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BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most common cancer type among women globally. To facilitate early detection, all 40–74-year-old female residents of Sweden are invited to participate in a population-based mammographic screening programme. Approximately 20% of all invited women decline the offer, and if this is due to systematic differences that can be adjusted, it can indicate inequity in healthcare. Assessment of and being updated about the health and healthcare of the residents are largely the responsibilities of the self-governed regions in Sweden. The understanding of the residents' health serves as a basis for decision making and priority setting. This study aims to describe how politicians representing a region in Sweden perceive women's participation in mammographic screening and the politicians' own possibility to promote such participation. METHODS: Qualitative thematic analysis was conducted on the data obtained from individual semi-structured interviews held in 2019. The interviewees comprised ten politicians (six women and four men, 38–71 years old) representing a sub-committee focusing on public health and healthcare issues. RESULTS: Two main themes have been identified: 1) expected actions and 2) expected conditions for acting, including a total of four sub-themes. According to the politicians, the expected actions, such as obtaining information and being updated about matters regarding mammographic screening, concern both the women invited to the screening and the politicians themselves. Additionally, for both the individual and the healthcare organisation, here represented by the politicians, expected actions entail a shared commitment to maintain health. The expected conditions for acting refer to the politician's awareness of the factors influencing the women's decision to undergo or refuse the screening and having the resources to enable taking actions to facilitate participation. CONCLUSIONS: Expected actions and expected conditions for acting are tightly connected and entail some form of ...

Background: Since the vast majority of older adults in Sweden live in their private homes throughout life, the emergency medical services need to adapt accordingly. Hence, we aimed to describe characteristic patterns of dyadic staffed emergency ambulance assignments for older adults aged > 70 years compared with adults aged 18-69 years requiring emergency care at home in Sweden. Methods: A descriptive retrospective study was performed using anonymized registry data from the emergency medical services in a region of Sweden during 2017-2018. One-sample chi(2) test, one-way analysis of variance, and binary logistic regression models were used for investigating group differences. Variables for analysis were age, gender, clinical assessments, on-scene time, priority levels, result of response, and temporal patterns. Results: Of all included emergency ambulance assignments (n = 28,533), 59.9% involved older adults, of which 53.8% were women. The probability for older adults to receive the highest priority was decreased for both dispatch (p < 0.001, odds ratio [OR] 0.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.59-0.66), and transport priorities (p < 0.001, OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.68-0.80). Older adults were more likely to receive dispatch priority levels 2 (p < 0.001, OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.40-1.56), and 3 (p < 0.001, OR 1.73, 95% CI 1.46-2.06). The older adults were similarly more likely to receive transport priority level 3 (p < 0.001, OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.28-1.52) compared with adults. Age had a small but additive effect in relation to on-scene time (p < 0.001, R-2 = 0.01, F = 53.82). Distinguishing initial clinical assessments for older adults were circulatory, respiratory, trauma, infection, and nonspecific assessments. Emergency ambulance assignments for older adults were more frequently occurring on Mondays (p < 0.001, chi(2) = 232.56), and in the 08:00-11:59 interval (p < 0.001, chi(2) = 1224.08). Conclusion: The issues of the lower priority level preponderance, and the decreased probability for receiving the highest priority warrant further attention in future research and clinical practice.