio 0.96, 95% confidence interval 0.93-0.98), but there was variation between different drug categories. Recent migrants and migrants from Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa were least likely to purchase drugs. Migrants from Nordic countries and other Western countries most closely resembled the Finnish-born controls. Recent migrants in Finland appear to use fewer psychotropic drugs than native Finns. It is important to analyze the reasons for this pattern, as they may indicate delays in access to care or benefits. The heterogeneity of migrant populations must also be considered when developing services to better address their needs.

Atopic Dermatitis Is Associated with Dermatitis Herpetiformis and Celiac Disease in Children

Atopic Dermatitis Is Associated with Dermatitis Herpetiformis and Celiac Disease in Children

The impact of parental psychopathology and sociodemographic factors in selective mutism - a nationwide population-based study

BackgroundSelective mutism (SM) is nowadays considered a relatively rare anxiety disorder characterized by children failing to speak in certain situations. Research on risk factors for SM are limited in comparison to other psychiatric disorders. The aim of this study was to examine several potential risk factors for SM in a large nationwide cohort, namely parental psychopathology, parental age, maternal SES, urbanicity, maternal marital status and parental immigration status.MethodsThis nested case-control study comprised 860 cases with SM, identified from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register and 3250 controls matched for sex and age from the Finnish Central Population Register. Conditional logistic regression was used to examine the association between the risk factors and SM.ResultsIf both parents had any psychiatric disorder, this almost tripled their odds of having a child with SM (OR 2.8, 95% CI 2.0–4.0). There were increased rates of all types of psychiatric disorders in the parents of the children with SM, with a wider range of diagnoses among the mothers than fathers. Fathers over 35 years (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1–1.8) were significantly more likely to have children with SM. Offspring of a single mother had a 2-fold (OR = 2.0, 95% CI 1.4–3.0) increased odds of SM than mothers who were married or in a relationship.ConclusionsSeveral parental psychiatric disorders were associated with offspring SM. This points towards a shared aetiology of psychiatric disorders. Findings on paternal age and single motherhood help to improve our understanding of risk factors for SM.

Characteristics of subjects with alcoholic cardiomyopathy and sudden cardiac death

ObjectiveTo study social and clinical characteristics of victims of sudden cardiac death (SCD) due to alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM).MethodsThe study population comprised a subset of Fingesture cohort. All subjects were verified...

Association of extracerebral organ failure with 1-year survival and healthcare-associated costs after cardiac arrest: an observational database study

BackgroundOrgan dysfunction is common after cardiac arrest and associated with worse short-term outcome, but its impact on long-term outcome and treatment costs is unknown.MethodsWe used nationwide registry data from the intensive care units (ICU) of the five Finnish university hospitals to evaluate the association of 24-h extracerebral Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (24h-EC-SOFA) score with 1-year survival and healthcare-associated costs after cardiac arrest. We included adult cardiac arrest patients treated in the participating ICUs between January 1, 2003, and December 31, 2013. We acquired the confirmed date of death from the Finnish Population Register Centre database and gross 1-year healthcare-associated costs from the hospital billing records and the database of the Finnish Social Insurance Institution.ResultsA total of 5814 patients were included in the study, and 2401 were alive 1 year after cardiac arrest. Median (interquartile range (IQR)) 24h-EC-SOFA score was 6 (5–8) in 1-year survivors and 7 (5–10) in non-survivors. In multivariate regression analysis, adjusting for age and prior independency in self-care, the 24h-EC-SOFA score had an odds ratio (OR) of 1.16 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.14–1.18) per point for 1-year mortality.Median (IQR) healthcare-associated costs in the year after cardiac arrest were €47,000 (€28,000–75,000) in 1-year survivors and €12,000 (€6600–25,000) in non-survivors. In a multivariate linear regression model adjusting for age and prior independency in self-care, an increase of one point in the 24h-EC-SOFA score was associated with an increase of €170 (95% CI €150–190) in the cost per day alive in the year after cardiac arrest. In the same model, an increase of one point in the 24h-EC-SOFA score was associated with an increase of €4400 (95% CI €3300–5500) in the total healthcare-associated costs in 1-year survivors.ConclusionsExtracerebral organ dysfunction is associated with long-term outcome and gross healthcare-associated costs of ICU-treated cardiac arrest patients. It should be considered when assessing interventions to improve outcomes and optimize the use of resources in these patients.

Postmenopausal hormone therapy is accompanied by elevated risk for uterine prolapse.

