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Biomedical subjects

W F Forbes

Publications and source records attributed to W F Forbes.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

The importance of social relationships, socioeconomic status and health practices with respect to mortality among healthy Ontario males.

The associations of social relationships, socioeconomic status and health practices with 20-year mortality were examined in a cohort of 2000 Ontario males. A social relationships index comprised of marital status, number of children, family contact and participation in voluntary associations had a strong association with mortality (adjusted relative risk of 0.30, 95% CI 0.11-0.83, comparing the highest 10% with the lowest 10% scores of the index). Among indicators of socioeconomic status, only income was significantly related to mortality with an adjusted relative risk of 0.41 (95% CI 0.23-0.72) for the highest 20% compared with the lowest 20% income group. The adjusted relative risk for smokers compared with non-smokers was 2.26 (95% CI 1.51-3.37). The joint effects of a relatively high score in the social relationships index, high income and being a non-smoker is estimated to represent an approximately 18-fold reduction in the risk of mortality during the follow-up period.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed1985

Reasons for the disagreements on the impact of smoking on medical care expenditures: a proposal for a uniform approach.

A recent paper suggested that smoking does not increase medical care expenditures and, therefore, that reduced smoking is unlikely to decrease it. This conclusion differs from that of most other studies in this area and the reasons for this disagreement are investigated. It is pointed out that medical care expenditure estimates yield different results depending on whether they are estimated on a per capita basis or in total for populations which change in size as smoking is reduced or eliminated. To avoid disagreement in future studies of this type, some specific proposals are made which should facilitate the comparison of results obtained from different studies.

Accident Prevention↗