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Biomedical subjects

S Karvonen

Publications and source records attributed to S Karvonen.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Household educational level as a determinant of consumption of raw vegetables among male and female adolescents.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to examine the association between household educational level and consumption of raw vegetables among adolescents and to assess the influence of other determinants on the association, such as family factors, school achievement, health behavior, meal pattern, and weight-related factors. A further aim was to investigate whether the associations were the same for male and female adolescents. METHODS: The study is based on data from the School Health Promotion Survey 1997-1998. Data were collected by a classroom-administered questionnaire, which was completed by 76,201 secondary school pupils. The study recorded the consumption of raw vegetables, but not the consumption of cooked vegetables. Multivariate logistic regressions were used in the analyses. RESULTS: A clear positive association between educational level of the household and daily consumption of raw vegetables was found among adolescents. The adolescent's own school achievement explained part of the association between household educational level and consumption of raw vegetables. Other factors explained the association to a small degree, with meal pattern and weight factors having no effect. The associations were similar for both genders. CONCLUSIONS: Educational level in the household is an important determinant of consumption of raw vegetables. A household with a high educational level will also presumably contain adolescents who have good school achievement, another strong predictor of frequent consumption of raw vegetables.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Patterns of health-related behaviour and their cross-cultural validity--a comparative study on two populations of young people.

The study aimed at exploring health-related behaviour patterns among young people. The approach was cross-cultural and the study was focused on identifying culturally valid behaviour patterns in two countries, Finland (F) and Switzerland (CH). Data came from two surveys and included 16- and 18-year-old respondents (F: study year 1993, n = 280, CH: study year 1992/3, n = 272). Three intake behaviours--eating, drinking and smoking--were analysed by means of cluster and logistic regression analyses. Three cross-culturally valid behaviour clusters emerged: a healthy, an unhealthy and a mixed pattern where unhealthy eating behaviours were combined with non-smoking and low alcohol use. The determinants of the patterns were tested by comparing the two countries in relation to the socio-demographic characteristics of the young people that belonged in the same cluster. In both countries the structure of the determinants was almost identically indicating high cross-cultural stability. The study suggests that among young people of this age there is clear and cross-culturally consistent patterning of health-related behaviours.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Social mobility and health related behaviours in young people.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To assess the influences related to social mobility, particularly health related behaviours, as one potential explanation for the social class variation in health among adults. DESIGN: The study is based on questionnaire data from the Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Surveys of 1985, 1987, and 1989. SETTING: The whole of Finland. PARTICIPANTS: A representative sample of 8355 adolescents. The response rate was 79%. MEASUREMENT AND MAIN RESULTS: The relation between social mobility and health related behaviours among 16 and 18 year old young people was studied. The measure of social mobility was based on a combination of the social class of origin and achieved social position measured by the present educational status, educational attainment, and labour market position. Three mobility groups were constructed: the downwardly mobile, the upwardly mobile and the stable. Health related behaviours in an upwardly or downwardly mobile group were compared with a stable group from the same social class of origin by calculating relative risks (RR). RRs were assessed by calculating age and sex adjusted rate ratios approximating a Mantel-Haenszel estimate. In logistic regression analyses the independent effects of the social class of origin and the achieved social position were investigated. Most of the nine behaviours studied (smoking, alcohol use, heavy intoxication, coffee drinking, tooth brushing, consumption of sweets, lack of physical exercise, choice of bread spread, and consumption of milk) were related to the direction of mobility so that health compromising behaviours were more frequent among downwardly mobile and less frequent among upwardly mobile young people than their stable peers. Achieved social position proved to determine health related behaviours more strongly than class of origin, thus emphasising the way education facilitates both health values and behaviours as well as the future social position. CONCLUSIONS: The close relation between social mobility and health related behaviours is concluded to be a part of an explanation of social class differences in health observed among adults.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Individual differences in adolescent religiosity in Finland: familial effects are modified by sex and region of residence.

