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Background: The Nordic countries represent a unique case study for the COVID-19 pandemic due to socioeconomic and cultural similarities, high-quality comparable administrative register data and notable differences in mitigation policies during the pandemic. We aimed to compare weekly excess mortality in the Nordic countries across the three full pandemic years 2020-2022., Methods: Using data on weekly all-cause mortality from official administrative registers in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, we employed time series regression models to assess mortality developments within each pandemic year, with the period 2010-2019 used as reference period. We then compared excess mortality across the countries in 2020-2022, taking differences in population size and age- and sex-distribution into account. Results were age- and sex-standardized to the Danish population of 2020. Robustness was examined with a variety of sensitivity analyses., Results: While Sweden experienced excess mortality in 2020 [75 excess deaths per 100 000 population (95% prediction interval 29-122)], Denmark, Finland and Norway experienced excess mortality in 2022 [52 (14-90), 130 (83-177) and 88 (48-128), respectively]. Weekly death data reveal how mortality started to increase in mid-2021 in Denmark, Finland and Norway, and continued above the expected level through 2022., Conclusion: Although the Nordic countries experienced relatively low pandemic excess mortality, the impact and timing of excess mortality differed substantially. These estimates-arguably the most accurate available for any region in capturing pandemic-related excess deaths-may inform future research and policy regarding the complex mortality dynamics in times of a health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association.)

The introduction of the anti-CD20 antibody rituximab in combination with chemotherapy (R-chemo) has improved the prognosis of patients with follicular lymphoma (FL). During the last decade, the addition of a maintenance treatment with rituximab (MR) after R-chemo has been tested with the hope of further improving the outcome of these patients. Using 2 independent population-based cohorts, we investigated the effect of up-front MR on time related end points as well as the risk of histological transformation (HT). FL patients were included if they: (1) completed first-line induction treatment with R-chemo, (2) were alive after induction treatment and eligible for MR, and (3) had no evidence of HT at this time point. The training cohort consisted of 733 Danish patients of whom 364 were consolidated with MR; 369 were not. Patients receiving MR more often had advanced clinical stage (90% vs 78%), high Follicular Lymphoma International Prognostic Index (FLIPI) score (64% vs 55%), and bone marrow infiltration (49% vs 40%). Those consolidated with MR had an improved 5-year overall survival (OS; 89% vs 81%; P = .001) and progression-free survival (PFS; 72% vs 60%; P < .001). In the training cohort, MR was associated with a reduction of HT risk ( P = .049). Analyses of an independent validation cohort of 190 Finnish patients confirmed the favorable impact of MR on 5-year OS (89% vs 81%; P = .046) and PFS (70% vs 57%; P = .005) but did not find a reduced risk of HT. The present population-based data suggest that the outcome of patients with FL has improved after consolidation of R-chemo with MR., (© 2018 by The American Society of Hematology.)