Receptors for estrogen and progesterone are present in the pelvic floor, and therefore, postmenopausal hormone therapy may affect its function. We compared the former use of estradiol-progestogen postmenopausal hormone therapy in nonhysterectomized women with a uterine prolapse surgery (N = 12,072) and control women (N = 33,704). The women with a history of uterine prolapse operation were identified from the Finnish National Hospital Discharge Register, and the control women from the Finnish Central Population Register. The use of hormone therapy was traced from the national drug reimbursement register, and the odd ratios with 95% CIs for prolapse were calculated by using the conditional logistic regression analysis. The women with uterine prolapse had used hormone therapy more often than control women (N = 4,127; 34.2% vs N = 9,189; 27.3%; P < 0.005). The use of hormone therapy was accompanied by significant (23%-53%) elevations in the risk for prolapse, being higher with longer exposure. The risk elevations (33%-23%) were comparable between sole norethisteroneacetate-estradiol and sole medroxyprogesteroneacetate-estradiol therapy. The use of estradiol in combination with a levonorgestrel releasing intrauterine device was accompanied by a 52% elevation. The postmenopausal use of estradiol in combination with various progestogen regimens may weaken the pelvic floor, resulting in uterine prolapse. This data should be incorporated into the information given to the users of estradiol-progestogen hormone therapy.

Maternal schizophrenia and out-of-home placements of offspring: A national follow-up study among Finnish women born 1965–1980 and their children

Schizophrenia may affect a mother's ability to parent. We investigated out-of-home placements among children with a biological mother having schizophrenia, and their relation to maternal characteristics and adverse perinatal health outcomes of the offspring. For each Finnish woman born between 1 JAN 1965 – 31 DEC 1980 and diagnosed with schizophrenia before 31 DEC 2013 (n = 5214), five matched controls were randomly selected from the Finnish Central Population Register. Children born to these women were identified and followed till 31 DEC 2013. The Child Welfare Register, the Medical Birth Register and the Register of Congenital Malformations were used to gather information. Altogether 35.1% of children with an affected mother and 3.2% of control children were placed out of home during the follow-up. The incidence rate ratio (IRR) of out-of-home placement among children with an affected mother was 12.6 (95% confidence interval (CI) 10.80–13.46) when children with a non-affected mother served as a reference. Single motherhood (IRR 2.2, 95% Cl 1.88–2.60) and maternal smoking (IRR 1.9, 95% Cl 1.68–2.16), but not an adverse perinatal outcome of the offspring, increased the risk of out-of-home placement. To conclude, maternal schizophrenia is a strong risk factor for placement of children in out-of-home care.

What influences the size of child maintenance payments? A register‐based study of maintenance payments in Finland

The aim of this study was to explore how particular economic and demographic factors contribute to the level of the child maintenance payment (CMP) paid by the non‐resident parent. For this study, we used 5‐year longitudinal panel data from years 2009 to 2013 consisting of over 80,000 non‐resident parents from the Finnish Tax Administration and The Finnish Population Register Centre. Results from regression models indicate that the single biggest factor affecting the size of CMPs is the number of dependent children. We found that the non‐resident parent's higher income is associated with higher CMPs and that non‐resident fathers pay on average larger CMPs than non‐resident mothers, even after accounting for differences in income. Unexpectedly, we found that the age of the dependent child did not predict changes in CMPs. This suggests that once formal CMP‐contracts are determined between the parents, they are seldom changed. Our results suggest that some degree of mandatory periodic review for maintenance contracts is worth considering.

Long-term Follow-up After Endometrial Ablation in Finland: Cancer Risks and Later Hysterectomies.