Data from 16-year-old Finnish twin pairs were used to estimate familial effects on religiosity and the modification of those effects by sex and residential region. The sample of 2265 twin boys and 2521 twin girls formed 779 monozygotic and 1614 dizygotic pairs, 785 of the same sex and 829 of opposite sex. We compared religiosity scores of twins living in more rural and traditional northern Finland with those living in the more urban and secular southern region. Girls had higher religiosity scores than did boys, and twins living in northern Finland had higher religiosity scores than those resident in southern Finland. Correlations for monozygotic twins were slightly higher than those for dizygotic twins, and covariance modeling found modest heritability of religiosity [11% (95% CI 0-24) for girls; 22% (95% CI 6-38) for boys], and substantial shared environmental effects [60% (95% CI 49-69) and 45% (95% CI 31-57)] among girls and boys, respectively. The correlation between shared environmental effects in boys and girls was estimated to be 0.84 (95% CI 0.73-0.99). In analyses distinguishing region of residence, girls living in southern Finland were found to have significantly higher unshared environmental effects than girls in northern Finland, while boys living in the urban south appeared to have lower shared environmental effects, and higher additive genetic effects, than boys living in the rural north.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Urban small area variation in adolescents' health behaviour.

Our previous study indicated that region plays a relatively small role in adolescents' health behaviour. Here, the regional patterning of health behaviour is studied further by shifting the focus to small areas. First, we test whether small area socioeconomic, demographic and housing characteristics correlate with health behaviour. The analysis then turns to the relationship between these characteristics and their individual level correlates. We wish to ascertain if behaviour is related to small area characteristics similarly for both genders and for adolescents' socioeconomic characteristics. The Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey data from 1989-1995 (16- and 18-year-olds, n = 1048, response rate 71%) were linked with data describing 33 subareas of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Smoking, alcohol use, abstention from dietary fat and physical activity were used as lifestyle indicators. Gender apparently influences the extent to which the area plays a role. Logistic regression demonstrated that prolonged unemployment predicted low prevalence of abstention from dietary fat (traditional dietary patterns) among girls and heavy drinking among boys. High total rate of unemployment predicted lower physical activity among girls. Also owner-occupied housing correlated positively with girls' physical activity. Although the individual level socioeconomic characteristics were not as strongly related to health behaviour as the small area factors, a low level of education predicted smoking and alcohol use and, among girls, decreased physical activity. We conclude that small area characteristics, especially the level of unemployment of the area, may be even more strongly related to health behaviour than individual socioeconomic characteristics.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Trends in toothbrushing frequency among Finnish adolescents between 1977 and 1995.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse trends in development of the toothbrushing frequency of Finnish adolescents and the socio-economic factors associated with these trends between 1977 and 1995. DESIGN: The data were collected as part of a nation-wide research programme, the Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey, which started in 1977. Since then a 12-page questionnaire has been sent every other year. Dental health behaviour was studied from the outset. SUBJECTS: The sample represented 12-, 14-, 16- and 18-year-old children and adolescents in Finland. The sample size varied between 3,205-10,626, making a total of 66,687 participants. OUTCOME MEASURES: The recommended toothbrushing frequency, twice-a-day, was studied. The socio-economic factors included age, gender, self-assessed school performance, level of education, socio-economic status of the householder, and socio-economic category of the residential area. RESULTS: Among boys, daily toothbrushing increased from 1977 to 1995, but among girls it remained stable. Among boys, the prevalence of twice-a-day toothbrushing frequency varied from 13 per cent to 25 per cent between the ages of 12 and 18 years, and among girls from 32 per cent to 60 per cent, respectively. Among 12- to 14-year-old boys, the socio-economic differences almost disappeared. There were no changes among 12- to 14-year-old girls but there was an unexpected declining trend in toothbrushing among 16- to 18-year-old girls. Apparently further improvement in the toothbrushing frequency of girls had stopped. CONCLUSIONS: Although there was a clear trend towards improvement of toothbrushing frequency among boys, their toothbrushing frequency still lagged far behind that of girls.

Achievement↗
PubMed1996

Socio-regional context as a determinant of adolescents' health behaviour in Finland.

