Biomedical subjects

A Aromaa

Publications and source records attributed to A Aromaa.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

PubMed1993

Effect of heliotherapy on skin and joint symptoms in psoriasis: a 6-month follow-up study.

The effect of heliotherapy on psoriasis skin lesions and arthritis was studied in a trial comprising 4 weeks of therapy in the Canary Islands and a 6-month follow-up period. A total of 373 patients participated in the heliotherapy and 361 patients completed the follow-up period. The severity of skin lesions was evaluated using a psoriasis severity index (PSI), and that of the arthropathy by using an arthritis index (AI). During heliotherapy, the PSI decreased significantly from the initial median value of 4.5 to the final value of 0.2. A reduction in the PSI of at least 75% was achieved in 84% of the patients. Guttate psoriasis improved significantly better than plaque-type or erythrodermic psoriasis. There was no correlation between skin type and improvement. Initially, 129 patients had symptoms of arthritis. During heliotherapy, the AI decreased significantly from the initial median value of 6 to the final value of 2. The median time until starting another treatment after heliotherapy was 80 days, and the PSI had returned to its original value in 49% of the patients in 6 months. In patients with joint symptoms the AI returned to the pretreatment level within 6 months. A 4-week heliotherapy period effectively cleared psoriasis, alleviated joint symptoms, and reduced both morbidity and treatment requirement to a considerable extent in the ensuing 6-month period.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Supervised four-week heliotherapy alleviates the long-term course of psoriasis.

The long-term effects of psoriasis heliotherapy were studied in a randomized cross-over trial with a 2-year follow-up. We allocated 95 patients randomly to receive a 4-week heliotherapy course, either at the onset or in the middle of the follow-up period. After a highly significant immediate alleviation of psoriasis about 50% of the patients still had a reduction of psoriasis 6 months later and about 25% one year later. A favourable carry-over treatment effect was still observed during the second follow-up year. Taking advantage of the cross-over design, the effect of heliotherapy was calculated to be statistically significant during the first follow-up year, and the apparent long-term alleviation of psoriasis after the heliotherapy was reflected in a significant period effect. The alleviation of psoriasis was accompanied by a significant decrease in the use of antipsoriatic treatments.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Association of overweight, trauma and workload with coxarthrosis. A health survey of 7,217 persons.

In a population sample health survey, body mass, previous trauma and physical stress were studied for associations with coxarthrosis. A sample of 8,000 persons representative of the Finnish population aged 30 or over was invited for examination, and 90 percent participated. On the basis of a standardized clinical examination, a physician diagnosed coxarthrosis in 6 percent of the women and 4 percent of the men. The prevalence rose with age. In persons with a past traumatic lower-limb injury, the odds ratio of unilateral coxarthrosis was 2.1 and of bilateral coxarthrosis 1.5, as adjusted for sex, age and other determinants using logistic regression. The sum index reflecting self-reported features of physical stress in present or previous occupations was directly proportional to the prevalence of coxarthrosis. Body mass index (kg/m2) was closely associated with bilateral coxarthrosis; the adjusted odds ratio (95 percent confidence intervals) for indices > 35, compared to those < 25, was 2.8 (1.4-5.7). In terms of the population attributable fraction, prior trauma, physical stress and body mass were estimated to explain 59 percent of the prevalence of coxarthrosis. The potential for primary prevention may be great, but longitudinal population studies are necessary to elucidate causal significance of the risk factors.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Smoking and risk of rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate smoking for its association with the incidence of seropositive and seronegative rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: A cohort of adult Finns was examined by the Social Insurance Institution's Mobile Clinic in 1966-72. The 24,445 women and 28,364 men who had neither arthritis nor a history of it at the start of the study were followed until the end of 1989 using record linkage with the Institution's population register to identify patients entitled to free antirheumatic medication. Sufficient information was obtained on 512 incident cases of RA, of whom 119 men and 229 women were seropositive and 42 men and 122 women seronegative. RESULTS: There was a close association between smoking and the incidence of seropositive RA in men. It was not due to confounding by age, geographical location of residence, marital status, social class, self-perceived general health, or body mass index, although these factors correlated with smoking history. As adjusted for these factors, the relative risk of seropositive RA was 2.6 (95% confidence interval, 1.3-5.3) in male ex-smokers and 3.8 (95% confidence interval, 2.0-6.9) in current smokers, in comparison with the men who had never smoked. The association persisted throughout the entire followup period, but it was most distinct after the first 14 years of followup. Smoking did not predict seropositive RA in women, nor was it predictive of seronegative RA in men or women. CONCLUSION: Exposure to tobacco smoke, or some factor or cluster of factors associated with smoking, may trigger the production of rheumatoid factors and, in interaction with the male sex, subsequently contribute to the development of clinically manifest RA.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1992

