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Biomedical subjects

A Menotti

Publications and source records attributed to A Menotti.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Inter and intra-observer variation in ultrasonographic detection of gallstones: the Multicenter Italian study on epidemiology of cholelithiasis (M.I.COL.).

Inter and intra-observer agreement in classifying the presence of gallstones by ultrasonographic images according to established criteria was studied. A film recording of 50 routine ultrasonographic examinations of the gallbladder was read by each of the 46 observers who participated in the Multicenter Italian Study on Epidemiology of Cholelithiasis (M.I.COL.). The overall Kappa score for inter-observer agreement was 0.649, while intra-observer agreement was "good" or "excellent" (Kappa scores greater than 0.60) in 75% of the observers. No statistical difference for inter-observer agreement between "novices" and "expert" echographers was found in the overall Kappa statistic or in category-specific Kappa scores (gallstone, no gallstone, doubtful and inconclusive examinations) The present study suggests that the development of explicit criteria by a group of trained echographers does not eliminate inter- and intra-observer disagreement in categorizing subjects for gallbladder stones.

Cholelithiasis↗
PubMed1989

Register for cerebrovascular events in the Area Latina, Italy. Clinical and epidemiological data during three years of surveillance.

Data are presented on the cerebrovascular events collected by a surveillance system during 1983-1985 in the MONICA Project-Area Latina, on a target population of about 400,000 subjects aged 25-74. The cerebrovascular events observed in 3 years were 2245: the fatalities (within 28 days from the onset of symptoms) numbered 1016 (562 males and 454 females), and the non fatal cases 1229 (742 males and 482 females). The attack rates per 10,000 per year were 21.96 for males and 15.20 for females. By definition, all the non fatal cases received some kind of treatment in hospital or nursing home. Among the fatal cases 68% received a treatment in a hospital or nursing home, while 32% died without medical attention. The fatality rate within 28 days was 43% for males and 48% for females.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Food consumption patterns in the 1960s in seven countries.

At the end of the 1950s the Seven Countries Study was designed to investigate the relations between diet and cardiovascular diseases. Sixteen cohorts were selected in Finland, Greece, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, United States, and Yugoslavia. During the 1960s food consumption data were collected from random samples of these cohorts by use of the record method. In Finland the intake of milk, potatoes, edible fats, and sugar products was very high. A similar but lower intake pattern was observed in The Netherlands. Fruit, meat, and pastry consumption was high in the United States; cereal and alcoholic drink consumption was high in Italy; and bread consumption high in Yugoslavians except for those in Belgrade. In Greece the intake of olive oil and fruit was high and the Japanese cohorts were characterized by a high consumption of fish, rice, and soy products. These differences in food consumption patterns have lessened during the past 25 y.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Diet and 20-y mortality in two rural population groups of middle-aged men in Italy.

The relationships between individual diet, measured in 1965 on the two Italian rural cohorts of the Seven Countries Study on Cardiovascular Disease, and subsequent mortality from all and specific causes of death in 20 y are studied. The analysis covers 1536 men aged 45-64 y at entry to the study. By using a cluster analysis technique, individuals are aggregated into four groups so that the elements within a group have a higher degree of similarity in dietary nutrients than between groups. Impressive differences in death rates between groups are found especially at the 10- and 15-y anniversaries. The relative risk between the least and the most favored group in 15-y mortality from coronary heart disease is 4.7; in 10 y the relative risk for cancer mortality is 2.9 and for liver cirrhosis approximately 4.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗
PubMed1989

The estimate of coronary incidence following different case finding procedures.

In the pool of two rural population groups made up of 1695 coronary-free men aged 40-59 years at entry and followed-up for 25 years, repeated field examination at 5, 10, 20 and 25 years after enrollment and mortality checking, allowed us to identify 256 first major coronary events (coronary deaths and definite myocardial infarction)--the basic procedure. An extra effort in data collection, involving checking hospital admissions and discharges, inquiries to general practitioners and some postal questionnaires, allowed us to identify 45 extra cases of non-fatal myocardial infarction--the special procedure. The reported incidence of a first major coronary event in 25 years increased in this way by 17.8%, from 15.1% to 17.7%. The 45 cases identified by the special procedure were younger and had more favourable levels of risk factors than the other 256. However the coefficients of six risk factors estimated by the Cox model (age, mean blood pressure, serum cholesterol, cigarette consumption, forced expiratory volume and arcus senilis) were rather similar, and all were significant in the solution that included the cases identified by the basic procedure, compared to the solution that included cases identified by both procedures.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

The predictive role of systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressures on cardiovascular and all causes of death.

