Willingness to Take the Booster Vaccine in a Nationally Representative Sample of Danes

We estimate the willingness to taking the booster dose in a representative sample of Danes. We estimate an overall willingness in the adult Danish population of 85.5 percent and a willingness of 94.7 percent among primary vaccine takers. We, moreover, show that these percentages will be significantly lower among younger populations as well as among groups who do not see COVID-19 as a threat towards society and who do not perceive the advice of the health authorities as effective against disease spread.

Characterization of antibiotic resistance in clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae in Denmark

Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP) is a major global health problem as it leads to hospital outbreaks all over the world and is becoming more difficult to treat due to its increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Optimization and development of new treatments of KP requires understanding of its population structure and AMR properties. Therefore, in this study, we collected and sequenced 491 KP strains from four major Danish microbiology departments covering 51% of the Danish population. The isolates were whole genome sequenced (WGS), phenotypically characterized and compared with 2,124 KP strains from 13 different countries (PATRIC strains). We found that while genomic content varies significantly across the Danish strains, they also differ significantly from strains from other countries, due to the lack of certain AMR sequence types (e.g. ST258 and ST307) in Denmark. Genomic and experimental analysis suggest that Danish strains contain fewer virulence mechanisms and are more susceptible to antimicrobials compared to strains from other countries, likely due to the relatively low antibiotic usage in Denmark where 70% of hospital antibiotic usage is penicillins. We also identified potential novel AMR determinants to tigecycline through statistical analysis of genomic and phenotypic data. To conclude, we obtained a more comprehensive understanding of the KP strains in Denmark and provided valuable insights for future experiments and strategies to combat AMR in KP.

Mediating role of multimorbidity in inequality in mortality: a register study on the Danish population

BackgroundThe social inequality in mortality is due to differential incidence of several disorders and injury types, as well as differential survival. The resulting clustering and possible interaction in disadvantaged groups of several disorders make multimorbidity a potentially important component in the health divide. This study decomposes the effect of education on mortality into a direct effect, a pure indirect effect mediated by multimorbidity and a mediated interaction between education and multimorbidity.MethodsThe study uses the Danish population registers on the total Danish population aged 45–69 years. A multimorbidity index based on all somatic and psychiatric hospital contacts as well as prescribed medicines includes 22 diagnostic groups weighted together by their 5 years mortality risk as weight. The Aalen additive hazard model is used to estimate and decompose the 5 years risk difference in absolute numbers of deaths according to educational status.ResultsMost (69%–79%) of the effect is direct not involving multimorbidity, and the mediated effect is for low educated women 155 per 100 000 of which 87 is an effect of mediated interaction. For low educated men, the mediated effect is 250 per 100 000 of which 93 is mediated interaction.ConclusionMultimorbidity plays an important role in the social inequality in mortality among middle aged in Denmark and mediated interaction represents 5%–17%. As multimorbidity is a growing challenge in specialised health systems, the mediated interaction might be a relevant indicator of inequities in care of multimorbid patients.

Danish population health measured by the EQ-5D-5L

Aims: The aims of this study were to provide Danish population norms for the EQ-5D-5L and to assess the measurement properties of the instrument in a Danish population setting. Methods: We used data from the Danish 5L valuation study in which a representative sample of the Danish population completed the EQ-5D-5L and answered socio-demographic questions. We generated population norms for the five EQ-5D-5L dimensions, corresponding utility scores and the EQ-5D visual analogue scale (EQ VAS) according to age and sex. Measurement properties of ceiling effects, known-group construct validity and convergent validity were assessed. Results: The mean EQ-5D-5L utility score for the 1014 respondents completing the EQ-5D-5L was 0.90 (standard deviation ( SD)=0.16). No significant differences emerged across age groups (minimum mean utility score=0.88 ( SD=0.19); maximum mean utility score=0.93 ( SD=0.11)) or sex (mean utility score for women=0.89 ( SD=0.17); mean utility score for men=0.91 ( SD=0.15)). Statistical differences were found across educational level, occupational status, income and living situation. Similar patterns were observed for the EQ VAS. Generally, respondents most often reported problems with pain and discomfort, but young women most often reported problems with anxiety/depression. There was a significant strong correlation between EQ-5D-5L utility and the EQ VAS and a significant correlation between overall health and each of the five EQ-5D-5L dimensions. The overall ceiling effect for the EQ-5D-5L was 39% (compared to 56% for the EQ-5D-3L). Conclusions: Danish population norms for the EQ-5D-5L are now available. We found fewer ceiling effects for the EQ-5D-5L compared to the EQ-5D-3L, and we provide evidence for convergent and known-group validity of the EQ-5D-5L.

Life-time Actionable Pharmacogenetic Drug Use: A Population-based Cohort Study in 86 040 Young People With and Without Mental Disorders in Denmark

Objective To describe life-time use of current actionable pharmacogenetic (PGx) somatic and psychotropic drugs according to international PGx consortia in people with and without hospital-diagnosed mental disorders in the Danish population. Methods Population- and register-based observational drug utilization study in 56 065 individuals with mental disorders, i. e. attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia, and a random, representative sample of 29 975 individuals of the Danish population, born between 1981 and 2005. Individuals were followed from 1995 or birth until 2016 (for a maximum of 22 years). We report prevalence and incidence rates of PGx drug use by age, sex and mental disorders based on redeemed prescriptions between 1995 and 2016. Results Of the 69 PGx drugs, prescriptions of 39 drugs had been redeemed by the study population by 35 years of age. The use of at least 1 PGx drug varied between 23.1% in males without mental disorders and 97.2% in females with schizophrenia. Males with ADHD or autism were the youngest first-time PGx drug users at a mean of 11.6 years. The mean number of different PGx drugs used was 1.2 in males without mental disorders and 5.6 in individuals with schizophrenia. The prevalence of different PGx drugs linked to more than one gene was 25.3% in males without mental disorders to 94.1% in females with schizophrenia. Conclusion PGx drugs are commonly used by younger people, more often by individuals with mental disorders and by females. Panel-based PGx testing could contribute to treatment decisions at a very young age.