To study the risk of endometrial cancer and breast cancer and the hysterectomy rate after endometrial ablation. In this retrospective cohort study, records of all women with endometrial ablation at ages 30-49 years in Finland (1997-2014) were extracted from the Hospital Discharge Register and linked to the Cancer Registry and Finnish Central Population Register. The primary outcome was cancer incidences in the endometrial ablation cohort compared with those in the background population of the same age. Secondarily, the postablation hysterectomy rate was compared with that of a control cohort of similar-aged women extracted from the Finnish Central Population Register. Multivariate regression models with adjustment for age, parity, number of cesarean deliveries, history of sterilization, and the duration of follow-up were evaluated as risk factors for postablation hysterectomy. In total, 154 cancers (standardized incidence ratio [observed-to-expected ratio] 0.96, 95% CI 0.82-1.13) were diagnosed among 5,484 women treated with endometrial ablation during the follow-up of 39,892 women-years. The standardized incidence ratio for endometrial cancer was 0.56 (95% CI 0.12-1.64) and for breast cancer 0.86 (95% CI 0.67-1.09). A total of 1,086 (19.8%) women had postablation hysterectomy. Risk of hysterectomy was almost fourfold in the endometrial ablation cohort compared with 26,938 women in a control group (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 3.63, 95% CI 3.32-3.96). Factors predisposing to postablation hysterectomy were leiomyomas (adjusted HR 1.78, 95% CI 1.03-3.10), age younger than 35 years (adjusted HR 1.44, 95% CI 1.15-1.81), at least two prior cesarean deliveries (adjusted HR 1.27, 95% CI 1.04-1.55), and history of sterilization (adjusted HR 1.15, 95% CI 1.01-1.32). Endometrial ablation was not associated with an elevated endometrial cancer or breast cancer risk in Finland. Leiomyomas, young age, and history of prior cesarean deliveries or sterilization were associated with an increased risk of postablation hysterectomy.

Mortality and causes of death among the migrant population of Finland in 2011-13.

Lower mortality among migrants than in the general population has been found in many, but not in all, previous studies. The mortality of migrants has not been studied in Finland, which has a relatively small and recent migrant population. People who were born abroad and whose mother tongue is not Finnish were identified from the Finnish Central Population Register (n = 185 605). A Finnish-born control matched by age, sex and place of residence was identified for each case (n = 185 605). Information about deaths was collected from the Finnish Causes of Death Register. Cox proportional hazards model was used for assessing the association between migrant status and death in 2011–13. The mortality risk was found to be significantly lower for migrants than for Finnish controls (adjusted hazard ratio 0.77, 95% CI 0.72–0.84), both for migrant men (aHR 0.80, 95% CI 0.73–0.89) and women (aHR 0.78, 95% CI 0.70–0.88). The difference was statistically significant only among people who were not married and among people who were not in employment. There was variation by country of birth, but no migrant group had higher mortality than Finnish controls. No differences in mortality were found by duration of residence in Finland. The higher mortality of Finnish controls was largely explained by alcohol-related conditions and external causes of death. The mortality risk of migrants is lower than of people who were born in Finland. Possible explanations include selection and differences in substance use and other health behaviour.

Opinions and use of mobile information technology among older people in northern finland - preliminary results of a population based study

Older people's usage of mobile devices is increasing. This study is part of the GASEL project and seeks to increase the understanding of the use of mobile information technology and opinions towards it. Opinions are compared between genders and age groups. The population based data were collected by conducting a questionnaire survey. A random sample of 1,500 adults 65 years of age or older was obtained from the Finnish Population Register Centre. The number of respondents was 918 with a response rate of 61.2 %. About one fifth (n=169) had used a tablet computer and approximately one third (n=226) had used a mobile phone with a touch screen in the past 12 months without encountering major difficulties. The respondents had mostly thought that using the devices would not be easy. They had also thought that the usage would not be too expensive for them. Men and younger old people held more positive opinions towards these new technologies. Older people are slower in adapting and accepting new technologies and this should be taken into account when designing services, applications and content, as these technologies have the potential to enrichen the lives of this specific population group.

Parental migration and Asperger's syndrome.

Parental immigration has been suggested as a possible risk factor for autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but findings have been inconsistent. Very few studies have focused specifically on Asperger's syndrome. The aim of this study was to examine the association between maternal and paternal immigration and the diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome in offspring. The study was a nested case-control study based on a national birth cohort in Finland. Children born in 1987-2005 and diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome by the year 2007 were identified from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register (N = 1,783). Four matched controls for each case were selected from the Finnish Medical Birth Register (N = 7,106). Information on maternal and paternal country of birth and mother tongue was collected from the Finnish Central Population Register. The study showed that children whose parents are both immigrants have a significantly lower likelihood of being diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome than those with two Finnish parents [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 0.2, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.1-0.4]. No significant associations were found between having only one immigrant parent and the diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome. A regional analysis showed a significantly decreased likelihood of the diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome in children whose mother (aOR 0.1, 95 % CI 0.01-0.5) or father (aOR 0.2, 95 % CI 0.05-0.5) was born in Sub-Saharan Africa. The findings may help in identifying risk factors for different ASD subtypes. On the other hand, they might reflect service use of immigrant families in Finland.

