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Biomedical subjects

A Hafstad

Publications and source records attributed to A Hafstad.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Vaginal disinfection with chlorhexidine during childbirth.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether chlorhexidine vaginal douching, applied by a squeeze bottle intra partum, reduced mother-to-child transmission of vaginal microorganisms including Streptococcus agalactiae (streptococcus serogroup B = GBS) and hence infectious morbidity in both mother and child. A prospective controlled study was conducted on pairs of mothers and their offspring. During the first 4 months (reference phase), the vaginal flora of women in labour was recorded and the newborns monitored. During the next 5 months (intervention phase), a trial of randomized, blinded placebo controlled douching with either 0.2% chlorhexidine or sterile saline was performed on 1130 women in vaginal labour. During childbirth, bacteria were isolated from 78% of the women. Vertical transmission of microbes occurred in 43% of the reference deliveries. In the double blind study, vaginal douching with chlorhexidine significantly reduced the vertical transmission rate from 35% (saline) to 18% (chlorhexidine), (P < 0.000 1, 95% confidence interval 0.12-0.22). The lower rate of bacteria isolated from the latter group was accompanied by a significantly reduced early infectious morbidity in the neonates (P < 0.05, 95% confidence interval 0.00-0.06). This finding was particularly pronounced in Str. agalactiae infections (P < 0.0 1). In the early postpartum period, fever in the mothers was significantly lower in the patients offered vaginal disinfection, a reduction from 7.2% in those douched using saline compared with 3.3% in those disinfected using chlorhexidine (P < 0.05, 95% confidence interval 0.01-0.06). A parallel lower occurrence of urinary tract infections was also observed, 6.2% in the saline group as compared with 3.4% in the chlorhexidine group (P < 0.01, 95% confidence p interval 0.00-0.05). This prospective controlled trial demonstrated that vaginal douching with 0.2% chlorhexidine during labour can significantly reduce both maternal and early neonatal infectious morbidity. The squeeze bottle procedure was simple, quick, and well tolerated. The beneficial effect may be ascribed both to mechanical cleansing by liquid flow and to the disinfective action of chlorhexidine.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

[Who gives up smoking? Results from the health surveys in Finnmark in 1977/78 and 1987/88].

In order to develop effective smoking cessation programmes, it is important to understand why people stop smoking. This study is based on data from two population-based health surveys carried out in the northernmost county of Norway in 1977-78 and 1987-88. 6,254 men and 6,404 women smokers participated in the survey. For both surveys questionnaires were used to collect information on smoking habits, sociodemographic variables, various diseases, symptoms, health related behaviours, and social network. Ten years later 19.3% of the men and 16.0% of the women had stopped smoking. The primary factors for giving up were: a short history of smoking, older age, having non-smoking family and friends, and acquiring a smoking related disease during the period. Health promoting behaviours, such as low consumption of coffee, alcohol, butter and margarine, also increased the chances of giving up smoking. Developing smoking related symptoms, such as a morning cough, or coughing up mucus in the mornings, predicted continuous smoking. Future health promotion programmes should be targeted at young smokers and persons with smoking related diseases; and efforts should probably be directed towards lifestyle with the aim of modifying general attitudes to health.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Provocative appeals in anti-smoking mass media campaigns targeting adolescents--the accumulated effect of multiple exposures.

This paper reports findings from a longitudinal study that evaluated the accumulated effect of three consecutive mass media campaigns using provocative and dissonance arousing appeals to prevent cigarette smoking by adolescents. In the spring of 1992, all eligible adolescents aged 14 and 15 in one intervention county (N = 4898) and one control county (N = 5439) in Norway were included in the study, and were followed until they were 17 and 18 years of age in 1995. Only students who completed questionnaires both in 1992 and 1995 were included in the analyses. Among the non-smokers at baseline, a significantly lower proportion of adolescents of both genders had started to smoke in the intervention county compared to the proportion in the control county. Among those who were smokers at baseline, significantly more girls in the intervention county had stopped smoking than in the control county, while no significant difference between the counties was detected among boys. Our findings suggest that provocative and dissonance arousing appeals that create affective reactions and lead to interpersonal communication should be given more attention in campaigns designed to influence adolescent smoking. However, such appeals may easily produce negative reactions and the normative context should be thoroughly considered when using such appeals in future interventions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Non-smoking policies and practices in Norwegian delivery units in 1994.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the number of delivery units in Norway that have become smoke free for employees and patients. DESIGN: A pre-categorised questionnaire was sent in September 1994 to the physician or midwife responsible for each of the 68 delivery units in the country. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Hospital smoking policies, reported difficulties in implementation, use of nicotine replacement therapy in patients, and provision of information on tobacco-related health hazards to patients. RESULTS: Fifty-six units (82.3%), accounting for 93% of all deliveries in Norway in 1993, responded. Of these, 42 (75%) were smoke-free for employees, and 33 (59%) for patients. Nearly all had become smoke-free after 1990. No significant difference was seen according to type or size of delivery unit. No difficulties in the implementation of policies restricting smoking were reported. Thirty-one (55%) routinely informed patients of the health implications of smoking during pregnancy. Two units offered nicotine replacement therapy to patients. CONCLUSION: Most Norwegian delivery units were smoke-free for both employees and patients. Provided that the recent trend toward adoption of smoke-free policies continues, all delivery units in Norway should be smoke-free by 1997-1998.

