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Biomedical subjects

E Trell

Publications and source records attributed to E Trell.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Raised serum urate concentration as risk factor for premature mortality in middle aged men: relation to death from cancer.

Low serum cholesterol concentrations are associated with deaths from cancer. This association was found in a prospective study of middle aged men in Malmö and consideration of possible explanations for the lowering of serum cholesterol prompted an analysis of serum urate in relation to deaths from cancer. A total of 127 of the 7725 participants in the Malmö study had died since screening. A weakly positive but significant correlation between raised serum urate concentration and total mortality was found. This correlation was wholly explained by neoplastic deaths (p less than 0.01), while there were no associations with alcohol related deaths or with deaths from coronary heart disease. When the deaths from cancer were classified as "early" or "late"--that is, occurring less than or more than 2.5 years after the screening--the correlation between raised urate concentrations and cancer mortality was confined to the "early" deaths (p less than 0.001). Further studies are needed to substantiate the relation between raised serum urate concentrations and fatal neoplasia. Nevertheless, these findings weigh against recent suggestions that uric acid has an antioxidant protective effect against cancer.

Body Weight

Glucose tolerance and smoking: a population study of oral and intravenous glucose tolerance tests in middle-aged men.

The oral and intravenous glucose tolerance tests have been compared in middle-aged, normal-weight male non-smokers, ex-smokers and smokers who participated in a general health screening programme in Malmö, Sweden. Subjects with diabetes, previous gastric resection and/or present medication with diuretic agents were excluded. No difference was found when comparing fasting glucose in non-smokers, ex-smokers and smokers. In the oral glucose tolerance test, plasma glucose at 40 and 60 min increased stepwise from non-smokers (8.7 and 7.4 mmol/l) to ex-smokers (8.9 and 7.5 mmol/l), smokers (9.2 and 7.9 mmol/l) and heavy smokers (9.7 and 8.2 mmol/l). Blood glucose levels at 120 min were inversely arranged. Plasma insulin at 120 min was lower in heavy smokers (16.2 mU/l) than in non-smokers (24.8 mU/l). The mean intravenous glucose tolerance test k-value was lower in smokers than in non-smokers. K-values below 1.0 were twice as common in smokers (30%) as in non-smokers. It is concluded that smoking has a clinically significant influence on both the oral and intravenous glucose tolerance tests.

Blood Glucose

The effects of smoking, hypertension and cardiovascular disease on the estimation of unscheduled DNA synthesis and covalent binding to DNA induced by N-acetoxy-2-acetylaminofluorene in resting human mononuclear leukocytes.

The levels of N-acetoxy-2-acetylaminofluorene (NA-AAF)-induced unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) and of NA-AAF binding to DNA have been determined in resting mononuclear leukocytes from individuals with various smoking habits, heart infarct patients and subjects diagnosed for hypertension. Age-matched and blood-pressure-controlled smokers (n = 99) had significantly elevated levels of NA-AAF-induced UDS and NA-AAF binding to DNA when compared to nonsmokers (n = 75) similarly corrected for age and blood pressure. Heart infarct patients without any history of risk factors, as well as diagnosed hypertensives with normalized blood pressure, were not significantly different from matched controls when assessed by the NA-AAF method. Our results support the theory that increased mutagen sensitivity is associated with smoking and high blood pressure but not with cardiovascular disease itself via some mechanism of genetic selection.

2-Acetylaminofluorene

Comparison of gamma-glutamyltransferase and questionnaire test as alcohol indicators in different risk groups.

gamma-Glutamyltransferase (gamma-GT) and a Malmö modification of the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (Mm-MAST) were compared in subsamples of a health screening population of urban middle aged males with characterized levels of alcohol consumption and in the total group of deaths 0-6 years after the screening investigation. The questionnaire was markedly superior to gamma-GT in identifying the alcohol consumption in the known alcoholics but not in the other study groups. gamma-GT may be indicative of alcohol related health disturbances and may be used in their early recognition and as biochemical feedback in their further treatment and control in individuals. It may therefore be of value particularly as an instrument in a programme aimed at prevention of alcohol-related health complications.

Alcohol Drinking

Comparison of gamma-glutamyltransferase and other health screening tests in average middle-aged males, heavy drinkers and alcohol non-users.

