Biomedical subjects

M Koskenvuo

Publications and source records attributed to M Koskenvuo.

239 records · Page 14Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Hostility as a risk factor for mortality and ischemic heart disease in men.

We report the association between hostility and the incidence of ischemic heart disease (IHD) in 3,750 Finnish men aged 40-59. Hostility was assessed from self-ratings on irritability, ease of anger-arousal, and argumentativeness, and four groups were formed from the summed hostility ratings. At baseline, the age-adjusted relative risk (RR) of the prevalence of angina pectoris between the highest and lowest hostility groups was 2.88 (95% confidence limits (CL), range 1.71-4.77). A three-year follow-up yielded 65 deaths and 109 IHD-incident cases. Hostility did not predict IHD among healthy men, but among men with previous IHD and hypertension (N = 104), the age-adjusted RR of IHD between the highest and lowest hostility groups was 12.9 (95% CL, 3.92-42.6). After standardization for smoking, obesity, heavy alcohol use, and snoring, the RR was 14.6 (95% CL, 1.94-110). When the degree of dyspnea at baseline was also standardized, the RR was 21.1 (95% CL, 1.59-282). Our data suggest that extreme hostility is not a consequence of symptom severity; rather, hostility is a strong determinant of coronary attack among hypertensive men with IHD.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Self-reported hostility and suicidal acts, accidents, and accidental deaths: a prospective study of 21,443 adults aged 25 to 59.

The association of self-reported hostility with morbidity and mortality due to external causes, including suicidal acts, was analyzed in 10,586 Finnish men and 10,857 Finnish women aged 24 to 59 years. Hostility was assessed from self-ratings on irritability, ease of anger-arousal, and argumentativeness. Three groups, low (33.6% of subjects), intermediate (50.6%), and extreme (15.9%), were formed from the self-reported hostility scores. A 6-year mortality follow-up yielded 76 violent deaths among men and 11 among women. A 4-year morbidity follow-up found 399 hospitalizations due to external causes among men and 169 among women. Among men, the risk ratio between the highest and lowest hostility groups was 1.51 (95% confidence interval, 1.16-1.96) for all events due to external causes and 3.6 (95% confidence interval, 1.63-7.89) for suicidal behavior, when effects of age, marital status, social status, and self-reported alcohol use were controlled in a multivariate model. No association was observed between traffic-related injuries and hostility. Hostility did not predict accidents or accidental deaths or suicidal behavior among women.

Accidents↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Inheritance of high density lipoprotein and lipoprotein lipase and hepatic lipase activity.

The role of genetic and environmental factors in the regulation of plasma high density lipoprotein (HDL) was estimated in 17 monozygotic (MZ) and 18 dizygotic (DZ) male twins randomly selected from the Finnish Twin Cohort Study. In addition to HDL cholesterol, we determined the HDL subfractions, HDL2 and HDL3, and the major HDL apoproteins (apo) A-I and A-II. The activities of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and hepatic lipase (HL) were also assayed from postheparin plasma to get information on their possible contribution to the heritability of HDL. Evidence for the genetic component in the regulation of plasma HDL received support from the heritability estimate of 0.34. The different heritability estimates of HDL2 and HDL3 (h2 of 0.56 and less than 0, respectively) support the idea that the HDL subfraction distribution might be important in the genetic regulation of plasma HDL level. This also received support from the heritability of apo A-I (h2 = 0.66), mainly varying in HDL2, and the lack of it in apo A-II, found mainly in HDL3. These conclusions were strengthened by standardizing the data with relative ponderosity. Postheparin plasma HL activity had a high pairwise correlation coefficient in the MZ twins (r = 0.80, p less than 0.001), whereas LPL displayed no within-pair correlation. Neither of the lipolytic enzymes, LPL or HL, showed any correlation in the DZ twins. Therefore, it is suggested that part of the genetic regulation of the HDL and its subfraction distribution might be mediated through the activity of HL.

Apolipoprotein A-II↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Lower-limb function among former elite male athletes.

To determine the relationship between previous lower-limb loading and current self-reported hip and knee disability, we sent a questionnaire to 1321 former elite male athletes who had represented Finland between 1920 and 1965 in international competitions and to 814 control subjects who had been classified as healthy at the age of 20. After adjustment for age, body mass index, and occupational group, the odds ratios of hip disability in the athletes compared with control subjects were 0.35 in endurance athletes (95% confidence interval, 0.14 to 0.85, P = 0.02), 0.56 in team sport athletes (0.28 to 1.10, P = 0.09), 0.30 in track and field athletes (0.12 to 0.73, P < 0.01), 0.84 in power sport athletes (0.51 to 1.39, P = 0.49), 0.30 in shooters (0.07 to 1.32, P = 0.11), and 0.54 (0.36 to 0.82, P < 0.01) in all athletes combined. Compared with control subjects, only team sport athletes had a higher risk of knee disability (odds ratio, 1.76; 95% confidence interval, 1.03 to 3.02; P = 0.04). Even though athletes have been reported to be at an increased risk for lower-limb osteoarthritis, our data show that former elite male endurance and track and field athletes and all athletes combined reported less hip disability than the control subjects. The effect of vigorous athletic activity on the function of knee joints is more controversial, because sports that involve a high risk of knee injury are likely to lead to pain, disability, and osteoarthritis.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

False-positive seroreactions for syphilis as a harbinger of disease revisited.

A cohort of 59 initially healthy subjects with chronic false-positive seroreactions for syphilis was followed for 3 to 19 years (mean 13 years) by data linkage to computerized population registry and to national hospital discharge registry using a unique personal identification number. One subject had moved abroad, but all others were known to be alive at the end of the follow-up period. Four subjects developed systemic lupus erythematosus and two developed rheumatoid arthritis. One subject was admitted to hospital because of protracted substernal pain, but a myocardial infarction could not be verified. This case corresponds to the expected number of cardiovascular events in the cohort. A chronic false positive seroreaction for syphilis was calculated to represent a hundred-fold risk for the development of systemic lupus, but such seroreactions did not seem to predict an excess of cardiovascular diseases.

Adolescent↗