Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

S T Weiss

Publications and source records attributed to S T Weiss.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Prospective study of body mass index, weight change, and risk of adult-onset asthma in women.

BACKGROUND: Obesity and asthma are common disorders, and their prevalence rates continue to rise. Although individuals with asthma may gain weight as a result of activity limitations, the relationship between body mass index (BMI), which is calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters, and risk of developing asthma is not known. METHODS: We performed a prospective cohort study of female US registered nurses in the Nurses' Health Study II. In 1991, after excluding women who died with probable asthma or with incomplete data, there were 85911 participants, aged 26 to 46 years. The main outcome measure was self-report of physician-diagnosed asthma with recent use of an asthma medication. RESULTS: From 1991 to 1995, we identified 1596 incident cases of asthma. In a multivariate model controlling for 9 potential confounding factors (including age, race, smoking, physical activity, and energy intake), the relative risks of asthma for 6 increasing categories of BMI in 1991 were 0.9, 1.0 (reference), 1.1, 1.6, 1.7, and 2.7 (P for trend <.001). Stronger associations were found using stricter definitions for asthma, and the finding was present in a variety of subgroups. In analyses controlling for the same variables, as well as BMI at age 18, women who gained weight after age 18 were at significantly increased risk of developing asthma during the 4-year follow-up period (P for trend <.001). CONCLUSIONS: The BMI has a strong, independent, and positive association with risk of adult-onset asthma. The increasing prevalence of obesity in developed nations may help explain concomitant increases in asthma prevalence.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Eosinophilia and positive skin tests predict cardiovascular mortality in a general population sample followed for 30 years.

The authors investigated whether two objective allergy markers, peripheral blood eosinophilia and skin tests for common aeroallergens, were associated with cardiovascular death. Of 5,382 subjects in the Vlagtwedde-Vlaardingen Study (the Netherlands) with data on allergy markers in 1965-1972, 507 subjects died from cardiovascular disease during 30 years of follow-up. Subjects with eosinophilia had an increased risk of cardiovascular death (relative risk (RR) = 1.7; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.4, 2.2), including ischemic heart disease death (RR = 1.6; 95% CI: 1.2, 2.2) and cerebrovascular death (RR = 2.3; 95% CI: 1.4, 3.8), independent of major risk factors. This association was limited to subjects with a percentage of the predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1 % predicted) of <100%. Positive skin tests were associated with a significantly reduced cardiovascular mortality in subjects with normal lung function and weight who did not smoke (RR = 0.15; 95% CI: 0.05, 0.46). Conversely, when subjects with positive skin tests had a body mass index of > or =25 kg/m2, had an FEV1 % predicted of <80%, or smoked, they had an increased risk for cardiovascular mortality. These results were not restricted to asthmatics. Our data suggest a possible link between eosinophilia and positive skin tests and cardiovascular mortality, especially in combination with other risk factors associated with its mortality.

Asthma↗
PubMed1999

Relations between individual and neighborhood-based measures of socioeconomic position and bone lead concentrations among community-exposed men: the Normative Aging Study.

To examine the association between lead exposure and both individual and geographic area indicators of socioeconomic position, the authors measured tibia lead concentration, a biomarker of cumulative lead exposure, using K x-ray fluorescence in a cross-sectional survey of 538 white males aged 50-92 years who were healthy when enrolled in the Normative Aging Study (Boston, Massachusetts) in the 1960s. Data on individual risk factors, education, occupation, and income were collected by questionnaire. Using subjects' residential addresses at the time of the tibia lead measurements, the authors obtained geographic area-specific measures of education, social class, and poverty by linking records to 1990 US Census block group data. In multivariate linear regression analysis controlling for age and cumulative smoking, tibia lead concentrations were 10.39 microg/g (95% confidence interval (CI) 7.80-12.97) higher in men who did not graduate from high school than in men with > or =4 years of college. Among the former men (non-high school graduates), living in an undereducated area was associated with a 9.28 microg/g (95% CI 1.59-16.97) increase in tibia lead level compared with living in a non-undereducated area; among the latter men (college graduates), no difference existed by residential area education (beta = 0.72, 95% CI -5.35 to 6.78). The authors conclude that the influence of individual socioeconomic position on cumulative lead exposure is modified by geographic area conditions.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Relationship of blood pressure to cardiovascular death: the effects of pulse pressure in the elderly.

PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship of systolic and diastolic blood pressure to fatal myocardial infarction, fatal stroke and other death related to cardiovascular diseases (CVD). METHODS: The study was based on a prospective longitudinal study conducted by the Veterans Administration at the Boston Outpatient Clinic. Participants are male volunteers from the greater Boston area. Main outcome measures are fatal myocardial infarction, fatal stroke and other deaths related to cardiovascular diseases. The method of pooled logistic regression was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: For younger men (age 21-59), after adjusting for effects of other risk factors, when systolic and diastolic blood pressure were considered separately, SBP was predictive of cardiovascular death (SBP: RR = 1.23; 95% CI = (1.05, 1.45) per 10 mmHg of increase), and DBP showed a nonsignificant positive trend in relation to cardiovascular death (DBP: RR = 1.27; 95% CI = (0.95, 1.69) per 10 mmHg of increase). For older men (age 60-85), when SBP and DBP were considered separately, SBP (RR = 1.26; 95% CI = (1.02, 1.55) per 15 mmHg of increase) was directly related, but DBP (RR = 1.05; 95% CI = (0.83, 1.32) per 8 mmHg of increase) was not related to cardiovascular death. However, for the elderly group, when SBP and DBP were considered jointly in the regression model, then the regression coefficient of DBP (beta = -0.018, p = 0.30) was of approximately the same absolute magnitude as that of SBP (beta = 0.021, p = 0.02) but opposite in sign. For younger men, when SBP and DBP were considered jointly, SBP (beta = 0.021, p = 0.049) but not DBP (beta = -0.001, p = 0.953) was positively related to cardiovascular death. CONCLUSIONS: We found that, for the elderly, pulse pressure (SBP-DBP) may be a more accurate predictor of cardiovascular death than either SBP or DBP alone. The relative risk per 35 mmHg of increase of pulse pressure, which equals the approximate interval from the 10th to the 90th percentile in the elderly group, is 2.1 with 95% CI = (1.1, 3.8). In younger subjects, SBP, but not DBP, is an independent predictor of fatal CVD.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Gene by environment interaction and asthma.

The term interaction has two specific meanings in epidemiology. The first definition is purely a statistical one. Interaction is defined as the coefficient of the product term of two or more risk factors. An alternative definition is a more biologically oriented one in which interaction between two risk factors is defined as their coparticipation in the same causal mechanism of disease development. There are at least five different types of biological gene by environment interaction. It is important to recognize that clinical or epidemiological studies alone are unable to distinguish between these five different types of biological interaction. Asthma is a prototypical complex trait in which gene by environment interaction is important in disease causation. Environmental factors important in asthma include cigarette smoking (active/passive), allergen exposure, viral and bacterial respiratory illness, occupation, and possibly diet. There are two primary study designs that have been utilized for the assessment of gene by environment interaction: a traditional case control study or a nested case control study or a case control study nested within the larger longitudinal cohort. There are three important methodological issues in the assessment of gene by environment interaction. The first is the issue of misspecification of either genotype or environmental exposure or, for that matter, disease status. The second is possible confounding, and the third is the confounding of interaction with dose response. The four most critical factors for determining sample size for gene by environment interaction studies are the odds ratio for the interaction, the prevalence for exposure in the population, the prevalence of the genotype in the population, and the case to control ratio. In general, sample sizes have been too small to detect meaningful gene by environment interactions.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

The relationship of skin test positivity, high serum total IgE levels, and peripheral blood eosinophilia to symptomatic and asymptomatic airway hyperresponsiveness.

