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Biomedical subjects

B Armstrong

Publications and source records attributed to B Armstrong.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1977

Blood pressure in Seventh-day Adventist vegetarians.

The blood pressures (BP) in 418 vegetarian Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) volunteers in Western Australia were compared with those in 290 non-vegetarian volunteers in Narrogin, a Western Australian country town. The mean systolic and diastolic BPs in the SDAs, adjusted for age, sex, height and weight (128.7/76.2 mm of mercury) were significantly less than those in the Narrogin residents (139.3/84.5). It appeared unlikely that these differences could be explained by differences in alcohol, tobacco, tea, coffee or egg consumption, socioeconomic status or physical activity. There was, however, a gradient toward increasing BP with increasing egg intake in SDAs, and SDAs who drank tea or coffee had a higher mean diastolic BP than those who did not (mean difference of 4.2 mm of mercury). The possibility that selective bias or unmeasured environmental differences might explain the difference in BP between the two groups is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Rauwolfia derivatives and breast cancer in hypertensive women.

Three groups of women were selected from a sample of death certificates that had been coded by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys for all conditions mentioned on them: (1) all women with reference to both breast cancer and hypertension; (2) all women with reference to hypertension and other cancers; (3) a group of women with reference to hypertension without cancer, selected to match the breast-cancer patients with respect to five features. When the women with breast cancer were compared with both the women with other cancers and the women without cancer, there was a positive association between breast cancer and the use of rauwolfia derivatives, although neither the differences in the frequency nor duration observed were statistically significant. The association appeared to be strongest for use near the time of diagnosis of the cancer. This agrees with nearly all other data and would be expected if rauwolfia derivatives promoted the development of breast cancer from previously initiated cells.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1976

Myocardial infarction and estrogen therapy in post-menopausal women.

Data obtained from two multipurpose surveys of hospitalized patients were examined to determine the risk of nonfatal acute myocardial infarction in post-menopausal women 40 to 75 years of age in relation to use of estrogen-containing drugs. Eight (2.4 per cent) of 336 myocardial infarction patients and 330 (4.9 per cent) of 6730 reference patients were regular estrogen users (crude rate ratio, 0.47) at the time of hospitalization. After control for confounding variables -- among them, age, past history of myocardial in farction, angina, diabetes, and hypertension (alone or in combination) and cigarette smoking -- the summary point estimate of rate ratio was 0.97 with 95 per cent confidence limits of 0.48 and 1.95. Thus, there was no evidence of a statistically significant association between current regular use of estrogens and nonfatal acute myocardial infarction.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1976

Recent trends in breast-cancer incidence and mortality in relation to changes in possible risk factors.

Breast cancer incidence and mortality in England and Wales and the United States increased between 1950 and 1973, mainly in women aged between 45 and 64 years. These increases appeared to be partly cohort-specific, beginning with cohorts born around 1899, and partly cross-sectional, beginning in the mid-1960s. In both countries, cohort-specific decreases in fertility paralleled the cohort-specific increases in breast cancer rates and may, at least in part, have been responsible for them. Changes in other factors, such as age at menarche and menopause, use of rauwolfia derivatives and oestrogens, consumption of fat and meat, and breast cancer treatment were considered in relation to the cross-sectional increases in breast cancer rates. On the evidence available, it was not certain that any of these could explain the breast cancer increases.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Fatal drug reactions in patients admitted to surgical services.

In a defined group of 10,281 generally healthy inpatients admitted to surgical services, two deaths were identified as being due in part to an adverse effect of a drug, for a rate of 0.19 drug-related dealths/1,000 surgical patients (approximate 95 per cent confidence limits, 0.02 to 0.71/1,000). Both deaths occurred in women more than sixty years old and were due to hemorrhage associated with heparin therapy.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

A retrospective study of renal cancer with special reference to coffee and animal protein consumption.

Interviews were obtained with 106 patients with adenocarcinoma of the renal parenchyma, 33 patients with carcinoma of the renal pelvis and 139 individually matched control patients. Comparison of the cancer patients with the control patients showed no evidence of a positive association between either type of renal cancer and coffee or animal protein consumption. Carcinoma of the renal pelvis was associated positively with cigareete consumption (relative risk estimate 1-8) and the daily consumption of analgesic tablets was more frequent in patients with cancer of the renal parenchyma than in their matched controls (14-2% compared with 1-9%,P less than 0.005). It appeared likely that the latter relationship was non-causal.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1976

Combined alpha- and beta-adrenoreceptor blockade in hypertension: a controlled trial of labetalol (AH 5158) compared with propranolol and placebo.

1. Labetalol (AH 5158) is a new drug which has both alpha- and beta-adrenoreceptor antagonist activity. Labetalol has been compared with propranolol and placebo for the treatment of mild to moderate hypertension (150/100 to 189/114 mmHg), in a double-blind cross-over trial with three 10 week treatment periods. 2. Both drugs reduced blood pressures in nine of the ten patients who have completed the trial. Relative to placebo labetalol caused decreases in supine pressures similar to those caused by propranolol (average -10/-10 and -10/-9 mmHg respectively), with a greater effect on standing (labetalol -20/-19; propranolol -8/-12 mmHg; P less than 0-01) and after exercise (labetolol -27/-18 and propranolol -16/-14 mmHg). 3. Labetalol and propranolol caused a similar fall in supine pulse rate (-11/min and -13/min respectively), but there was less bradycardia on standing (labetalol -11/min; propranolol -18/min; P less than 0-001) and after exercise (labetalol -17/min; propranolol -23/min; P less than 0-001). 4. The average dose ratios of labetalol to propranolol was 2-4:1 (w/w). 5. These results suggest that the effect of labetalol on blood pressure involves both alpha- and beta-adrenoreceptor antagonist properties. 6. Further evaluation of labetalol is warranted as it may have some advantages in respect of producing less bradycardia, improved peripheral blood flow and less effect on airways resistance than 'pure' beta-receptor-blocking agents.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Changes in plasma enzyme concentrations following intramuscular injections and gastroscopy.

The effects of intramuscular injections on plasma creatine kinase (CK), aspartate amino-transferase, lactate dehydrogenase, and hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase concentrations were examined in 19 patients given intramuscular premedication for gastroscopy, and 18 patients given other intramuscular injections. Only CK concentrations showed significant increases which were as high as four times the upper limit of normal, and affected a maximum of 51% of patients at 12 hours after the first injection. Elevated CK concentrations persisted for up to 72 hours, and followed injections of diazepam, various antibiotics, and the combination of a narcotic analgesic with atropine. Gastroscopy did not appear to increase plasma enzyme concentrations in six patients who were given intravenous premedication. The significance of these findings to the diagnosis of myocardial infarction is discussed.

Adult↗