Serum antioxidant vitamins and risk of cataract.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate serum concentrations of alpha tocopherol, beta carotene, retinol, and selenium for their prediction of end stage cataract. DESIGN: A case-control study, nested within a cohort study, based on the linkage of records of subjects aged 40-83 from a health survey with those from the national Finnish hospital discharge register. SUBJECTS: 47 patients admitted to ophthalmological wards for senile cataract over 15 years and two controls per patient individually matched for sex, age, and municipality. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Concentration of serum micronutrients, development of cataract according to whether operation was performed. RESULTS: Low serum concentrations of antioxidant vitamins predicted the development of senile cataract, the odds ratio between the lowest third and the two higher thirds of the distribution of serum concentrations of alpha tocopherol and beta carotene being 1.9 (95% confidence interval 0.9 to 4.1) and 1.7 (0.8 to 3.8), respectively. Patients with both alpha tocopherol and beta carotene concentrations in the lowest third had an odds ratio of 2.6 (1.0 to 6.8) of cataract compared with subjects in the top two thirds. The associations were strengthened by adjustment for potential confounding factors such as occupation, smoking, blood pressure, serum cholesterol concentration, body mass index, and diabetes. No association was found between the serum concentrations of selenium, retinol, and retinol binding protein and the risk of cataract. CONCLUSIONS: Low serum concentrations of the antioxidant vitamins alpha tocopherol and beta carotene are risk factors for end stage senile cataract. Controlled trials of the role of antioxidant vitamins in cataract prevention are therefore warranted.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Herpes simplex virus type 2 infection and cervical cancer: a prospective study of 12 years of follow-up in Finland.

This study was initiated to investigate the role of past herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infection, as determined by serum antibody analysis, in the etiology of cervical neoplasia. Two Finnish registers, the registry of the Social Insurance Institution's Mobile Clinic Survey and the Finnish Cancer Registry, were linked. About 40,000 blood samples were drawn in 1968-72 and stored by the Social Insurance Institution. According to the Cancer Registry, 32 cases of cervical carcinoma or carcinoma in situ for which serum samples were available were diagnosed in this cohort during a follow-up of 12 years (1968-81). The serum samples of these individuals and age matched controls (2:1) from the cohort were analyzed for HSV-2 antibodies. HSV-2 infection as determined by the best available HSV-2 type-specific antibody assay, glycoprotein gG2-ELISA, was not related to cervical neoplasia, i.e., the risk of cervical neoplasia among the HSV-2 positive women was not higher than that among the negative ones (smoking-adjusted relative risk = 0.5, 95 percent confidence interval = 0.2-1.6). The results do not support the hypothesis that HSV-2 is an etiologic agent for cervical neoplasia.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1992

Serum ceruloplasmin and the risk of cancer in Finland.

The relationship between serum ceruloplasmin level and cancer incidence was investigated in a case-control study nested within a longitudinal study of 39,268 Finns participating in the Social Insurance Institution's Mobile Clinic Health Examination Survey carried out in 1968-1972. During a median follow-up of 8 years, 766 cancer cases were identified. Ceruloplasmin levels were determined from stored serum samples collected at the baseline from these cancer cases and from two matched controls per case. The overall incidence of cancer was positively associated with serum ceruloplasmin level. The association was strongest for lung cancer and other cancers related to smoking and, consequently, in males. The smoking-adjusted relative risk of lung cancer among men was 4.3 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.8-10.6) in the highest quintile of serum ceruloplasmin as compared with that in the lowest quintile. The corresponding relative risks for cancers related to smoking combined, and for cancers not related to smoking were 3.9 (CI = 1.9-8.4) and 0.9 (CI = 0.6-1.5), respectively. The elevated risk of lung cancer at high concentrations of serum ceruloplasmin persisted after further adjustment for several potential confounding factors such as serum levels of vitamins A and E and selenium. The risk was stronger during the first 6 years of follow-up than later, and strongest during the first 2 years. The most likely explanation of the present results thus is that high serum ceruloplasmin levels in lung cancer are mainly due to occult cancer.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1992

Incidence of heart failure in eastern Finland: a population-based surveillance study.