Delivery Rooms↗
PubMed1995

[Smoking-free environment in the Norwegian delivery institutions--where are we now?].

A questionnaire was sent to all 68 registered delivery units in Norway, in order to investigate the policy on smoking for employees and for pregnant and puerperal women. The response rate after one reminder was 82.3%. The main finding was that a majority (2/3) of Norwegian delivery units have already introduced a total ban on smoking for all employees, and increasingly so since 1990. Another seven hospital had made but not yet implemented the decision. As regards pregnant and puerperal women, more than half of the units had implemented a non-smoking policy. Information on the health hazards of smoking during pregnancy was routine in more than half of the units, and information on the impact of smoking on infants during the first year of life was given as a routine at about 1/3 of the units. We conclude that our results are positive, and provided that the delivery units continue to become smoke-free at the same rate as during the last three years, all Norwegian delivery units can be expected to be smoke-free for both pregnant and puerperal women and employees by 1997-98. Delivery units possess a unique opportunity to provide information on smoking and health hazards during pregnancy, and on risk to infants during the first years of life. This potential has not yet been fully utilised.

Birthing Centers↗
PubMed1994

[Smoking habits since 1910 among Norwegian men and women born after 1890].

This article describes smoking habits among Norwegian men and women born between 1890 and 1974. In order to follow the smoking habits in groups which included the same persons throughout the observation period, the proportion of smokers in five-year birth cohorts of men and women was tabulated by age or calendar year of birth. The percentage of smokers was more than five times higher in men than in women born during the period 1890-94, but the gap declined with later year of birth until no gender difference existed between men and women born after 1950. Male smoking peaked in the 1950s with 76-78% smokers in men born in the period 1915-34. The highest proportion of female smokers was observed around 1970, when 52% smoked among those born in the 1940s. Since 1955, smoking has declined in all cohorts of men, whereas the decline in female smoking started in the early 1970s.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

[Smokeless health institutions--what progress was achieved so far?].

In August 1991, the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Social Affairs distributed their publication Plan of Action to Achieve Smoke-free Health Institutions. The goal was that all health institutions in Norway should have established a smoke-free environment for all employees before 1.1.1994. In March 1993 a questionnaire was sent to all health institutions. The purpose was to remind the institutions of the plan of action, and to evaluate the progress of the efforts to achieve smoke-free health institutions so far. Three types of institutions were included in this study: hospitals, institutions for the elderly, and psychiatric institutions, in all 1,437 institutions. The overall response rate was 33%. The response rate for the hospitals was 68%. A majority, 55%, have decided to establish a smoke-free environment for their employees. About two thirds of the institutions who had not made such a decision do not have any plans to do so. It is concluded that this study indicates a demand for further action in order to establish smoke-free health institutions in Norway. Stronger involvement seems to be needed, particularly on the part of the municipalities and countries, as owners of the institutions.

Evaluation Studies as Topic↗
PubMed1994

Lifetime smoking habits among Norwegian men and women born between 1890 and 1974.

BACKGROUND: The aims of the present study were to provide lifetime smoking data for epidemiological studies of tobacco-induced cancer in Norway, and to sort out the influence of age, gender, and period on the population's smoking habits in this century. METHODS: We used annual surveys of smoking habits from 1954 to 1992, and individual lifetime smoking histories collected in 1965 from a population sample born 1893-1927. The population was divided into 5-year sex-and-birth cohorts born between 1890 and 1974, and smoking habits were described as the proportion of current smokers in 5-year age groups between 15 and 74 years old. We also estimated the average tobacco consumption per smoker by calendar year after 1930. RESULTS: The proportion of smokers increased with each succeeding cohort of men and women until the 1950s, when the highest proportion of male smokers (76-78%) was observed among those born 1915-1934. This peak was followed by a decline in both men and women from 1955 to 1965. A second peak occurred in women around 1970, during which the highest proportion of smokers (52%) was observed in women born 1940-1949. From 1970 to 1990 smoking has declined in all cohorts of men and women, but at a slower rate after 1980 in the younger cohorts. The smoking proportion was more than five times higher in men than in women born 1890-1894, but the gap has declined with each succeeding cohort until no gender difference was present among those born after 1950. The average tobacco consumption per smoker between 1930 and 1950 remained fairly constant around 8.5 g per day in male smokers and 6 g per day in female smokers, followed by a continuous increase to 15 g per day in men and 12 g in women in 1985. CONCLUSIONS: The smoking habits in Norway appear to have been strongly influenced by social changes and the increasing awareness of the health hazards of smoking. Each cohort's response to these events has depended on the members' age and sex at the time.

Adult↗