Until recently, the role of socio-regional context as a determinant of adolescents' health behaviour has been largely neglected in health studies. Usually the focus is on characteristics of individuals, while the potentially equally strong effect of the context is left unanalysed. Using multi-level data we studied whether socio-regional context influences health behaviour and whether it modifies differences by socio-economic background of adolescents. The individual level data derive from the (Finnish) Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey. In the survey, nationally representative data of 16- and 18-year old Finns were collected in 1991 and 1993 by mailed questionnaires (total n = 9121, response rate = 76%). These data were linked with a database that included socio-economic characteristics of municipalities. Three dimensions of the socio-regional context were measured: level of services, occupational structure and self-sufficiency of employment. In a series of logistic regression models, factors related to daily smoking, weekly alcohol use, use of high milk fat products and frequent physical activity were analysed. Socio-economic background of the adolescent was a strong determinant of all four health behaviours. Drinking and use of high milk fat products were, however, also related to the socio-regional context. The relationship between socio-regional context and these behaviours was dissimilar, so that the dimensions of the socio-regional context that were related to the behaviours were different among boys than among girls. Our study shows that socio-regional context associates with adolescents' alcohol use and use of high milk fat products, while the more detailed nature of this relationship remains unclear.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Chewing of xylitol gum--a well adopted practice among finnish adolescents.

The adoption of xylitol chewing gum in Finland was studied using data from two comparable postal surveys for national samples of 12- to 18-year-olds in 1977 (response rate 79%, n = 2,528) and 1991 (77%, n = 7,672). In 1977 only 12% of this age group used xylitol chewing gum but, by 1991 it had become common (64% of boys, 81% of girls). Daily use increased from 1 to 15% among boys and from 1 to 32% among girls. Use of sucrose chewing gum decreased; in 1991 only 2% used it daily. Daily use of xylitol chewing gum did not vary according to socioeconomic status or level of urbanization. The increase in use of xylitol chewing gum is an example of the positive effect of health education given by a comprehensive, preventively oriented system of dental health care in association with commercial interests.

Abdominal Pain↗
PubMed1995

Regional differences in drinking among Finnish adolescents.

Regional variation in health behaviour can be explained either by differences in the socio-demographic characteristics of population or can be based on some other differences, such as cultural traditions. The purpose of this study was to find out the extent to which provincial differences in adolescents' alcohol use can be reduced to socio-demographic differences between adolescent populations of the provinces. A cross-sectional postal survey data from the Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey was used. In 1991, the sample was weighted according to the size of the province. It represented 16- and 18-year-old Finns in each province (n = 6600). Provincial variation in weekly alcohol use was reduced for about one quarter and the ordering of the provinces in drinking changed when the differences in urbanization level between provinces were adjusted. When socio-demographic factors were adjusted two provinces still differed significantly from the other provinces. Our study shows that variation in alcohol use among Finnish adolescents is related to where they live, and not simply to demographics.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Bar coding--a functional tool in survey research.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The aim was to assess the value of bar coding, together with developed microcomputer programs, as a tool to speed up mailing and handling of return responses of a survey where over 4000 adolescents received a mailed questionnaire. DESIGN: Bar codes were used for displaying the identification number of a questionnaire, as well as each response alternative and number of the question. These bar codes were read by a wand, a handhold scanner, connected to a microcomputer and the data were automatically entered into a computer data file. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Compared with previous similar surveys, the use of bar codes did not seem to affect a manner of responding. Bar coding saved human steps in handling of return responses, reduced an error rate, and helped to control the process of work. Bar coding is recommended as a new technical tool for preparations of future large scale surveys.

Attitude to Computers↗
PubMed1976

Arterial and venous blood lidocaine concentrations after local anaesthesia of the respiratory tract using an ultrasonic nebulizer.

Arterial and venous blood lidocaine concentrations were intermittently measured in 15 bronchoscopy patients in whom local anaesthesia was induced by an inhalation technique. A DeVillbiss ultrasonic nebulizer model 3574 was used. The anaesthetic was 10 ml of 4% lidocaine without adrenaline. Blood concentrations were measured 5 min after commencement of inhalation, on completion of inhalation, and then after 10, 30 and 60 min. Statistically significantly higher concentrations were found in the arterial blood at the first two sampling times (P less than 0.01 and P less than 0.05, respectively). The highest average concentration in both arterial and venous blood eas reached 10 min after completion of anaesthesia. After 30 min, there was no difference between the arterial and venous samples; and after 60 min, the concentration was higher in venous blood. The highest individual concentration was 2.8 mug/ml in arterial blood and 2.1 mug/ml in venous blood, well below that reported to cause systemic toxic symptoms. Thus, the inhalation technique may be considered a safe means of inducing anaesthesia in the respiratory tract.

Adult↗