Heart failure is a frequent disorder, but there is little population-based data available on its incidence. We have studied the incidence of heart failure in 45-74-year-old inhabitants in four rural communities in eastern Finland (total population 37,600; 11,000 45-74 years of age). The aim was to identify all patients in whom symptoms had started and in whom a diagnosis of heart failure had been established during a 2-year study period. General physicians, working in community health centres in the study area, referred all their patients with suspected heart failure to the study. A register of drug reimbursement, hospital discharge and other health care registers were used to identify patients who had not been referred. The Boston criteria were used to verify the diagnosis. One hundred and thirteen subjects (51 men and 62 women) were enrolled, of whom 51 (38 men and 13 women) had definite heart failure. Age-adjusted incidence rate of heart failure (per 1000 . year-1) was 4.0 in men and 1.0 in women, and the incidence rates increased with age in both sexes. Coronary heart disease or hypertension was evident in 41 (80%) cases. The striking difference in the incidence rates between men and women is probably explained by the excessive occurrence of coronary heart disease among men in eastern Finland.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1992

Determinants of osteoporotic thoracic vertebral fracture. Screening of 57,000 Finnish women and men.

A population sample of 27,000 Finnish women and 30,000 men was studied for the presence of a thoracic vertebral fracture. In both sexes, the prevalence of such fractures increased with age: after 40 years of age in the men and after 55 years of age in the women. The interaction of sex and age was significant, and even when the other determinants were adjusted for. In the women aged 35-44, 55-64, and 75 years or more, the prevalence per 1,000 was respectively 2.4, 5.1, and 29, and in the men in the corresponding age groups 5.2, 15, and 28. A previous history of trauma was a fracture determinant in both sexes. In the men, but not in the women, there was an increased risk of fracture when there was a history of tuberculosis and/or peptic ulcer, and in current smokers. Thus, contrary to observations on extremity fractures, the men had an increased risk of sustaining a thoracic vertebral fracture compared with the women. This may reflect differences in the development of osteoporosis in the axial skeleton versus the appendicular skeleton.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Prevalence, determinants, and consequences of chronic neck pain in Finland.

Chronic neck pain is a relatively mild musculoskeletal condition, but common enough to be a possible public health problem. The distribution, determinants, and consequences of chronic neck pain have hitherto been described inadequately. In the Mini-Finland Health Survey, a representative population sample of 8,000 Finns aged greater than or equal to 30 years was invited to participate in a comprehensive health examination comprising an interview and a clinical examination; 90.2% complied. Predetermined criteria were used to diagnose major cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, respiratory, mental, and other disorders, regardless of other simultaneous disorders. Chronic neck syndrome was diagnosed in 9.5% of the men and 13.5% of the women. When adjusted for age and sex, the prevalence of the neck syndrome was associated with a history of injury to the back, neck, or shoulder and with mental and physical stress at work. Among those aged 30 to 64 years, overweight and parity were also significant determinants. Other musculoskeletal and mental disorders were associated with neck syndrome, and the association persisted after working conditions, injuries, overweight, and parity were adjusted for. There was some independent association between neck syndrome and disabilities, use of physician services, and use of pain killers.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Leanness and lung-cancer risk.

Body mass index (weight/height2) was studied for its prediction of lung cancer in Finnish men examined by the Social Insurance Institution's Mobile Clinic and followed up by the Finnish Cancer Registry. Among 25,994 participants aged 20 to 75 years and free from cancer at the start of the study, 504 lung-cancer cases were diagnosed during a maximum follow-up of 19 years. There was a significant inverse gradient between body mass index and the incidence of lung cancer. This association was not due to confounding by age, smoking, social class, self-perceived general health, history of stress symptoms, chronic cough or chest X-ray findings, although these factors correlated with body mass index and were also significantly predictive of lung cancer. After adjustment for these factors, the relative risks of lung cancer were 1.0, 1.4, 1.5 and 1.8 (p for trend less than 0.001) from the highest to the lowest quartiles of body mass index. The association was noted among current smokers, but it was most obvious among men who had never smoked, the relative risk of lung cancer between the lowest and highest quartiles of body mass index being 7.6 (95% confidence interval = 2.0 to 29.4). The inverse gradient persisted throughout the entire follow-up period, and was most distinct after the first 10 years of follow-up, the relative risks for the quartiles of body mass index being 1.0, 1.9, 2.3 and 2.6 (p less than 0.001). The present study shows that the thinner the man, the more liable he is to develop lung cancer. Leanness or some factor or cluster of factors closely correlated to it, may play an aetiological role in lung cancer.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Dietary antioxidants and the risk of lung cancer.

