scholarly journals Smoking Habits in Men and Women with Different Perceptions of Social Well-Being: Findings of A Large Population-Based Study

Author(s):  
Hasti Masihay-Akbar ◽  
Fahimeh Mehrabi ◽  
Neda Mardi ◽  
Parisa Amiri ◽  
Leila Cheraghi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background This study aimed to investigate cigarette and hookah smoking in a population of Eastern-Mediterranean adults in relation to their perceived social well-being (social integration, coherence, acceptance, contribution, and actualization). Methods Data of 2592 adults who participated in the 6th phase (2014–2016) of the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS) was used. After excluding those with missing data (n = 235), 2357 remained for the sex-specific logistic regression to investigate the association between social well-being and current smoking (cigarette and hookah). The final model (model 3) was adjusted for age, marital status, education, occupation, physical activity, and chronic disease history. Results Participants' mean age was 46 ± 14 years (45% men). Compared to cigarette and hookah smokers, the mean scores of social well-being and all its dimensions were higher in non-smokers. While in men, cigarette smoking was significantly related to social well-being and all its dimensions, only women with higher social well-being (OR:0.97, CI:0.95–0.99, P:0.001), social integration (OR:0.93, CI:0.87–0.99, P:0.019), and coherence (OR:0.92, CI:0.87–0.98, P:0.013), were further at risk of cigarette smoking. Unlike men, whose hookah smoking was not at all related to their social well-being, women's hookah consumption was associated with social well-being (OR: 0.97, CI:0.95–0.99, P:0.002), social integration and acceptance; one unit increase in the mean scores of social integration and acceptance in women reduced the risk of hookah use by 8%. Conclusion Social well-being and tobacco smoking are related, and evident sex differences in this relationship should not be ignored in future tobacco control efforts.

2003 ◽  
Vol 89 (6) ◽  
pp. 608-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Egidio Celentano ◽  
Rocco Galasso ◽  
Franco Berrino ◽  
Elisabetta Fusconi ◽  
Maria Concetta Giurdanella ◽  
...  

A large number of studies have investigated the factors correlated to age at natural menopause in several populations. However, information on genetics and life-style factors influencing the age of onset of menopause in different populations is of current scientific interest. Specifically, for Italian women there are no large population-based data. The EPIC-Italy collaboration is a source of data of this kind; moreover, the geographical distribution of the cohorts (recruited in northern, central and southern Italy) is an added value as regards the scientific interest of these data. A number of biological and life-style-related factors have been analyzed to evaluate their association to the age at natural menopause in 14,454 menopausal women of the EPIC-Italy collaboration. As regards life-style and environmental factors, the main results are: a) women living in different areas of the country have different ages of onset of natural menopause; b) educational level is significantly associated to this age and may explain part of the between-center difference; c) cigarette smoking appears as a major correlate and probably determinant of the age at natural menopause across all the Italian cohorts; d) alcohol consumption does not have any relationship with the age at natural menopause; e) the use of oral contraceptives may influence age at natural menopause. As regards biological factors, short cycles and low parity have been found associated with earlier menopause. Overall, the results concerning menstrual cycles, parity, and cigarette smoking are consistent with the hypothesis that the number of oocytes in the ovary is pre-determined and any acceleration or impairment of the ovarian function leads to reduce the duration of the reproductive life.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reem Baalbaki ◽  
Leila Itani ◽  
Lara El Kebbi ◽  
Rawan Dehni ◽  
Nermine Abbas ◽  
...  

The American Heart Association has published a scientific statement on the effect of hookah smoking on health outcomes; nevertheless, hookah smoking continues to be popular worldwide, especially among the young. Recent reports mention a potential link between hookah smoking and obesity; however, uncertainties still surround this issue. The aim of the current study was to conduct a systematic review to clarify whether hookah smoking is associated with a higher risk of obesity among the general population. This study was conducted in compliance with the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, and data were collated by means of a meta-analysis and a narrative synthesis. Of the 818 articles retrieved, five large-population and low-bias studies comprising a total of 16,779 participants met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. All included studies reported that, regardless of gender, hookah smoking increases the risk of obesity among all ages and observed an association between the two after a correction for several confounders or reported a higher prevalence of obesity among hookah smokers. This was confirmed by the meta-analysis. Therefore, hookah smoking seems to be associated with a higher risk of obesity. Public health policymakers should be aware of this for the better management of obesity and weight-related comorbidities.


