Extract
From the 1990s, five national programmes were carried out in Finland to respond to respiratory health challenges [1–6]. Previous experience from tuberculosis facilitated the launch of other initiatives. The programmes were implemented in the national public healthcare. Importantly, professional associations, non-governmental patient organisations (NGOs) and pharmacies contributed to the change of clinical practices.
Abstract
A nationwide, long-term and systematic lung health policy has been implemented in Finland. The real-world data indicate that the burden of respiratory diseases has reduced both for patients and, overall, for society. https://bit.ly/3LvPjjv
Footnotes
Data sharing statement: Data analysed in this study is not directly available to others. Anybody may apply for a study permit and access for the data from reported registers from Findata and from the relevant hospital districts. Other related documents including memos and plans for this study (mainly in Finnish) will be available for researchers 2 years after publication on request to the corresponding author.
Author contributions: F. Herse, R-L. Leskelä, T. Mattila and V. Jormanainen collected and analysed most of the data. T. Mattila outlined the first version of the manuscript. All authors interpreted the data, contributed to the writing process, and have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Conflict of interest: The corresponding author T. Mattila completed this study through financial support from the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa. All other co-authors completed the work related to this study as a function of their regular duties. Outside the submitted work, T. Mattila reports consulting fees from National Institute for Health and Welfare and Helsinki University; lecture fees from GlaxoSmithKline, Boehringer Ingelheim and AstraZeneca; support for attending congress from Boehringer Ingelheim and AstraZeneca; and participation on advisory boards for GlaxoSmithKline. T. Vasankari reports lecture fees from MSD and BI; and is a member of the board for ASH Finland. S. Toppila-Salmi reports grants from GSK; consultancy fees from AstraZeneca, ERT, Novartis, Sanofi Pharma and Roche Products. T. Haahtela reports lecture fees from GSK, Mundipharma, Orion Pharma and Sanofi. All other authors have no further disclosures outside the submitted work.
Support statement: The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare funded the collection of the data. Financial support from the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa awarded to the first author allowed for the write-up of our analysis. Funding information for this article has been deposited with the Crossref Funder Registry.
- Received January 13, 2022.
- Accepted May 12, 2022.
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