Journal of epidemiology and community health
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J Epidemiol Community Health · Aug 2015
The real ecological fallacy: epidemiology and global climate change.
Prompted by my participation in the People's Climate March held in New York City on 21 September 2014, as part of the 'Harvard Divest' contingent, in this brief essay I reflect on the late 20th century development of--and debates over--the necessity of ecological thinking in epidemiology, and also the still limited engagement of our field with work on the health impact of global climate change. Revisiting critiques about the damaging influence of methodological individualism on our field, I extend critique of the still influential notion of 'ecological fallacy,' including its wilful disregard for ecology itself as being pertinent to people's ways of living--and dying. Indeed, the real 'ecological fallacy' is to think epidemiologists or others could ever understand the people's health except in societal and ecological, and hence historical, context. I conclude by urging all of us, as members of the broader scientific community, whether or not we directly study the health impacts of the planetary emergency of global climate change, to step up by joining the call for universities to divest from fossil fuels.
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J Epidemiol Community Health · Aug 2015
Impact of changes in mode of travel to work on changes in body mass index: evidence from the British Household Panel Survey.
Active commuting is associated with various health benefits, but little is known about its causal relationship with body mass index (BMI). ⋯ Interventions to enable commuters to switch from private motor transport to more active modes of travel could contribute to reducing population mean BMI.
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J Epidemiol Community Health · Aug 2015
Folic acid in pregnancy and mortality from cancer and cardiovascular disease: further follow-up of the Aberdeen folic acid supplementation trial.
Supplemental periconceptional folic acid is recommended to reduce the risk of fetal neural tube defects. A previous report indicated an elevated risk of breast cancer and all cancer deaths in later life among women randomised by alternate allocation to high-dose (5 mg/day) folic acid in pregnancy compared with placebo; however, findings were based on small numbers of cases. Our aim was to extend the previous analysis by including data from an additional 10 years of follow-up. ⋯ Findings from this extended follow-up do not support our previous observation of an elevated risk of mortality from breast cancer or all cancers in later life among women who had taken 5 mg folic acid/day during pregnancy. Furthermore, there were no associations with risk of mortality from all-causes, all cancers or cardiovascular disease.