Lone Holst

University of Bergen | UiB · Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care

Background. The severe pregnancy complication hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) requires intravenous fluids, antiemetics, and nutrition to prevent maternal and fetal complications. Several guidelines exist for the treatment of HG within and across countries. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the guideline issued by the Norwegian Society fo...

Communication skills are crucial for pharmacists' role in counselling and providing information to patients, other healthcare practitioners, and the community. This study explores the implementation of debate as a pedagogical tool into pharmacy education to improve students' communication skills.This study is part of the design-based research (DBR)...

Background Women suffering from severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, hyperemesis gravidarum, have poor quality of life and increased risk of potentially fatal maternal and fetal complications. There is increasing and reassuring knowledge about safety of antiemetics in pregnancy. In 2013, the European Medical Agency (EMA) issued a warning on...

Background Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with metabolic, nutritional, and extra-renal changes, as well as a high rate of comorbidities, which necessitates the prescription of numerous medications. Patients with CKD often experience poor nutritional status related to disease severity and prescribed medication; however, this association...

Background and purpose: No qualitative study on traditional medicine use among Zambian pregnant women has ever been conducted. Accordingly, this study was performed to explore the perceptions, motivations and experiences of Zambian women with regard to traditional medicine use during pregnancy. Materials and methods In-depth, semi-structured inter...

Background and purpose: The study of herbal medicine (HM) use which is related to maternal health, a public health priority in many sub-Saharan African countries including Zambia, has been limited. Accordingly, we aimed to determine the prevalence and patterns of HM use during pregnancy in Lusaka Province, Zambia. Materials and methods A survey-ba...

Herbal medicine use has grown considerably worldwide among pregnant women, and is particularly widespread in sub-Saharan Africa. However, herbal medicines used across sub-Saharan Africa are associated with important research gaps and a lack of regulatory framework. This is particularly problematic, as herbal medicine use during pregnancy raises sev...

Objective: Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) affects 0.3–3% of pregnant women and is a leading cause of hospitalization in early pregnancy. The aim of the study was to investigate women’s treatment and management of HG, as well as the consequences of HG on women’s daily life. Design and setting: A cross-sectional study based on a structured telephone int...

Background Antibiotic resistance is a global health threat. Public knowledge is considered a prerequisite for appropriate use of antibiotics and limited spread of antibiotic resistance. Our aim was to examine the level of knowledge of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance among Norwegian pharmacy customers, and to assess to which degree beliefs, at...

Background: Finding appropriate medicinal product formulations and dosage forms for children can be challenging. Knowledge about considerations behind which medicinal product to prescribe or dispense for children is lacking. Objective: To explore considerations of formulation characteristics of medicinal products made by GPs when prescribing and...

Background Though nausea and vomiting is very common during pregnancy, no studies have investigated the impact of this condition on the women’s daily lives in a Scandinavian population. The aim of this study was to describe the burden of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (NVP) on global quality of life, daily life functioning and willingness to...

Objectives: To describe, compare and evaluate whether pharmacists in two European countries, Serbia and Norway, give appropriate counselling for common ailments in pregnancy. Design: A cross sectional, web-based study. Participants and settings: A study was conducted among Serbian and Norwegian pharmacists during two four-month study periods i...

Purpose The purposes of this study were to investigate the treatments used for nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP) according to NVP severity among Norwegian women and to assess whether maternal characteristics and attitudes were related to the use of pharmacological treatment of NVP. Methods This is a cross-sectional Web-based study. Pregnant wo...

Introduction: Previous studies have shown that echinacea is among the most widely used herbal medicines during pregnancy in Western countries. Despite its frequent use, we know little about the safety of this herbal medicine during pregnancy. The primary aim of this study was to study the consequences of the use of echinacea on malformations and c...

Objective: Nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (NVP) is very common, and may have great impact on a woman's life. The aim of this study was to explore thoughts and attitudes among Norwegian pregnant women and GPs on treatment of NVP and pregnancy care. Design: Focus-group study. Setting and subjects: Separate focus-group discussions were cond...

Background: The factors related to the treatment of nausea during pregnancy have not yet been investigated in several countries simultaneously. The present study aimed to describe differences in self-reported nausea during pregnancy and the patterns of use for both conventional and herbal medicines across countries. The factors related to nausea a...

Background: Renal impairment often goes unrecognised until the most advanced stages. Patients with renal impairment use a variety of drugs and the pharmacokinetics and drug effects are prone to change. Objective: Describe drug related problems in a population of patients with renal impairment, investigate possible risk factors, and investigate w...

Objectives: To describe a workplace-based interprofessional learning activity in nursing homes, and its outcomes as reported by health care students and nursing home staff. Methods: In a joint initiative from Bergen University college and the University of Bergen health care students from both institutions, including among others pharmacy, physioth...

This review evaluates the safety of echinacea and elderberry in pregnancy. Both herbs are commonly used to prevent or treat upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) and surveys have shown that they are also used by pregnant women. The electronic databases PubMed, ISI Web of Science, AMED, EMBASE, Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, and Coch...

Cranberry is one of the most commonly used herbs during pregnancy. The herb has been used traditionally against urinary tract infections. No studies are found that specifically address the risk of malformations after use of cranberry during pregnancy. The aim of the study was to investigate the safety of cranberry use during pregnancy, including an...

Objectives: To describe a workplace-based interprofessional learning activity in nursing homes, and its outcomes as reported by health care students and nursing home staff. Methods: In a joint initiative from Bergen University college and the University of Bergen health care students from both institutions, including among others pharmacy, physioth...

Purpose: The objective of the study was to examine the safety of ginger use during pregnancy on congenital malformations and selected pregnancy outcomes. Methods: The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort study, a large population-based cohort, provided the data used in this study. Our study population consisted of 68,522 women. Data on ginger use a...

The medication-taking behaviour of pregnant women during the first two trimesters of pregnancy was assessed to ascertain whether they were appropriately using over-the-counter (OTC) preparations during pregnancy. 578 (55.7%) women completed and returned a questionnaire, of which 248 (42.9%) reported using one or more medications to treat one of the...

This review evaluates the safety and efficacy of raspberry leaf (Rubus idaeus) in pregnancy. The electronic databases PubMed, ISI Web of Science, AMED, EMBASE, Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database and Cochrane Library were searched. Altogether 12 original publications with focus on safety or efficacy during pregnancy, pharmacology and in vitro...

The extent of herbal medicine use in pregnancy has been widely researched throughout the world but little research has been published about the motivations for this use. Focus group discussion. Women who participated in a survey at an antenatal clinic were asked to participate in a focus group discussion to elaborate further on some of the results...

to review the literature on safety and efficacy of the most commonly used herbs to enable midwives to give evidence-based information to pregnant women. survey and review of the scientific literature. the survey was performed at the antenatal clinic at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital between 26 November 2007 and 15 February 2008. a total of...

The physiologic changes that occur during pregnancy can lead to a variety of conditions that can usually be self-treated. There are no licensed medicines for conditions such as morning sickness or insomnia in pregnancy, and evidence from Western countries suggests that patients often resort to using herbal medicines. Research on the health behavior...

To study characteristics of women using herbal drugs and the possible impact of use in early pregnancy on pregnancy outcome. Data on the use of herbal drugs during pregnancy were obtained from the Swedish Medical Birth Register during the period 1st July 1995 to end of 2004. Women who reported use of herbal drugs were compared to all women giving b...