Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Occupational Status”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 685 records · Page 38Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

Socio-economic differences in mortality among children. Do they persist into adulthood?

More than 1.2 million Swedish children born 1946-60 and enumerated in the 1960 population census were followed up with respect to mortality for the period of 1961-79. Thus the children were younger than 15 years at the start of the follow-up and their age of death varied between 1 and 33 years. More than 13,000 deaths were analysed. The purpose was to examine whether or not mortality differences by socio-economic group in childhood persist into adulthood. Mortality differences by childhood socio-economic group were studied for both children/adolescents (1-19 years old) and young adults (20-33 years old). Information about the adults' own occupational status was not available. Therefore, to allow a deeper analysis, another group of adults, whose mortality could be analysed by their own socio-economic group, was used as a comparison group. Among children and adolescents there was a clear socio-economic group difference in mortality. Children in families of non-manual workers had a significantly lower mortality than children in the families of manual workers. In particular this was the case for boys. Socio-economic differences in total mortality are evident also in the age between 20 and 33 years among men but it could not be demonstrated here that these are a result of childhood socio-economic group rather than achieved socio-economic group. However, the study indicates that some differences in childhood, to a certain degree and for some diagnoses, may persist into adulthood. Of particular interest may be a tendency for cardiovascular disease mortality to be elevated among sons and daughters of manual workers.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Prostitutes and their clients: a Gambian survey.

The social backgrounds and working behaviour of 248 prostitutes in urban and rural areas of The Gambia were investigated. Prostitutes were found to be highly mobile, moving frequently between a number of working locations in The Gambia and neighbouring Senegal, from which most of them originated. The educational level of prostitutes and the standard of living of their natal families were above average. Prostitutes worked on average four days a week and had between two and three clients a night. Condoms were used in up to 80% of contacts. 795 clients of prostitutes were interviewed and found to be on average of low educational and occupational status. Half were non-Gambian and most were currently travelling or living away from home.

Abortion, Therapeutic↗
PubMed1992

Self-assessed health among Norwegian adults.

Previous research has used self-assessed health as a proxy for 'objective' health rating as an important element in sick role behaviour, as well as a predictor of life satisfaction and mortality. However, several authors have suggested that self-evaluations of health are not only reflections of the underlying medical condition. It has been claimed that personal and social background characteristics such as sex, age, race, and occupational status contribute independently to subjectively appraised health. The present article uses data from a large, nation-wide sample of Norwegian adults (N = 7302) to estimate the relative predictive power of 'medical' variables (number and duration of illness episodes, diagnosis, functional impairment) on the one hand and 'socio-cultural' variables (age, sex, socio-economic status, type of work, income, household composition/life cycle) on the other. It is concluded that when a sufficiently fine-grained array of medical information is available, socio-cultural factors contribute only marginally to self-assessments of health.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1990

Cancer mortality and some socio economic correlates in Rosario, Argentina.

The age-standardized mortality rates by sex for cancer of all sites and some specific sites were calculated in the 22 areas of Rosario (Argentina). The rates by area were correlated with education, occupation, housing quality and population density, applying Kendall's tau. Cervical cancer rates showed the strongest correlations, which were positive with illiteracy, unqualified occupations and poor housing. These variables presented positive correlations with stomach cancer also, which were more significant in males than in females. Colon and breast cancer rates had positive correlations with the highest levels of education, occupational status, housing conditions and population density.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Effect of age on duodenal 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D-3 receptors in Wistar rats.

We confirmed our previous observation that duodenal Ca2+ absorption and serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25-(OH)2D) levels declined concurrently in old (24 months old) rats as compared to young (6 months old) rats. It is well known that 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D-3 (1,25-(OH)2D3) expresses its action after binding to specific receptor molecules. In this paper, we compared certain properties of rat duodenal 1,25-(OH)2D3 receptors from old and young animals. Receptor preparations were incubated with [3H]1,25-(OH)2D3 to quantitate the number of unoccupied and total receptor sites and showed that total and unoccupied receptor sites decreased by 22 and 16%, respectively in old rats. Endogenously occupied sites were reduced by 43% in duodenum of the old rat and, consequently, the percentage of receptor occupancy also declined. Age did not affect the dissociation constant (KD) of 1,25-(OH)2D3 from the receptor; the sedimentation coefficient (3.3 S) of the tritiated 1,25-(OH)2D3-receptor complex in sucrose density centrifugation; or its affinity for DNA. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that the age-related decline in Ca2+ absorption in the intestine may be due, in part, to the decrement in the circulating level of 1,25-(OH)2D and a reduction of intestinal 1,25-(OH)2D3 receptor occupancy status.