The risk of childhood autism among second-generation migrants in Finland: a case–control study

BackgroundStudying second-generation immigrants can help in identifying genetic or environmental risk factors for childhood autism. Most previous studies have focused on maternal region of birth and showed inconsistent results. No previous study has been conducted in Finland.MethodsThe study was a nested case–control study based on a national birth cohort. Children born in 1987–2005 and diagnosed with childhood autism by the year 2007 were identified from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register. Controls were selected from the Finnish Medical Birth Register. Information on maternal and paternal country of birth and mother tongue was collected from the Finnish Central Population Register. There were 1132 cases and 4515 matched controls. The statistical test used was conditional logistic regression analysis.ResultsCompared with children with two Finnish parents, the risk of childhood autism was increased for those whose parents are both immigrants (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2–2.7) and for those with only an immigrant mother (aOR 1.8, 95% CI 1.2–2.7), but not for those with only an immigrant father. The risk was increased for those with a mother born in the former Soviet Union or Yugoslavia and for those with a mother or a father born in Asia. Specific parental countries of birth associated with an increased risk were the former Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia and Vietnam.ConclusionsIn Finland, children who are born to immigrant mothers with or without an immigrant partner, have an increased risk of childhood autism. The risk varies with immigrant parents’ region of birth. The findings may help in identifying possible risk factors, which can be examined in future studies.

Parental psychiatric disorders and autism spectrum disorders

The present population-based, case-control study examines associations between specific parental psychiatric disorders and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) including childhood autism, Asperger's syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder (PDD-NOS). The cohort includes 4713 children born between 1987 and 2005 with diagnoses of childhood autism, Asperger's syndrome or PDD-NOS. Cases were ascertained from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register, and each was matched to four controls by gender, date of birth, place of birth, and residence in Finland. Controls were selected from the Finnish Medical Birth Register. Parents were identified through the Finnish Medical Birth Register and Finnish Central Population Register. Parental psychiatric diagnoses from inpatient care were collected from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register. Conditional logistic regression models were used to assess whether parents' psychiatric disorders predicted ASD after controlling for parents' age, smoking during pregnancy and weight for gestational age. In summary, parental schizophrenia spectrum disorders and affective disorders were associated with the risk of ASD regardless of the subgroup. PDD-NOS was associated with all parental psychiatric disorders investigated. Further studies are needed to replicate these findings. These results may facilitate the investigation of shared genetic and familial factors between ASD and other psychiatric disorders.

The use of complementary and alternative medicine products in preceding two days among Finnish parents - a population survey

BackgroundThe use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) has been extensively studied globally among adult and paediatric populations. Parents, as a group, had not been studied to assess their knowledge and attitude to CAM and general medicine use. This study is necessary since parents' attitude to medicine use is known to influence their child's attitude to medicine use later in life. We therefore aim to assess the extent and types of CAM use among Finnish parents, and to determine the factors that promote the CAM use. Also, we aim to determine parents' attitude to general medicine use.MethodsChildren less than 12 years old, as of spring 2007, were identified from the database of the Finnish Population Register Centre and were selected by random sampling. The parents of these children were identified and a questionnaire was sent to them. Only the parent who regularly takes care of the child's medicine was requested to fill the questionnaire. Cross-tabulations and Chi-square test were used to determine the associations between categorical variables. CAMs were defined as natural products that are not registered as medicines, such as homeopathic preparations, dietary food supplements, and traditional medicinal products.ResultsThe response rate of the survey was 67% (n = 4032). The use of CAM was 31% in the preceding two days. The most commonly used CAM products were vitamins and minerals, followed by fish oils and fatty acids. Prescription and OTC medicines were used concomitantly with CAM by one-third of the parents. CAM was frequently used by parents over 30 years (33%), female parents (32%), highly educated parents (35%), and parents with high monthly net income (3000-3999 euros, 34%). The users of CAM had more negative attitudes towards medicines than non-users of CAM.ConclusionsOur findings are in accordance with those of previous studies that women over 30 years of age with a high education and income typically use CAMs. Finnish parents seem to use CAMs as complementary rather than alternative to medicines. Health care professionals should take into consideration both the concomitant use as well as the negative attitudes among CAM users in encounters with the parents.

