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In April, the group of critics of the Swedish Public Health Agency’s handling of the pandemic wrote a high-profile debate article on DN Debatt, in which they demanded, among other things, the closure of schools and a quarantine extended.
The group, with a somewhat variable number of members, has on the debating positions both in Sweden and abroad continued to criticize the Swedish attitude, especially when it became clear that Sweden is one of the countries with the highest number of deaths in relation to the population.
The group has now taken the name Vetenskapsforum covid-19 on social media and on its own website. There they publish their discussion articles, but also a list of tips and recommendations to reduce the risk of infection. They are called general advice, the same title the Swedish Public Health Agency uses for advice. But they differ on many points.
Among other things, the group highlighted Trombyl, a prescription blood thinner, which the reader was urged to consider in order to avoid blood clots: “We have no data at all, but theoretically one thrombol a day may be enough. Consult your doctor “.
Another tip was to count the breaths, record the number per minute, and record if they increase.
Soo Alemán, associate professor and chief physician at Karolinska Hospital, believes that many of the group’s advice is uncontroversial, even if it goes against officials from the Public Health Agency. She describes the group members as knowledgeable researchers in their disciplines, who have received an unreasonable amount of criticism for their attitude. In several cases, their advice is closer to the guidelines that exist in many other countries, for example, regarding oral protection and the length of time an infected person should be isolated. But you also see problems with the recommendation to count breaths.
– It is difficult for each patient to count their own breaths. An outside person has to do it, so you don’t know they count. Otherwise, you may start to breathe faster.
When it comes to blood thinning, there isn’t a lot of research on the risks of clots in patients who haven’t been admitted, he says.
– However, it was not taken from scratch; It is conceivable that there may be some risk of clots even in people who do not become seriously ill, but we are currently not aware of this. And therefore, at this time it can be difficult to recommend blood thinning medications to these people. But on the other hand, it only said that one should consider it.
Anders Sönnerborg is Professor of Clinical Virology and Infectious Diseases and Chief Medical Officer at Karolinska University Hospital. Discuss how Trombyl stands out. He has not seen any guide that recommends it for people with covid-19 who are not cared for in the hospital: “I have not seen any scientific study to support this,” he wrote in an email to DN and took the guides from the United States. NIH Health Authority as an example.
“Given the possible serious side effects of Trombyl, it is important that clinicians insert it, if it is to be inserted for other reasons. Overuse would be unfortunate,” he further writes.
On Wednesday, both councils were removed from the list. No clue remains about Trombyl or about counting one’s breaths. They were a mistake, says Anders Vahlne, a professor emeritus and one of the people on the Vetenskapsforum covid-19 steering group.
– We withdraw it because there is no proof of it, says about the Council of Trombyl.
Why was it included?
– Mistakes happen when a lot of people write.
The same applies to advice on counting breaths, he says.
– There is no hard evidence of that. So we also remove it.
– We are not worse than we can change and be more careful. We hope that the Swedish Public Health Agency can also do this when they are wrong.
State epidemiologist Anders Tegnell is aware of the discussion on blood thinning for the seriously ill in covid-19.
– As I have understood by those who work with these patients, now you are so attentive to the formation of clots that you detect it very early and I do not think it is a large part of the risk of dying in covid-19 today. So it is the health service that improves these evaluations, but putting everyone on Trombyl probably has more negative than positive effects, he tells DN.
What do you think of a site like this?
– There are many tips, not only on this page. As usual, those who read these tips should be cautious and look at different pages, especially those that have a high credibility, so that you get a general picture and can make your assessment yourself.
