Background Long-term alcohol abuse is a potent immunomodulator, and alcohol abusers have increased risk of bacterial infections after surgery. In experiments, acute alcohol intoxication suppresses certain immune reactions and may co-act with trauma to increase risk of post-trauma infectious complications. The aim was to evaluate immune reactions during, an evening of social drinking. Methods We s

BackgroundAdolescents’ use of alcohol, cannabis and other psychoactive substances has significantly increased in European countries. Parallel to this web-based screening and brief intervention have been disseminated. An important question is if it is based on evidence for effect? Therefore, the aim of this review is to evaluate the evidence for effect. MethodA systematic literature search was perf

Introduction Emergency neurological patients are rarely given opportunities for smoking and alcohol intervention. How-ever, both are relevant in the acute phase as well as in future rehabilitation.Objectives The aim of this study was primarily to illustrate the implementation of motivational counselling in an acute neurological department and also to predict factors influencing this motivation.Met

BackgroundClinical Health Promotion activities contribute to the reduction of disease and treatment, and improve outcomes and prognosis. Accordingly, major health determinants such as smoking, physical inactivity, risk of malnutrition, overweight and hazardous drinking should be easily identified in the medical records. To that end, this study evaluates a simple 9 question health documentation mod

BackgroundMany countries and regions undergo structural changes that intent to improve the effectiveness and quality of care. Until 2007, the municipalities, counties, hospitals and pharmacies shared the smoking cessation activities almost equally in Denmark. Among others, the Danish Healthcare Reform 2007 intended to add responsibility for smoking cessation intervention at county level to the mun

Background Patients who screen positive for alcohol misuse on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test Consumption Questionnaire (AUDIT-C ≥5 points) have significantly increased postoperative complications. Severe alcohol misuse (AUDIT-C ≥9 points) is associated with increased postoperative health care use; however, little is known about the prevalence of alcohol misuse in demographic and clin

BackgroundAlcohol abusers have increased risk of wound complications following surgical procedures, however the development of complications is reduced after preoperative withdrawal from alcohol. Therefore the aim of the study was to evaluate wound healing at alcohol abuse and after withdrawal. MethodsIn total 16 alcohol abusers were included and tested. Nine abusers were able to abstain from alco

Background: High alcohol intake has been associated with increased risk of hospital admission, increased complication rates, and prolonged hospital stay. Thus, hospital admission may present a relevant opportunity for alcohol intervention. To understand the potential of alcohol interventions we need knowledge about patients’ drinking patterns. The aim of this study was therefore to determine the d

BACKGROUND: Integrated health promotion improves clinical outcomes after hospital treatment. The first step towards implementing evidence-based health promotion in hospitals is to estimate the need for health promoting activities directed at hospital patients. The aim of this study was to identify the distribution and association of individual health risk factors in a Norwegian hospital population

Tobacco smoking is a major health and economic concern and is also known to have a significant negative effect on surgical outcomes. The benefits of a smoking cessation intervention prior to elective orthopaedic surgery have been evaluated previously. Our aim was to assess whether a smoking cessation program, initiated during the acute hospitalization period and carried out for six weeks, could re

Objective: To evaluate the outcome after spinal surgery when adding prehabilitation to the early rehabilitation.Design: A randomized clinical study.Setting: Orthopaedic surgery department.Subject: Sixty patients scheduled for surgery followed by inpatient rehabilitation for degenerative lumbar disease.Interventions: The patients were computer randomized to prehabilitation and early rehabilitation

BackgroundIf a patient agrees to take part in a randomised trial it is reasonable to presume that the patient would prefer to be allocated into the intervention. This study's aim was to investigate how patients react after they have been randomised into control group.MethodsNested study within two randomised trials. Telephone interviews with a structured questionnaire. The participants were invite

Daily smokers and hazardous drinkers are high-risk patients, developing 2-4 times more complications after surgery. Preoperative smoking and alcohol cessation for four to eight weeks prior to surgery halves this complication rate. The patients' preoperative contact with the surgical departments might be too brief for the hospital to initiate these programmes. Therefore, it was relevant to evaluate

Rökare drabbas oftare av post­­operativa komplikationer än icke-rökare. Framför allt inom sår­läk­nings­­området är dokumentationen omfattande. Detta gäller även efter mindre rutiningrepp som bråckoperation eller ­appendektomi. De studier som undersökt snus har inte påvisat någon ökad risk för postoperativa komplikationer hos snusare. Intensivt rökstoppsprogram på 4–8 veckor inför operation medför