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L C Koo

Publications and source records attributed to L C Koo.

30 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Life-history correlates of environmental tobacco smoke: a study on nonsmoking Hong Kong Chinese wives with smoking versus nonsmoking husbands.

Studies to evaluate the effects of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS, passive smoking) often use nonsmoking wives with smoking discordant husbands. To see whether there were differences in exposures and behavior patterns among never-smoked wives with never-smoked vs ever-smoked husbands, the life-history profiles of 136 ever-married women with mean age of 59 were analyzed on 97 quantifiable variables. Overall, the results demonstrated that wives with never-smoked husbands had 'healthier' lifestyles than wives with smoking husbands. The former were better off in terms of socio-economic status, more conscientious housewives, ate better diets, and had better indices of family cohesiveness. They also fared better in variables that reflected health status with lower frequencies of the following: miscarriages/abortions, inhaling through the mouth, chronic cough, and chest X-rays. The differences were usually largest when comparing wives of never-smoked vs heavily smoking (greater than 20 cigarettes/day) husbands. The results indicate some correlates of passive smoking that can act as important confounders when evaluating health risks among families with smoking husbands.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗
PubMed1988

Dietary habits and lung cancer risk among Chinese females in Hong Kong who never smoked.

This describes a retrospective study in which 88 lung cancer patients and 137 district-matched controls were interviewed concerning the effects of diet on lung cancer risk among Hong Kong Chinese women who never smoked tobacco. Those in the lowest tertile of consuming fresh fruit or fresh fish had statistically significant adjusted relative risks (RRs) of 2.4 and 2.8, respectively. The protective effects of diet, i.e., higher consumption of leafy green vegetables, carrots, tofu, fresh fruit, and fresh fish, were confined mostly to those with adenocarcinoma or large cell tumors. Only fresh fruit was found to positively, and smoked meats to negatively, affect the risk of squamous or small cell tumors. Foods high in vitamin C, retinol, and calcium seemed to exert larger effects. Subjects from larger households were shown to be more frequent consumers of fresh vegetables, fruit, and fish. Because the lifetime weighted household size could be used as a surrogate index of past dietary quality, when it was combined with current dietary intakes of fresh fruit, the RR increased as either factor decreased in a dose-response manner. The adjusted RR was 5.8 at the lowest level. Further testing of the validity of the lifetime weighted household size as an index of past dietary quality is needed.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1988

A comparison of the prevalence of respiratory illnesses among nonsmoking mothers and their children in Japan and Hong Kong.

Previous epidemiologic studies have associated symptoms of chronic bronchitis and other respiratory diseases with the risk for lung cancer. To assess the possible precursor or premonitory role of these conditions for lung cancer among nonsmokers, a comparison of the prevalence rates of these conditions in 2 urban industrialized communities (Hong Kong and a Tokyo suburb) with a 300% difference in female lung cancer incidence rates was conducted. A community survey of 314 nonsmoking mothers and their children in Hong Kong, and 243 mothers and children in Japan showed that the prevalence of reported chronic cough and sputum symptoms was 10 or more times higher in Hong Kong than in Japan. The disparity in the rates of respiratory diseases/symptoms was most apparent in the comparison of children. Occupational exposure to dust or fumes and larger household sizes were found to be associated with higher levels of respiratory illnesses among the Hong Kong mothers. The much higher prevalence rates of respiratory symptoms among Hong Kong than among Japanese subjects correlated with each community's female lung cancer incidence rates of 27.1 versus 8.1/100,000, respectively.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Measurements of passive smoking and estimates of lung cancer risk among non-smoking Chinese females.

Lifetime exposures to environmental tobacco smoke from the home or workplace for 88 "never-smoked" female lung cancer patients and 137 "never-smoked" district controls were estimated in Hong Kong to assess the possible causal relationship of passive smoking to lung cancer risk. Relative risks based on the husband's smoking habits, or lifetime estimates of total years, total hours, mean hours/day, or total cigarettes/day smoked by each household smoker did not show dose-response results. Similarly, when such categories as mean hours/day, or earlier age of initial exposure, were combined with years of exposure, there were no apparent increases in relative risk. However, when the data were segregated by histological type and location of the primary tumor, it was seen that peripheral tumors in the middle or lower lobes, or, less strongly, squamous or small-cell tumors in the middle or lower lobes, had increasing relative risks that might indicate some association with passive smoking exposure.

China↗
PubMed1987

Concepts of disease causation, treatment and prevention among Hong Kong Chinese: diversity and eclecticism.

