Lifestyle factors and risk of cerebral infarction.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: We evaluated the impact of lifestyle factors on the risk of ischemic stroke. METHODS: We used a nested case-control design. The cases comprised 163 persons (median age 69 years) admitted to a stroke unit and diagnosed with acute cerebral infarction. All cases had earlier participated in the North Trøndelag Health Survey. The controls comprised 567 participants from the North Trøndelag Health Survey, matched by sex and year of birth. RESULTS: Raised systolic (p less than 0.001) and diastolic (p = 0.02) blood pressure, antihypertensive treatment (p less than 0.001), previous myocardial infarction (p less than 0.001), prior stroke (p = 0.002), diabetes (p less than 0.001), and former daily smoking (p = 0.02) were identified as significant risk factors by univariate conditional logistic regression. No difference in risk was detected at different levels of alcohol consumption, salt intake, physical activity, or body mass index. Current smokers had virtually the same risk as nonsmokers. No association was found between stroke and the number of cigarettes smoked per day or the number of years of smoking. Multivariate conditional logistic regression identified diabetes (p = 0.002), raised systolic blood pressure (p less than 0.001), and former daily smoking (p = 0.01) as significant and independent risk factors. Previous myocardial infarction (p = 0.07), previous stroke (p = 0.1), and current daily smoking (p = 0.1) were of marginal significance. CONCLUSIONS: The established medical risk factors for stroke are confirmed. With the possible exception of smoking, we have not identified any lifestyle factor with a significant impact on the risk of ischemic stroke.

[Endoscopic biopsy of the small intestine in children]. / Tynntarmsbiopsi via endoskop hos barn.

As from 1983, endoscopy with biopsy in general anesthesia was used instead of the capsule suction method in children with suspected coeliac disease in a county hospital. A study was carried out to evaluate mean endoscopy time, duration of general anesthesia, complications and quality of biopsies. An ordinary Olympus GIF-Q endoscope (diameter 11 mm) was used in 17 patients, eight boys and nine girls. Mean age was 5.9 years (range 11 months-14 years). Mean endoscopy time was 5.3 min. and of duration of general anesthesia 13.6 min. No serious complications such as perforation or bleeding were recorded. All the biopsies that were taken were considered representative. In coeliac disease the method is time-sparing, less harmful to the children, provides representative biopsies and gives fewer complications.

Long-term treatment of duodenal ulcer with trimipramine. A double-blind study.

Sixty-two patients with healed duodenal or prepyloric ulcers completed a double-blind long-term trial with either 25 mg/day of trimipramine (32 patients) or placebo (30 patients). Endoscopy was performed when marked dyspeptic complaints occurred or after a 1-year follow-up study. Eleven patients in the trimipramine-treated group and 18 patients in the placebo group had relapses, with endoscopically confirmed ulcers or erosions with duodenitis and severe symptoms, revealing a statistically significant difference between the groups in favour of trimipramine. Twenty-one patients (66%) receiving trimipramine and 12 patients (40%) receiving placebo were in remission at the end of the study. The probability of having a relapse increased with the time from start of placebo but decreased in the group that received trimipramine. No serious side effects occurred. In conclusion, 25 mg of trimipramine daily reduced significantly the recurrence rate of duodenal ulcer disease, when compared with placebo.