Clinical trials

Unintended pregnancy is common among women of fertile age, and also among those who have recently given birth. A Swedish study has shown that about 7.7% experience a new pregnancy, and that 2.5% will have an abortion between 12-24 months from childbirth. This is a prospective observational intervention study, aiming to evaluate the effects of structured contraceptive counseling during pregnancy on uptake of contraception postpartum and more specifically on long-acting reversible contraceptive methods, and to identify and explore the provider's and patient's experiences of structured contraceptive counseling during pregnancy.

Introduction: Living with chronic pain often involves negative consequences. Interdisciplinary Pain Rehabilitation Programs (IPRPs), a subset of Interdisciplinary Treatment (IDT) includes physical activity and exercise and is considered superior to single-treatment measures in patients with chronic pain. However, effects emerge sub-optimal and as many as 30% of patients deteriorate in some outcomes. A novel intervention, eVISualisation (eVIS) of physical activity and pain, has been systematically developed to facilitate patients in reaching and maintaining recommended individualized physical activity levels. The aim is to transparently report on methodology, outcome assessments, and processes for a registry-based randomized controlled trial (R-RCT) initiated as an internal pilot study. Methods and analysis: The R-RCT will recruit approximately 400 patients with chronic pain who are registered at primary and specialized IPRP units (n=15) in Sweden. Participants will be randomly allocated to either an IPRP + eVIS or the control group that will receive only IPRP treatment. eVIS entails objectively measured physical activity (steps) and patient-reported outcomes (pain intensity, affect on daily activities, pharmaceutical consumption) collected and visualized in the web application PATRON. Data from an initial 30 participants completing the study period (6 months) will be included in a pilot study designed to evaluate recruitment- and randomization processes, standardized effect size, sample size, characteristics of outcomes, follow-up rates of the R-RCT. Outcome variables will be extracted from PATRON and from six national registries. Multivariate statistics and repeated measures analyses will be performed. Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) and Incremental Cost Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) will be calculated for cost effectiveness evaluation. Ethics/dissemination: The Swedish Ethics Review Board granted approval (Dnr 2021/02109). Results will be disseminated through peer-review journals.

UDDGait™ is a multidisciplinary research project with the overreaching goal of providing an aid for early identification of cognitive impairment and risk of dementia development, thereby providing a basis for adequate symptom relieving and health promoting interventions. A new concept is investigated for this purpose: a "dual-task-test", which implies the combination of a well-established mobility test (Timed Up-and-Go, TUG) with a simultaneous verbal task (i.e. TUG dual-task, TUGdt). This type of test has been judged as a potential aid for early identification of dementia disease. More research is needed to further examine the test's validity, reliability and predictive capacity. The overall aim is to investigate if TUGdt is useful as an aid for prediction of dementia disease. To ensure the results, the aim is also to evaluate the test's measurement properties and to generate normative reference values of healthy control persons.

Breastfeeding is one of the most effective, health economical interventions to promote health and reduce illness in both mothers and children. However, breastfeeding in Sweden is under threat. An increasing number of newborns will miss out on its benefits because lack of lactation support for mothers with breastfeeding difficulties, which is the main reasons for breastfeeding cessation. About 110,000 mothers breastfeed every year but the prevalence is decreasing. Many mothers are dissatisfied with the support they receive from health care. Maternal infant-directed singing could be an effective, person- and family-centered, cost-effective, self-care intervention to reduce stress and breastfeeding difficulties in new mothers as well as increasing oxytocin, which is an important hormone for lactation and well-being. This project evaluates the effect of a self-care intervention involving maternal infant-directed singing during breastfeeding on maternal stress, experiences, and breastfeeding rates up to six months postpartum among mothers with breastfeeding difficulties. The mothers are randomized to standard care and infant-directed singing or control with standard care. The primary outcome is the proportion of breastfeeding four weeks after the intervention. 260 mothers will be included in the project, which will be conducted during 2024-2025, and data will be analyzed and presented in 2026. A data management plan will ensure that all research activities are well organized.