Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Mar 1990
Comparative StudyPatterns of cigarette and smokeless tobacco use among children and adolescents.
Although cigarette and smokeless tobacco use are recognized as major problems among school-age youth, few nationwide or statewide data exist on the prevalence and patterns of use. To determine the patterns of tobacco use among children and adolescents in Missouri, self-report information was obtained from a representative sample of 5,431 students in grades 5, 8, and 12. Both cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco use were more common among males than females for each grade level except the 12th, where 30% of females and 28% of males had smoked during the previous week. ⋯ Male smokeless tobacco users appeared to be more addicted than male cigarette smokers. Smokeless tobacco brand preference indicated that users may switch to progressively stronger types of smokeless tobacco as they get older and a nicotine tolerance is developed. The current study emphasizes the urgent need for carefully targeted tobacco prevention and cessation efforts among school-age youth.
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Preventive medicine · Mar 1990
ReviewA review of the use of saliva cotinine as a marker of tobacco smoke exposure.
Cotinine, the major metabolite of nicotine, is a useful marker of exposure to tobacco smoke. It can be measured in plasma, urine, or saliva. However, distinguishing between active and passive smoking on the basis of a cotinine measurement may be difficult. ⋯ Levels between 10 and 100 ng/ml may result from infrequent active smoking or regular active smoking with low nicotine intake. Levels greater than 100 ng/ml are probably the result of regular active smoking. Four categorizations of tobacco smoke exposure are suggested on the basis of saliva cotinine concentrations.
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The progress to the current era of preventive cardiology covers a period of more than 40 years, beginning with epidemiological studies on coronary heart disease and other forms of atherosclerotic disease and related factors and progressing through prevention trials and community demonstration projects to the actual implementation of preventive measures by combined population and high-risk strategies. The scientists of the United States have played a leading role in the data collection which forms the scientific basis for preventive cardiology and the fruitful collaboration in the United States between the scientists and governmental, as well as nongovernmental, organizations in the implementation of preventive cardiology has served as a good example for other countries. ⋯ The rapid progress in preventive cardiology during the past 4 years, since the 1st International Conference of Preventive Cardiology, has been dominated by a "snowballing" movement toward more intensive application of cholesterol-lowering measures at both the population and the individual level. Promising progress has also been made in the field of nonpharmacological control of elevated blood pressure.
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Preventive medicine · Jan 1990
Social class disparities in risk factors for disease: eight-year prevalence patterns by level of education.
This article examines the associations between education, a primary indicator of social class, and six risk factors for disease. Data are presented on a sample of 3,349 individuals ages 25-74 years who participated in one of four cross-sectional surveys conducted by the Stanford Five-City Project between 1979 and 1986. The six risk factors examined are knowledge about health, cigarette smoking, hypertension, serum cholesterol, body mass index, and height. ⋯ Furthermore, all associations remained highly significant after controlling for income and occupation, two other indicators of social class. When a summary-adjusted risk score was plotted against year of survey for the five education levels, a gradient of effect was observed where each progressive education level showed a decrease in total risk score. This gradient was replicated in all four cross-sectional surveys, providing evidence for the consistency of the findings over time.
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Preventive medicine · Jan 1990
Primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases in childhood: changes in serum total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein, and body mass index after 2 years of intervention in Jerusalem schoolchildren age 7-9 years.
A school health education and promotion program, the Israeli version of the American Health Foundation's "Know Your Body" program, was developed by the Department of Public Health of the Municipality of Jerusalem in 1983. Eight experimental and eight control schools participated in this cohort study of Arab and Jewish first-grade children. After the first 2 years of intervention, comparison of experimental and control groups showed a significant increase in serum high density lipoproteins among Jewish children and a decrease in serum total cholesterol and body mass index among both Jewish and Arab children. These results indicate that changes in cardiovascular disease risk factors such as blood total cholesterol, high density lipoproteins, and body mass index are possible after a health education program is introduced to first-grade students for a relatively short period of time.