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Introduction: The Västerbotten Intervention Programme (VIP) in the Region Västerbotten Sweden is one of the very few cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention programmes globally that is integrated into routine primary health care. The VIP has been shown as a cost-effective intervention to significantly reduce CVD mortality. However, little is known about the effectiveness of a digital solution to tailor risk communication strategies for supporting behavioral change. STAR-C aims to develop and evaluate a technical platform for personalized digital coaching that will support behavioral change aimed at preventing CVD.

Methods: STAR-C employs a mixed-methods design in seven multidisciplinary projects, which runs in two phases during 2019–2024: (i) a formative intervention design and development phase, and (ii) an intervention implementation and evaluation phase. In the 1st phase, STAR-C will model the trajectories of health behaviors and their impact on CVDs (Project 1), evaluate the role of the social environment and social networks on behavioral change (Project 2) and assess whether and how social media facilitates the spread of health information beyond targeted individuals and stimulates public engagement in health promotion (Project 3). The findings will be utilized in carrying out the iterative, user-centered design, and development of a person-tailored digital coaching platform (Project 4). In the 2nd phase, STAR-C will evaluate the implementation of the coaching programme and its effectiveness for promoting behavioral change and the spreading of health information across social networks and via social media (Project 5). The cost-effectiveness (Project 6) and ethical issues (Project 7) related to the coaching programme intervention will be evaluated.

Discussion: The STAR-C research programme will address the knowledge and practice research gaps in the use of information technologies in health promotion and non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention programmes in order to narrow the health inequality gaps.

Ethics: STAR-C has received approval from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (Dnr. 2019-02924;2020-02985).

Dissemination: The collaboration between Umeå University and Region Västerbotten will ensure the feasibility of STAR-C in the service delivery context. Results will be communicated with decision-makers at different levels of society, stakeholders from other regions and healthcare professional organizations, and through NGOs, local and social media platforms.

Importance: Elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP) is the most important risk factor for premature death worldwide. However, hypertension detection and control rates continue to be suboptimal.

Objective: To assess the association of education and feedback to primary care physicians with population-level SBP and hypertension control rates.

Design, Setting, and Participants: This pooled series of 108 population-based cohort studies involving 283 079 patients used data from primary care centers in 2 counties (Västerbotten and Södermanland) in Sweden from 2001 to 2009. Participants were individuals aged 18 years or older who had their blood pressure (BP) measured and recorded in either county during the intervention period. All analyses were performed in February 2019.

Exposures: An intervention comprising education and feedback for primary care physicians in Västerbotten County (intervention group) compared with usual care in Södermanland County (control group).

Main Outcomes and Measures: Difference in mean SBP levels between counties and likelihood of hypertension control in the intervention county compared with the control county during 24 months of follow-up.

Results: A total of 136 541 unique individuals (mean [SD] age at inclusion, 64.6 [16.1] years; 57.0% female; mean inclusion BP, 142/82 mm Hg) in the intervention county were compared with 146 538 individuals (mean [SD] age at inclusion, 65.7 [15.9] years; 58.3% female; mean inclusion BP, 144/80 mm Hg) in the control county. Mean SBP difference between counties during follow-up, adjusted for inclusion BP and other covariates, was 1.1 mm Hg (95% CI, 1.0-1.1 mm Hg). Hypertension control improved by 8.4 percentage points, and control was achieved in 37.8% of participants in the intervention county compared with 29.4% in the control county (adjusted odds ratio, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.29-1.31). Differences between counties increased during the intervention period and were more pronounced in participants with higher SBP at inclusion. Results were consistent across all subgroups.

Conclusions and Relevance: This study suggests that SBP levels and hypertension control rates in a county population may be improved by educational approaches directed at physicians and other health care workers. Similar strategies may be adopted to reinforce the implementation of clinical practice guidelines for hypertension management.

An evaluation of Vasterbotten Intervention Programme (VIP) was recently conducted by San Sebastian et al. (BMC Public Health 19:202, 2019). Evaluation of health care interventions of this kind require 1) an understanding of both the design and the nature of the intervention, 2) correct definition of the target population, and 3) careful choice of the appropriate evaluation method. In this correspondence, we review the approach used by San Sebastian et al. as relates to these three criteria. Within this framework, we suggest important explanations for why the conclusions drawn by these authors contradict a large body of research on the effectiveness of the VIP.

Blood pressure treatment has shown great efficacy in reducing cardiovascular events in randomized controlled trials. If this is effective in reducing cardiovascular disease in the general population, is less studied. Between 2001 and 2009 we performed an intervention to improve blood pressure control in the county of Vasterbotten, using Sodermanland County as a control. The intervention was directed towards primary care physicians and included lectures on blood pressure treatment, a computerized decision support system with treatment recommendations, and yearly feed back on hypertension control. Each county had approximately 255000 inhabitants. Differences in age and incidence of cardiovascular disease were small. During follow-up, more than 400000 patients had their blood pressure recorded. The mean number of measurements was eight per patient, yielding a total of 3.4 million blood pressure recordings. The effect of the intervention will be estimated combining the blood pressure data collected from the electronic medical records, with data on stroke, myocardial infarction and mortality from Swedish health registers. Additional variables, from health registers and Statistics Sweden, will be collected to address for confounders. The blood pressure data collected within this study will be an important asset for future epidemiological studies within the field of hypertension.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of the Västerbotten Intervention Programme (VIP) by comparing all eligible individuals (target group impact) according to the intention-to-treat principle and VIP participants with the general Swedish population.

DESIGN: Dynamic cohort study.

SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: All individuals aged 40, 50 or 60 years, residing in Västerbotten County, Sweden, between 1990 and 2006 (N=101 918) were followed from their first opportunity to participate in the VIP until age 75, study end point or prior death.

