The aim of the study was to estimate the effect of the accumulation of major life events (MLE) in childhood and adulthood, in both the private and working domains, on risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Furthermore, we aimed to test the possible interaction between childhood and adult MLE and to investigate modification of these associations by educational attainment.
The study was based on 4,761 participants from the Copenhagen City Heart Study free of diabetes at baseline and followed for 10 years. MLE were categorized as 0, 1, 2, 3 or more events. Multivariate logistic regression models adjusted for age, sex, education and family history of diabetes were used to estimate the association between MLE and T2DM.
In childhood, experiencing 3 or more MLE was associated with a 69% higher risk of developing T2DM (Odds Ratio (OR) 1.69; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.60, 3.27). The accumulation of MLE in adult private (p-trend = 0.016) and work life (p-trend = 0.049) was associated with risk of T2DM in a dose response manner. There was no evidence that experiencing MLE in both childhood and adult life was more strongly associated with T2DM than experiencing events at only one time point. There was some evidence that being simultaneously exposed to childhood MLE and short education (OR 2.28; 95% C.I. 1.45, 3.59) and work MLE and short education (OR 2.86; 95% C.I. 1.62, 5.03) was associated with higher risk of T2DM, as the joint effects were greater than the sum of their individual effects.
Findings from this study suggest that the accumulation of MLE in childhood, private adult life and work life, respectively, are risk factors for developing T2DM.
Pancreatitis is a major public health problem with high associated economic costs. The incidence of pancreatitis has increased in many European countries in recent decade. Accumulated research and empirical evidence suggests that excessive alcohol consumption is a major risk factor for both acute and chronic pancreatitis.
The aim of this study was to examine the aggregate-level relation between the alcohol consumption and pancreatitis mortality rates in Russia.
Age-standardized sex-specific male and female pancreatitis mortality data for the period 1970-2005 and data on overall alcohol consumption were analyzed by means ARIMA (autoregressive integrated moving average) time series analysis.
Alcohol consumption was significantly associated with both male and female pancreatitis mortality rates: a 1 liter increase in overall alcohol consumption would result in a 7.0% increase in the male pancreatitis mortality rate and in 2.3% increase in the female mortality rate. The results of the analysis suggest that 63.1% of all male pancreatitis deaths and 26.8% female deaths in Russia could be attributed to alcohol. Conclusions The outcomes of this study provide indirect support for the hypothesis that unfavorable mixture of higher overall level of alcohol consumption and binge drinking pattern is an important contributor to the pancreatitis mortality rate in Russian Federation.
Most studies that have evaluated the association between anti-diabetic medication and cancer risk have suffered from methodological drawbacks. To avoid time-related biases, we evaluated the effect of treatment duration on the cancer risk among naive users of anti-diabetic medication as compared to non-users. In addition, we addressed the influence of common risk factors such as smoking and BMI. The study population comprised 23,394 participants of FINRISK surveys. Data on cancer and anti-diabetic medication were linked with the study cohorts. We applied Lexis tabulation to the data and analyzed split records by using Poisson regression. Changes in cancer incidence in relation to treatment duration were examined by modeling the rate ratio (RR). After a median follow-up of 9 years, 53 cancer cases among users of anti-diabetic medication and 1,028 among non-users were diagnosed. No significant difference in cancer risk between users and non-users was observed after adjustment. The RR for all medication regardless of its duration was 1.01 [95% CI 0.75-1.33], and 1.37 [0.94-1.94] for period of 1-4 years. The results were similar for metformin, sulfonylurea, and insulin. This study demonstrates that evaluation of the variation in cancer risk in relation to treatment duration is of particular importance for enhancing the accuracy of conclusions on the link between exposure to anti-diabetic medication and cancer risk.