Systolic (SBP), diastolic (DBP) and mean [MBP = diastolic + 1/3 (systolic - diastolic)] blood pressures were compared as predictors of all causes of death (ALL) and of deaths from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ACVD) in 2480 men, aged 40-59 years, belonging to three cohorts followed up for 20 years. Both univariate analysis, based on distribution of events in age-specific quintile classes of blood pressures, and multivariate analysis, based on the Cox proportional hazards model with five covariates as possible confounders, clearly showed the superiority of SBP over DBP in predicting fatal events; MBP played an intermediate role.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Seven Countries Study. First 20-year mortality data in 12 cohorts of six countries.

Out of the original 16 cohorts in the Seven Countries Study on Cardiovascular Diseases, 12 population samples in six countries have reached the 20 year follow-up deadline. Data on mortality became fully available for a total of 8287 men aged 40-59 at entry examination (two cohorts in Finland, one in the Netherlands, three in Italy, two in Yugoslavia, two in Greece, and two in Japan). Death rates from CHD as well as from all causes follow the traditional falling north to south trend (18 fold between the extremes for CHD; 2.7 fold for total mortality). The differences in all causes mortality are, however, largely accounted for by the variation in CHD mortality. The mean entry levels of serum cholesterol and representative levels of the consumption of saturated fats, mono-unsaturated fats, poly-unsaturated fats and carbohydrates explain a large proportion of inter-cohort difference in CHD mortality (81% for saturated fats). By applying the proportional hazards model to the pools of national cohorts, with CHD deaths as end-point and five risk factors as covariates, only age and mean blood pressure are universally significant predictors of fatal events. Cholesterol, smoking habits, body mass index and physical activity play some part but not in all the pools. Age and mean blood pressure are also the only universal risk factors for all causes of death.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Trends in CHD in Italy.

Death rates from coronary heart disease (CHD) were rising in Italy until the mid-1970s, and then a decline occurred until the early 1980s (-16% in men, -27.1% in women). The increasing trends in CHD mortality following World War II can be explained by changes in the diet, traditionally poor in animal fats and rich in carbohydrates, towards more Westernized eating habits and by the documented increase in mean serum cholesterol. The recent decline in CHD mortality is partly explained (theoretically, about 60%) by the decrease in the estimated coronary risk, as measured in national samples (-10% in males and -13% in females). There have been slight decreases in smoking habits in men, in body weight in women, and in blood pressure in both sexes, largely related to better control of hypertension. Some indirect documentation suggests there has also been a favourable influence of improved medical care.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Serum thiocyanate levels as an objective measure of smoking habits in epidemiological studies.

The relationship between smoking habits and plasma thiocyanate levels has been evaluated in four adult samples of the general population containing men and women aged 20-84 and in a sample of 11-year-old non-smoking children of both sexes, for a total of 7577 individuals. Mean levels of plasma thiocyanate was found be approximately 20 mumol/l in children, 30 mumol/l in non-smoking adults and increasingly higher in smoking adults. The slopes of the regression equations of thiocyanate on cigarettes smoked per day range from 3.041 to 5.740, with correlation coefficients of from 0.638 to 0.809. In another occupational sample of 2802 men aged 46 to 65, where the correlation coefficient (between cigarette consumption and thiocyanate) was only 0.49, plasma thiocyanate was a better predictor of 4 year fatal events than cigarette consumption, 4 other covariates being considered in the same multivariate model.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

The 25 year estimated probability of death from some specific causes as a function of twelve risk factors in middle aged men.

Twelve risk factors previously identified as predictors of all causes of death in a 25-year follow-up of a sample of 1530 men aged 40-59 at entry, have been tested as predictors of specific causes of death. They were age (AGE), mean blood pressure (MBP), cigarette smoking (CIG), forced expiratory volume (FEV), arm circumference (ARM), father-life status (FHAS), mother-life status (MHOS), shoulder-pelvis ratio (SPR), vital capacity (VC), arcus senilis (ARCS), serum cholesterol (CHOL) and xantelasma (XANT). Using the proportional hazards model and considering coronary heart diseases, strokes, cancers, violent deaths, and other causes as end-points, AGE and MBP were significant predictors for all conditions, including violent deaths. CIG predicted coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer; FEV, VC, and ARM were protective for all end-points but significant only for a few of them. FHAS and MHOS were positively associated with all end-points but significant only for a few of them. ARCS and XANT were predictive for only a few conditions and, surprisingly, XANT was a significant risk factor for cancer. Finally CHOL was specifically predictive only for coronary heart disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Evaluation of 10 QT prediction formulas in 881 middle-aged men from the seven countries study: emphasis on the cubic root Fridericia's equation.

