Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Aug 2009
Advancing the hypothesis that geographic variations in risk factors contribute relatively little to observed geographic variations in heart disease and stroke mortality.
Geographic variation in risk factors may underlie geographic disparities in coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke mortality. ⋯ Weak associations between CHD and stroke mortality and strong associations between CHD and stroke risk scores suggest that geographic variation in risk factors may not underlie geographic variations in stroke and CHD mortality. The relationship between risk factor scores and mortality was stronger for CHD than stroke.
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Preventive medicine · Aug 2009
Susceptibility to initiate smoking among junior and senior high school nonsmokers in Taiwan.
Most smokers begin using tobacco in their teens and recent reports indicate that smoking prevalence is climbing among youth in Taiwan. The purpose of this paper was to determine the associated factors of susceptibility of youth smoking by different types of schools. ⋯ Developing tailored, comprehensive smoking-prevention programs for junior high students should involve establishing tobacco-free households and communities.
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Preventive medicine · Aug 2009
Socioeconomic status and risk factors for obesity and metabolic disorders in a population-based sample of adult females.
The association between lower socioeconomic status (SES), obesity, lifestyle choices and adverse health consequences are well documented, however to date the relationship between these variables and area-based SES (equivalised for advantage and disadvantage) has not been examined simultaneously in one population or with more than tertiary divisions of SES. We set out to examine the risk factors for obesity and metabolic disorders in the same population across quintiles of area-based SES. ⋯ Greater measures of adiposity and less healthy lifestyle choices were observed in individuals from lower SES. Significant differences in body composition were identified between quintiles 1 and 5, whereas subjects in the mid quintiles had relatively similar measures. The inverse relationship between SES, obesity and less healthy lifestyle underscores the possibility that these associations may be causal and should be investigated further.
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Preventive medicine · Aug 2009
Comparative StudyMeasurement error and ethnic comparisons of measures of abdominal obesity.
Methods of estimating central obesity are important because of the increasing frequency of obesity related diseases worldwide. Here we evaluate the precision of measuring waist circumference and the waist to hip ratio with comparisons across ethnic groups. ⋯ Waist to hip ratio provides a superior measure of central obesity with low measurement error, high precision, and no bias over a wide range of ethnic groups. We believe that it is essential to standardize methods in the assessment of central obesity. Assessment criteria should be based on waist to hip ratio rather than waist circumference.
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Few studies have addressed the feasibility of promoting smokeless tobacco as an alternative for smokers. This study was intended to assess the characteristics and degree to which smokers from California are receptive to using the substitute for harm reduction. ⋯ Smokeless tobacco is an unacceptable alternative for most California smokers. But, the expected correlates, notably gender, accounted for minimal variability in SLT receptiveness, an observation that challenges concerns about the product's limited appeal to any one group.