Notes
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Cites: Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2014 Sep;7(9):867-8524985407
Cites: Am J Med. 2013 Sep;126(9 Suppl 1):S10-2023953074
The purpose of research is the assessment of the individual cancer risk (ICR) for workers of the basic occupations in key branches of industry of the Irkutsk region. There was executed the calculation of ICR levels for workers of the basic occupations of the aircraft industry, aluminum smelters and vinyl chloride production plants. The estimation of the exposure for workers was carried out according to long-term time-weighted average concentrations in the air of the working area, for the population - on annual average concentrations in the ambient air. To assess the risk that is not associated with the profession, the dose was calculated for the period of life (70 years). When calculating the toxicant doses in the working area there were used the “standard” indices ofpulmonary ventilation for adults, body weight, the work experience in the contact with carcinogens of 30 years, the number of days in the contact of 240, the duration of the working time 8 or 12 hours (in accordance with the working hours) duration. ICR for the Irkutsk population amounted of 3.08E-04, in Shelekhov - 4.8E-05, Sayansk - 1.1E-05. The amount of risk depends on the content offormaldehyde in all territories and chromium VI in cities of Irkutsk and Shelekhov. ICR for workers of basic occupations of studied plants in dozens of times are higher than for the urban population. Priority carcinogens are: chromium VI, nickel, formaldehyde, silicon dioxide -for the aircraft plant employees; 1,2-dichloretan, vinyl chloride - for the workers of vinyl chloride production plant; benzopyrene - for the aluminum smelter workers.
Cardiovascular risk factors, such as diabetes mellitus and central obesity, have been associated with Parkinson disease (PD), but data on blood pressure and PD are lacking. We sought to examine the association of blood pressure and hypertension with the risk of PD among men and women. This study consisted of 7 surveys (1972-2002) on representative samples of the general population in Finland (National FINRISK Study). A total number of 59 540 participants (age 25 to 74 years; 51.8% women) who were free of PD and stroke at baseline were prospectively followed until December 31, 2006, to identify incident PD cases using the National Social Insurance Register database. Cox proportional hazards models were constructed to estimate the hazard ratio of PD associated with blood pressure. During a mean follow-up period of 18.8 years (SD: 10.2 years), 423 men and 371 women were ascertained to have developed PD. In women, compared with normotensive subjects (
During pregnancy, many women experience sleep problems and anxiety that require treatment. The long-term safety for the child of maternal benzodiazepine (BZD) and z-hypnotic use during pregnancy remains controversial.
We conducted a cohort and a sibling control study using data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study. Data on use of BZD and z-hypnotics, internalizing and externalizing outcomes, and covariates were collected from mothers at gestational weeks 17 and 30 and when children were 0.5, 1.5, and 3 years of age. The total sample consisted of 71,996 children (19,297 siblings) at 1.5 years and 55,081 children (13,779 siblings) at 3 years. Short-term use was defined as use in one pregnancy period only. Long-term use was defined as use in two or more pregnancy periods. Linear full cohort random-effect and sibling-matched fixed-effect regression models were used to compare internalizing and externalizing behavior in children prenatally exposed compared to those unexposed in the full cohort of pregnancies accounting for family clusters, as well as within sibling clusters comparing pregnancies with discordant exposures. Propensity score (PS) adjustment included variables on indication for use (sleep problems, symptoms of anxiety and depression) and other potential confounding factors.
Long-term prenatal exposure to BZD or z-hypnotics was associated with increased internalizing behavior in crude cohort analyses and at age 1.5 years after PS adjustment in sibling-matched fixed-effect models [ß 0.60, 95% confidence interval 0.17-0.95]. Analyses on specific drug groups showed that prenatal exposure to BZD-anxiolytics was associated with increased internalizing problems at both 1.5 years [ß 0.25, 0.01-0.49] and 3 years [ß 0.26, 0.002-0.52] while exposure to z-hypnotics was not associated with any adverse outcomes after adjustment.
The findings suggest a moderate association between BZD-anxiolytic exposure and child internalizing problems that is not likely due to stable familial confounding factors.
We conducted a multicenter prospective study to assess the effects of occupational exposure to ethylenebisdithiocarbamate fungicides and/or other pesticides on self-reported asthma and asthmatic symptoms. This multicenter study was conducted among 248 workers exposed to pesticides and 231 non-exposed workers from five field studies. The five field studies were carried out in The Netherlands, Italy, Finland, and two studies in Bulgaria. Subjects constituting this cohort completed a self-administered questionnaire at baseline (before the start of exposure). Ethylenethiourea in urine was determined to assess exposure to ethylenebisdithiocarbamates. In multivariate analyses adjusted for all potential confounders (age, education, residence, smoking, gender, and field study), we found inverse associations, all not statistically significant, between occupational exposure to pesticides and asthma diagnosis (OR 0.41; 95% CI 0.15-1.11), complains of chest tightness (OR 0.60; 95% CI 0.36-1.02), wheeze (OR 0.56; 95% CI 0.32-0.98), asthma attack (OR 0.52; 95% CI 0.12-2.25), and asthma medication (OR 0.79; 95% CI 0.25-2.53). Furthermore, we reported null associations for multivariate analysis using ethylenethiourea as determinant for exposure. Although exposure to pesticides remains a potential health risk, our results do not suggest an association between exposure to ethylenebisdithiocarbamates and/or other pesticides used in our study on asthma and asthmatic symptoms.
