Symptoms suggestive of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease are very common. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of these symptoms and factors influencing them in an unselected adult population. A questionnaire was mailed to a random sample of 2500 people aged > or = 20 years. The questions concerned heartburn, regurgitation, dysphagia, chest and upper abdominal pain, as well as medication and medical consultations for these symptoms. Of the 1700 (68%) responders, 9% had experienced heartburn on the day of response and 15%, 21% and 27% during the preceding week, month and year, respectively. The corresponding figures for regurgitation were 5, 15, 29 and 45%. During the past year 43% of the study group had had no such symptoms. Age, overweight, pregnancy and cigarette smoking significantly influenced the prevalence of symptoms. Using daily heartburn and/or regurgitation as dominant indicators 10.3% (95% CI 12-11.7) of the responders had gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. Medication (most commonly antacids) was used by only 16% of the symptomatic people, and only 5.5% had sought medical advice for symptoms during the past year. Thus, despite commonness of symptoms suggestive of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease only a minority of the individuals suffering from such symptoms use medication or have medical consultation.

The purpose of this study was to look at the factors related to the first-time mother's coping with child care when her child is 3 months old. This study is part of an extensive longitudinal project in which the development of mothering skills of first-time mothers was followed up for 8 months postpartum. The data were collected with a questionnaire between March and September 1995, in a sample of 271 first-time mothers. The mothers filled in the questionnaire when their babies were 3 months old. Coping with child care was assessed using Spearman correlation coefficient and stepwise regression analysis. Positive correlation was found between the mother's competence, attachment to the child, health, depression, relationship with the spouse, sense of isolation and role restriction, and the mother's coping with child care. The strongest correlation existed between the mother's competence and her coping. Positive correlation was also found between the child's mood, demandingness and acceptability, and the mother's coping with child care, with the child's demandingness having the strongest correlation. Positive correlation was again found between social support--the average functional support the mother received from her own social network, plus affect, affirmation, and aid from the public health nurses--and the mother's coping with child care. The predictors included in the multivariate method were the mother's competence, health, depression, and attachment to her child; the child's mood and ease or difficulty of care; and the affect and affirmation from the public health nurse. The results show that the first-time mother's coping with child care, when the child is 3 months old, is affected by the characteristics of both mother and child, as well as by the social support received from their social network and from the public health nurses at the child welfare clinic.

Our results show that a cross-sectional cohort of RA patients had an increased risk of death from various causes.

No abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between adolescent subjective well-being (SWB) and family dynamics perceived by adolescents and their parents. A sample of 239 pupils (51% female) from seventh and ninth grades completed the Berne questionnaire of SWB (youth form), two subscales from an original Finnish SWB scale and the Family Dynamics Measure II, and one of their parents (n = 239) filled in the Family Dynamics Measure II. Results indicated that parents assessed family dynamics better than did their adolescent child. Furthermore, there was no association between family dynamics perceived by adolescents and family dynamics assessed by one of their parents or between the adolescent SWB and parental perception of family dynamics. Multiple stepwise regression analysis indicated that certain aspects of family dynamics perceived by adolescents were related to adolescent global satisfaction and ill-being. Specifically, adolescents' perception of high level of mutuality and stability in the family as well as male gender and lack of serious problems in family were predictors of adolescent global satisfaction. Furthermore, disorganization in the family and poor parental relationship perceived by adolescents, being female, serious problems and illness in family predicted a high level of adolescent global ill-being.