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Biomedical subjects

E Wilbek

Publications and source records attributed to E Wilbek.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1974

The incidence of malignant tumours in patients with respiratory sarcoidosis.

During the period 1962-71 a total of 2544 patients with respiratory sarcoidosis were reported to the Danish Institute of Clinical Epidemiology. Among them 48 patients developed a malignant tumour, the follow-up period ending on 31 December 1971. Only 33·8 cases of cancer were expected if sarcoidosis patients had had the same rates as the general population; the difference between the expected and observed number is statistically significant (0·02 > P > 0·01). Malignant lymphomata occurred 11 times and lung cancer 3 times more frequently than expected. For all other forms of cancer taken together, there was no significant difference between the expected and the observed number of cases.The increased cancer incidence may result from immunological deficiencies in patients with sarcoidosis.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1969

Epidemiological basis of tuberculosis eradication. 10. Longitudinal studies on the risk of tuberculosis in the general population of a low-prevalence area.

The introduction of chemotherapy dramatically changed the epidemiology of tuberculosis as the risk of infection was thereby nearly eliminated. The present paper illustrates the risk of disease under these conditions. A large and representative segment of the Danish population, a total of over 626 000 persons aged 15-44 years, was examined by a standardized technique in 1950-52 and has now been followed for 12 years. It has been possible by means of simple parameters such as infection and vaccination status, X-ray lesion and age to divide the population into groups with widely different incidence rates. The time trend in disease rates among vaccinated persons and natural reactors suggests that post-primary tuberculosis is of great significance in the present tuberculosis situation. Three-quarters of all cases stem from the natural reactors. It would have been of great practical significance to identify high-risk groups which yielded a great part of the patients. This was not possible since the majority of cases developed among reactors whose distinctive feature was that they were infected at time of examination.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1966

Epidemiological basis of tuberculosis eradication. 4. The isoniazid trial in Greenland.

As knowledge of the epidemiology of tuberculosis in Greenland has increased, it has become evident that the majority of cases develop long after the primary infection and that it would therefore be valuable from the public health point of view if the disease rate among naturally infected persons could be reduced. To examine the possibility of achieving this, a double-blind drug trial with isoniazid and a placebo was conducted among some 70% of the adult population of western Greenland. The results show that throughout the six years of the study the incidence of tuberculosis was lower in the group treated with isoniazid and that this reduction occurred whether the initial X-rays pictures were normal or showed suspicious or healed lesions.It is concluded that chemoprophylaxis programmes should probably be administered only to selected groups of the population. The delimitation of such groups is discussed on the basis of their tuberculosis risk and of the expected yield in terms of reduction in tuberculosis prevalence.

Adolescent↗