International journal of epidemiology
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Exhaled carbon monoxide (COex) level is positively associated with tobacco smoking and exposure to smoke from biomass/coal burning. Relatively little is known about its determinants in China despite the population having a high prevalence of smoking and use of biomass/coal. ⋯ In adult Chinese, COex can be used as a biomarker for assessing current smoking and overall exposure to indoor household air pollution in combination with questionnaires.
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Power and sample size calculations for Mendelian randomization studies using one genetic instrument.
Mendelian randomization, which is instrumental variable analysis using genetic variants as instruments, is an increasingly popular method of making causal inferences from observational studies. In order to design efficient Mendelian randomization studies, it is essential to calculate the sample sizes required. ⋯ Power and sample size calculations using these formulas should be more straightforward to carry out than simulation approaches. These formulas make explicit that the sample size needed for Mendelian randomization study is inversely proportional to the square of the correlation between the genetic instrument and the exposure and proportional to the residual variance of the outcome after removing the effect of the exposure, as well as inversely proportional to the square of the effect size.
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Multicenter Study
Association between various sedentary behaviours and all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality: the Multiethnic Cohort Study.
It has been proposed that time spent sitting increases all-cause mortality, but evidence to support this hypothesis, especially the relative effects of various sitting activities alone or in combination, is very limited. ⋯ Leisure time spent sitting, particularly watching television, may increase overall and cardiovascular mortality. Sitting at work or during transportation was not related to mortality.
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This article of the International Epidemiological Association commissioned paper series stocktakes the population health and status of epidemiology in 21 of the 53 countries of the WHO European Region. By United Nations geographical classification, these countries belong to Eastern Europe, Western Asia and South-Central Asia. ⋯ Epidemiological capacity will continue to be heterogeneous across the region and depend more on countries' individual historical, social, political and economic conditions and contexts than their epidemiologists' successive efforts. National and international research funding, and within- and between-country collaborations should be enhanced, especially for South-Central Asian countries.