The relationships of skin test positivity, high serum total IgE levels (> 100 kU/L), and peripheral blood eosinophilia (>/= 275 cells/microliter) to symptomatic (either chronic cough, chronic phlegm, bronchitis episodes, dyspnea, wheeze, or asthma) and asymptomatic bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) were studied cross-sectionally in 620 adult subjects who participated in the Vlagtwedde-Vlaardingen Study of 1989 and 1990. Eosinophilia (OR = 2.06, 95% CI = 1.28 to 3.31) and skin test positivity (OR = 1.66, 95% CI = 1.02 to 2.71) were both significantly associated with BHR independent of age, sex, smoking, and urban area of residence. High serum total IgE levels were not associated with BHR (OR = 1.29, 95% CI = 0.81 to 2.03). Separate analyses for symptomatic and asymptomatic subjects showed that the higher risk of BHR with skin test positivity applied only to symptomatic subjects (OR = 5.78, 95% CI = 1.63 to 20.51), independent of eosinophilia and high serum total IgE levels. The higher risk of BHR with eosinophilia was not different between symptomatic and asymptomatic subjects, and independent of skin test positivity and high serum total IgE levels. The results of this study show that, in the general adult population, eosinophilia is associated with BHR both in symptomatic and asymptomatic persons, whereas skin test positivity is associated with BHR only in symptomatic subjects.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

The FEF25-75/FVC ratio is associated with methacholine airway responsiveness. The normative aging study.

Airway responsiveness is known to be partly explained by geometric and anatomic factors. This cross-sectional investigation was undertaken to determine whether FEF25-75/FVC as a surrogate measure of airway size relative to lung size is associated with airway responsiveness to methacholine. Posteroanterior chest radiographs and spirometry were performed on a group of 929 middle aged and older men from an ongoing longitudinal study, the Normative Aging Study, who returned for their regularly scheduled examination between 1984 and 1989. Subjects had a mean age of 60.5 +/- 7.7 yr. FEV1, FEF25-75, and FVC were taken from spirometric results and FEF25-75/FVC ratios were obtained. Main bronchus (MB) and tracheal (TR) diameters and lung area (LA) were obtained from chest radiographs, and ratios of MB/LA and TR/LA were calculated for each subject and compared with FEF25-75/ FVC as measures of airway size relative to lung size. In a multiple linear regression model adjusting for age, height, initial FEV1, smoking, eosinophil count, and IgE level, FEF25-75/FVC was significantly related to the degree of methacholine airway responsiveness as measured by Log10 dose response slope (beta = -0.37, p < 0.001). Controlling for the same variables, both MB/LA (beta = -149.07, p < 0.001) and TR/LA (beta = -125.87, p < 0.001) were significant predictors of the degree of bronchial responsiveness in separate regression models; however, their effects were greatly attenuated when FEF25-75/ FVC was present in the same model. Similar results were obtained after excluding subjects with FEV1/ FVC </= 0.70 and subjects who had any smoking history. We conclude that FEF25-75/FVC as a surrogate measure of airway size relative to lung size is significantly associated with airway responsiveness.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Predictors of repeated wheeze in the first year of life: the relative roles of cockroach, birth weight, acute lower respiratory illness, and maternal smoking.

While more than 80% of childhood asthmatics are allergic to one or more inhaled allergens, the role of inhaled allergens in the induction of wheeze in the first year of life is unknown. In a prospective birth-cohort study of 499 children of asthmatic/allergic parents from metropolitan Boston, we examined home allergen concentrations measured within the first 3 mo of life as predictors of repeated wheeze episodes in the first year of life. In multivariate analyses adjusting for maternal asthma and dog in the home, predictors of two or more wheeze episodes in the first year of life included maternal smoking during pregnancy (relative risk [RR] = 1.83; 95% confidence limit [CL]: 1.12, 3.00), lower respiratory illness in the first year of life (croup, bronchitis, bronchiolitis, or pneumonia) (RR = 2.25; 95% CL:1.58, 3.19), low birthweight (RR = 1.28, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.04, 1.58 for an interquartile difference), and Bla g 1 or 2 (cockroach) allergen level in the family room > 0.05 U/g dust (RR = 1.76; 95% CL: 1.20, 2.57). Cockroach allergen in the family room and repeated wheeze remained significant after adjustment for socioeconomic factors including race and income (RR = 1.63; 95% CL: 1.05, 2.55). It is unknown whether the association between cockroach and repeated wheeze in infancy represents a cockroach-related increased risk of bronchial inflammation through nonallergenic or allergenic mechanisms.

Allergens↗
PubMed1999

Smoking and airway hyperresponsiveness especially in the presence of blood eosinophilia increase the risk to develop respiratory symptoms: a 25-year follow-up study in the general adult population.

Airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) constitutes a risk for development of respiratory symptoms. We assessed whether blood eosinophilia (>/= 275 eosinophils/microliters), skin test positivity (sum score >/= 3) and cigarette smoking (never, ex-smoker, 1-14 cig/d, 15-24 cig/d, >/= 25 cig/d) at the first of two successive surveys are related to the development of respiratory symptoms (chronic cough or phlegm, bronchitis, persistent wheeze, dyspnea, and asthma) at the second survey, and whether these relations are the same in subjects with (PC10 </= 8 mg/ml histamine) and without AHR. We analyzed data of the longitudinal Vlagtwedde-Vlaardingen Study (1965 to 1990) using logistic regression analyses with paired observations, taking multiple measurements within a person into account. In total, 995 men and 792 women contributed 4,403 paired observations. Eosinophilia in hyperresponsive subjects significantly increased the risk to develop one or more respiratory symptoms (odds ratio [OR] = 3.67, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.79 to 7.52), wheeze (OR = 5. 06, 95% CI = 2.11 to 12.13), and dyspnea (OR = 2.73, 95% CI = 1.13 to 6.60), independent of smoking, age, sex, area of residence, and time between two successive surveys. Smoking at the first of two successive surveys increased the risk to develop symptoms in a dose-dependent relation. Subjects with positive skin tests in the past were less likely to develop one or more respiratory symptoms (OR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.46 to 0.88) and chronic phlegm (OR = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.42 to 1.00), independent of AHR. This longitudinal study in the general adult population shows that cigarette smoking and hyperresponsive subjects are at increased risk to develop respiratory symptoms, and especially so when eosinophilia is present in hyperresponsive persons.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Association between a sequence variant in the IL-4 gene promoter and FEV(1) in asthma.

Recent family-based studies have revealed evidence for linkage of human chromosome 5q31 to the diagnosis of asthma, elevated serum IgE levels, and bronchial hyperresponsiveness. Among the candidate genes in this region is the gene encoding for human interleukin-4 (IL-4). We reasoned that this gene could also serve as a candidate gene with respect to asthma severity as indicated by the FEV(1) measured when bronchodilator treatment was withheld. To test this hypothesis, we examined a large population of patients with asthma (ascertained without respect to genetic characteristics), for associations between a genetic variant in the IL-4 promoter region (C-589T) and asthma severity, as indicated by FEV(1). We used amplification by the polymerase chain reaction followed by BsmF1 restriction digestion to assign genotypes at the IL-4 promoter C-589T locus. We compared genotypes at this locus in 772 Caucasian and African American patients with asthma of varying severity, and we used multiple regression analysis to relate genotypic findings to FEV(1). Among white individuals, the homozygous presence of the C-589T IL-4 promoter genotype (TT) was associated with a FEV(1) below 50% of predicted (p = 0.013; OR, 1.44; 95% CI: 1.09 to 1.90). Subjects with the TT genotype had mean FEV(1) (% predicted) values 4.5% lower than those of subjects with the wild-type (CC) genotype at this locus. FEV(1) values of white patients with a CC or CT genotype were broadly distributed, whereas the TT genotype was associated with a narrow distribution of low FEV(1) values. The frequency of the T allele was significantly greater (p = 1 x 10(-)(23)) among African American asthmatics (0.544) than among white asthmatics (0.183). These data provide the first evidence associating FEV(1) in patients with asthma and genetic determinants at any locus. Our data are consistent with the idea that the FEV(1) in asthma is the result of multiple factors; one of these factors is the genotype at the IL-4 C-589T locus. This locus is associated with a small but significant decrement in pulmonary function among white asthmatic subjects.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Day care attendance in the first year of life and illnesses of the upper and lower respiratory tract in children with a familial history of atopy.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between day care attendance and illnesses of the upper and lower respiratory tract in the first year of life. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective birth cohort study. METHODS: Children (N = 498) who had at least 1 parent with a history of allergy or asthma were enrolled at birth and followed prospectively for the first year of life. A home visit at 2 to 3 months of age and bimonthly telephone questionnaires were used to obtain information on day care arrangements, home characteristics, respiratory symptoms, and physician-diagnosed illnesses of the upper and lower respiratory tract. RESULTS: Day care attendance in the first year of life was associated with two or more doctor-diagnosed ear infections (OR: 2.4; 95% CI: 1.7-3.6), three or more parental reports of runny or stuffed nose (OR: 3.2; 95% CI: 1.9-5.5), a doctor's diagnosis of sinusitis (OR: 2.2; 95% CI: 1.1-4.2), and doctor-diagnosed lower respiratory illnesses (croup, bronchitis, bronchiolitis, and pneumonia; OR: 1.6; 95% CI: 1.0-2.4). For children attending day care, exposure to pets in day care, the presence of a rug or carpet in the area where the child slept in day care, and a nonresidential setting for day care all were independent predictors of two or more doctor-diagnosed ear infections. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that day care increases the risk of illnesses of the upper and lower respiratory tract in the first year of life for children with a familial history of atopy. Specific environmental exposures within day care, such as the presence of pets or having a rug or carpet in the area where children sleep, may increase the risk of recurrent ear infections in the first year of life among children with familial history of atopy who attend day care.