In 881 middle-aged men from one Italian cohort of the Seven Countries Study, QT and RR intervals were measured in lead 2 from resting ECGs (25 mm/sec) and fitted separately with 10 mathematically different QT prediction formulas. The relative accuracy of fit to data was assessed from the minimum mean-squared residual and the minimum Akaike Information Criterion values. Using the Minnesota code, 588 men had normal (group 1) and 293 had abnormal (group 2) ECGs. A better fit to QT-RR data by all formulas was observed in group 1, compared with group 2. Among one-parameter equations in both groups, the cubic root Fridericia's formula is better suited to fit the data than the Bazett's square root or other formulas. The former compares favorably with multiparameter equations or with the inverse relation and gives the best fit in group 2. Thus the cubic root equation might be more accurate than the square root or several complex formulas for correcting measured QT intervals for cardiac cycle length in middle-aged men.

Arrhythmias, Cardiac↗
PubMed1988

Cardiovascular risk factors predicting all causes of death in an occupational population sample.

A group of 768 men aged 40-59 at entry examination and belonging to an occupational sample of railroad employees in Rome have been examined for the measurement of some risk factors and followed-up for 20 years. In all 676 men, free from life-threatening diseases and with all measurements available, produced 166 fatal events in 20 years. Out of the 27 different personal characteristics considered only six contributed significantly to the multivariate prediction of all causes of death in the Cox proportional hazards computed by the forward stepwise technique. The factors predicting all causes of death were age, cigarette smoking, diabetes, blood pressure, mother's vital status and being on a diet prescribed by a doctor. The relative risk of those located in the upper decile of the estimated risk as compared to the bottom decile was 8.2. The results do not differ much from those obtained in a demographic sample studied in the same way.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Mortality and coronary events in two Italian MONICA areas: area Latina and area Brianza.

In Italy three areas have been enrolled in the MONICA Project, two being located in Northern Italy (Area Brianza and Area Friuli) and one in Central Italy (Area Latina). This report concerns the comparison of the first year mortality and registration data of two areas, Area Latina (1983) and Area Brianza (1985), for men and women aged 25-64. In Area Latina, the age-standardized mortality rates for all causes, for all coronary heart disease, and for stroke are respectively 483, 83 and 42 per 100,000 for males, and 252, 14 and 32 per 100,000 for females. In Area Brianza, the age-standardized mortality rates for all causes, for all coronary heart disease, and for stroke are respectively 541, 94 and 38 per 100,000 for males, and 249, 19 and 24 per 100,000 for females. For males the attack rate for coronary events is similar in Area Latina and Area Brianza but the distribution of events in the several diagnostic categories is different. For females the coronary attack rate is higher in Area Latina than in Area Brianza. The implications of these data are discussed mainly from the methodological point of view.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Prognosis of lean and fat hypertensives.

A population sample of 1,645 men aged 40-59 at entry examination has been followed up for 25 years. When hypertensives (160 and/or 95 mm Hg or more; n = 432) were divided into fat and lean on the basis of body mass index (cut off at 24.9), the latter group showed a nonsignificant higher risk of dying during the subsequent 25 years (relative risk = 1.15). Univariate and multivariate analyses suggest that among lean people there is an excess of smokers partly explaining the excess risk of lean hypertensives. Both univariate and multivariate analyses also proved that the relationship of fatness-leanness indicators to total mortality is U-shaped and applies to hypertensives as well as to nonhypertensives, and to the whole population. Evidence has been given that changing the definition of fatness-leanness (cutoff of body mass index of 27.9) the relative risk of lean versus fat hypertensives may reverse (0.93). This suggests that a large part of the problem is artificial and should not be tackled without considering the parabolic relationships of indicators of obesity to mortality.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

[Distributions, mean values and correlations of various coronary risk factors in a population of Veneto].

During the National Research Council (CNR) program called Atherosclerosis-Risk Factors 2 (ATS-RF2) a random sample of 1903 subjects (50.1% male) aged 20-59 years was examined in the general population of Mirano-Venice. Mean values of serum total cholesterol and triglycerides, body mass index, as well as systolic and diastolic blood pressure were assessed. On the whole these turned out to be higher in men and increased with age. The continuously distributed variables showed an approximately normal distribution and a close correlation. Comparing our results with those obtained by other Italian units co-operating in the same CNR program, different levels of serum total cholesterol and systolic blood pressure were observed. The overall risk factor pattern in northern Italian regions is closer to that reported in the literature for central European countries than to that of southern Italian regions. These findings might explain why mortality due to ischaemic heart disease is higher in northern Italy and becomes progressively smaller in central and southern Italy.

Adult↗