Result Of Lifestyle Changes Research Articles

Alcohol and Cardiovascular Diseases-Do the Consumption Pattern and Dose Make the Difference?

Excessive consumption of alcohol is not only a social problem, but it also significantly increases the morbidity and mortality rates of many societies. A correlation has been demonstrated between alcohol consumption and increased mortality from cancer, accidents and injuries, liver cirrhosis and other causes. Alcohol abuse increases the incidence of hemorrhagic stroke and the risk of ischemic stroke, induces serious arrhythmias, adversely affects blood pressure and damages the heart muscle. The dose and way of drinking alcohol play a crucial role in assessing whether this drink allows people to maintain health or whether it is a great health and social threat. The beneficial effects of low and moderate doses of alcohol on the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases have been shown in many population studies and meta-analyses in which the effect of U-shaped or J-shaped curves relating alcohol intake to cardiovascular mortality was observed, especially in ischemic heart disease. However, due to the fact that alcohol consumption is associated with many health hazards, it is not recommended to consume it as a preventive action of cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, recent studies suggest that association of low-to-moderate alcohol consumption with the reduction in cardiovascular risk is a result of lifestyle changes and that any reduction in alcohol consumption is in fact beneficial in terms of general health.

Une approche anthropologique de la beauté en Chine : La Dynamique de la beauté du corps en Chine à travers l’étude des soins du corps et du maquillage entre 1997 et 2014

France has long been the standard source of inspiration for traditional criteria of elegance and beauty for the whole world. In this article, a French anthropologist looks at China’s recent emergence in this field. In 1980, the cosmetics market was non-existent in China; in 2019, it became the world’s largest market. Beauty (care of the body, skin, face, hair, neck, hands, and nails) has been used as a marker for changes in that society for fifty years. Conceptions of beauty are used to analyze the variation of aesthetic standards, the place of the collective in relation to the individual, the position of women in Chinese society, the importance of practices marking social class distinction or evolving tensions between generations. The beauty market is both the result of lifestyle changes (especially the rise of divorce, new social stratification, intercultural mixing, life transformations cycle stages) and the establishment of a double logistics system. Public logistics allow the supply and marketing of cosmetics in shopping centers. Private logistics, those of bathrooms and the arrival of running water and electricity in urban housing, make it possible for Chinese women to use makeup and body products. This analysis shows that although beauty has an individual and intimate dimension, it also has a strong political and collective dimension. Beauty combines conformity with transgression.

Serum vitamin D status does not correlate with the severity of obstructive sleep apnea in male adults: A controlled study design with minimized factors influencing serum vitamin D levels.

Observational studies performed in homogeneous groups to objectively investigate the cause and effect relationship between vitamin D deficiency and sleep disorders are scarce. In this study, it was aimed to analyze the relationship between the severity of OSAS and vitamin-D levels among the participants whose features affecting serum vit-D levels were minimised. Serum 25-OH vitamin-D levels in 121 OSAS Male patients diagnosed by polysomnography without any systemic disease or vitamin-D supplement that may effect the vitamin-D metabolism were measured. The study was conducted in winter (latitude:41°). Anthropometric measures and biochemical tests were also performed. The distribution of vitamin-D levels was determined as severe deficiency, deficiency, insufficiency and sufficiency. Apnea-hypopne index (AHI)<5 was considered as a control group. Patients were categorized into four groups according to AHI as control, mild, moderate and severe. The groups were similar in terms of age, BMI, lipid profile, serum calcium, anthropometric measures and smoking. There was no significant difference in the distribution of vitamin-D levels between the patient and control groups and also within OSAS subgroups (p=0.57, p=0.86, respectively). Odds ratio to have OSAS in patients with vitamin-D deficiency was found as 0.745 (95%CI: 0.33-1.7). Multinominal regression analysis showed no significant relationship between the OSAS severity and the extent of vitamin-D status. Correlation analysis showed no significant relationship between vitamin-D and AHI (r=0.017, p=0.877). Vitamin-D status does not alter the severity of OSAS. Vitamin-D deficiency might be the result of lifestyle changes due to OSAS rather than a cause.

Prevalence and control of cardiovascular risk factors in Poland. Assumptions and objectives of the NATPOL 2011 Survey

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) have been the main cause of death in Poland for the last five decades. In 2010, CVD caused 46.0% of all deaths in Poland. An analysis performed using the IMPACT model, have shown that the reduction in mortality due to ischaemic heart disease, which took place in Poland, was primarily a result of lifestyle changes and of changes affecting risk factors in the population of adults. From the perspective of health policy planning it is very important to know the prevalence of CVD risk factors and to be aware of trends in the population. The NATPOL 2011 Survey was a cross-sectional observational study aimed to assess the prevalence and control of CVD risk factors in Poland. The aim of this paper is to describe the objectives and methodology of the NATPOL 2011 project. The survey was designed as a representative observational study and was carried out on a representative sample of Polish residents aged 18-79 years. The planned size of the research sample was 2,400 subjects. Participants were randomly selected in bundles, in a stratified, proportional draw performed in three stages. The study was composed of a questionnaire interview, blood pressure and anthropometric measurements as well as a blood and urine sample collection. The examination consisted of two visits at subjects' homes and was performed by well-trained nurses. Letters of invitation were sent to 4,420 potential participants. Of those, 786 persons could not be contacted because the addresses were wrong, the respondents resided at an address other than their registered place of residence or, in some cases, the respondents died prior to the survey. Among 3,634 addresses of the persons sampled for the study there were 661 (M: 328, F: 333) "closed doors" (the nurse was unable to contact the respondent during three consecutive attempts) and 560 (M: 295, F: 265) direct refusals. Finally, 2,413 subjects participated in the study and 2,401 of them completed all the procedures in the survey. The data mentioned above give the response rate of 66.4%.The structure of the study sample, including age groups and gender is almost identical to the structure of the adult population of Poland in 2010, according to the Central Statistical Office data. The sample reflected the structure of the adult population quite well, therefore the weights' adjustments calculated for epidemiological analyses were in range from 0.36 to 4.11.

