The prevalence of chronic diseases and major disease risk factors at different ages among 150 000 men and women living in Mexico City: cross-sectional analyses of a prospective study

Background  

While most of the global burden from chronic diseases, and especially vascular diseases, is now borne by low and middle-income countries, few large-scale epidemiological studies of chronic diseases in such countries have been performed.     

青岛市城区居民高血压患病危险因素及其定量评价研究

目的 探讨青岛市城区居民高血压患病的危险因素,并对各因素进行定量评价分析.方法 利用中国慢性病前瞻性研究项目(China Kadoorie Biobank,CKB)青岛项目点基线调查数据,采用多因素Logistic回归分析模型,分析青岛市城区30～79岁居民高血压患病的危险因素,计算各因素危险分数和个体发病风险.结果 ...     

Establishing research in a palliative care clinical setting: Perceived barriers and implemented strategies

There are many challenges in developing research projects in research-naïve clinical settings, especially palliative care where resistance to participate in research has been identified. These challenges to the implementation of research are common in nursing practice and are associated with attitudes towards research participation, and some lack of understanding of research as a process to improve clinical practice. This is despite the professional nursing requirement to conduct research into issues that influence palliative care practice. The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of implementing a clinical research project in collaboration with the clinicians of a palliative care community team and to reflect on the strategies implemented to overcome the challenges involved. The challenges presented here demonstrate the importance of proactively implementing engagement strategies from the inception of a research project in a clinical setting.     

Applying Mendelian randomization to appraise causality in relationships between nutrition and cancer

Cancer Causes & Control - Dietary factors are assumed to play an important role in cancer risk, apparent in consensus recommendations for cancer prevention that promote nutritional changes....     

Lipids,Lipoproteins, and Metabolites and Risk of Myocardial Infarction and Stroke

Background

Blood lipids are established risk factors for myocardial infarction (MI), but uncertainty persists about the relevance of lipids, lipoprotein particles, and circulating metabolites for MI and stroke subtypes.

Complications of radiographer performed double contrast barium enema examinations

Aim: To determine the complication rate from radiographer performed double contrast barium enema examinations.Method: Questionnaires were sent to radiographers who had attended a barium enema training course to determine the complications encountered during a 3-year period.Results: A total of 444 questionnaires were posted and 250 (56.3%) were returned completed. These radiographers had performed approximately 134 700 examinations. Fifty-four complications were reported including 20 cardiac events, 10 intraperitoneal and six extraperitoneal perforations. There were three deaths resulting in an overall mortality rate of one in 44 900; two deaths were from cardiac complications and one was from bowel perforation.Conclusions: The mortality rate for radiographer performed examinations is similar to that previously reported for examinations performed by radiologists. The rate of cardiac deaths is similar but the bowel perforation rate may be higher. Training should concentrate on minimizing the risk of perforation, which can result from the generation of excessive intracolonic pressures, excessive colonic distension and the use of rectal balloon catheters.     

Self-Reported and Serum Cotinine-Validated Smoking in Pregnant Women in Estonia

Objectives: Although widely used in epidemiological studies, self-report has been shown to underestimate the prevalence of smoking among pregnant women. Objectives of this study were to examine the discrepancy between self-reported and cotinine-validated smoking status, and the sociodemographic characteristics associated with the misclassification of real smoking status among pregnant women in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Methods: Serum cotinine assays were performed on a subsample (n= 1360) of the pregnant women, who had participated in a recent study of human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) seroprevalence in Estonia. In the present study, serum concentrations ≥15 ng/ml were used to distinguish current smokers from nonsmokers. The serum-validated smoking level was compared with the self-reported level in the records of the Estonian Medical Birth Registry. For the group of self-reported non-smokers, the differences between the cotinine-validated smokers and the cotinine-validated nonsmokers, with respect to their sociodemographic characteristics (age, ethnicity, educational level, employment status, marital status, parity), were estimated by logistic regression. Results: Of 1239 women who reported being nonsmokers, 259 (20.9%) had serum cotinine levels ≥15 ng/ml, and can be regarded as current smokers. Among self-reported nonsmokers, nondisclosure of current smoking was significantly more frequent in non-Estonian, less educated, socially inactive, cohabiting and multiparous women. Conclusions: Self-reported data on smoking in pregnant women underestimates the real smoking prevalence in Estonia. Maternal unwillingness to declare smoking during pregnancy needs to be taken into account in the practice of maternal and child health to better target prenatal smoking cessation interventions.