Education, income, and occupation are factors known to affect health and disease. In this review we describe the Swedish Longitudinal Integrated Database for Health Insurance and Labour Market Studies (LISA, Longitudinell Integrationsdatabas för Sjukförsäkrings- och Arbetsmarknadsstudier). LISA covers the adult Swedish population aged ≥ 16 years registered on December 31 each year since 1990 (since 2010 individuals aged ≥ 15 years). The database was launched in response to rising levels of sick leave in the country. Participation in Swedish government-administered registers such as LISA is compulsory, and hence selection bias is minimized. The LISA database allows researchers to identify individuals who do not work because of injury, disease, or rehabilitation. It contains data on sick leave and disability pension based on calendar year. LISA also includes information on unemployment benefits, disposable income, social welfare payments, civil status, and migration. During 2000–2017, an average of 97,000 individuals immigrated to Sweden each year. This corresponds to about 1% of the Swedish population (10 million people in 2017). Data on occupation have a completeness of 95%. Income data consist primarily of income from employment, capital, and allowances, including parental allowance. In Sweden, work force participation is around 80% (2017: overall: 79.1%; men 80.3% and women 77.9%). Education data are available in > 98% of all individuals aged 25–64 years, with an estimated accuracy for highest attained level of education of 85%. Some information on civil status, income, education, and employment before 1990 can be obtained through the Population and Housing Census data (FoB, Folk- och bostadsräkningen).

BackgroundSevere obesity in adolescence is associated with reduced life expectancy and impaired quality of life. Long-term benefits of conservative treatments in adolescents are limited, while short-term outcomes of adolescent bariatric surgery are promising. This study aimed to report 5-year outcomes following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) in adolescents, compared with conservatively treated adolescents and adults undergoing RYGB.MethodsA nationwide prospective non-randomised controlled study of adolescents (13–18 years) with severe obesity undergoing RYGB, a matched adolescent control group undergoing conservative treatment, and an adult comparison group undergoing RYGB. The primary outcome measure was change in weight over 5 years. Multilevel mixed-effect regression models were used to assess longitudinal changes. Healthcare usage was analysed with linear regression together with nonparametric bootstrapping.FindingsEighty-one adolescents with baseline age 16·5 years (SD 1·2), weight 132·8 kg (SD 22·1) and body mass index (BMI) 45·5 kg/m2 (SD 6·1) underwent RYGB. Five-year weight change was −36·8 kg (95% CI −40·9 to −32·8) resulting in a BMI reduction of 13·1 kg/m2, although weight loss <10% occurred in 11%.Comorbidities and cardiovascular risk factors resolved in 74–100%: type 2 diabetes (3/3), disturbed glucose homeostasis (18/21), dyslipidaemia (43/52), elevated blood pressure (11/12), inflammation (hs-CRP ≥ 2 mg/L; 45/61) and elevated liver enzymes (19/19), each comparing favourably with adolescent controls at 5 years.Functional (SF-36) and obesity-specific (OP-14) quality of life improved in the adolescent RYGB group (mean difference 4·2, p=0·006 and −9·9 p=0·009). Twenty RYGB participants (25%) underwent additional abdominal surgery for complications of surgery or rapid weight loss, 72% demonstrated some nutritional deficiency, and healthcare consumption increased. Mean BMI increased in control adolescents (3·3 kg/m2, 95% CI 1·9 to 4·8), while BMI change in adults was similar to surgical adolescents (mean difference 0·8 kg/m2, 95% CI −1·1 to 2·8). Twenty adolescent controls (25%) underwent bariatric surgery within 5 years.InterpretationAdolescents with severe obesity undergoing RYGB experienced substantial weight loss over 5 years, alongside improvements in comorbidities, risk factors and quality of life. Surgical intervention was, however, associated with additional surgical interventions and nutritional deficiencies. Non-surgical treatment was associated with weight gain and 25% underwent bariatric surgery within 5 years.

US National Institutes of Health and Swedish Research Council.

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Background Associations of obesity with incidence of heart failure have been observed, but the causality is uncertain. We hypothesized that gastric bypass surgery leads to lower incidence of heart failure compared to intensive lifestyle modification in obese people. Methods We included obese people without previous heart failure from a Swedish nationwide registry of people treated with a structured intensive lifestyle program, and the Scandinavian Obesity Surgery Registry. All analyses used inverse probability weights, based on baseline body-mass index and a propensity score estimated using baseline variables. Treatment groups were well balanced regarding weight, body mass index and most potential confounders. Associations of treatment with heart failure incidence, as defined in the National Patient Register, were analyzed using Cox regression. Results The 25,804 gastric bypass surgery patients had on average lost 18.8 kg more weight after 1 year, and 22.6 kg more after 2 years, than the 13,701 lifestyle modification patients. During a median of 4.1 years, surgery patients had lower heart failure incidence than lifestyle modification patients (hazard ratio 0.54, 95% CI 0.36–0.82). A 10 kg achieved weight loss after 1 year was related to a hazard ratio for heart failure of 0.77, 95% confidence interval 0.60 to 0.97, in both treatment groups combined. Results were robust in sensitivity analyses. Conclusions Gastric bypass surgery was associated with approximately one half the incidence of heart failure compared with intensive lifestyle modification in this study of two large nationwide registries. We also observed a graded association between increasing weight loss and decreasing risk of heart failure.