The health beliefs, knowledge, and choices of therapeutic intervention for 25 common ailments were described and analyzed for the Chinese in Hong Kong. Acceptance of the co-existence of the ideas and treatment regimens from both Western and Chinese medical traditions were prevalent. For health problems in which Western medicine has already isolated a specific causative agent or developed effective treatment or preventive methods, many informants were familiar with these biomedical concepts, and even more expressed willingness to use these methods to alleviate their symptoms. In addition, however, there was a group of views on causation, treatment, and prevention that arose from folk observations or Chinese classical medicine that supplemented the views imported from the West. This occurred when the etiological factors for specific health problems were not well understood or identified in biomedicine, or when other environmental factors, usually attributed to 'lifestyle', were identified by informants as mediating factors affecting risk for disease from the individual's point of view. These latter views helped explain why some become ill and others do not, although all may have been exposed to the same etiological agent identified in biomedicine.

China↗
PubMed1985

An analysis of some risk factors for lung cancer in Hong Kong.

Lung cancer has been the major cause of cancer death in Hong Kong for more than a decade. Although it is known that some 95% of male cases can be attributed to smoking, the etiological factors in women remain elusive. Among "never-smoked" female cases, increases in attributable risk from passive smoking were limited to only some of the histological types of lung carcinomas, and an overall analysis of all types did not reveal any significant increase in relative risk from this source. Other environmental factors which encourage bronchial irritation are suspected. Methodological differences may explain the differences in proportional distributions of histological lung tumor types noted between previous reports, and the risk values attributed therein to active and passive smoking.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Lung cancer in women living in the Pacific Basin area.

We compared recent incidence rates for lung cancer in females among several regions in the Pacific Basin, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Miyagi, Hawaii, and Los Angeles, by ethnic group using data from the population-based registry in each area. The rates were high among whites and Hawaiians, intermediate in Chinese, and low in Japanese regardless of area. The risk of lung cancer among females who smoke relative to that in female nonsmokers varied from 1 ethnic group to another as did the proportion of smokers in the populations studied. Most of the interethnic differences in lung cancer incidence rates could be explained by differences in smoking patterns. The estimated annual incidence rate for lung cancer in females after subtraction of the proportion of the incidence due to smoking was 7.5/100,000 population in every ethnic group except the Chinese (15-20/100,000 population). Most of the residual incidences of lung cancer were adenocarcinoma of the lung.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1984

The use of food to treat and prevent disease in Chinese culture.

Interviews of 50 Chinese families in Hong Kong in 1981 indicated that the proper selection, timing and preparation of food was the most salient lay method of dealing with the prevention and treatment of some 59 common symptoms and illnesses. The food prescriptions and proscriptions were based on the traditional concept of maintaining body homeostasis through avoidance of: (1) excess 'hot'/'cold' or 'wet'/'dry' qualities of body energy; (2) disturbance of energy flow; or (3) inadequate energy levels. Various health problems were classified as being due to imbalances of these energy states. Excess 'hot'/'cold' or 'wet'/'dry' ailments were dealt with by increased consumption of foods of the opposite character; those due to disturbance of the normal flow of energy was avoided by the reduced intake of 'irritating' or 'poisonous' foods; and various tonics were believed to raise the amount of energy flow in the body. A rich knowledge of complex dietary rules was found to be prevalent among the lay public because the traditional rules filled explanatory and behavioural niches left open in Western medicine. Dietary manipulation was used to complement Western medicine in the multiple stages of the disease process by playing a predominant role at the beginning and end of the period of pathogenesis.

Diet Therapy↗
PubMed1983

Do cooking fuels pose a risk for lung cancer? A case-control study of women in Hong Kong.

Two hundred female lung cancer patients and 200 female district controls in Hong Kong were interviewed about their previous use of various types of cooking fuels to assess whether any association could be found with lung cancer risk. Mixed results were found when the data were analyzed in terms of ever-exposed vs never-exposed duration, and relationship with smoking. Cases were found to have slightly more exposure to kerosene, whereas controls were likely to have used the cleaner, but more expensive, liquid petroleum gas (LPG) type of fuel. Because the evidence was conflicting if evaluated in terms of consistency, strength, specificity, and coherence of the associations, it was concluded that the small differences in exposure levels between the cases and controls probably reflected their socio-economic circumstances rather than risk for lung cancer. No interaction effect was found between kerosene exposure and smoking.

Cooking↗
PubMed1982

Cancer in Hong Kong: some epidemiological observations.

A good coverage by the Hong Kong Cancer Registry of cases of the common cancers diagnosed in Hong Kong during 1974-78 is indicated by an excess of cases over deaths registered, which is according to expectation from survival prospects. The trends during 1961-79 showed a rapid increase in mortality from lung cancer in both sexes, a moderate rise in liver cancer in males, and small increases in esophageal cancer in males and colon cancer in females. Cervical cancer was the only neoplasm that showed a decreasing trend, although this was small in proportion. Some epidemiological observations on cancer arising in the lung, liver, larynx, and nasopharynx are presented.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1974

[Not Available].

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China↗