Abstract
Nielsen NM, Rostgaard K, Askgaard D, Skinhøj P, Aaby P. Life-long morbidity among
Danes with poliomyelitis. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2004;85:385–91.
Objective
To estimate long-term morbidity in a cohort of Danish poliomyelitis patients.
Design
A historical prospective cohort study of 27,047 persons.
Setting
Denmark.
Participants
A total of 5421 persons hospitalized for poliomyelitis between 1919 to 1954 in Copenhagen,
Denmark, and 21,626 age- and gender-matched Danes. Participants were followed up on
average for 20.6 years, yielding a total of 555,884 person-years of follow-up.
Interventions
Not applicable
Main outcome measures
The exposed (poliomyelitis) cohort and the unexposed (control) cohort were followed
up for somatic hospitalization from 1977 to 1999 in the Danish Hospital Discharge
Register. The incidence rate ratio (IRR) was calculated as the ratio between the incidence
rate of disease in the exposed and unexposed cohorts.
Results
Overall, polio patients had a 1.2- to 1.3-fold increased risk of being hospitalized
with pulmonary diseases, heart diseases, gastrointestinal disorders, or diseases of
the locomotive apparatus. Among paralytic polio patients, long-term morbidity seems
to be associated with the acute severity of poliomyelitis, as well as young age at
infection. Paralytic patients, who contracted respiratory polio under the age of 5,
had the highest risk of being hospitalized with lung diseases (IRR=7.26; 95% confidence
interval [CI], 3.06–18.33), diseases of the locomotive apparatus (IRR=4.05; 95% CI,
1.66–9.86), heart diseases (IRR=1.70; 95% CI, 0.65–3.98), and diseases of the digestive
system (IRR= 2.23; 95% CI, 1.03–4.62). Surprisingly, patients without paralyses, especially
women, also had an increased morbidity.
Conclusions
Overall, a history of poliomyelitis was associated with a slightly increased morbidity
measured by hospitalizations. Long-term morbidity was highest among respiratory polio
patients; however, patients presumably left without any residual symptoms also had
an increased morbidity.
Keywords
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Article info
Footnotes
☆Supported by the Danish Medical Research Council, the AP Møller and Chastine McKinney Møller Foundation, the Danish National Research Foundation, the Wedell-Wedellsborg Foundation, and The National Polio Society.
Identification
Copyright
© 2004 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