Do people regard cheaper medicines effective? Population survey on public opinion of generic substitution in Finland

Generic substitution (GS) is an important way to decrease medical costs. We aimed to study the opinions and attitudes of Finnish people about GS five years after it was introduced, the reasons for substituting and what people think about generic medicines. We sent a postal survey to a random stratified population sample of 3000 Finnish people aged at least 18 years in 2008. The random sample was drawn from five mainland counties. The sampling was conducted by the Finnish Population Register Centre. The response rate was 62% (n=1844) after exclusion of unobtainable addressees (n=34). Most of the respondents (70.9%) considered GS a good law reform. However, there were many respondents who were unsure about their opinion (26.9%). The respondents also held the opinion that cheaper medicines are effective (80.9%) and that GS does not cause any risk to drug safety (84.9%). Most of the respondents (88.4%) who had substituted their medicines had not noticed any difference between the previously used and substituted medicines. Two main reasons for substituting were a desire to save money and recommendation by pharmacists. Of the respondents, 16.3% had experience with both substituting and refusing it. The percentage of the respondents who only had experience with refusing GS was 8.6%. Female gender, older age and use of prescription drugs were associated with refusing. Finnish people consider GS a good reform. They also have confidence in the effect of cheaper medicines. Savings are the main reason for accepting GS.

Evaluating housing quality, health and safety using an Internet-based data collection and response system: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundTypically housing and health surveys are not integrated together and therefore are not representative of population health or national housing stocks. In addition, the existing channels for distributing information about housing and health issues to the general public are limited. The aim of this study was to develop a data collection and response system that would allow us to assess the Finnish housing stock from the points of view of quality, health and safety, and also to provide a tool to distribute information about important housing health and safety issues.MethodsThe data collection and response system was tested with a sample of 3000 adults (one per household), who were randomly selected from the Finnish Population Register Centre. Spatial information about the exact location of the residences (i.e. coordinates) was included in the database inquiry. People could participate either by completing and returning a paper questionnaire or by completing the same questionnaire via the Internet. The respondents did not receive any compensation for their time in completing the questionnaire.ResultsThis article describes the data collection and response system and presents the main results of the population-based testing of the system. A total of 1312 people (response rate 44%) answered the questionnaire, though only 80 answered via the Internet. A third of the respondents had indicated they wanted feedback. Albeit a majority (>90%) of the respondents reported being satisfied or quite satisfied with their residence, there were a number of prevalent housing issues identified that can be related to health and safety.ConclusionsThe collected database can be used to evaluate the quality of the housing stock in terms of occupant health and safety, and to model its association with occupant health and well-being. However, it must be noted that all the health outcomes gathered in this study are self-reported. A follow-up study is needed to evaluate whether the occupants acted on the feedback they received. Relying solely on an Internet-based questionnaire for collecting data would not appear to provide an adequate response rate for random population-based surveys at this point in time.

Nutrition précoce et devenir neurologique du prématuré

There have been inconsistent findings on the associations among prematurity, poor fetal growth, and depression. We examined the associations among gestational age, poor fetal growth, and depression in individuals aged 5 to 25 years.We identified 37,682 case subjects based on International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision code 2961 and International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes F32.0-F32.9 and F33.0-F33.9 from the Care Register for Health Care, and 148,795 matched controls from the Finnish Central Population Register. Conditional logistic regression examined the associations between gestational age by each gestational week, poor fetal growth, and depression. The associations were adjusted for parental age and psychopathology, paternal immigrant status, maternal substance abuse, depression, number of previous births, marital status, socio-economic status, smoking during pregnancy, and the infant’s birthplace.In the adjusted models, increased risk of depression was found in children born ≤25 weeks (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.89, 95% CI 1.08–3.31), at 26 weeks (aOR 2.62, 95% CI 1.49–4.61), at 27 weeks (aOR 1.93, 95% CI 1.05–3.53), and ≥42 weeks (aOR 1.11, 95% CI 1.05–1.19). In girls, extremely preterm birth was associated with depression diagnosed at 5 to 12 years (aOR 2.70, 95% CI 1.83–3.98) and 13 to 18 years (aOR 2.97, 95% CI 1.84–4.78). In boys, postterm birth (≥42 weeks) was associated with depression diagnosed at 19 to 25 years (aOR 1.28, 95% CI 1.07–1.54). Poor fetal growth was associated with an increased risk of depression in full-term infants (aOR 1.06, 95% CI 1.03–1.10) and postterm infants (aOR 1.24, 95% CI 1.08–1.43).Preterm birth before 28 weeks of gestation appeared to play a role in the development of childhood depression. Smaller effects were also seen in postterm births, especially in boys.