Publications

Objective Life stress resulting from early-life experiences and domestic stress is linked with shorter leukocyte telomere length (LTL), but evidence on employment-related stress is scarce. We explored whether unemployment in early adulthood is associated with shorter LTL, a potential biomarker of premature aging. Methods We used data from 5620 men and women belonging to the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966. Individually registered unemployment days in 1995–97 were compared with data on biological, behavioral and socioeconomic health predictors and existing medical conditions obtained by surveys and clinical examinations at follow-up in 1997–98. Mean LTL at follow-up was measured by multiplex quantitative real-time PCR. We calculated odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) of belonging to the sex-stratified shortest decile of standardized relative mean LTL according to the categories of: 0, <260, <500 and over 500 unemployment days, representing 0, <1, <2 and over 2 calendar years. Results Among men, unemployment exceeding 500 days during three years was associated with having shorter LTL at follow-up, compared to being continuously employed. The corresponding odds ratio was 2.61 (95% CI 1.16 to 5.85) in the fully adjusted model. Such an association was not found among women in this study. Conclusions Long-term unemployment in early adulthood is associated with shorter LTL among men.

Background and Purpose— Higher intake of whole grains may exert cardiometabolic benefits, although findings on stroke risk are inconclusive. The potentially differential effects of individual whole grain foods on ischemic stroke have not been examined. Methods— We analyzed whole grain consumption in relation to ischemic stroke among 71 750 women from the Nurses’ Health Study and 42 823 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study who were free of cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and cancer at baseline (1984 and 1986, respectively) through 2010 using a Cox proportional hazards model. Validated semiquantitative food frequency questionnaires were used to assess consumption of whole grain intake, including whole grain cold breakfast cereal, dark bread, oatmeal, brown rice, popcorn, bran, and germ. Self-reported incident cases of ischemic stroke were confirmed through medical record review. Results— During 2 820 128 person-years of follow-up in the 2 cohorts, 2458 cases of ischemic stroke were identified and confirmed. Intake of total whole grains was not associated with risk of ischemic stroke after adjustment for covariates: the pooled hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) comparing extreme intake levels was 1.04 (0.91–1.19). However, intake of whole grain cold breakfast cereal and total bran was inversely associated with ischemic stroke after multivariate adjustment: the pooled hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) were 0.88 (0.80–0.96; P trend =0.008) and 0.89 (0.79–1.00; P trend =0.004), respectively. Other whole grain foods were not associated with a lower risk of ischemic stroke. Conclusions— Although overall consumption of whole grains was not associated with lower risk of ischemic stroke, greater consumption of whole grain cold breakfast cereal and bran was significantly associated with a lower risk of ischemic stroke. More studies are needed to replicate these associations between individual whole grain foods and risk of ischemic stroke among other populations.

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No abstract is provided for this article.

Previous genome-wide association studies revealed multiple common variants involved in eczema but the role of rare variants remains to be elucidated. Here, we investigate the role of rare variants in eczema susceptibility. We meta-analyze 21 study populations including 20,016 eczema cases and 380,433 controls. Rare variants are imputed with high accuracy using large population-based reference panels. We identify rare exonic variants in DUSP1, NOTCH4, and SLC9A4 to be associated with eczema. In DUSP1 and NOTCH4 missense variants are predicted to impact conserved functional domains. In addition, five novel common variants at SATB1-AS1/KCNH8, TRIB1/LINC00861, ZBTB1, TBX21/OSBPL7, and CSF2RB are discovered. While genes prioritized based on rare variants are significantly up-regulated in the skin, common variants point to immune cell function. Over 20% of the single nucleotide variant-based heritability is attributable to rare and low-frequency variants. The identified rare/low-frequency variants located in functional protein domains point to promising targets for novel therapeutic approaches to eczema.

Simple screening questionnaires for major psychiatric disorders are needed for epidemiological research and clinical work. We describe the characteristics of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) as a screening instrument in a two-phase epidemiological survey using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID) as a diagnostic tool. The material consisted of 1609 subjects aged 31 years who were asked to participate in a health survey. The invitation included the HSCL-25 questionnaire. All "screen-positive" (HSCL-25 mean≥1.55) subjects and every tenth "screen-negative" subject were invited to participate in the SCID interview. The sensitivity of the HSCL-25 for any present DSM-III-R axis-I psychiatric disorder was 48%. The specificity was 87%. The sensitivity of cases with comorbid psychiatric disorders was 100%. The HSCL-25 is a moderate instrument for screening with present axis-I DSM-III-R psychiatric disorders in a young adult population. It can be recommended for screening of psychiatric disorders.

ISEE-0471 Background and Objective: Information is lacking as to whether Diabetes Mellitus (DM) merely modifies the impact of air pollution exposures on cardiovascular outcomes or whether it is also an air pollution associated outcome. Using two prospective cohorts, the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS), we investigated the relationship of incident DM with chronic exposures to PM10 (particulate matter less than 10 microns in diameter), PM2.5 (particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter), and PM10-2.5 (particulate matter between 2.5 and 10 microns in diameter). Methods: Cases were initially reported through biennial questionnaires and confirmed by supplemental questionnaire. During the follow-up from 1992 to 2002, questionnaires also provided information on time-varying covariates and updated addresses which were geocoded and used to assign air pollution exposures that were estimated with GIS-based spatial statistical models. Results: Among participants living in metropolitan areas of the northeastern and midwestern US, there were 4,073 incident cases of DM in the NHS, and 646 cases in the HPFS. Among women, DM was significantly associated with increases in each size fraction of PM averaged over the 12 months prior to diagnosis in single pollutant time and age adjusted models. Risk of DM was also elevated for men. The greatest risk was related to PM2.5 exposure (HR for women: 1.32; 95%CI: 1.14-1.51; HR for men: 1.36; 95%CI: 0.98, 1.87). After adjustment for known risk factors for DM, risks remained elevated but were considerably attenuated. Conclusion: Using time-varying measures of covariates and long-term exposures, we found particulates were associated with increased risks of DM among women and men living in the northeastern and midwestern US. This relationship was confounded by known risk factors for DM.