2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 296-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gideon Koren ◽  
Meital Shlezinger ◽  
Rachel Katz ◽  
Varda Shalev ◽  
Yona Amitai

With increasing shortage of fresh water globally, more countries are consuming desalinated seawater (DSW). In Israel >50% of drinking water is now derived from DSW. Desalination removes magnesium, and hypomagnesaemia has been associated with increased cardiac morbidity and mortality. Presently the impact of consuming DSW on body magnesium status has not been established. We quantified changes in serum magnesium in a large population based study (n = 66,764), before and after desalination in regions consuming DSW and in regions where DSW has not been used. In the communities that switched to DSW in 2013, the mean serum magnesium was 2.065 ± 0.19 mg/dl before desalination and fell to 2.057 ± 0.19 mg/dl thereafter (p < 0.0001). In these communities 1.62% of subjects exhibited serum magnesium concentrations ≤1.6 mg/dl between 2010 and 2013. This proportion increased by 24% between 2010–2013 and 2015–2016 to 2.01% (p = 0.0019). In contrast, no such changes were recorded in the communities that did not consume DSW. Due to the emerging evidence of increased cardiac morbidity and mortality associated with hypomagnesaemia, it is vital to consider re-introduction of magnesium to DSW.


2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 1126-1137 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Ford ◽  
F. Macdiarmid ◽  
A. E. Russell ◽  
D. Racey ◽  
R. Goodman

BackgroundThe identification of the factors that influence the persistence of psychiatric disorder may assist practitioners to focus on young people who are particularly prone to poor outcomes, but population-based samples of sufficient size are rare.MethodThis secondary analysis combined data from two large, population-based cross-sectional surveys in Great Britain (1999 and 2004) and their respective follow-ups (2002 and 2007), to study homotypic persistence among the 998 school-age children with psychiatric disorder at baseline. Psychiatric disorder was measured using the Development and Well-Being Assessment applying DSM-IV criteria. Factors relating to the child, family, and the severity and type of psychopathology at baseline were analysed using logistic regression.ResultsApproximately 50% of children with at least one psychiatric disorder were assigned the same diagnostic grouping at 3-year follow-up. Persistent attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and anxiety were predicted by poor peer relationship scores. Persistent conduct disorder was predicted by intellectual disability, rented housing, large family size, poor family function and by severer baseline psychopathology scores.ConclusionsHomotypic persistence was predicted by different factors for different groups of psychiatric disorders. Experimental research in clinical samples should explore whether these factors also influence response to interventions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyed Mohammad Masoodian ◽  
Abolfazl Omidifar ◽  
Sepideh Moradkhani ◽  
Majid Asiabanha ◽  
Majid Khoshmirsafa

Abstract Aims HOMA-IR considers as the valid index for estimation of insulin sensitivity (IS) and insulin resistance (IR) in different pathological conditions. Few studies have evaluated the relation of IR with a broad group of health related-outcomes in population-based human subjects. In this population-based investigation, we sought to report the mean value of HOMA-IR in different subgroups of a large population-based database in Iranian healthy subjects. Methods This population-based study recruited adult healthy individuals between the ages of 18 to 70 years old who referred to Massoud Medical Laboratory, Tehran, Iran. Fasting insulin was measured by using the Electro chemiluminescence method using Roche Cobas 6000 e601/602 instrument. Results The mean value of HOMA-IR of the entire population was 2.11 ± 0.99. It was observed that the HOMA-IR index tended to be higher in age subgroups of 18–25 (839 individuals), 40–45 (642 individuals) and 35–40 (1179 individuals), HOMA-IR values of 2.17 ± 0.98, 2.19 ± 1.01, and 2.16 ± 1.01 respectively. Conclusion Our findings showed the mean value of 2.11 ± 0.99 HOMA-IR in the Iranian healthy population. Considering the large sample size in our study, more clinical investigations in terms of ethnicity should be done to provide a precise standardized HOMA-IR index in the Iranian population.


2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 1054-1059 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iana H. Haralambieva ◽  
Inna G. Ovsyannikova ◽  
Robert A. Vierkant ◽  
Gregory A. Poland

ABSTRACT The measurement of functional measles virus-specific neutralizing antibodies is of considerable interest for vaccine-related research. In this study, we developed and standardized a simple, rapid, highly sensitive, and reproducible fluorescence-based plaque reduction microneutralization (PRMN) assay with visual and automated readout, using a recombinant measles virus engineered to express enhanced green fluorescent protein. The assay is performed in micro format, requires less time to complete (2 versus 4 to 7 days), and is less labor-intensive and less costly than the classical plaque reduction neutralization (PRN) test, widely accepted as the “gold standard” in measles serology. Two available WHO international anti-measles virus standards and one in-house reference serum were used to develop and standardize the new assay. The mean PRMN values from repeated assays were found to be similar to those reported in the literature or assigned to the WHO standards by the classical PRN assay. For validation, we used three groups of low, moderate, and high measles virus vaccine responders’ sera with moderate values of correlation in antibody levels (mIU/ml) between PRMN and the Dade Behring immunoglobulin G enzyme immunoassay (EIA). The PRMN assay was more sensitive at low antibody levels and more informative in terms of protection than this commercial EIA. In conclusion, we have developed and validated a sensitive and high-throughput measles virus-specific PRMN that can be readily used in large population-based measles studies.


