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Biomedical subjects

C Hermon

Publications and source records attributed to C Hermon.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

A prospective study of obesity, lipids, apolipoproteins and ischaemic heart disease in women.

The aim of the study was to examine the relationships of obesity, lipids and apolipoproteins with the risk for subsequent ischaemic heart disease in middle-aged women, using a case-control study nested within a cohort study. A total of 3634 women aged 26-88 were recruited in Guernsey between 1977 and 1985 and followed until June 1986 by abstraction of their general practitioners' records. Fifty-one cases of incident ischaemic heart disease (11 myocardial infarction, 40 angina) were identified. For each case up to 4 controls were selected, matched for age and date at recruitment. Odds ratios for the development of ischaemic heart disease in the middle and upper thirds of the distribution for each variable in the controls, relative to the lowest third (and two-sided P-values for linear trends), were: 3.0, 2.6 (0.015) for Quetelet's index; 3.3, 5.1 (0.003) for total cholesterol; 0.5, 0.6 (0.102) for apolipoprotein A-I; 1.8, 2.4 (0.015) for apolipoprotein B; 1.3, 2.1 (0.155) for apolipoprotein(a). The increased risks associated with increased Quetelet's index and total cholesterol were independent of each other and these variables were more strongly related to myocardial infarction than to angina. The relationships of risk with serum cotinine, fatty acids, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate and sex hormone binding globulin were weak and did not approach statistical significance.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Spontaneous abortion and work with visual display units.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether women who work with visual display units are at increased risk of spontaneous abortion. DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: Women were recruited during the three years 1987-9 from the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, and from a large group practice situated within the hospital's catchment area. SUBJECTS: Cases were 150 nulliparous working women with a clinically diagnosed spontaneous abortion and controls were 297 nulliparous working women attending for antenatal care. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cases and controls were contacted and personally interviewed using the same structured questionnaire. Exposure to visual display units (VDUs) at work was assessed from information supplied at interview. RESULTS: No evidence of an increased risk of spontaneous abortion was found in women who reported that they used a VDU at work compared with women who reported that they did not (odds ratio (OR) = 0.9, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 0.6-1.4); and no relation with the amount of time spent actively using a VDU was evident (OR = 0.9, 95% CI = 0.5-1.6 for women who worked with a VDU for 21 hours or more each week). No effect of passive exposure to VDUs at work was found (OR = 0.9, 95% CI = 0.6-1.6 for women who reported working less than 10 feet away from a VDU that was usually switched on). These findings were not explained by maternal age, marital state, housing tenure, partner's social class, educational level, smoking, alcohol consumption, or number of previous spontaneous abortions. CONCLUSION: Given the findings and their consistency with the results from other recent studies it is concluded that pregnant women who work with VDUs are not at increased risk of clinically diagnosed spontaneous abortion. For the many women who use VDUs in their jobs, this finding provides reassurance.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗
PubMed1991

Does lithium reduce the mortality of recurrent mood disorders?

Numerous follow-up studies have shown that patients with mood disorders who do not receive prophylactic medication are at increased risk of death, particularly from suicide. After 11 years follow-up we compared the mortality of 103 patients attending a lithium clinic with that expected on the basis of age/sex/year-specific rates for England and Wales. Only 10 patients died during the study, although the expected number of deaths was 18.31 (P = 0.052, two-tailed) and no deaths from suicide were observed. After correcting for the prevalence of mood disorder in the general population, the relative risk was 0.60 (95% CI 0.29-1.12) which suggests that lithium reverses the excess mortality associated with recurrent mood disorders, including that from suicide.

Bipolar Disorder↗
PubMed1989

Geographical variation in mortality from leukaemia and other cancers in England and Wales in relation to proximity to nuclear installations, 1969-78.

The distribution of mortality from 11 causes of death (lymphoid leukaemia, other leukaemia, leukaemia of all types, Hodgkin's disease, other lymphomas, all lymphomas, multiple myeloma, lung cancer, other malignancies, all malignancies and all other causes) has been examined in three age groups throughout England and Wales over the period 1969-78. The reorganisation of local authority administration in 1974 meant that the smallest areas that could be examined were 400 county districts or (in some cases) approximate county districts formed by aggregating pre-1974 local authority areas. The variation in the numbers of deaths observed about the numbers expected was assessed using log-linear models to estimate the effect on the relative risk in each district associated with social class, rural status, population size, health authority region and proximity to one of 15 nuclear installations. Trends in risk with increasing proximity to an installation (as judged by the proportion of the population resident within 10 miles) were examined after adjustment for the other four variables. The results showed that in districts near to an installation there were significant excess mortalities in persons under 25 years of age from leukaemia (RR = 1.15, P = 0.01) and especially from lymphoid leukaemia (RR 1.21, P = 0.01) and from Hodgkin's disease (RR 1.24, P = 0.05) and a significant deficiency of mortality from lymphoid leukaemia in persons aged 25-64 years. No significant trends were observed with an increasing proportion of the population near to the installations and the greatest excess mortality from lymphoid leukaemia in young persons was observed in the districts with the intermediate proportion of the population (10.0-65.9%) near an installation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Cohort study analysis with a FORTRAN computer program.

We describe the analysis of cohort study data with a standard FORTRAN program which should run on most computers. It provides a summary measure of the mortality (or incidence) rate ratio between the study cohort and some standard population, based either on person-years at risk or on proportional mortality, and adjusted for age, sex and calendar period; a test of the statistical significance of the ratio; and a set of observed death rates in the study cohort. Results may also be produced in a form suitable for use with GLIM. The analysis may be subdivided into a range of time intervals since each subject was first exposed to risk. The program provides for movement of subjects between different 'level-of-exposure' subgroups within the cohort, and for various methods of censoring. It allows considerable flexibility in data management, and is available with complete documentation and a worked example. The program should enable epidemiologists with little computing experience to carry out formal analysis of cohort studies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Models for respiratory cancer in nickel refinery workers.

Lung and nasal sinus cancer death rates among employees of a nickel refinery in South Wales were examined from the standpoint of quantifying the relationship between exposure and the risk of these two cancers. Areas in the refinery associated with high risk were identified by using a matched case-control approach, and a simple index of exposure for each man was constructed accordingly based on the duration of time spent in these areas. The dependence of relative risk and absolute excess risk for lung and nasal sinus cancers on age at first employment, calendar period of first employment, time since first employment, and duration of exposure in high-risk areas was then analyzed. The relative risk for nasal sinus cancer increased sharply with increasing age at first exposure but remained roughly constant throughout the period of follow-up, while that for lung cancer was independent of age at first exposure and dropped sharply with increasing time since first employment. The implications and limitations of these analyses are discussed in relation to the multistage theory of carcinogenesis and occupational risk assessment.

Adult↗