International journal of epidemiology
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This article is part of a series commissioned by the International Epidemiological Association, aimed at describing population health and epidemiological resources in the six World Health Organization (WHO) regions. It covers 32 of the 53 WHO European countries, namely the Western European countries, the Balkan countries and the Baltic countries. ⋯ Although population health has improved considerably overall, persistent within- and between-country inequalities continue to challenge national and European health institutions. More research, policy and action on the social determinants of health are required in the region. Epidemiological training, research and workforce in the Baltic and Balkan countries should be strengthened. European epidemiologists can play pivotal roles and must influence legislation concerning production and access to high-quality data.
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We established Project Viva to examine prenatal diet and other factors in relation to maternal and child health. We recruited pregnant women at their initial prenatal visit in eastern Massachusetts between 1999 and 2002. Exclusion criteria included multiple gestation, inability to answer questions in English, gestational age ≥22 weeks at recruitment and plans to move away before delivery. ⋯ From 2341 eligible women, there were 2128 live births; 1279 mother-child pairs provided data at the mid-childhood visit. Primary study outcomes include pregnancy outcomes, maternal mental and cardiometabolic health and child neurodevelopment, asthma/atopy and obesity/cardiometabolic health. Investigators interested in learning more about how to obtain Project Viva data can contact Project_Viva@hphc.org.
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It is not known how smoking affects the initial presentation of a wide range of chronic and acute cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), nor the extent to which associations are heterogeneous. We estimated the lifetime cumulative incidence of 12 CVD presentations, and examined associations with smoking and smoking cessation. ⋯ The heterogeneous associations of smoking with different CVD presentations suggests different underlying mechanisms and have important implications for research, clinical screening and risk prediction.