The relationships between depression, measured as high rates of depressive symptoms (Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, ZSDS), and musculoskeletal pains (Kuorinka et al. 1987) were described in a 55-year-old Finnish population consisting of all the 1008 persons born in 1935 and living in the city of Oulu on 1 October 1990. Three hundred forty-five men (76%) and 435 women (79%) participated in the examinations. Of the men 6.8% and of the women 12.1% scored 45 raw sum points or more on the ZSDS. In several anatomical regions, pains were more common among the depressed than the non-depressed population, and many of the depressed persons suffered from multiple pains. One of the most common regions of pain was the neck; during the past 12 months, 56.5% of the depressed men and 65.4% of the depressed women had suffered from frequent pains in the neck. The corresponding prevalences among the non-depressed men and women were 35.2% and 45.5%, respectively. In the non-depressed population, musculoskeletal pains were more common among women than men, whereas no great gender differences existed in the depressed population. The possible confounding variables were standardized in the logistic regression analysis, and the results showed an independent association between pains in the small joints and depression among men, on one hand, and pains in the neck and shoulder and depression among women, on the other hand.

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This study was aimed at assessing the adequacy of a random capillary whole blood glucose (RCBG) test as a screening test for diabetes mellitus in a middle-aged (55-year-old) Finnish population. Both the screening test (RCBG) and a standard 2-h oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) were performed on all the participants according to the WHO criteria. The prevalence based on the 2-h OGTTs was 8.5% (11.7% for men and 6.0% for women). The sensitivity, specificity and predictive values of the screening test for diabetes and the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves were studied. The likelihood ratios for diabetes within the test categories were also calculated. When a cut-off point of 6.2 mmol l-1 was used, which proved to be the most appropriate in the present study, the specificity was 92% and the sensitivity 63% (79% for men and 40% for women). The men had much higher sensitivities than the women at all cut-off points, but the specificities were comparable. The present study indicated that the RCBG test could be used as a screening test in a subpopulation with a high prevalence of diabetes and severe hyperglycaemia, but it would be quite insensitive in a subpopulation with a considerable overlap of RCBG values between the diabetic group and the non-diabetic one. It would be inappropriate to use the RCBG test as a routine screening test for diabetes in a general population, particularly among subjects with a known low prevalence of diabetes.