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Biomedical subjects

W van Staveren

Publications and source records attributed to W van Staveren.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

Health related quality of life and physical performance. SENECA 1999.

UNLABELLED: This paper describes health related quality of life in 81-85 year old participants of the SENECA study and relates outcome to health and physical performance. DESIGN: SENECA is a mixed-longitudinal study in birth-cohorts, 1913-1918, with baseline measurements in 1988/1989 repeated in 1993 and 1999. Nine towns collected data in 1999. The study population consisted of 445 survivors. METHODS: Health related quality of Life was measured by The Nottingham Health Profile (NHP). Percentages of answers (yes/no) to 38 items were used for scoring different dimensions. Self-perceived health was measured by a global question with five answer categories and chronic diseases as presence or absence of any chronic reported disease. For functional ability, a standardised Activity of Daily Living (ADL) questionnaire was used with 16 questions on a 4-point scale. Functional limitations were measured by a sum-score of objective simple functions tests (PPT). RESULTS: Average scores in the different sections were: Energy:46, pain:55, emotional reactions:58, sleep:64, social integration:47 and physical mobility:70 11% had no problems in any of the sections. All health and physical performance measures were significantly associated with, not only physical mobility, but also affective and social components of quality of life, age 81-85. CONCLUSION: The Nottingham Health Profile was a useful instrument to measure health related quality of life in physical, affective and social dimensions across birth cohorts, gender and culturally different towns in Europe. The answers apparently mirrored the subjective disadvantage of impairment-related functional limitations and may therefore be used as end point for further analyses of SENECA data.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2002

Nutrition and aging: a consensus statement.

OBJECTIVE: To consider the relationship between nutrition and aging. To summarize existing knowledge and identify areas of ignorance. DESIGN: Experts from a range of relevant disciplines received and considered a series of questions related to aspects of the topic. SETTING: University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany. INTERVENTION: The experts met and discussed the questions and arrived at a consensus. CONCLUSION: Many specific conclusions were drawn that support the general view that as we age an inadequate nutrition contributes to the loss of function and the development and progression of disease. Nutritional status is influenced by a range of medical, physiological, psychological, social and situational variables. Adequate nutrition and physical activity are aspects of a health-promoting lifestyle. The encouraging of better nutrition and the taking of exercise is a cost-effective way of decreasing the incidence and progression of age-related disease. The earlier such interventions are introduced the better.

Aged↗
PubMed2001

Fruit and vegetable servings in ten SENECA towns and the impact of the midday meal.

OBJECTIVE: Assessing fruit, vegetable and potato servings in relation to meal pattern. DESIGN: Longitudinal study including dietary assessment in 1988/9 and 1993. SETTING: 10 small European towns. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Counting the number of fruit, vegetable and potato servings in dietary records of 1275 men and women born 1913 to 1918. RESULTS: In the northern towns less than 12% of the subjects consumed 5 or more fruit and vegetable servings and up to 84% consumed only 2 or less servings per day. In the southern towns more than 30% consumed 5 or more servings and less than 20% had only 2 or less servings per day. In 9 of 10 towns a cooked meal at midday contained more fruit and vegetable servings than a cooked meal eaten in the evening. The weight of one serving as calculated from the regression line was 137 g for fruit, 145 g for vegetables and 196 g for potatoes. A significant relationship was found between antioxidant status and vegetables with regard to the number of servings but not to the intake in gram. CONCLUSIONS: RESULTS strengthen the hypothesis that a cooked meal at midday mediated a healthier diet than a cooked meal in the evening. Number of fruit and vegetable servings is a more accurate indication of diversity in vegetable consumption than intake in gram.

Aged↗
PubMed1999

Energy intake and micronutrient intake in elderly Europeans: seeking the minimum requirement in the SENECA study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine energy intake of elderly people participating in the Survey in Europe on Nutrition and the Elderly, a Concerted Action (SENECA) study in relation to the adequacy of micronutrient intake. DESIGN: Data from eight countries on 486 men and 519 women who were 74-79 years old. Dietary intakes of energy, iron, thiamine, riboflavin and pyridoxine were calculated. RESULTS: There was inadequate intake of one or more nutrients in 23.9% of men and 46.8% of women. The prevalence of inadequate intakes decreased gradually with higher energy intakes. Of all people with energy intakes exceeding 1500 kcal, 19% of men and 26% of women still had an inadequate intake of at least one micronutrient. CONCLUSION: We found no single criterion ensuring level of energy intake with an adequate micronutrient supply. The prevalence of an inadequate intake of micronutrients was high at all energy intake levels, especially in women.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

Living alone does not adversely affect nutrient intake and nutritional status of 70- to 75-year-old men and women in small towns across Europe.