Aging↗
PubMed1985

Psychosocial adjustment of burn survivors.

The purpose of this study was to assess the magnitude and predictors of psychosocial adjustment in burn victims. It was postulated that once individuals sustain a burn, their long-term psychosocial adjustment is a function of their present coping responses, social resources, burn severity and time since burn. It was expected that these variables could also be used to identify individuals at risk for psychosocial maladjustment. A historical cohort analytical survey of 340 randomly selected adults and the mothers of 145 children who had sustained either major or minor burns during the past 12 years were administered the Coping Scale, Participation in Social and Recreational Activities Index, Social Support and the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale. The children's mothers also completed the Family Environment Scale and the Child Behaviour Checklist. In summary, the variance in psychosocial adjustment among adults was related to unemployment, loss of occupational status, avoidance coping, and little involvement in recreational activities. Together, these variables explained 40 per cent of the variance in psychosocial adjustment. Severity of the burn and time since the burn were not related to psychosocial adjustment. The prevalence of psychosocial maladjustment among the adults was 10 per cent and 15.7 per cent among children. Psychosocial adjustment among children was not related to the severity of the burn. The less adjusted children could be distinguished from adjusted children on the basis of their mothers' adjustment and methods of coping. The findings tended to refute the commonly held view that post-burn adjustment is associated with burn severity and suggests psychosocial adjustment is a function of both coping responses and social resources.

Achievement↗
PubMed1978

A new way of looking at environmental variables that may affect the age at menopause.

Environmental variables that might affect the age at menopause were analysed by means of the segmentation method AID. Marital status, occupation, smoking habits, age at last pregnancy and height were shown to be significant discriminating variables. The material and design of the study and the method of analysis are given and its results are discussed. A proposal is made concerning the nature of a 'secular trend'.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Alcohol drinking in Jerusalem.

Alcohol use was assessed in a random sample of middle aged Jewish parents (1043 men and 591 women) who were interviewed at Visit 2 of the Lipid Research Clinics Prevalence Study in Jerusalem in 1976-80. A standard questionnaire probed drinking frequency (times per week) and quantity (number of drinks per week). Only 15.7% of men and 3.8% of women drank more than twice weekly, the mean number of drinks being 3.5 and 1.3 for men and women respectively. Teetotalism was rare and most subjects (61.9% of men and 55.1% of women) drank once or twice weekly, reflecting the high proportion of the Jews who use wine for sacramental purposes. Immigrants from North Africa drank more than native born Israelis or immigrants from Asia or Europe. Drinking was most frequent among men in lower status occupations, though the opposite was true of their wives. Season had a marked impact on the quantity and type of drinking, the mean number of drinks per week reaching a maximum in late winter and a minimum in summer. More beer was consumed in summer and more spirits in winter.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Use of prescription and non-prescription drugs in pregnancy. The Baltimore-Washington Infant Study Group.

We analyzed use of therapeutic drugs during pregnancy by 2752 mothers of infants without major congenital malformations. During pregnancy, 68% of the women used at least one prescription or non-prescription drug. Drug use in pregnancy was significantly more common for women who were white, older, married, better educated, of higher income and occupational status, receiving private prenatal care and not living in urban areas. Number of maternal illnesses, higher socioeconomic status, white race, multiparity and use of recreational drugs explained 26% of reported drug use. The mean number of drugs reported (1.2) underestimates total drug exposure due to exclusion of some drug categories including multivitamins and illicit drugs. Since the majority of women giving birth to normal infants report use of at least one pharmacologic agent during pregnancy, attribution of adverse outcome to drug use in an individual case is rarely justified.