Asthma↗
PubMed1998

Electrocardiographic conduction disturbances in association with low-level lead exposure (the Normative Aging Study).

Recent research indicates that cumulative exposure to lead may be more toxic than previously thought. This study was undertaken to examine the relation of low-level lead exposure to electrocardiographic (ECG) conduction disturbances among 775 men who participated in the Normative Aging Study (average age 68 years; range 48 to 93). We used K-x-ray fluorescence to measure lead levels in the tibia and patella, and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy to measure blood lead levels. The mean (SD) values for blood lead, tibia lead, and patella lead were 5.8 (3.4) microg/dl, 22.2 (13.4) microg/g, and 30.8 (19.2) microg/g, respectively. Bone lead levels were found to be positively associated with heart rate-corrected QT and QRS intervals, especially in younger men. Specifically, in men <65 years of age, a 10 microg/g increase in tibia lead was associated with an increase in the QT interval of 5.03 ms (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83 to 9.22) and with an increase in the QRS interval of 4.83 ms (95% CI, 1.83 to 7.83) in multivariate regression models. In addition, an elevated bone lead level was found to be positively associated with an increased risk of intraventricular block in men <65 years of age and with an increased risk of atrioventricular (AV) block in men > or = 65 years of age. After adjustment for age and for serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level, a 10 microg/g increase in tibia lead was associated with an odds ratio (OR) of 2.23 (95% CI, 1.28 to 3.90) for intraventricular block in men <65 years of age and with an OR of 1.22 (95% CI, 1.02 to 1.47) for AV block in men > or = 65 years of age. Blood lead level was not associated with any of the ECG outcomes examined. The results suggest that cumulative exposure to lead, even at low levels, may depress cardiac conduction.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

Prospective study of a self-report type A scale and risk of coronary heart disease: test of the MMPI-2 type A scale.

BACKGROUND: Several methods exist by which to assess type A behavior (TAB). Although the videotaped clinical interview is regarded as the "gold standard," self-report measures have also proved useful in assessing TAB in large population studies. The purpose of this study was to examine prospectively the relationship of TAB to risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence with the use of the revised Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) Type A Scale. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first test of this scale in the context of predicting CHD incidence. METHODS AND RESULTS: The study was performed in the VA Normative Aging Study, an ongoing cohort of older (mean age, 61 years) community-dwelling men. A total of 1305 men who were free of diagnosed CHD in 1986 completed the MMPI-2 Type A Scale. During an average 7.0 years of follow-up, 110 cases of incident CHD occurred. Compared with men in the lowest quartile of type A scores, men in the highest quartile had multivariate adjusted relative risks of 2.86 (95% CI, 1.19 to 6.89; P for trend=0.016) for combined CHD death and nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI) and 2.30 (95% CI, 1.32 to 4.01; P for trend=0.001) for combined CHD death/nonfatal MI plus angina pectoris. The relationship of TAB to CHD was independent of measures of anger and cynicism. CONCLUSIONS: The MMPI-2 Type A Scale predicts CHD incidence. Further research is warranted to examine the correlation, if any, between this scale and the videotaped clinical interview.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Anxiety and coronary heart disease: a synthesis of epidemiological, psychological, and experimental evidence.

