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Objective: To investigate the incidence of violent crime conviction among Swedish military veterans after deployment to Afghanistan versus non-deployed comparators. The main outcome was first conviction of a violent crime, retrieved from the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention Register until December 31, 2013., Methods: This was a cohort study of military veterans identified through personnel registers regarding deployment to Afghanistan between 2002 and 2013 (n = 5894). To each military veteran, up to five non-deployed comparators identified via the Military Service Conscription Register were matched by age, sex, conscription year, cognitive ability, psychological assessment, self-reported mental health, body mass index, antidepressants/anxiolytics prescriptions and self-harm (fully matched comparators; n = 28 895). Multivariable adjustment was made for substance abuse and previous health care visits with psychiatric diagnoses. An additional comparator group matched only for age, sex and conscription year was also used (age-sex-matched comparators; n = 29 410)., Results: During 21 898 person-years of follow-up (median = 3.6 years) there were 26 events among deployed military veterans compared with 98 in non-deployed fully matched comparators [12 vs 9 per 10 000 person-years, adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 1.36; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.88-2.10]. Among non-deployed age-sex-matched comparators there were 170 violent crime convictions (16 per 10 000 person-years; aHR 0.85; 95% CI 0.56-1.29). Factors associated with greater risk of violent crime convictions were younger age, lower scores on cognitive ability tests and psychological assessment, and convictions preceding deployment., Conclusion: The violent crime conviction rate after returning from military deployment to Afghanistan was not different compared with non-deployed comparators in individuals without history of violent crime convictions., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association.)

Background: Trends in obesity have been reported to level off in several Western countries. The aim of this study was to investigate trends in body mass index (BMI) and prevalence of obesity between 2002 and 2010 in Stockholm County, Sweden., Methods: Three cross-sectional questionnaires from the Stockholm Health Surveys were used for this study. A total of 31 182, 34 707 and 30 767 men and women aged between 18 and 64 years completed the questionnaire regarding sociodemographic factors, health parameters, physical activity, smoking habits and anthropometry in 2002, 2006 and 2010, respectively (response rate: 62.5, 61.3 and 55.6%, respectively). Linear regression was used to investigate changes in mean BMI. Relative risk regression models were used to investigate changes in prevalence of obesity, defined as BMI ≥ 30 kg/m(2). All analyses were stratified on age and further adjusted for smoking, education and socioeconomic position., Results: Between 2002 and 2006, a stabilization was found in BMI and prevalence of obesity in both men and women. But from 2006 to 2010, BMI and prevalence of obesity had increased, also among the young. In 2010, the prevalence of obesity was 12.2% among men and 10.3% among women., Conclusion: After a period of stabilization in 2002-06, BMI and prevalence of obesity are increasing in Stockholm County, Sweden.

Background: Sick-leave is an important source of productivity losses to society. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between body mass index (BMI) status in young adulthood and future sick-leave., Methods: A nation-wide cohort of 43,989 Swedish men (18.7 ± 0.5 years) performing military conscription tests in 1969-70 were followed between 1986 and 2005 regarding sick-leave. BMI was used to define underweight (<18.5), normal weight (18.5-24.9), overweight (25.0-29.9) and obesity (≥ 30.0). Relative risks of sick-leave were estimated with Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for smoking, socio-economic index and muscular strength, using normal weight as the reference., Results: During 803,684 person-years of follow-up, 488,570 sick-leave episodes were recorded. On average, one short-term (≤ 7 days) episode occurred every eight person-months, one intermediate-term (8-30 days) every five person-years and one long-term (>30 days) episode every 15 person-years. Overweight was associated with 20% and obesity with >30% risk elevation for episodes ranging from 8 to 30 days [hazard ratio (HR) 1.20; 95% CI 1.15-1.24 and HR 1.35; 95% CI 1.24-1.47, respectively] as well as for episodes >30 days (HR 1.19; 95% CI 1.15-1.23 and HR 1.34; 95% CI 1.24-1.47, respectively) compared to normal weight. Obesity was also associated with an increased risk of sick-leave episodes ≤ 7 days (HR 1.13; 95% CI 1.09-1.16), but the corresponding risk increase for overweight was very small (HR 1.02; 95% CI 1.00-1.03). Underweight showed increased risk only for short-term episodes (HR 1.05; 95% CI 1.04-1.07)., Discussion: Overweight and obesity are associated with increased risk for sick-leave compared to normal weight, especially for sick-leave episodes of longer duration.