Data from transportation and healthcare databases for adults age 65 and older in Ontario, Canada, between January 1, 2000, and October 31, 2007. Consecutive adults who had a motor vehicle crash anytime following their 66th birthday.
The primary exposure variable was treatment with antidepressant medication, and the primary outcome measure was a motor vehicle crash.
A total of 159,678 individuals had a crash during the study, of whom 7,393 (5%) received an antidepressant in the month prior to the crash. The hazard ratio (HR) of crash associated with second-generation antidepressants was 1.10 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.07-1.13, ?? = 41.77, df = 1, p
Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Milan and Fondazione IRCCS Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Mangiagalli e Regina Elena, Milan, Italy. silvia.fustinoni@unimi.it
This study deals with pesticide exposure profile in some European countries with a specific focus on ethylenebisdithiocarbamates (EBDC). In all, 55 Bulgarian greenhouse workers, 51 Finnish potato farmers, 48 Italian vineyard workers, 42 Dutch floriculture farmers, and 52 Bulgarian zineb producers entered the study. Each group was matched with a group of not occupationally exposed subjects. Exposure data were gained through self-administered questionnaires and measuring ethylenethiourea (ETU) in two spot urine samples collected, respectively, before the beginning of seasonal exposure (T0), and after 30 days, at the end of the exposure period (T30). Controls underwent a similar protocol. Study agriculture workers were involved in mixing and loading pesticides, application of pesticide mixture with mechanical or manual equipments, re-entry activities, and cleaning equipments. Chemical workers were involved in synthesis, quality controls, and packing activities. The number of pesticides to whom these subjects were exposed varied from one (zineb production) to eight (potato farmers). The use of personal protective devices was variegate and regarded both aerial and dermal penetration routes. EBDC exposure, assessed by T30 urinary ETU, was found to follow the order: greenhouse workers, zineb producers, vineyard workers, potato farmers, floriculture farmers with median levels of 49.6, 23.0, 11.8, 7.5, and 0.9 microg/g creatinine; the last group having ETU at the same level of controls (approximately 0.5 microg/g creatinine). Among agriculture workers, pesticide application, especially using manual equipment, seems to be the major determinant in explaining internal dose. Although the analysis of self-administered questionnaires evidenced difficulties especially related to lack and/or poor quality of reported data, biological monitoring confirms to be a powerful tool in assessing pesticide exposure.
Low birth weight and high childhood body mass index (BMI) is each associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in adult life. We studied individual and combined associations of birth weight and childhood BMI with the risk of CHD in adulthood.
Birth weight and BMI at age seven years were available in 216,771 Danish and Finnish individuals born 1924-1976. Linkage to national registers for hospitalization and causes of death identified 8,805 CHD events during up to 33 years of follow-up (median?=?24 years) after age 25 years. Analyses were conducted with Cox regression based on restricted cubic splines. Using median birth weight of 3.4 kg as reference, a non-linear relation between birth weight and CHD was found. It was not significantly different between cohorts, or between men and women, nor was the association altered by childhood BMI. For birth weights below 3.4 kg, the risk of CHD increased linearly and reached 1.28 (95% confidence limits: 1.13 to 1.44) at 2 kg. Above 3.4 kg the association weakened, and from about 4 kg there was virtually no association. BMI at age seven years was strongly positively associated with the risk of CHD and the relation was not altered by birth weight. The excess risk in individuals with a birth weight of 2.5 kg and a BMI of 17.7 kg/m(2) at age seven years was 44% (95% CI: 30% to 59%) compared with individuals with median values of birth weight (3.4 kg) and BMI (15.3 kg/m(2)).
Birth weight and BMI at age seven years appeared independently associated with the risk of CHD in adulthood. From a public health perspective we suggest that particular attention should be paid to children with a birth weight below the average in combination with excess relative weight in childhood.