INTERVENTION: The VIP is a systematic, long-term, county-wide cardiovascular disease (CVD) intervention that is performed within the primary healthcare setting and combines individual and population approaches. The core component is a health dialogue based on a physical examination and a comprehensive questionnaire at the ages of 40, 50 and 60 years.

PRIMARY OUTCOMES: All-cause and CVD mortality.

RESULTS: For the target group, there were 5646 deaths observed over 1 054 607 person-years. Compared to Sweden at large, the standardised all-cause mortality ratio was 90.6% (95% CI 88.2% to 93.0%): for women 87.9% (95% CI 84.1% to 91.7%) and for men 92.2% (95% CI 89.2% to 95.3%). For CVD, the ratio was 95.0% (95% CI 90.7% to 99.4%): for women 90.4% (95% CI 82.6% to 98.7%) and for men 96.8% (95% CI 91.7 to 102.0). For participants, subject to further impact as well as selection, when compared to Sweden at large, the standardised all-cause mortality ratio was 66.3% (95% CI 63.7% to 69.0%), whereas the CVD ratio was 68.9% (95% CI 64.2% to 73.9%). For the target group as well as for the participants, standardised mortality ratios for all-cause mortality were reduced within all educational strata.

CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that the VIP model of CVD prevention is able to impact on all-cause and cardiovascular mortality when evaluated according to the intention-to-treat principle.

Background: Selection bias and declining participation rates are of concern in many long-term epidemiological studies. The Vasterbotten Intervention Programme (VIP) was launched in 1985 as a response to alarming reports on elevated cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in Vasterbotten County in Northern Sweden. The VIP invites women and men to a health examination and health counselling during the year of their 40th, 50th, and 60th birthdays. Objective: To evaluate trends in participation rates and determinants of participation in the VIP from 1990 to 2006. Design: Registry data on socio-economic status from Statistics Sweden, and mortality and hospitalisation data from the National Board of Health and Welfare, both covering the whole Swedish population, were linked to the VIP and analysed for participants and non-participants. Results: During 1990 - 2006, 117,710 individuals were eligible to participate in the VIP, and 40,472 of them were eligible to participate twice. There were 96,560 observations for participants and 61,622 for non-participants. The overall participation rate increased from 56 to 65%. Participants and non-participants had minimal differences in education and age. Initial small differences by sex and degree of urban residence decreased over time. Despite an increasing participation rate in all groups, those with low income or who were single had an approximately 10% lower participation rate than those with high or medium-income or who were married or cohabitating. Conclusion: Sustainability of the VIP is based on organisational integration into primary health care services and targeting of the entire middle-aged population. This enables the programme to meet population expectations of health promotion and to identify high-risk individuals who are then entered into routine preventive health care services. This has the potential to increase participation rates, to minimise social selection bias, and to reinforce other community-based interventions.

Background: There is a worldwide obesity epidemic, but lack of a simple method, applicable for research or clinical use, to identify individuals at high risk of weight gain. Therefore, the relationship of self-rated health and 10-year percent weight change was evaluated to determine if self-rated health would predict weight change.

Methods: From 1990 to 2008, adults aged 30, 40, 50 and 60 years were invited to health surveys that included self-rated health and measured weight and height. ANOVA was used to evaluate the relationship of 10-year percent weight change and self-rated health.

Results: The study population consisted of 29,207 participants (46.5% men). There was no relationship between baseline self-rated health and 10-year percent weight change for middle-aged men or women.

Conclusions: Self-rated health is not able to predict weight change over a 10-year period in this age group.

INTRODUCTION: Numerous equations to predict cardiovascular risk have been developed, but they differ in their ability to identify high-risk groups. In particular, concerns have been expressed that the Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) equation may overestimate the risk of fatal myocardial infarction and stroke in certain European populations. METHODS: The SCORE guidelines were applied to a sample of 10,476 male and 11,874 female participants from the Västerbotten Intervention Program (VIP) of northern Sweden who were screened between 1990 and 1994, at the age of 40, 50, or 60 years, and followed up for at least 10 years or until death. RESULTS: The cohort experienced a total of 229 fatal cardiovascular events, 169 for men and 60 for women, during the course of follow-up, whereas 359 (266 for men and 93 for women) were predicted through application of the Swedish SCORE risk chart. CONCLUSION: Application of the SCORE guidelines resulted in substantial overestimation of the expected number of deaths from cardiovascular disease in a population from northern Sweden.

OBJECTIVES: Sweden experienced a unique epidemic of celiac disease in children <2 years of age. The epidemic was partly explained by changes in infant feeding over time and indicated a multifactorial pathogenesis. The main aim of this study was to analyze celiac disease risk in epidemic and postepidemic birth cohorts up to preschool age, to explore further the opportunity for primary prevention. METHODS: A population-based incidence register of celiac disease in children covering the entire nation from 1998 to 2003 and part of the country back to 1973 was analyzed. European Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition diagnostic criteria for celiac disease were used. The annual incidence rate for each age group and the cumulative incidence according to age for each birth cohort were calculated. RESULTS: A considerable difference in cumulative incidences of celiac disease at comparable ages was demonstrated between birth cohorts from the epidemic and postepidemic periods. The difference persisted during the preschool years, although it decreased somewhat with age. During the last years of the follow-up period, there was again a successive increase in incidence rate among children <2 years of age. CONCLUSIONS: The difference in celiac disease risk between birth cohorts at comparable ages suggests an opportunity for primary prevention. This highlights the importance of further exploring the role of infant feeding and exogenous factors besides dietary gluten that might initiate or prevent disease development. Moreover, on the basis of postepidemic incidence trends, we speculate that the Swedish epidemic might not have been as unique as thought previously, although its magnitude was striking.