Bedeutung von ultravioletter Strahlung beim malignen Melanom

The incidence of melanoma has been rising during the past 40 years and may be the result of lifestyle changes that have led to an increased sun exposure in fair-skinned people. Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is believed to be the main causative factor in melanoma development with an acute intermittent exposure being more relevant than a chronic cumulative one. While UVB (280-320 nm) can directly cause DNA damage (UVB fingerprint mutations) in the cells of the epidermis, UVA (320-400 nm) induces damage indirectly by the formation of reactive oxygen species. Since UV-associated mutations are rare in melanoma, it is speculated that UVR supports melanoma development by indirect effects, e.g. immunosuppression or stimulation of growth factors in the skin. Taken together, animal models and epidemiological data suggest a UVA-associated pathogenesis of melanoma that puts into question the effectiveness of sunscreens in melanoma prevention.

Insulin resistance is independently related to age in Mexican women.

Whether the decrease of insulin action is a biological consequence of age or a result of lifestyle changes in elderly people is uncertain. Therefore, we rigorously controlled potential confounders to evaluate the relationship between age and insulin resistance in Mexican women. A total of 100 glucose-tolerant, non-hypertensive women, 30-65 yr of age, inhabitants of the same neighborhood of Durango, a city in the North of Mexico, were randomly enrolled to participate in a case-control study. The study was designed to include 50 cases and 50 controls. Insulin-resistant women were considered as cases and compared vs a control group of non-insulin resistant women, matched by BMI and Waist-to-Hip ratio (WHR). HOMA-IR index equal or greater than 3.0 defined the presence of insulin resistance. Endocrine diseases, pregnancy, smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity were exclusion criteria. The results showed insulin resistant women were significantly older than control women (53.7 +/- 12.2 vs 46.3 +/- 10.4, p = 0.0004). Women in the case group showed a direct correlation between age and HOMA-IR index (0.427, p = 0.02), whereas control women did not (0.09, p = 0.626). Step-wise forward selection logistic regression analysis showed an independent relationship between HOMA-IR index and age (OR 1.5, CI95% 1.4-1.8, p = 0.002). The results of this study show an independent relationship between age and high HOMA-IR index in Mexican women, supporting the hypothesis that age per se could be associated with the impairment of insulin action.

Fighting fat. New drugs against obesity in the pipeline.

A growing epidemic is sweeping through the developed world, threatening millions with disability and death: obesity. ‘Epidemic’ may sound exaggerated, but the facts speak for themselves: 154 million people worldwide are obese—or more than 20% are over their ideal body weight—including more than 50% of all Americans. More disturbing is the prevalence of childhood obesity, which has jumped dramatically over the past 20 years and now accounts for a doubling in the incidence of diabetes, a 5‐fold increase in sleep apnoea and a 3‐fold increase in gall bladder disease. The World Health Organization and the US Surgeon General have already warned that obesity is a serious, life‐threatening disease. Indeed, as a major risk factor for hypertension, stroke, heart disease, diabetes and possibly certain forms of cancer, obesity exacts a greater toll on health and healthcare costs than either smoking or drinking. In the USA alone, the direct medical costs of obesity‐related diseases account for 6% of the nation's entire healthcare budget. Obesity is, in short, a great deal more than a ‘lifestyle’ or cosmetic problem. This has not been lost on the pharmaceutical industry. Companies know that the worldwide market for an effective treatment for obesity is gargantuan: analysts estimate that an effective and safe drug could generate as much as US$26 billion per year in the USA alone. ‘It is probably the largest pharmaceutical market ever, and carries with it 27–30 dangerous co‐morbidities,’ said Louis Tartaglia, Vice President of metabolic diseases at Millennium Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA), who estimates the current annual worldwide market conservatively at US$10–15 billion. If one adds the patients who are obese and diabetic, the number soars even higher, as obesity and diabetes are linked diseases. The sudden rise in obesity is mainly a result of lifestyle changes, particularly the ready availability of calorie‐laden, refined food …

Cost-effectiveness perspectives in coronary heart disease

In the United States there has been a dramatic decrease in age-adjusted coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality during the last 20 years. This article investigates the reasons for this decline and concludes that most of the decline in CHD has been the result of life-style changes, particularly reduction in serum cholesterol and cigarette smoking. The CHD Policy Model is used to compare the effect of a targeted versus a population-wide program of cholesterol reduction. On the basis of these projections, population-wide interventions are considered an important part of cholesterol reduction programs. The article also assesses the cost-effectiveness of selected cardiac interventions, for example, screening exercise tolerance tests, coronary care units, thrombolysis in acute myocardial infarction, and beta-blockers in patients after myocardial infarction. Cost-effectiveness analysis is seen to be crucial as medical costs escalate and the population at risk from CHD increases.