Physical and biochemical health screening variables were compared in matched, middle-aged male samples of (a) ideological teetotallers, (b) average men, (c) self-reported alcohol abstainers, (d) low gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) activity, and (e-f) high GGT activity with or without admitted alcohol consumption background. The alcohol non-user groups and the individuals with low GGT had significantly lower mean values of relative body weight, pulse, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, haematocrit, serum urate, triglyceride, cholesterol, and zero and 120 min blood glucose than individuals with elevated GGT and alcohol overconsumption. The average men had intermediate levels. The frequency of increased values of the same tests was notably higher in the subjects with elevated GGT and heavy alcohol consumption than in the teetotallers and the other groups; and was lowest in the teetotallers.

Alcohol Drinking

Identification and intervention of heavy drinking in middle-aged men: results and follow-up of 24-60 months of long-term study with randomized controls.

In a continuing screening and intervention programme in Malmó, elevated serum-gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) values were used for selection of heavy drinkers. The study population consisted of 585 individuals born 1926-1933 with two consecutive GGT values in the upper decile of the GGT distribution, randomly allocated either to an intervention group of to a control group. The subjects in the intervention group were further investigated and 75% of them were judged to have elevated GGT values caused by alcohol consumption. These individuals were repeatedly encouraged to lower their overall alcohol consumption and GGT measurements were used as biofeedback method in the treatment program. The controls were informed by letter to be restrictive with their alcohol consumption and that they should receive new invitations for measurements of their liver enzymes after 2, 4, and 6 years. The intervention and control groups were well matched and followed over a 2-6-year period. Two and 4 years after the screening investigation, the GGT values in both groups were significantly decreased. There were differences, however, between the two groups with regard to sick absenteeism, hospitalization, and mortality. A significant reduction was found in sick absence during 4 years by 80%, in hospital days during 5 years by 60%, and in mortality during 6 years by 50% in the intervention group compared with the control group. Thus, the intervention program was effective in preventing medico-social consequences of heavy drinking.

Absenteeism

Relation between plasma insulin and blood glucose in a cross-sectional population study of the oral glucose tolerance test.

In a material of 3596 oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) performed in a population investigation of middle-aged males in Malmö, fasting and 120 min values of blood glucose and plasma insulin immunoreactivity (IRI) were studied while taking factors like body weight, smoking, alcohol, gastric resection and selfreported diabetes heredity into account. The fasting as well as the 120 min levels of both glucose and IRI were markedly influenced by body weight and smoking habits but not by the hereditary background. At 120 min, but not in the fasting state, there was a linear correlation between the IRI and glucose levels. The increase of IRI on glucose was significantly steeper in most of the hereditary subjects in comparison with their non-hereditary controls.

Alcohol Drinking

Alcohol abstention and premature mortality in middle-aged men.

A series of middle-aged men were investigated for total mortality up to five years after completing a questionnaire on alcohol consumption administered during a preventive medical screening programme in Malmö, Sweden. The aim was to test the hypothesis that small amounts of alcohol are beneficial to general and cardiovascular health. Relative mortality was increased among the men who had reported non-use of alcohol in the screening questionnaire. Most of these men, however, had chronic disease as the reason for their abstention, or even a past history of alcoholism.

Alcohol Drinking

Alcohol-related death: a major contributor to mortality in urban middle-aged men.

The role of alcohol abuse in mortality was studied in an unselected population of over 10,000 46-48-year-old men in Malmö, Sweden. During follow-up of 0-6 years (mean 3 years) 199 men died. In 61 men (30.7%) death was alcohol related. A theoretical calculation of excess deaths in men with an alcohol-positive history yielded 78 deaths (39.2%). In the official cause of death statistics 10 of the deaths had been assigned alcoholic aetiology (5.0%). These estimates indicate that alcohol was the commonest underlying factor in death in this sample of middle-aged men. The number of deaths with alcoholic aetiology in official cause of death statistics should be multiplied by a factor of six to eight to arrive at the true alcohol-related death rate.

Accident Proneness

Hospitalization and alcohol-related morbidity within three years after screening in middle-aged men.

All men living in Malmö who were born in 1926-1929 were invited for a health screening examination which included, among many other things, measurement of gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT). They were followed up and within three years after the screening 963 of 4571 men had been hospitalized. They had 17158 hospital days or almost 6 days per individual each year. The impact of alcohol on the admissions was analysed both according to the International Classifications of Diseases and a new design where all the diagnoses were grouped and coded in conditions which were judged to be alcohol-related, potentially alcohol-influenced and non-alcohol-related. Of the total days in hospital, alcohol psychosis and alcoholism accounted for 13.6 per cent. Altogether 29.2% of the days were caused by alcohol-related and potentially alcohol-influenced conditions. GGT values at the screening investigation were significantly increased in 25% of the hospitalized men. Alcohol-related admissions were seven times as many in men with GGT values in the highest quintile compared with those who had values in the lowest quintile.

Alcoholism