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V Persky

Publications and source records attributed to V Persky.

43 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Time trends in the US racial difference in hypertension.

This paper explores time trends in racial differences in hypertension and in mortality from complications from hypertension in the United States. Mortality data were derived from death certificate data compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics and presented in the 1981 Report of the Working Group on Arteriosclerosis. Prevalence data were obtained from five populations--6,672 people screened in 1960-1962 by the National Health Examination Survey (NHES); 20,749 screened in 1971-1975 by the Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HANES I); 158,539 screened in 1973-1974 by the Hypertension Detection and Followup Program (HDFP); 1 million persons screened in 1973-1975 by the Community Hypertension Evaluation Clinics (CHEC); and 20,325 screened in 1976-1980 by the second Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HANES II). Mortality data indicate that the nonwhite/white ratios for mortality from complications of hypertension increased between 1940 and 1967 and decreased between 1968 and 1978. Prevalence data show a corresponding recent decrease in black minus white mean blood pressure. Some of the decrease appears to be due to a greater improvement in hypertension control for blacks than for whites. Time trends in the black/white ratio in prevalence of hypertension were examined with differential treatment effects controlled by inclusion as hypertensive those on drug therapy. The results indicate that in addition to differential changes in therapy, the ratio of black/white prevalence of hypertension may also be decreasing. Additional studies are needed to confirm this finding and to explore time changes in racial patterns of risk factors for hypertension.

Black People↗

Coffee and pancreatic cancer: an analysis of international mortality data.

This study assessed the relationship of per capita coffee imports and consumption, total dietary fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, tobacco, cigarettes, and national income for 1957-1965 to age-adjusted pancreatic cancer death rates of men and women from 22 countries in 1971-1974. With simple correlation analysis, coffee, total dietary fat, saturated fat, and national income were each significantly correlated with both male and female pancreatic cancer mortality. Bivariate partial correlation coefficients of coffee with pancreatic cancer mortality were significant (one-tailed) in 11 of 12 analyses and borderline significant in two-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) (two-tailed) controlling for each of the other variables. Saturated fat and pancreatic cancer were also significantly related in univariate analyses, and in 11 of 12 bivariate partial correlation analyses; in ANOVA, significance was borderline in 10 of 12 analyses. Total fat and pancreatic mortality were also significantly associated in most of the univariate and bivariate correlation analyses, but not in the two-way analyses of variance. The findings of this study are consistent with the hypothesis that coffee and dietary lipid are involved in the etiology of pancreatic cancer.

Adolescent↗

Heart rate: a risk factor for cancer?

The relationship between heart rate and cancer mortality was examined in 3 Chicago epidemiologic studies: 1233 white men originally age 40-59 followed 18 years from the Chicago Peoples Gas Company study; 1899 white men originally age 40-55 followed 17 years from the Chicago Western Electric Company study; 5784 white men originally age 45-64 followed 5 years from the Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry. There was a significant association between heart rate and cancer mortality in both univariate and multivariate analyses in men from the Gas Company study and in men from the Chicago Heart Association study, but there was no association between heart rate and cancer mortality in men from the Western Electric study. The relationship persisted in the Gas Company study but not in the Chicago Heart Association study after eliminating deaths within the first 2 years of follow-up. With cancer deaths broken down by the site, mortality from lung and colon cancer in the Gas Company study and mortality from lung cancer in the Chicago Heart Association study were significantly associated with baseline heart rate on univariate analysis and on bivariate analysis controlling for age. Only colon cancer in the Gas Company, however, remained associated with heart rate when other variables were controlled. Thus, in 2 of the 3 studies examined, heart rate appeared to be an independent risk factor for cancer mortality in men.

Adult↗

Heart rate as a prognostic factor for coronary heart disease and mortality: findings in three Chicago epidemiologic studies.

The associations between heart rate and death from the cardiovascular diseases (CVD), coronary heart disease (CHD) and sudden death from CHD, along with death from all causes and non-cardiovascular causes, are examined for three groups of middle-aged white males: 1233 men aged 40-59 years followed for 15 years from the Chicago Peoples Gas Company study; 1899 men aged 40-55 years followed for 17 years from the Chicago Western Electric Company study; and 5784 men aged 45-64 years followed an average of five years from the Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry. In univariate analyses, mortality from both cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular causes generally increases with increasing heart rate. In bivariate analyses, using the Cox regression model to control for age, heart rate is significantly related to mortality from all causes in each study, with the associations again due to both cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular causes. In multivariate Cox regression, controlling for age, blood pressure, serum cholesterol, cigarettes smoked per day and relative weight, heart rate is a significant risk factor for sudden CHD death and non-CVD death in two of the three studies, with the association with sudden death being U-shaped in one of the studies. Although heart rate may be an independent risk factor for sudden CHD death, the associations with other CVD death and non-sudden CHD death, in general, appear to be secondary to associations between heart rate and other cardiovascular risk factors.

Adult↗

Dietary cholesterol, fat, and fibre, and colon-cancer mortality. An analysis of international data.

It has been suggested that high fat, high cholesterol, and low fibre intakes play a role in the causation of colon cancer, but since they are highly intercorrelated, it is difficult to determine which (if any) variable is truly related to colon cancer. Food disappearance data for 1954--65 and mortality data for 1967--73 from 20 industrialised countries were used to assess which variables are independently related to colon cancer. Simple correlation analysis indicated that intake of total fat, saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, cholesterol, and fibres are each highly correlated with mortality-rate for colon cancer. The partial correlation of dietary cholesterol with colon cancer remains highly significant when fat or fibre is controlled. However, the partial correlations of fat or of fibre iwth colon cancer are no longer significant when cholesterol is controlled. Cross-classification showed a highly signficant main effect for cholesterol, but nor for fat or fibre. The findings support the possibility of a causal relationship between cholesterol intake and colon cancer.

Adult↗

Is hereditary hemochromatosis a balanced polymorphism: an analysis of family size among hemochromatosis heterozygotes.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) has a homozygote frequency of 0.5% and a heterozygote frequency of 13%, which suggests that hemochromatosis might be a balanced polymorphism. Evidence for this was sought by assessing reproductive success among hemochromatosis heterozygotes through determining their family size and incidence of miscarriage when compared to nongene carriers. METHODOLOGY: A cohort was defined in which the exposure variable was heterozygosity for hereditary hemochromatosis. Heterozygotes were identified by mailing individuals homozygous for hereditary hemochromatosis questionnaires concerning the number of siblings born alive and the number of miscarriages suffered by their mothers (predominantly heterozygotes, or HHH). Spouses of the hereditary hemochromatosis homozygotes were asked to complete accompanying questionnaires concerning their mothers (CONT). RESULTS: Five hundred and ninety-six responses were received from hereditary hemochromatosis homozygotes and 532 responses from spouses of the hereditary hemochromatosis homozygote respondents. The mothers of the hereditary hemochromatosis homozygote respondents had a mean family size of 3.699. The mothers of the unexposed spouse controls a mean family size of 3.639 (P = 0.66 by ANOVA). One hundred and twenty-three of the HHH mothers suffered a total of 201 miscarriages, whereas 94 of the CONT mothers suffered 147 miscarriages (P = 0.38 by ANOVA). CONCLUSIONS: In this cohort, no evidence among hemochromatosis heterozygotes of reproductive advantage and therefore heterozygous advantage by this mechanism was seen.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