Abnormalities, Drug-Induced↗
PubMed1995

Misclassification in a questionnaire survey of varicose veins.

The objective of this study was to assess the determinants and the effect of misclassification in a questionnaire survey of varicose veins. A random sample of 166 individuals aged 50 years in a larger prevalence study (n = 6874) was examined by a surgeon to validate the self-reporting of varicose veins. Varicose veins were assessed by a mailed questionnaire completed by the study subjects themselves and validated in a clinical examination by a surgeon. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, kappa coefficient, and Chamberlain indices of the self-assessed diagnosis in reference to the diagnosis by surgeon were estimated overall and in categories of determinants. The overall sensitivity and specificity estimates were 0.92 and 0.93, respectively. The specificity appeared to be poorer among subjects who reported positive family history of varicose veins (0.83) than among those with negative family history (0.98). With respect to some other determinants of varicose veins such as gender, height and weight, occupational status and position at work, there was at best weak but nevertheless inconclusive evidence on possible differential misclassification. Sensitivity appeared to be relatively good for epidemiologic purposes but one could have hoped for better specificity. The correction for misclassification resulted in estimated prevalence of 19% (uncorrected 24%) in men and 43% (uncorrected 45%) in women. A questionnaire survey of varicose veins showed a relatively good validity. The effect of misclassification in the total 5-year-old study population was small in women but moderately large in men. Familial predisposition to varicosis was associated with a lower accuracy of self-assessed diagnosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Mini mental state examination: influence of sociodemographic, environmental and behavioral factors and vascular risk factors.

Age and education have been found to affect the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of elderly normals, but there have been no studies assessing the influence of environmental and behavioral factors on this test. We therefore administered the MMSE to 1437 normal elderly subjects in the setting of a stroke prevention study and correlated their results to 16 sociodemographic, environmental, and behavioral factors, and vascular risk factors. Study statistics composed of a multiple logistic regression analysis and graphical models revealed the relations between variables in greater detail. Logistic regression yielded education level, occupational status, living as a single, general life stress, physical strain, and physical inactivity to be independent predictors of the MMSE score. Age was not included in this model. Graphical models demonstrated similar results, but did not include living as a single and physical inactivity. As shown in our independence graph, general life stress is the crucial predictor and links other environmental and sociodemographic variables with the test performance of elderly normals.

Aged↗
PubMed2005

Parental occupation, education, and smoking as predictors of offspring tobacco use in adulthood: a longitudinal study.

This study examined the interrelation of parental occupational status (blue- versus white-collar), parental education, parental smoking, parent-child relations, late adolescent tobacco use, and adult offspring smoking. A longitudinal data set was employed, composed of 603 participants who were first studied in childhood and then followed to mean age 27 years. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) showed that the distal factors of parental blue-collar status, low parental educational achievement, and parental smoking were related to adult offspring smoking. Specifically, parental blue-collar status and parental smoking were mediated by the latent construct of the parent-child relationship, which in turn was mediated by smoking in late adolescence with respect to adult offspring smoking. Parental educational level was partially mediated by the parent-adolescent relationship but also had a direct path to adult offspring smoking. The most powerful predictor of offspring smoking in adulthood was smoking in late adolescence. Findings imply areas that may be targeted by intervention programs to decrease offspring tobacco use.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Stressful life events are associated with low secretion rates of immunoglobulin A in saliva in the middle aged and elderly.

