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M Graffar

Publications and source records attributed to M Graffar.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1988

The Belgian Heart Disease Prevention Project: 10-year mortality follow-up.

The Belgian Heart Disease Prevention Project was a controlled, randomized multifactorial intervention trial in middle-aged men which lasted 6 years. Significant net differences between intervention and control groups were observed in change in risk profile, in total mortality and in CHD incidence. The net difference in risk profile change was greatest at two years, intermediate at four years and minimal at six years. Total and cause-specific mortality rates were systematically followed from the 6th to the 10th year. Follow-up at 10 years was 99.3% complete. The differences between intervention and control groups in total, coronary and cardiovascular mortality reduced from the 6th to the 10th year. The results suggest that changes in risk profile are rapidly followed by changes in cardiovascular mortality, but this applies in both directions. Thus risk reduction should be maintained in order to achieve a long-lasting preventive effect.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Belgian heart disease prevention project: incidence and mortality results.

Results are presented from the Belgian Heart Disease Prevention Project, part of the WHO European Collaborative Trial in the Multifactorial Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). 19 409 men aged 40-59 yr took part; they were employed in thirty factories which formed the allocation units for a randomised controlled trial lasting 5-6 yr. The intervention package consisted largely of health education promoting a cholesterol-lowering diet, smoking cessation, weight control, physical activity, and treatment of arterial hypertension. A programme of information was supplemented by face-to-face counselling at the workplace by two physicians attached to the project. The coronary risk profile was reduced in the intervention group, compared with that in the control group, especially during the first 4 yr, by effects on serum cholesterol, number of cigarettes smoked daily, and arterial blood-pressure. Total mortality was 17.5% lower in the intervention group than in the control group (p = 0.038). Coronary mortality was reduced by a non-significant 20.8% whereas CHD incidence (non-fatal myocardial infarction plus fatal myocardial infarction plus sudden deaths) was reduced by 24.5% (p = 0.031). Non-fatal myocardial infarction (not a major end-point) was similarly reduced by 26.1% (p = 0.030).

Adult↗
PubMed1981

[The Belgian Heart Disease Prevention Project (author's transl)].

The Belgian Heart Disease Prevention Project is a controlled multifactorial preventive trial. It is basal on the well-documented epidemiologic notion of major coronary risk-factors: hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, smoking and obesity. This Project has been executed in industries, in males aged 40-59 yrs at the base-line screening. It is part of the WHO European Collaborative Trial including the United-Kingdom, Italy, Poland and Spain. This trial should verify a double work-hypothesis: 1 degree it is possible to modify significantly the coronary risk profile in middle-aged males through a comprehensive intervention program, 2 degrees this modification should, in turn, significantly reduce total mortality as compared to a control group. The authors discuss the pros and cons of a preventive trial in industry and review the numerous problems raised by the difficulties in modifying well-established life-styles as well as those related to the follow-up morbidity and mortality. Final screening took place in 1979-80 and results regarding incidence should be available by 1981.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

[Geographic pathology of cardiovascular diseases in Belgium (author's transl)].

The association in many populations of the fat content of the diet and frequency of ischemic heart disease is mentioned. The author gives a summary of papers showing on one hand, a high correlation between the content of the diet in saturated fatty acids and ischemic heart disease morbidity and mortality rates, and, on the other hand, the protective effect of a change towards more polyunsaturated fatty acids in the diet. Several teams of Belgian researchers have recently published new facts on this matter. In the Northern Flemish speaking part of the country, saturated fatty acids have been partially replaced by polyunsaturated fatty acids from vegetable sources. This change has been followed by a general decrease of ischemic heart disease incidence, prevalence and mortality rates. In the Southern French speaking part of the country, the alimentary changes have not occurred so far; the ischemic heart disease morbidity and mortality rates stand higher.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

The pattern of food and mortality in Belgium.

Belgians have been gradually shifting from a low ratio of polyunsaturated/saturated fat in their food to a higher one with lower total fat and cholesterol. This has occurred predominantly in the north, where the most obvious change is a decrease in butter consumption and an increase in margarine consumption. The northerners have a four to five times smaller intake of butter than the southerners and nearly double the intake of margarine. Evidence gathered over the past ten years reveals in the north a decreasing serum-cholesterol and in the south a significantly higher serum-cholesterol, associated with higher coronary morbidity and mortality. Life expectancy of males in the north is 2-4 years higher at birth and 2-2 years higher at the age of 30. It is concluded that the food habits of a population can be changed, with great benefit.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A comparative study of the fit of four different functions to longitudinal data of growth in height of Belgian girls.

We have fitted Preece-Baines model 1, double logistic, logistic and Gompertz functions to longitudinal data on the growth in height of 35 Belgian girls, followed from birth to 18.0 years. The Preece-Baines model 1 showed significantly lower residual mean squares than the double logistic function, when fitted to data beyond the age of 1.0 year. The former model was also most robust towards variations in the lower age bound by the subject's data series and always described the adolescent spurt better than the latter. Both models fitted the data badly when measurements before the age of 1.0 year were included, and they usually estimated the point at take-off too early. Over the adolescent cycle, only, the logistic function fitted our data slightly better than the Gompertz function, with significantly lower pooled residual mean squares, though a slightly worse performance in the runs-test.

Adolescent↗