The relation between the intake of retinoids, carotenoids, vitamin E, vitamin C, and selenium and the subsequent risk of lung cancer was studied among 4,538 initially cancer-free Finnish men aged 20-69 years. During a follow-up of 20 years beginning in 1966-1972, 117 lung cancer cases were diagnosed. Inverse gradients were observed between the intake of carotenoids, vitamin E, and vitamin C and the incidence of lung cancer among nonsmokers, for whom the age-adjusted relative risks of lung cancer in the lowest tertile of intake compared with that in the highest tertile were 2.5 (p value for trend = 0.04), 3.1 (p = 0.12), and 3.1 (p less than 0.01) for the three intakes, respectively. Adjustment for various potential confounding factors did not materially alter the results, and the associations did not seem to be due to preclinical cancer. In the total cohort, there was an inverse association between intake of margarine and fruits and risk of lung cancer. The relative risk of lung cancer for the lowest compared with the highest tertile of margarine intake was 4.0 (p less than 0.001), and that for fruits was 1.8 (p = 0.01). These associations persisted after adjustment for the micronutrient intakes and were stronger among nonsmokers. The results suggest that carotenoids, vitamin E, and vitamin C may be protective against lung cancer among nonsmokers. Food sources rich in these micronutrients may also have other constituents with independent protective effects against lung cancer.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Serum micronutrients and risk of cancers of low incidence in Finland.

The associations between serum alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene, retinol, retinol-binding protein, and selenium levels and the subsequent occurrence of different cancers of low incidence were investigated in a nested case-control study of 39,268 men and women participating in the Social Insurance Institution's Mobile Clinic Health Examination Survey in Finland. During follow-up from the baseline in 1968-1972 to the end of 1977, a total of 115 cancers of the lip, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, liver, gallbladder, kidney, urinary bladder, brain, and skin were reported to the nationwide Finnish Cancer Registry. Alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene, retinol, retinol-binding protein, and selenium concentrations were determined from stored serum samples collected from these cancer cases and matched controls at baseline. Several sites indicated an elevated risk of cancer at low levels of the serum variables, although only a few of these associations were statistically significant. Only melanoma patients had significantly lower serum alpha-tocopherol and beta-carotene levels than corresponding controls. Since the numbers of cancer cases were small, no firm conclusions can be drawn from these results until they have been confirmed in studies based on larger cohorts or on pooled data from several small samples.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Changes in the prevalence and incidence of diabetes mellitus in Finnish adults, 1970-1987.

Prevalence and incidence of known diabetes mellitus in Finnish subjects aged 30 years or over in 1970-1987 were investigated using a nationwide register of drug recipients and four population surveys. On the basis of the drug-register data, the prevalence of drug-treated diabetes in men increased from 1.5% in 1970 to 2.8% in 1987. In women, the prevalence increased from 2.1% in 1970 to 3.0% in 1979 and declined thereafter slightly to 2.7% in 1987. The increase in the prevalence of drug-treated diabetes was mainly due to the increase of diabetes in the age groups 60 years and older. The prevalence of all known diabetic subjects in the population studies increased from 2.1% in the health examination survey of 1966-1972 (n = 38,676) to 3.5% in the interview survey of 1976 (n = 10,657) and to 4.5% in the health examination survey of 1979-1980 (n = 7,217) but decreased to 3.3% in the interview survey in 1987 (n = 9,522). The increased prevalence of obesity in men and better survival may be important factors contributing to the increasing prevalence rates of diabetes in Finnish subjects aged 30 years and over.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Risk factors for subarachnoid hemorrhage in a longitudinal population study.