The purpose of this review is to examine the epidemiological, psychological, and experimental evidence for an association between anxiety and coronary heart disease (CHD). Papers published during the years 1980-1996 on anxiety and CHD and relevant publications from earlier years were selected for this review. Epidemiologic evidence suggests that anxiety may be a risk factor for the development of CHD. Chronic anxiety may increase the risk of CHD by: (a) influencing health behaviors (e.g. smoking); (b) promoting atherogenesis (e.g. via increased risk of hypertension); and (c) triggering fatal coronary events, either through arrhythmia, plaque rupture, coronary vasospasm, or thrombosis. Electrophysiologic evidence is particularly compelling: anxiety appears to be associated with abnormal cardiac autonomic control, which may indicate increased risk of fatal ventricular arrhythmias. The strength, consistency, and dose-response gradient of the association between anxiety and CHD, together with the biologic plausibility of the experimental evidence, suggest that anxiety may contribute to risk of CHD and that the relationship warrants further investigation.

Anxiety Disorders↗
PubMed1998

Indoor allergens and longitudinal FEV1 decline in older adults: the Normative Aging Study.

We investigated the relationship between home allergen exposure and decline in FEV1 in 10 asthmatic and 30 randomly selected, age-matched, nonasthmatic participants in the Normative Aging Study. We defined asthma as subject-reported wheezing apart from colds, with either a physician's diagnosis of asthma or a methacholine PD20 FEV1 of 8.6 micromol or less. We examined the relationship between the annual decline in FEV1 and the concentrations of the cockroach (Blattella germanica) allergens Bla g 1 and Bla g 2, the dust mite (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and Dermatophagoides farinae) allergens Der p 1 and Der f 1, and the cat (Felis domesticus) allergen Fel d 1 in house dust specimens. Bla g 1 (-79.8 ml/yr, p = 0.0006) and Bla g 2 (-40.81 ml/yr, p = 0.0004) were significant predictors of decline in FEV1 after adjustment for age, smoking, and baseline FEV1. These results were unchanged after elimination of the asthmatic subjects from the analysis. We conclude that cockroach allergen levels in homes is a risk factor for accelerated decline in FEV1 independent of airway responsiveness.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Blood pressure at age 3-24 years in a rural community in Anhui, China.

PURPOSE: This community-based study in Anhui, China examined the sex-specific pattern of blood pressure (BP) and its major determinants between age 3 and 24 years. METHODS: BP, height, weight, and related covariates were obtained from all eligible subjects by consistent methods. A generalized additive model was used to explore independent relations between BP and covariates. The sample for analyses included a total of 14,277 subjects (7244 males and 7033 females). RESULTS: Systolic blood pressure (SBP) increased linearly with age to an apparent plateau around the age of 15 years in girls and 20 years in boys. Diastolic blood pressure (DBP) essentially paralleled SBP. Until the age of 10, both SBP and DBP were similar in boys and girls; thereafter, values for boys surpassed those for girls with an average difference of 9 mmHg and 4 mmHg for SBP and DBP, respectively, at 20 years of age. This sex difference appeared to persist into early adulthood. The independent relation between BP and each of the three major determinants (age, height, and weight) was nonlinear over the age range studied. Sex-specific regression models with linear terms for age, height and weight were developed for each of four age groups (3-9, 10-14, 15-19, 20-24 years). The 5th, 10th, 90th, and 95th percentiles based on the percentage of predicted values can serve as the cutoffs for low, normal-low, normal-high, and high BP. The predicted values were derived from the above regression models that take into account an individual's sex, age, height, and weight. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis provided important basis for classification of hypertension status and subsequent investigation of environmental risk factors in this population.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Environmental risk factors in childhood asthma.

Eighty per cent of all childhood asthma has its onset by 3 years of age. A similar percentage of childhood asthma is associated with atopy (presence of allergic rhinitis or eczema and/or positive skin prick tests). Defined risk factors for childhood asthma include allergen exposure, environmental tobacco smoke, viral respiratory illness, the presence of other atopic disease, and gender. Although a large percentage of children will have remission of asthma as they grow, they will retain the intermediate phenotypes of increased airway responsiveness and allergen and, therefore, be at risk of recrudescence of disease in adult life.

Allergens↗