This study determined the relationships between living alone and a variety of sociodemographic variables and dietary intake and nutritional status of 70- to 75-year-old men and women across Europe. Data from nine centers, collected as part of the SENECA study, were selected for analysis. Respondents were categorized as either living alone, living with a spouse/partner only, or living with a spouse/partner and/or other person(s). Analyses included chi-square statistics, t-tests, and analysis of variance, measures of relationships and differences between residential-status groups. The sample included 512 subjects who lived alone, 1017 who lived with a spouse/partner only, and 380 who lived with a spouse/partner and/or other person(s). Variables which differed significantly by living arrangement included higher vitamin A, calcium, riboflavin and water intake by both males and females living alone as compared to either those living with a spouse, those living with others, or both groups. Females who lived alone had lower energy intake than those who lived with other than a spouse/partner, and women who lived alone or as couples versus those who lived with others had lower protein and carbohydrate intakes. Males who lived alone had significantly lower intakes of vitamin C than those who lived with person(s) other than a spouse, but still they were considerably above recommended levels. Respondents who lived with a spouse/partner only were less likely to have an unfavorable BMI status than people in the other two groups. Thus, nutrient intakes of 70- to 75-year-olds across Europe are generally not adversely impacted by living alone, and relative to some nutrients, namely vitamin A, calcium, and riboflavin, their diets are better than those living in one or both of the other residential categories.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

Medicine use and vitamin status in elderly Europeans.

The relationship between medicine use and plasma levels of beta-carotene, retinol, alpha-tocopherol, cobalamin, folate and pyridoxal-5'-phosphate was investigated in 676 men and 759 women, aged 74 to 79 years, from 13 towns in 11 European countries. Information on medicine use was obtained by questionnaire. Vitamin concentrations were determined in fasting blood samples. The percentage of subjects using drugs was 83%. Antihypertensive drugs, analgesics, diuretics, sleeping tablets and psychotropics were most frequently used. Plasma retinol concentration, plasma beta-carotene concentration in smokers and plasma alpha-tocopherol concentration in ex-smokers were significantly different between subjects using drugs and those taking no medication. As expected the plasma level of beta-carotene was lower in medicine users (relative adjusted difference: -0.26 micromol/l, 95% CI[-0.45;0.01]). However, plasma levels of retinol and alpha-tocopherol were higher (absolute adjusted difference: 0.07 micromol/l, 95% CI[0.00;0.14] and 2.29 micromol/l, 95% CI[0.56;4.02] respectively). Folate and cobalamin were only significantly different with use of specific drug groups. The results of this study suggest that in rather healthy elderly people medicine use affects plasma levels of beta-carotene and cobalamin in a negative way, and has a positive effect on plasma levels of retinol, alpha-tocopherol and folate.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

Cross-cultural variations and changes in food-group intake among elderly women in Europe: results from the Survey in Europe on Nutrition and the Elderly a Concerted Action (SENECA).

To study cross-cultural variations and changes in intake of food groups in elderly Europeans, longitudinal data on food-group intake from Danish (n = 55), Dutch (n = 65), Swiss (n = 79), and Spanish (n = 46) female participants in the Survey in Europe on Nutrition and the Elderly a Concerted Action (SENECA) were compared. Participants were born between 1913 and 1918. Information on food intake was obtained with use of the same diet-history method at all sites and in both 1988-1989 and 1993. Actual food intake was coded according to the Eurocode system, the applicability of which for European multicenter studies was evaluated in this study. All participants, regardless of site, reported consumption of milk, grain products, and vegetables, and almost all ate meat, fats, and fruit. Fewer women ate eggs, fish, and sugar. The variations between the sites were in the food groups consumed and the types of foods within the groups. Spanish women appeared to have the most healthy food-intake pattern. They also had more changes in their dietary pattern than did women in the other countries. The Eurocode was adequate for describing the actual food intake of elderly women in four European towns. The coding for meat, however, was ambiguous and should be revised.