The known risk factors of atherosclerotic diseases may be involved in the development of a subarachnoid hemorrhage. We studied the morbidity and mortality due to subarachnoid hemorrhage among 42,862 men and women aged 20-69 years who had participated in a large health survey in Finland. During a mean follow-up of 12 years, 102 non-fatal and 85 fatal cases of subarachnoid hemorrhage were observed. The total incidence was 37 per 100,000 person-years. Smoking and hypertension were positively associated and body mass index was inversely associated with the risk of subarachnoid hemorrhage. These associations were not confounded by age or each other. No statistically significant association with risk was detected for serum cholesterol level, hematocrit content, known heart disease, or diabetes. The risk was especially elevated among lean hypertensive subjects and lean smoking subjects. The age-adjusted relative risks of subarachnoid hemorrhage for lean, hypertensive smokers were 18.3 (95% confidence interval (CI), 7.8-42.7) among women and 6.7 (95% CI, 2.3-19.7) among men as compared to the risk among subjects without these risk factors. We conclude that modifiable risk factors are predictive of subarachnoid hemorrhage, for which reason subarachnoid hemorrhage may in part be preventable. Leanness combined with arterial hypertension and/or smoking, in particular, poses a substantially elevated risk.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Weight and mortality in Finnish women.

Mortality in relation to body mass index (BMI) was studied in 17,159 healthy Finnish women aged 25-79 followed up for a median of 12 years. Mortality from all cases was related to BMI only in non-smokers aged 25-64, among whom the mortality pattern was "U"-shaped, with a minimum in the second quintile of BMI (the reference range), and about 1.5 times higher in quintiles I and V. Most of the excess risk of mortality among overweight women was due to cardiovascular diseases. During the first 7 years of follow-up, and high risk (relative risk (RR) = 1.7, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.0-2.9 for quintile V compared to quintile II) depended on the association of BMI with the initial blood pressure level, but in the later years, the relative risk of cardiovascular death, ranging from 1.6 (95% CI = 1.0-2.5) for women in quintile III up to 2.6 (95% Ci = 1.7-4.0) for those in quintile V, was largely independent of the baseline levels of the main biological risk factors. The excess mortality among thin women under the age of 65 was mainly due to non-cardiovascular diseases (RR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.2-2.3 for quintile I compared to quintile II) and was not attributable to antecedent disease, smoking or the biological risk factors studied. Among women aged 65 and over, overall mortality varied little with BMI, but thinness seemed to predict deaths from cancers (RR = 1.6, 95% CI = 0.9-3.0).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Vitamin E and cancer prevention.

Some animal experiments and human studies suggest that vitamin E may protect against cancer. Serum alpha-tocopherol concentration was studied for its prediction of cancer in a cohort of 36,265 adults in Finland. During a mean follow-up of 8 y, cancer was diagnosed in 766 persons. The levels of serum alpha-tocopherol were determined from stored serum samples (at -20 degrees C) taken from these cancer patients and from 1419 matched control subjects. Individuals with a low level of alpha-tocopherol had about a 1.5-fold risk of cancer compared with those with a higher level. The strength of the association between serum alpha-tocopherol level and cancer risk varied for different cancer sites and was strongest for some gastrointestinal cancers and for the combined group of cancers unrelated to smoking. The association was strongest among nonsmoking men and among women with low levels of serum selenium. The findings agree with the hypothesis that dietary vitamin E in some circumstances protects against cancer.

Animals↗

PubMed1991

Determinants of sciatica and low-back pain.

Several factors were studied for their association with the prevalence of chronic low-back syndromes, sciatica, and unspecified low-back pain (LBP) in 2,946 women and 2,727 men (age range, 30-64 years) participating in the Mini-Finland Health Survey, a project aimed at comprehensive evaluation of the population's health. On the basis of a standardized clinical examination, a physician diagnosed sciatica in 5.1% and LBP in 11.6% of the subjects. Those with a previous traumatic back injury had a 2.5-fold risk of having sciatica or LBP. The fractions of sciatica and LBP attributable to such back injuries were estimated to be 16.5% and 13.7%, respectively. Sum indices of both physical and mental stress at work were found to be directly proportional to the prevalence of sciatica and LBP. Smokers had an increased risk of LBP, and body height was related positively to the prevalence of sciatica. These associations, however, were inconsistent between sex and age subgroups. In the presence of osteoarthritis in the knee, hip, or hand, LBP was prevalent (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 5.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.1-6.9), but sciatica was not (OR, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.7-1.7). Diabetics were found to have a significantly decreased prevalence of LBP (OR, 0.4; 95% CI, 0.3-0.8). Many factors, independent of each other, determine the occurrence of chronic low-back syndromes. The determinants of sciatica and LBP are different to some extent.

Adult↗