Neck circumference is associated with non-traditional cardiovascular risk factors in individuals at low-to-moderate cardiovascular risk: cross-sectional analysis of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil)

AbstractObjectiveTo compare cardiovascular risk factors between vegetarians and non-vegetarians in black individuals living in the USA.DesignA cross-sectional analysis of a sub-set of 592 black women and men enrolled in the Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2) cohort of Seventh-day Adventists.SettingMembers of the AHS-2 cohort, who lived in all states of the USA and provinces of Canada.SubjectsBlack/African-American members of two sub-studies of AHS-2 where blood and physiological measurements were obtained.ResultsOf these women and men, 25 % were either vegan or lacto-ovo-vegetarians (labelled ‘vegetarian/vegans’), 13 % were pesco-vegetarian and 62 % were non-vegetarian. Compared with non-vegetarians, the vegetarian/vegans had odds ratios for hypertension, diabetes, high blood total cholesterol and high blood LDL-cholesterol of 0·56 (95 % CI 0·36, 0·87), 0·48 (95 % CI 0·24, 0·98), 0·42 (95 % CI 0·27, 0·65) and 0·54 (95 % CI 0·33, 0·89), respectively, when adjusted for age, gender, education, physical activity and sub-study. Corresponding odds ratios for obesity in vegetarian/vegans and pesco-vegetarians, compared with non-vegetarians, were 0·43 (95 % CI 0·28, 0·67) and 0·47 (95 % CI 0·27, 0·81), respectively; and for abdominal obesity 0·54 (95 % CI 0·36, 0·82) and 0·50 (95 % CI 0·29, 0·84), respectively. Results for pesco-vegetarians did not differ significantly from those of non-vegetarians for other variables. Further adjustment for BMI suggested that BMI acts as an intermediary variable between diet and both hypertension and diabetes.ConclusionsAs with non-blacks, these results suggest that there are sizeable advantages to a vegetarian diet in black individuals also, although a cross-sectional analysis cannot conclusively establish cause.

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Gender aspects of the relationship between migraine and cardiovascular risk factors: A cross-sectional evaluation in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil)

Cephalalgia ◽

10.1177/0333102415570494 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 35 (12) ◽

pp. 1103-1114 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Alessandra C Goulart ◽

Itamar S Santos ◽

Paulo A Lotufo ◽

Isabela M Benseñor

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Cardiovascular Risk ◽

Longitudinal Study ◽

Cardiovascular Risk Factors ◽

Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽

Inverse Association ◽

Adult Health ◽

Regression Analyses ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

The Relationship

Background The relationship between cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) and migraine is controversial and might be different in both genders. These associations were evaluated in Brazilian middle-aged men and women from the Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil). Methods The cross-sectional relationship between our main outcome, which was migraine headache (definite, probable and overall), and CVRF was evaluated in the total sample and according to gender. We calculated frequencies and odds ratios (95% CI) for this relationship using binary and multinomial logistic regression analyses in crude, age-adjusted and multivariable models adjusted by potential confounders. Results Of 14,953 individuals who completed the data about headache and CVRF, the frequency of one-year migraine was of 29.5% (22.5% in women and 7.0% in men). In the multivariable-adjusted regression analyses, an inverse association between hypertension (OR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.36–0.79), metabolic syndrome (OR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.43–0.99) and definite migraine were confirmed for men, but not for women. In the opposite direction, a positive association between migraine headaches (definite, probable and overall) and dyslipidemia (overall migraine OR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.13–1.38) was observed only for women, but not for men. Conclusions A gender influence on the relationship between migraine and CVRF was verified in the ELSA-Brasil.

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