High antibiotic consumption rates are associated to high prevalence of antimicrobial resistance. Geographical differences in dispensing rates of antibiotics are frequently analysed using statistical methods addressing the central tendency of the data. Yet, examining extreme quantiles may be of equal or greater interest if the problem relates to the extremes of consumption rates, as is the case for ...

Previous studies have shown that woman’s risk of breast cancer in later life is associated with her infants birth weights. The objective of this study was to determine if this association is independent of breast cancer risk factors, mother’s own birth weight and to evaluate association between infants birth weight and hormonal environment during pregnancy. Independent association would have ...

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS; or acne inversa) is a scarring and frequently persistent inflammatory disorder of the terminal hair follicles of apocrine gland-bearing skin in adults. Treatments include local or systemic antibiotics, hormones, retinoids and systemic immunosuppressive agents (1), although on evaluation these have been shown to have only limited or temporary effect. In refractory cases, ...

Early sexual behaviour has been shown to differ significantly between genders, but few studies have addressed this topic to explain the commonly observed differences in chlamydia rates between adolescent girls and boys. Our study aimed to determine chlamydia prevalence in adolescents aged 15–20 years in a high-incidence area in Norway, and to identify gender-specific early sexual behaviours associated ...

We evaluated the One Health-ness (OH-ness) of the surveillance system for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Norway by using the recently developed “Evaluation tool for One Health epidemiological surveillance capacities and capabilities” (OH–EpiCap tool). First, we defined the Norwegian AMR surveillance system that we would evaluate. The tool was applied by a group of stakeholders (key persons in the ...

<p><b>Background:</b> Colonization of the body is an important step in Staphylococcus aureus infection. S. aureus colonizes skin and mucous membranes in humans and several animal species. One important ecological niche of S. aureus is the anterior nares. More than 60% of the S. aureus in the nose are found in vestibulum nasi. Our aim was to describe the localization of S. aureus in nasal tissue ...

Healthcare workers (HCWs) may be a reservoir for Staphylococcus aureus transmission to patients. We examined whether HCW status is associated with S. aureus nasal carriage and population structure (spa types) in 1302 women (334 HCWs) and 977 men (71 HCWs) aged 30–69 years participating in the population-based Tromsø Study in 2007–2008. Multivariable logistic regression models were used. While no ...

Vitamin D induces the expression of antimicrobial peptides with activity against Staphylococcus aureus. Thus, we studied the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and S. aureus nasal colonization and carriage. Nasal swabs, blood samples and clinical data from 2,115 women and 1,674 men, aged 30–87 years, were collected in the Tromsø Staph and Skin Study 2007–08, as part of the ...