Rural-urban differences in health and health behaviour: a baseline description of a community health-promotion programme for the elderly

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To (1) describe the setting and design of the Good Ageing in Lahti Region (GOAL) programme; (2) by using the baseline results of the GOAL cohort study, to examine whether living in urban, semi-urban, or rural communities is related to risk factors for chronic diseases and functional disability in ageing individuals. DESIGN: The baseline data of a cohort study of ageing individuals living in three community types (urban, semi-urban, rural). Data were collected by two questionnaires and laboratory assessments. SETTING: Fourteen municipalities in the Lahti region (P?ij?t-H?me County) in Finland. PARTICIPANTS: A regionally and locally stratified random sample of men and women born in 1946-50, 1936-40, and 1926-30. A total of 4,272 were invited and 2,815 (66%) participated. MAIN RESULTS: Elevated serum cholesterol, obesity, disability, sedentary lifestyle (<2 times/week walking), and high fat intake were more prevalent in rural vs. urban and semi-urban communities. After adjustment for sex, age, education, obesity, diet, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol use, rural communities remained the only community type with increased (p<0.05) probability for high BMI (OR 1.33) and high waist circumference (OR 1.43). CONCLUSIONS: The unfavourable health and lifestyle profile, together with an old population, makes health promotion for elderly citizens a special challenge for rural communities such as those in P?ij?t-H?me County, Finland. Most, if not all, of the differences in health between the three community types were explained by educational background, physical activity, and smoking.     

"What's in, what's out": stakeholders' views about the boundaries of Medicare

The Canada Health Act requires that provincial insurance plans provide universal coverage without co-payments for all "medically necessary" services delivered by hospitals and doctors, but allows care delivered by other providers in other locations to fall outside of the boundaries of Medicare. Discussion about the sustainability of medicare at both the national and provincial levels has called for the revisiting of these boundaries. The M-THAC (Medicare to Home and Community) Research Unit attempted to clarify the areas of consensus and controversy as to what key stakeholders thought should be "in" or "out" of Medicare. Using a non-experimental, cross-sectional design, a self-administered survey (in both English and French, constructed in consultation with our partners) was distributed between January and April 2002 to policy elites of key stakeholder groups. The results are based on 2,523 responses. Much of the current "debate" is mired in discussing issues where consensus already exists. We found strong support for in-hospital care. However, there is considerable resistance, across all groups, to full funding for similar services in private clinics or in the home, and almost no support for full funding for non-medical home-based services. The vision of many policy elites remains heavily linked to the current system of guaranteed public funding only for acute care in hospitals or by physicians. Successful reform will need to address, rather than assume, a broader view of healthcare.     

Development of a rapid autopsy program for studies of brain immunity

Human glia are essential cellular models used for studies of neurodegenerative diseases. Fetal neuroglia are commonly used, as they can be recovered in large quantities and sustained for long periods in culture. However, fetal neuroglia may have limitations in reflecting adult diseases and additionally can pose ethical issues in translating products of abortion for research use. To address these concerns, we developed a rapid autopsy program to procure age- and disease-specific neuroglia from adult brain tissues within hours of death. The challenges in developing this initiative, reflecting experiences from 69 autopsies over 4 years, are presented.     

Bifid mandibular condyle: CT and MR imaging appearance in two patients: case report and review of the literature

We describe two cases of a bifid mandibular condyle. The first case is a 48-year-old woman with headaches and a pain and clicking sensation in her right jaw during mastication. The second case is an asymptomatic 17-year-old woman with a history of bilateral microtia and hemifacial microsomia. In both patients, the bifid condyle was first identified by CT and affected the temporomandibular joint. The imaging findings of both patients' bifid mandibular condyles led us to conclude that both patients likely had an abnormal development of the mandibular condyles. We believe that an intervening fibrous or vascular structure may have split the condyle into two heads.     

Health psychological theory in promoting population health in Päijät-Häme, Finland: first steps toward a type 2 diabetes prevention study

In public health promotion, behavioural science theories and theory-based methods should be translated into practical strategies that fit environmental conditions and are feasible for implementation. In this article, an effort to meet this challenge is presented. As a starting point we describe the conditions for development and success of the previous generation of public health promotion programmes in Finland. However, changes both in the population structure and in the population health bring new demands for programme development. We consider possibilities offered by health psychology and give a practical example of how theories and theory-based methods are applied in a community programme for type 2 diabetes prevention implemented in the Finnish primary health care.     

Persistent cytomegalovirus infection in kidney allografts is associated with inferior graft function and survival

The long-term effects of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections on kidney allografts are unknown. We examined the impact of persistent intragraft CMV infection on long-term kidney allograft function and survival. CMV was diagnosed in 82/172 renal transplant recipients by antigenemia test and viral cultures. Biopsies from 48 of 82 patients taken after CMV infection and from 15 patients with no previous CMV infection detected were available for the immunohistochemical demonstration of CMV antigens and DNA hybridization in situ. Five-year follow-up data from these 63 patients were analysed. In 17 patients, CMV antigens and/or DNA persisted in the biopsy >2 months after the last positive finding in blood or urine. Patients with persistent intragraft CMV had reduced graft survival (P = 0.041) and Cox regression analysis showed persistent CMV as a risk factor for reduced graft survival (RR: 3.5). Recipients with persistent intragraft CMV had reduced creatinine clearance 1 and 2 years after transplantation (P = 0.007) and in multivariate logistic regression analyses including several potential pre- and posttransplant risk factors, persistent CMV was an independent risk factor for lower clearance at 1 and 2 years (OR: 4.4 and 4.9). Our novel findings show that persistent intragraft CMV infection was associated with reduced kidney allograft function and survival.     

The impact of cytomegalovirus infections and acute rejection episodes on the development of vascular changes in 6-month protocol biopsy specimens of cadaveric kidney allograft recipients

BACKGROUND: The role of cytomegalovirus (CMV) in chronic kidney allograft rejection remains controversial. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of CMV infection on histopathologic changes in 6-month protocol biopsy specimens of kidney allografts. METHODS: Altogether, 52 renal allograft recipients were studied. CMV infection was diagnosed by CMV antigenemia test, viral cultures from blood and urine, or both. CMV was demonstrated in the biopsy specimens by antigen detection and hybridization in situ. Acute rejections were diagnosed by biopsy histology, and biopsy specimens were graded according to the Banff '97 classification. RESULTS: CMV infection was diagnosed in 41 patients. The 11 patients in whom CMV infection was not detected were used as controls. Acute rejection was diagnosed in 22 of 41 CMV patients and in 6 of 11 control patients. CMV was demonstrated in the biopsy specimens of 19 of 41 CMV patients. CMV was not associated with increased glomerular, tubular, or interstitial changes. However, the arteriosclerotic changes in small arterioles were significantly increased in the subgroup of patients where CMV was demonstrated in the graft as compared with controls (P<0.01). Analysis of the impact of acute rejection on arteriolar thickening showed that only a positive history of both acute rejection and CMV found in the graft was associated with significantly increased vascular changes compared with CMV-free recipients (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Neither CMV nor acute rejection alone was associated with increased vascular or other histopathologic changes in 6-month protocol biopsy specimens of kidney allografts, but a previous history of both acute rejection and the presence of CMV in the graft was associated with increased vascular changes.