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Background and Aims: In 2006, screening of 65-year-old men for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) was started in Sweden. Decline in aneurysm-related mortality has been reported since, but aneurysm incidence has been diminishing globally. Neighbouring Finland with similar population structure and health care system has no AAA screening programme. The aim of this study was to compare incidence and results of AAA repair in Sweden and Finland to differentiate the effect of screening from other changes in the epidemiology and treatment of AAA., Methods: All repairs for intact AAA (iAAA) or ruptured AAA (rAAA) from 1998 to 2017 were identified from national registers, and mortality data for these patients were collected., Results: A total of 15 927 operations for iAAA were performed in Sweden and 6933 in Finland. In Sweden, the yearly operation volume increased after introduction of screening. Both countries showed a decrease in number of rAAA operations, but the decrease was more pronounced in Sweden. Sweden had a higher proportion of all AAA repairs because of rupture in the start of the study but by the end, the proportions were similar in both countries. Long-term survival improved for 65-79-old men in Sweden after start of screening., Conclusions: This study reveals improvements in results of AAA repair in Sweden. A decrease in rAAA repair and increase in iAAA repair were evident after AAA screening was started in 2006 and resulted in better outcomes. These changes are likely the result of AAA screening as they cannot be seen in neighbouring Finland that is lacking an AAA screening programme., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology.)

Objective: This study aimed to analyse the mean abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) diameter for repair in nine countries, and to determine variation in mean AAA diameter for elective AAA repair and its relationship to rupture AAA repair rates and aneurysm related mortality in corresponding populations., Methods: Data on intact (iAAA) and ruptured infrarenal AAA (rAAA) repair for the years 2010-2012 were collected from Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Hungary, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and the USA. The rate of iAAA repair and rAAA per 100 000 inhabitants above 59 years old, mean AAA diameter for iAAA repair and rAAA repair, and the national rates of rAAA were assessed. National cause of death statistics were used to estimate aneurysm related mortality. Direct standardisation methods were applied to the national mortality data. Logistic regression and analysis of variance model adjustments were made for age groups, sex, and year., Results: There was a variation in the mean diameter of iAAA repair (n = 34 566; range Germany = 57 mm, Denmark = 68 mm). The standardised iAAA repair rate per 100000 inhabitants varied from 10.4 (Hungary) to 66.5 (Norway), p<.01, and the standardised rAAA repair rate per 100 000 from 5.8 (USA) to 16.9 (England), p<.01. Overall, there was no significant correlation between mean diameter of iAAA repair and standardised iAAA rate (r 2 = 0.04, p = .3). There was no significant correlation between rAAA repair rate (n = 12 628) with mean diameter of iAAA repair (r 2 = 0.2, p = .1)., Conclusion: Despite recommendations from learned society guidelines, data indicate variations in mean diameter for AAA repair. There was no significant correlation between mean diameter of AAA repair and rates of iAAA repair and rAAA repair. These analyses are subject to differences in disease prevalence, uncertainties in rupture rates, validations of vascular registries, causes of death and registrations., (Copyright © 2020 European Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The World Society for Virology (WSV) was founded and incorporated as a nonprofit organization in the United States in 2017. WSV seeks to strengthen and support both virological research and virologists who conduct research of viruses that affect humans, other animals, plants, and other organisms. One of the objectives of WSV is to connect virologists worldwide and support collaboration. Fulfilling this objective, virologists from fourteen countries in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East met on 25-27th August 2019 in Stockholm, Sweden at the Karolinska University Hospital for the first Committee Meeting of WSV. This meeting included compelling keynote and honorary speeches and a series of 18 scientific talks were given encompassing a diverse array of subjects within virology. Followed by the scientific session, a business session was held where multiple aspects and next steps of the society were discussed and charted out.

Background: International comparison of registry data within vascular surgery has previously been published by Vascunet. One of the limitations of such comparisons is data validity and completeness, and meaningful interpretation of differences between countries can only be made if the data are robust within each of the countries studied. The Vascunet collaboration has therefore embarked on a validation exercise of international vascular registry data., Methods: Five out of 20 hospitals performing vascular surgery in Sweden were visited by two international validators. Independent evaluation of the procedures of carotid endarterectomy and infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm repair was performed, and local hospital administrative data were compared with Swedvasc registry data. External validation compared the numbers of cases in these two systems of data collection and internal validation compared data accuracy and completeness within individual patient records., Results: Hospital records identified 335 carotid and 393 abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) procedures, whereas Swedvasc identified 331 carotid and 359 AAAs. Nine carotid procedures and 64 AAA procedures were found in hospital administrative data but not in Swedvasc, and 14 carotids and 30 AAAs were found in Swedvasc but not in hospital data. External validity was 100% (95% CI 98.8-100%) for carotids and 98.8% (95% CI 96.9-99.5%) for AAAs. In internal validation, 0.8% of variables were missing in hospital data compared with Swedvasc and 4.2% were missing in Swedvasc compared with hospital data. Data contained within the data fields of Swedvasc and hospital data were the same in 97.4% (95% CI 96.3-98.3%) for carotids and 96.2% (CI 94.9-97.2%) for AAAs., Conclusion: This study has provided a template for international validation of registry data and has demonstrated that Swedvasc is a highly accurate system of data collection for Swedish vascular surgery., (Copyright © 2015 European Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To detect evidence of infections preceding early arthritis in Southern Sweden and to compare the clinical outcome of remission during a 6-month followup for patients with and without signs of prior infection., Methods: Adult patients with arthritis of less than 3 months' duration were referred from primary health care centers to rheumatologists. All patients were systematically screened for infections caused by Salmonella typhimurium and Salmonella enteritidis, Yersinia enterocolitica, Campylobacter jejuni, Borrelia burgdorferi, Chlamydia trachomatis, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and parvovirus B19., Results: Seventy-one patients were included in this study. Twenty-seven (38%) patients had reactive arthritis (ReA), 17 (24%) undifferentiated arthritis, 15 (21%) rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 4 (6%) psoriatic arthritis, and the rest (11%) other diagnoses. Of all the patients, 45% had evidence of a recent infection preceding the arthritis, as indicated by laboratory tests and/or disease history. C. jejuni dominated the ReA group. The occurrence of recent C. trachomatis, B. burgdorferi, C. pneumoniae, and parvovirus B19 infections was low. Overall, 58% of the patients went into remission during the 6-month followup. Of the patients with a preceding infection, 69% went into remission as compared to 38% of the patients without a preceding infection (p = 0.011). Thirty-three percent of the patients with RA were in remission after 6 months., Conclusion: In this population-based cohort, 45% of the patients presenting with a new-onset arthritis had had a prior infection. Campylobacter ReA dominated the ReA group. There were only a few cases preceded by infections by C. trachomatis, B. burgdorferi, C. pneumoniae, and parvovirus B19 infections. Remission during the first 6 months was especially frequent in the group of patients with a prior infection, but the remission rate was relatively high even for arthritis without prior infection.