Changes In Several Risk Factors Research Articles

Analysis of the Spanish IBEX-35 Companies’ Returns Using Extensions of the Fama and French Factor Models

This paper studies in depth the sensitivity of Spanish companies’ returns to changes in several risk factors between January 2000 and December 2018 using the quantile regression approach. Concretely, this research applies extensions of the Fama and French three- and five-factor models (1993 and 2015), according to González and Jareño (2019), adding relevant explanatory factors, such as nominal interest rates, the Carhart (1997) risk factor for momentum and for momentum reversal and the Pastor and Stambaugh (2003) traded liquidity factor. Additionally, for robustness, this paper splits the entire sample period into three sub-sample periods (pre-crisis, crisis and post-crisis) to analyse the results according to the economic cycle. The main conclusions of this paper are fourfold: First, these two models have the greatest explanatory power in the extreme quantiles of the return distribution (0.1 and 0.9) and more specifically in the lowest quantile 0.1. Second, the second model, based on the Fama and French five-factor model, shows the highest explanatory power not only in the full period but also in the three sub-periods. Third, the bank BBVA is the company that shows the highest sensitivity to changes in the explanatory factors in most periods because its adjusted R2 is the highest. Fourth, the stage of the economy with the highest explanatory power is the crisis subperiod. Thus, the final conclusion of this paper is that the second model explains best variations in Spanish companies’ returns in crisis stages and low quantiles.

Cross-sectional associations between physical activity and selected coronary heart disease risk factors in young adults. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study

Objective. Physical activity (PA) may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) by inducing beneficial changes in several risk factors. We studied the associations between PA and a range of risk markers of CHD in young adults.Methods and results. We measured serum lipoproteins, oxidized LDL, adipokines, inflammatory markers, metabolic markers, and arginine metabolites in 2,268 individuals (age 24–39 y). Participants were asked frequency, duration, and intensity of PA in leisure time. In addition, commuting to work was assessed. In both sexes, PA was inversely associated with waist circumference (all P < 0.0001). After controlling for sex, age, and waist circumference, PA was directly associated with HDL-cholesterol and apolipoprotein A1, and inversely with heart rate, smoking, oxidized LDL, apolipoprotein B, insulin, glucose, C-reactive protein, leptin, L-arginine, and phospholipase A2 activity (all P < 0.05).Conclusion. These population-based data are consistent with the idea that the beneficial effects of PA on CHD risk are mediated by favorable influences on several risk factors, as judged by independent relations to markers of lipoprotein metabolism, glucose metabolism, and inflammation. These associations reflect beneficial effects on cardiovascular health in both sexes and may offer mechanistic insights for the inverse association between PA and CHD.