Cigarette Smoking Is More Prevalent in Patients With Brain Arteriovenous Malformations Compared to General Population: A Cross-Sectional Population-Based Study

Neurosurgery ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anni Pohjola ◽  
Joni V Lindbohm ◽  
Elias Oulasvirta ◽  
Ahmad Hafez ◽  
Päivi Koroknay-Pál ◽  
...  

Abstract BACKGROUND Research on the prevalence of smokers in patients with brain arteriovenous malformation (AVM) remains nonexistent, even though smoking is a well-known risk factor for intracranial aneurysms. OBJECTIVE To examine the prevalence and smoking habits of AVM patients. METHODS Data on smoking habits were collected with a quality-of-life questionnaire mailed in 2016 to all patients in our large AVM database. These smoking data were supplemented with registry data derived from medical records. The prevalence of smokers was compared to that of the general population, derived from statistics of National Institute for Health and Welfare. Logit transformation of proportions and Students t distribution were used to calculate the 95% CIs for prevalence estimates. RESULTS Of the 384 patients aged over 18 yr on admission, 277 (72.1%) returned the questionnaires in 2016. When compared to age, sex, and admission year matched general population, the proportion of smokers in AVM patients was 48% (CI = 41%-55%) and 19% (CI = 16%-21%) in the general population. The difference increased in older age groups; in those aged 65 to 77 yr, the percentage of smokers reached 73% (CI = 46%-90%), while the corresponding percentage in the general population was 7% (CI = 5%-9%). CONCLUSION We observed considerably higher rates of smoking among AVM patients when compared to age, sex, and admission year matched general population. Our results suggest that in the development of AVMs, the role played by nicotine and other substances in tobacco smoke should be examined. Cigarette smoking could potentially be a common cerebrovascular risk factor.

2019 ◽  
Vol 104 (7) ◽  
pp. 994-998
Author(s):  
Ritika Mukhija ◽  
Noopur Gupta ◽  
Praveen Vashist ◽  
Radhika Tandon ◽  
Sanjeev K Gupta

ObjectiveTo characterise types of corneal diseases and resulting visual impairment (VI) in a rural North Indian population.DesignCross-sectional, population-based study.MethodsThe Corneal Opacity Rural Epidemiological study included 12 899 participants from 25 random clusters of rural Gurgaon, Haryana, India to determine the prevalence of the corneal disease in the general population. Sociodemographic details, presence and type of corneal morbidity, laterality, VI (presenting visual acuity (PVA) <6/18 in the better eye) and characteristics of corneal opacities were noted.ResultsOverall, 12 113 participants of all ages underwent detailed ophthalmic examination and prevalence of corneal opacity was found to be 3.7% (n=452) with bilateral involvement in 140 participants (31%) during the house-to-house visits. Of the total 571 eyes of 435 patients presenting with corneal opacity at the central clinic, PVA was <3/60 in 166 (29.1%), 3/60 to <6/60 in 14 (2.5%), 6/60 to <6/18 in 164 (28.7%), 6/18 to ≤6/12 in 85 (14.9%) and 6/9 to 6/6 in 142 eyes (24.9%), respectively. Further, there were a total of 115 eyes (20.1%) with nebular corneal opacity, 263 (46.1%) with macular, 162 (28.4%) with leucomatous and 31 (5.4%) with an adherent leucoma. The odds of having VI due to corneal disease were greater for the illiterate (OR:4.26; 95% CI: 2.88 to 6.31; p<0.001) and elderly (OR:11.05; 95% CI: 7.76 to 15.74; p<0.001).ConclusionThe data from this study give an insight into the characteristics of various corneal pathologies and resulting VI in the general population. This is a pioneer study involving all age groups on the burden of VI due to corneal diseases.


1977 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 127-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leif-Edvard Aarø ◽  
Kjell Bjartveit ◽  
Odd D. Vellar ◽  
Else-Lill Berglund

In the spring of 1974 a representative sample ( N = 1200) of all doctors in Norway (6000) received a mailed questionnaire regarding past and present smoking habits. Close to 95% responded. Among late responders there was a disproportionately high number of smokers. As compared with the general population, both male and female doctors constitute a small proportion of daily smokers and a large proportion of exsmokers. The greatest contrasts are observed in the younger age groups. The percentage of daily smokers in this crossectional study on the medical profession is approximately 50% lower than that found in the 1952–53 study on Norwegian doctors. There is also a shift away from cigarette smoking toward the use of pipe and cigars, which is not found in the general population. Answers to questions regarding reasons for quitting as well as certain attitudinal indicators show that the doctors' reduction in smoking is related to their professional involvement and high level of knowledge concerning the health consequences of smoking.