Whether chronic stress experience is related to downregulation of secretory immunoglobulin A (S-IgA) was tested in two substantial cohorts, one middle aged (N = 640) and another elderly (N = 582), comprising similar numbers of men (N = 556) and women (N = 666) and manual (N = 606) and non-manual (N = 602) workers. Participants indicated from a list of major stressful life events, up to six, they had experienced in the past 2 years. They also rated how disruptive and stressful the events were, at the time and now, as well as their perceived seriousness; the products of these impact values and event frequency were adopted as measures of stress load. From unstimulated 2-min saliva samples, saliva volume and S-IgA concentration were measured, and S-IgA secretion rate determined as their product. There was a negative association between the stress load measures and the S-IgA secretion rate, still evident following adjustment for such variables as smoking and saliva volume. The associations also withstood adjustment for sex, cohort, and household occupational status. Although these associations are small in terms of the amount of variance explained, they nonetheless suggest that chronic stress experience either decreases IgA production by the local plasma cells or reduces the efficiency with which S-IgA is transported from the glandular interstitium into saliva. Given the importance of S-IgA in immune defence at mucosal surfaces and the frequency with which infections are initiated at these surfaces, S-IgA downregulation could be a means by which chronic stress increases susceptibility to upper respiratory tract infection.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

Symptoms of depression and cardiovascular reactions to acute psychological stress: evidence from a population study.

Depression and exaggerated cardiovascular reactivity are considered risk factors for cardiovascular disease, possibly as a result of common antecedents, such as altered autonomic nervous system function. We examined the association between depressive symptomatology and cardiovascular reactions to psychological stress in 1608 adults (875 women) comprising 3 distinct age cohorts: 24-, 44-, and 63-year olds. Depression was assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Blood pressure and heart rate were measured at baseline and during the paced auditory serial arithmetic test. Depression scores were negatively associated with systolic blood pressure and heart rate reactions, after adjustment for likely confounders such as sex, cohort, occupational status, body mass index, stress task performance score, baseline cardiovascular activity, antidepressant, and antihypertensive medication. The direction of association was opposite to that which would be expected if excessive reactivity were to mediate the association between depression and cardiovascular disease outcomes or if they shared common antecedents.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Depressive symptoms of type 2 diabetics treated with insulin compared to diabetics taking oral anti-diabetic drugs: a Korean study.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the depressive symptoms of type 2 diabetic patients who were treated with insulin compared to those diabetics treated with oral anti-diabetic drugs in Korea. METHODS: A total 204 outpatients with type 2 diabetes were invited to complete a questionnaire using the Beck depression inventory (BDI) to measure depressive symptoms. Age, gender, body mass index, serum lipid profile, and a social history including marital status, occupation and educational background were also assessed. The presence of diabetic complications was evaluated by examining the patients' medical records. Diabetic patients who were not treated with anti-diabetic drugs were excluded. All the study subjects were classified into two groups based on their mode of therapy: the oral drug group and insulin group. The insulin group included patients treated with insulin-oral drug combinations as well as those treated solely with insulin. RESULTS: Overall, 32.4% of our diabetic subjects showed depressive symptoms with the criterion being a BDI score > or = 16. Compared to the oral drug group, the insulin group showed a significantly higher frequency of depressive symptoms (insulin group, 48.0%; oral drug group, 27.3%; p<0.01) and higher BDI scores (insulin group, 16.6+/-10.7; oral drug group, 12.6+/-8.7; p<0.01). Moreover, after an adjustment for social factors, the degree of hyperglycemia and the presence of diabetic complications, the insulin group showed a significantly higher frequency of depression (odds ratio 4.38, 95% CI 1.66-11.6, p=0.003), compared to the oral drug group. CONCLUSIONS: The data showed that insulin treatment is related to the presence of depressive symptoms, and the importance of more careful psychological support of Korean insulin-treated type 2 diabetic patients is strongly suggested.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed2005

10-year follow-up of chronic non-malignant pain patients: opioid use, health related quality of life and health care utilization.

