Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Jan 1992
Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease: 3-year intervention results in boys of 12 years of age.
The intervention group comprised 477 children at the age of 11.8 +/- 0.11 years. The reference group comprised 528 children aged 11.9 +/- 0.12 years. Both groups were drawn on the basis of the selected examination of children from two Moscow districts. The criteria for risk factors involved the upper 5% of the distribution curve for blood pressure, the upper 10% of the distribution curve for cholesterol and triglycerides, the upper 15% of the distribution curve for the Quetelet index, and a positive response to the question on smoking, "Smoke at least once per week or more frequently?" ⋯ The examination at 1 year showed that the children of the intervention district had attained a greater reduction in their levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, and systolic blood pressure than those of the reference district. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels decreased equally in both districts. After 3 years, the effect was retained for cholesterol and systolic blood pressure; the level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol showed a greater reduction in district 2. After 1 year, the increase in the Quetelet index among the intervention sample (district 1) became less. After 3 years of intervention, the smoking accretion rate had decreased by 8.9% in district 1 (intervention) compared with that in district 2 (reference).
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Preventive medicine · Jan 1992
Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialThe Heart Smart cardiovascular school health promotion: behavior correlates of risk factor change.
A growing awareness of health promotion and positive lifestyle change, coupled with the knowledge that cardiovascular risk has its origins in childhood, has led to the development of health promotion programs in the elementary school. While most school-based programs target specific behaviors or enlist singular intervention modalities, the Heart Smart cardiovascular school health promotion targeted the total school environment with a multidisciplinary approach to prompt the school's varied institutions to implement changes in curriculum, school lunch, and physical education. ⋯ Observations indicate a relationship between behavior change and physiologic changes achieved in a total school health promotion to reduce cardiovascular risk.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 1991
Composition of popular tobacco products in Thailand, and its relevance to disease prevention.
This report presents new findings on the composition of the three best-selling brands of commercially produced Thai cigarettes, representing about 80% of market share in Thailand, and six best-selling tobacco products, including hand-rolled cigarettes and cigars. ⋯ This report provides information that may prove helpful in the evaluation of the tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide yields of cigarettes and cigars in Thailand compared with levels in U.S. cigarettes. It is our goal to offer the scientific basis for voluntary and/or regulated reduction of the smoke yields of tobacco products in Thailand.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 1991
Race and gender differences in serum lipoproteins of children, adolescents, and young adults--emergence of an adverse lipoprotein pattern in white males: the Bogalusa Heart Study.
Serum lipoprotein profiles in 4,231 individuals, ages 5-26 years, were studied cross-sectionally in a biracial community to describe the race- and gender-specific changes from adolescence into young adulthood. ⋯ These results underscore the desirability of early targeting for primary prevention.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 1991
The effects of a health education intervention program among Cretan adolescents.
An educational intervention program for the prevention of cardiovascular disease among 171 Cretan school students (13- and 14-year-olds) is assessed. Three schools from the province of Agios Vassilios acted as the intervention group while two schools from a neighboring province (Amari) formed the control group. ⋯ At the end of 1 academic year of intervention the results showed, after adjusting for age, sex, baseline value, height, and weight, an increase in total serum cholesterol of 0.70 mg/dl in the intervention group and 17.91 mg/dl in the control group (P less than 0.0001). Diastolic blood pressure (fourth phase) decreased by 2.95 mm Hg in the intervention group and by 0.48 mm Hg in the control group (P less than 0.05). Similar changes were observed in the body mass index (P less than 0.05). The proportion of school children starting smoking was significantly lower in the intervention group (6%) than in the control (20%) (P less than 0.01). The results indicate that this health education program in schools is effective in decreasing some of the major CVD risk factors. The long-term effect remains to be evaluated.