1999 ◽  
Vol 82 (11) ◽  
pp. 1395-1398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Tosetto ◽  
Edoardo Missiaglia ◽  
Maurizio Frezzato ◽  
Francesco Rodeghiero

SummaryRecently a new identified genetic variant in the 3’-untranslated region of the prothrombin gene (G20210A allele) associated with increased plasma prothrombin levels has been linked to an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Most of our knowledge on the G20210A allele as a risk factor for VTE derives from a population-based case-control study and from studies on selected series of VTE patients. To determine the importance of the G20210A allele as a causative risk factor for VTE in the general population, we analyzed the cross-sectional data of the Vicenza Thrombophilia and Atherosclerosis (VITA) Project. One hundred sixteen cases of VTE, ascertained in a random fashion within the general population aged 18-65, were age and sex-matched with 232 healthy subjects. Heterozygosity for the G20210A allele was present in 4.3% of VTE cases and in 3.4% of controls, indicating a marginal increase of VTE risk in carriers of the allele (odds ratio: 1.26; 95% CI 0.4-3.9). However, the VTE risk was substantially higher in subjects with idiopathic VTE before age 45 or with recurrent, idiopathic VTE (odds ratio: 2.8; 95% CI 0.6-13.8) or in subjects with a family history of VTE (odds ratio: 7.6; 95% CI 1.8-32.8). Accordingly, our results suggest that the G20210A allele associates with VTE only in selected cases, and that screening for this genetic variant is not warranted for all patients with VTE.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pragya Sharma ◽  
Saurav Basu ◽  
Suruchi Mishra ◽  
Ekta Gupta ◽  
Reshu Aggarwal ◽  
...  

Background We conducted a repeat serosurvey in Delhi, India to estimate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the general population and compare the antibody prevalence in the vaccinated and non-vaccinated groups. Methods This cross sectional study was conducted from September 24 to October 14 2021 in 280 wards of Delhi among 27811 participants selected through a multistage sampling technique with housing settlement based stratification. The SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin (IgG) antibodies were screened with the VITROS (Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, Raritan, NJ, USA) assay (90% sensitivity, 100% specificity). Results A total of 24895 (89.5%) samples were seropositive. The crude seroprevalence was 87.99% (95% CI 89.1, 89.8), weighted for age and sex was 88% (95% CI 87.6, 88.4), and after adjustment of assay performance was estimated as 97.5% (95% CI 97.0, 98.0). The weighted seroprevalence in the 11 districts ranged from 84.9% (South-West district) to 90.8% (East district) Females in all the age-groups (<18, 18-49 and ≥50) had significantly higher odds of seropositivity (p<0.001). On adjusted analysis, the odds of seroconversion in the participants vaccinated with at-least one dose of either Covid-19 vaccine (Covishield/Covaxin) was more than four times compared to the unvaccinated (aRR 4.2 (3.8, 4.6)). The seroprevalence was also comparable among the complete and partially vaccinated subgroups for both vaccines (Table 4). Most (86.8%) seropositive individuals had a SARS-CoV-2 signal/cut-off ≥4.0 except in children Conclusions We observed IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in most of the general population of Delhi with likely higher antibody titers in the vaccinated compared to the unvaccinated groups.


2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heide Glaesmer ◽  
Gesine Grande ◽  
Elmar Braehler ◽  
Marcus Roth

The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) is the most commonly used measure for life satisfaction. Although there are numerous studies confirming factorial validity, most studies on dimensionality are based on small samples. A controversial debate continues on the factorial invariance across different subgroups. The present study aimed to test psychometric properties, factorial structure, factorial invariance across age and gender, and to deliver population-based norms for the German general population from a large cross-sectional sample of 2519 subjects. Confirmatory factor analyses supported that the scale is one-factorial, even though indications of inhomogeneity of the scale have been detected. Both findings show invariance across the seven age groups and both genders. As indicators of the convergent validity, a positive correlation with social support and negative correlation with depressiveness was shown. Population-based norms are provided to support the application in the context of individual diagnostics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abbas Alshami ◽  
Nasam Alfraji ◽  
Steven Douedi ◽  
Swapnil Patel ◽  
Mohammad Hossain ◽  
...  

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.


2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. E. Udonwa ◽  
E. K. Uko ◽  
B. M. Ikpeme ◽  
I. A. Ibanga ◽  
B. O. Okon

A population-based-cross-sectional survey was carried out to investigate the potential risk of exposure to premium motor spirit (PMS) fumes in Calabar, Nigeria, among Automobile Mechanics (AM), Petrol Station Attendants (PSA) and the general population. Structured questionnaire was administered on the randomly chosen subjects to elicit information on their exposure to PMS. Duration of exposure was taken as the length of work in their various occupations. Venous blood was taken for methaemoglobin (MetHb) and packed cells volume (PCV). Mean MetHb value was higher in AM (7.3%) and PSA (5.8%) than in the subjects from the general population (2.7%). PCV was lower in PSA (30.8%), than AM (33.3%) and the subjects from the general population (40.8%). MetHb level was directly proportional, and PCV inversely related, to the duration of exposure. The study suggested increased exposure to petrol fumes among AM, PSA, and MetHb as a useful biomarker in determining the level of exposure to benzene in petrol vapour.


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