BACKGROUND: In Denmark, opioids have been used liberally for many years in the treatment of non-malignant pain, but long-term consequences as tolerance and influence on health related quality of life remain unknown. AIM: Adherence to medical treatment, opioid dose escalation, health related quality of life, anxiety, depression, coping strategies and health care utilization were evaluated in chronic pain patients 10 years after treatment in a multidisciplinary pain centre. METHODS: Information was gathered from medical records, postal questionnaires and a central hospital register. RESULTS: Opioid dose escalation occurred in only a few patients. Increase and decrease in opioid dose were almost equally frequent. Sixty percent of those discharged on long acting opioids were still on that treatment at follow-up. Twenty-eight percent of the patients initiated opioid treatment after discharge from the pain centre. Occupational status was identified as a determining factor for future opioid use. Opioid users had a lower health related quality of life, higher occurrence of depression and more frequent use of coping strategies like 'Catastrophizing' and 'Hoping and Praying'. Adjuvant analgesics were highly discontinued. Multidisciplinary pain treatment reduced the number of hospital admissions and in-hospital days. CONCLUSION: We recommend that future research on opioid treatment does not only focus on biological issues. The effect of opioids needs to be viewed in a much more complex context where consequences like health related quality of life, depression and the role of various coping strategies are included.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2005

Demographic and clinical features of schizoaffective (schizobipolar) disorder--a 5-year retrospective study. Support for a bipolar spectrum disorder.

BACKGROUND: Schizobipolar disorder is considered related to both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. We aimed to describe with retrospective methodology the demographic, clinical, and treatment features in a group of schizobipolar disorder patients who have been treated for at least a 5-year period and compare them with bipolar I and schizophrenic patients who were treated during the same period. METHOD: We compared the demographic and clinical data of 61 schizobipolar, 57 bipolar I, and 55 schizophrenic outpatients who were diagnosed and treated for at least 5 years in the outpatient clinic in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. RESULTS: The schizobipolar disorder patients had a profile similar to the bipolar I patients but are significantly different from schizophrenic patients in educational level, marital status, occupation, drug and alcohol abuse episodes, presence of depressive, mixed and maniac episodes, family history of bipolar I and mood disorders, and use of medications. Only the age of onset, suicide attempts, and family history of suicide are not significantly different among the groups. The schizophrenic patients used antipsychotics for more days and the schizobipolar and bipolar I used more antidepressants and mood stabilizers. 37 (60.6%) schizobipolar patients had their diagnosis changed to bipolar disorder by their physician in different periods during the period studied. LIMITATIONS: It is a retrospective data description based on a naturalistic treatment. The family history was collected from the patient and whenever possible from one first-degree relative. CONCLUSION: Schizobipolar disorder patients have demographic, clinical and therapeutic features similar to bipolar I patients and data support its definite inclusion in the bipolar spectrum group.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Suicide triggers as sex-specific threats in domains of evolutionary import: negative correlation between global male-to-female suicide ratios and average per capita gross national income.

From an evolutionary perspective, suicide is a paradoxical phenomenon given its fatal consequences on one's reproductive fitness. That fact notwithstanding, evolutionists have typically used kin and group selection arguments in proposing that suicide might indeed be viewed as an adaptive behavioral response. The current paper posits that in some instances, suicide might be construed as the ultimate maladaptive response to "crushing defeats" in domains of great evolutionary import (e.g., mating). Specifically, it is hypothesized that numerous sex-specific triggers of suicide are universally consistent because they correspond to dire sex-specific attacks on one's reproductive fitness (e.g., loss of occupational status is much more strongly linked to male suicides). More generally, it is proposed that many epidemiological aspects of suicide are congruent with Darwinian-based frameworks. These include the near-universal finding that men are much more likely to commit suicide (sexual selection theory), the differential motives that drive men and women to commit suicide (evolutionary psychology), and the shifting patterns of suicide across the life span (life-history theory). Using data from the World Health Organization and the World Bank, several evolutionary-informed hypotheses, regarding the correlation between male-to-female suicide ratios and average per capita Gross National Income, are empirically tested. Overall, the findings are congruent with Darwinian-based expectations namely as economic conditions worsen the male-to-female suicide ratio is exacerbated, with the negative correlation being the strongest for the "working age" brackets. The hypothesized evolutionary outlook provides a consilient framework in comprehending universal sex-specific triggers of suicide. Furthermore, it allows suicidologists to explore new research avenues that might remain otherwise untapped if one were to restrict their research interests on the identification of proximate causes of suicide. Global clinical and epidemiological data emphasizing other universally robust triggers of suicide would afford additional support for the postulated framework.

Biological Evolution↗