Aged↗
PubMed1996

Psychophysical and psychohedonic functions of four common food flavours in elderly subjects.

This study was designed to determine the cause of potential differences in optimal preferred flavour concentrations in four common food items between young and elderly subjects. The main objective was to investigate whether the differences in concentration-pleasantness functions could be attributed to differences in concentration-intensity (psychophysical) functions, or to differences in intensity-pleasantness (psychohedonic) functions. Groups of elderly subjects (n = 31) and young subjects (n = 25) judged four series of food items (bouillon, tomato soup, chocolate custard and orange lemonade), each with five geometrically spaced flavour concentration levels. In addition, all participants judged a series of grey surfaces as a reference series. Stimuli were judged on a 10-point scale with respect to perceived intensity and pleasantness. The results showed that the responses to the various stimuli in the series of grey surfaces were almost equivalent for young and elderly subjects. The older subjects had higher optimal flavour concentrations than young subjects for each of the four food items. The differences could be attributed to differences in both psychophysical and psychohedonic functions for all four flavours. However, changes in psychohedonic functions were less pronounced for the savoury flavours than for the sweet flavours. The higher optimal preferred flavour concentration level for the elderly could be partly explained by the phenomenon that the elderly need higher concentration levels than young subjects in order to obtain a similar perceived intensity level.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Calibration of dietary intake measurements in prospective cohort studies.

To evaluate the accuracy of dietary intake measurements in prospective cohort studies on diet, it is generally proposed that substudies be conducted to 1) correct relative risk estimates for biases due to measurement error, and 2) account for statistical power losses when estimating the sample size requirements of the cohort. Usually the substudy takes the form of a "validity" study, based on a small group of volunteers and using repeated daily food consumption records as reference measurements. In this methodological review, the authors conclude that when relative risks are estimated for scaled, absolute intake differences rather than for quantile categories, a "calibration" study based on only a single day's food intake record (but generally on a larger number of subjects) can provide sufficient reference information to meet objectives 1 and 2. A major advantage of calibration studies based on this single-day-per-subject design is that they can be conducted on a representative sample of cohort participants more easily than validity studies in which reference measurements are repeated.

Bias↗
PubMed1995

Sample size requirements for calibration studies of dietary intake measurements in prospective cohort investigations.

Pooling data from multiple cohort studies on diet and cancer has the advantage that it allows detailed cross-validation of relative risk estimates between different study populations. If there is reasonable agreement between cohort-specific relative risk estimates, a more powerful pooled summary estimate can be obtained. A complication, however, is that in different cohorts, relative risk estimates may be biased to a different degree as a result of errors in the baseline assessments of habitual dietary intake levels. Such divergent biases can be adjusted for by means of "calibration" studies, using standardized reference measurements obtained in a subgroup of each cohort. These adjustments entail a cost, however, in terms of an increase in the confidence interval of relative risk estimates within each cohort separately. In this paper, the authors evaluate the possible magnitude of such intracohort losses in precision and discuss the approximate sample size required to have a sufficient level of accuracy in dietary calibration studies to adjust for bias.

Calibration↗
PubMed1994

Adjustment for bias due to errors in exposure assessments in multicenter cohort studies on diet and cancer: a calibration approach.

An advantage of multicenter cohort studies on diet and cancer is that these may include populations over a wide range of dietary exposure. With some simplifying assumptions, the information from such multicenter studies may be divided into 1) estimated relationships within each of the separate cohorts, between individual-level measurements of dietary exposure and disease outcome, and 2) an estimated between-cohort relationship, between the mean intake measurements and mean incidence rates. Errors in the dietary exposure measurements may lead to different amounts of bias in each of these estimated relationships, in particular when dietary questionnaire methods cannot easily be standardized. A calibration approach can be used to adjust for such differences in bias. This will improve the relative weighting of within- and between-cohort components of evidence for a diet-disease association.

Cohort Studies↗