Children ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (7) ◽  
pp. 96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Kessler ◽  
Debanjana Chatterjee ◽  
Rebecca Shlafer ◽  
Andrew Barnes

Youth who experience homelessness have worse health and well-being than housed youth. Internal assets, including social competency and positive self-identity, are factors that promote healthy development. This study compared internal assets between homeless and housed youth, and examined whether connectedness with parents moderates the association between homelessness and internal assets. Using data from a large population-based survey of middle- and high-school aged youth, we found that homelessness was associated with lower levels of internal assets. However, having high connectedness with a parent significantly predicted the strength of these assets, suggesting opportunities to promote health equity among homeless youth.


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Claude Dusingize ◽  
Catherine M Olsen ◽  
Nirmala Pandeya ◽  
Bridie Thompson ◽  
Rachel E Neale ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Mehdi Safarpour ◽  
Akbar Fotouhi ◽  
Seyed Reza Hosseini ◽  
Masume Mohamadzade ◽  
Ali Bijani

Background: Orthostatic hypotension (OH) in the elderly is an important health challenge that poses a significant burden. We sought to determine the prevalence and correlates of OH in an elderly population-based study. Methods: This study was conducted within the framework of the Amirkola Health and Ageing Project (AHAP) on 1,588 elderly individuals aged ≥60 years. The baseline measurement was performed from April 2011 to July 2012. The relationships between OH (dependent variable) and age, sex, diabetes, hypertension, and cognitive status (independent variables) were investigated by logistic regression. Results: The mean age of the participants was 69.37±7.42 years (men: 69.96±7.68 y, women: 68.66±7.02 y). The prevalence of OH was 10.7%: 8.4% in the male and 13.7% in the female patients. In the final model, hypertension (OR=2.4, 95% CI: 1.6–3.7), diabetes (OR=1.3, 95% CI: 1.0–1.9), age (OR=2.9, 95% CI: 1.7–4.8), and female sex (female [OR=1.6, 95% CI: 1.1–2.3]) were significantly correlated with OH. Conclusion: The prevalence of OH in our elderly subjects increased with age. Additionally, the older participants with diabetes and hypertension had a higher likelihood of having this OH.   J Teh Univ Heart Ctr 2019;14(4):165-170   This paper should be cited as: Safarpour M, Fotouhi A, Hosseini SR, Mohamadzade M, Bijani A. Predictors of Orthostatic Hypotension in the Elderly: Results from the Amirkola Health and Ageing Project (AHAP) Study. J Teh Univ Heart Ctr 2019;14(4): 165-170


2009 ◽  
Vol 110 (4) ◽  
pp. 725-729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney S. McGuire ◽  
Kristin L. Sainani ◽  
Paul G. Fisher

Object Previous small studies disagree about which clinical risk factors influence ependymoma incidence. The authors analyzed a large, population-based cancer registry to examine the relationship of incidence to patient age, sex, race, and tumor location, and to determine incidence trends over the past 3 decades. Methods Data were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER-9) study, which was conducted from 1973 to 2003. Histological codes were used to define ependymomas. Age-adjusted incidence rates were compared by confidence intervals in the SEER*Stat 6.2 program. Multiplicative Poisson regression and Joinpoint analysis were used to determine annual percentage change and to look for sharp changes in incidence, respectively. Results From the SEER database, 1402 patients were identified. The incidence rate per 100,000 person-years was significantly higher in male than in female patients (males 0.227 ± 0.029, females 0.166 ± 0.03). For children, the age at diagnosis differed significantly by tumor location, with the mean age for patients with infratentorial tumors calculated as 5 ± 0.4 years; for supratentorial tumors it was 7.77 ± 0.6 years, and for spinal lesions it was 12.16 ± 0.8 years. (Values are expressed as the mean ± standard error [SE].) Adults showed no difference in the mean age of incidence by location, although most tumors in this age group were spinal. Between 1973 and 2003, the incidence increased significantly among adults but not among children, and there were no sharp changes at any single year, both before and after age adjustment. Conclusions Males have a higher incidence of ependymoma than do females. A biological explanation remains elusive. Ependymoma occurs within the CNS at distinct locations at different ages, consistent with hypotheses postulating distinct populations of radial glial stem cells within the CNS. Ependymoma incidence appears to have increased over the past 3 decades, but only in adults.


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