Childhood Exposure to Passive Smoking and Bone Health in Adulthood: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Context: Passive smoke exposure has been linked to the risk of osteoporosis in adults.

Objective: We examined the independent effects of childhood passive smoke exposure on adult bone health.

Design/setting: Longitudinal, the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Association between all-cause and cause-specific mortality and the GOLD stages 1-4: A 30-year follow-up among Finnish adults.

Background: Mortality correlates with the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) criteria of airway obstruction. Yet, little data exist concerning the long-term survival of patients presenting with different levels of obstruction.

Methods: We studied the association between all-cause and cause-specific mortality and GOLD stages 1-4 in a 30-year follow-up among 6636 Finnish men and women aged 30 or older participating in the Mini-Finland Health Study between 1978 and 1980.

Celiac disease autoimmunity and hip fracture risk: findings from a prospective cohort study.

The impact of celiac disease autoimmunity on bone health is unclear. We investigated the associations of seropositivity for tissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTGA) and endomysial antibodies (EMA) with incident hip fractures using data from a prospective cohort study, Mini-Finland Health Survey. Baseline serum samples, taken in 1978-80, were tested for tTGA and EMA.

Fall-related risk factors and heel quantitative ultrasound in the assessment of hip fracture risk: a 10-year follow-up of a nationally representative adult population sample.

Unlabelled: Maximal walking speed and quantitative ultrasound index (QUI) were significant and independent predictors of hip fracture among subjects aged ≥ 55 years. A model including readily available variables along with simple fall-related factors may be clinically useful in the assessment of hip fracture risk even without a QUI measurement.

Introduction: This study assessed fall-related risk factors along with heel bone quantitative ultrasound (QUS) measurements for the prediction of hip fracture during a mean follow-up of 9.

Quantitative ultrasound measurements and vitamin D status in the assessment of hip fracture risk in a nationally representative population sample.

Summary: Adjusted for age, gender, height and weight, calcaneal quantitative ultrasound (QUS) and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (S-25(OH)D) proved to be significant predictors of hip fracture among subjects aged ≥50 years. Even if their contribution to the predictive power was modest, they may be useful in the assessment of hip fracture risk in the elderly.

Introduction: This study assessed calcaneal QUS measurements, S-25(OH)D and several other factors for the prediction of hip fracture risk in a nationally representative population sample.

Long-term determinants of muscle strength decline: prospective evidence from the 22-year mini-Finland follow-up survey.

Objectives: To examine long-term changes in handgrip strength and the factors predicting handgrip strength decline.

Design: Longitudinal cohort study with 22 years of follow-up.

Setting: Population-based Mini-Finland Health Examination Survey in Finland.

Association of 25-hydroxyvitamin D with the incidence of knee and hip osteoarthritis: a 22-year follow-up study.

Objective: In the light of conflicting results from previous studies on the role of vitamin D, we studied serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] with regard to its prediction of incident knee and hip osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods: The study population (n = 805) consisted of participants of a national health examination survey who had undergone baseline and follow-up clinical examinations at intervals of 20-23 years. Knee and hip OA were diagnosed on the basis of a standardized clinical examination by physicians with the same diagnostic criteria at baseline and follow-up.

Vertebral fracture and cause-specific mortality: a prospective population study of 3,210 men and 3,730 women with 30 years of follow-up.

Introduction: Vertebral fractures predict mortality, but little is known about their associations with the causes of death. We studied vertebral fractures for prediction of cause-specific mortality.

Material And Methods: A nationally representative sample of 3,210 men and 3,730 women participated Mini-Finland health survey in 1978-1980.

Associations of hip osteoarthritis with history of recurrent exposure to manual handling of loads over 20 kg and work participation: a population-based study of men and women.

Objectives: We reviewed work histories of manual handling of loads >20 kg in relation to hip osteoarthritis by age, exposure and work participation.

Methods: A nationally representative sample of 3110 Finnish men and 3446 women aged 30-97 was recruited. Diagnosis of hip osteoarthritis was based on standardised clinical examination by trained physicians.

Parity and risk of hip fracture in postmenopausal women.

Unlabelled: Hip fracture risk was assessed according to parity among postmenopausal women. Compared with nulliparous women, the fracture risk was lower in women with three or more births.

Introduction: Parity was assessed for long-term prediction of hip fracture in postmenopausal women.

Skeletal status in psychotic disorders: a population-based study.

Objective: To compare the skeletal status of subjects with primary psychotic disorders with the general population by means of bone ultrasound measurements. Schizophrenia seems to be associated with low bone mineral density through a still unclear mechanism, although information on other psychotic disorders is scarce.

Methods: In a nationally representative sample, quantitative ultrasound values of the heel, i.

No increase in the prevalence of COPD in two decades.

Relevant information on the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and its trends is scarce. In the present study, we compare the prevalence rates and potential determinants of COPD in two national population samples that were surveyed 20 yrs apart. In 1978-1980, a sample of 8,000 people was surveyed; subjects were representative of the Finnish population and were aged ≥30 yrs.

Severity of vertebral fracture and risk of hip fracture: a nested case-control study.

Unlabelled: Severe vertebral fractures strongly predicted subsequent hip fracture in this population-based study. Such high-risk patients should be provided with clinical evaluation and care for osteoporosis.

Introduction: Vertebral fractures are commonly osteoporotic and known to predict hip fracture.

Obesity, physically demanding work and traumatic knee injury are major risk factors for knee osteoarthritis--a population-based study with a follow-up of 22 years.

Objective: Several studies have shown that knee OA is associated with obesity, physical stress at work, traumatic knee injuries, heredity and female gender. However, the body of such evidence comes from cross-sectional or case-control studies, and from only a few follow-up studies, mostly of short duration. Based on the nationwide Mini-Finland Health Survey, we analysed the potential risk factors for prediction of incident knee OA in the long term.

Hip fractures and femoral bone mineral density in male former elite athletes.

Introduction: We studied whether vigorous physical activity in young adulthood is associated with higher femoral bone density and lower risk of hip fracture at older age in men.

Materials: A cohort of former male elite athletes (n=2147) and matched control subjects (n=1467) were studied for their leisure physical activity, and for fragility fractures at the hip (proximal femur) by Cox regression. Areal bone mineral densities (aBMD) at femoral neck and trochanter region were measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in a subgroup of the former athletes (n=87; median age 59 years) and in a population-based control group (n=194) and compared by general linear models.

Vitamin D status and the risk of cardiovascular disease death.

Accumulating evidence suggests that inadequate vitamin D levels may predispose people to chronic diseases. The authors aimed to investigate whether serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) level predicts mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD). The study was based on the Mini-Finland Health Survey and included 6,219 men and women aged > or =30 years who were free from CVD at baseline (1978-1980).

Regular use of traditional analgesics predicts major coronary events: A cohort study.

Aims: Serious concern has arisen about the cardiovascular safety of selective cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors. However, recent studies have shown that the cardiovascular risks of regular use of traditional analgesics also deserve attention. We investigated the use of traditional analgesics for their prediction of major coronary events during 16 years of follow-up.

Vitamin D status and common risk factors for bone fragility as determinants of quantitative ultrasound variables in a nationally representative population sample.

Calcaneal quantitative ultrasound (QUS) can predict bone strength and fracture risk. Bone fragility has no single cause but results from a complex interplay of several etiologic or contributing factors. Vitamin D is essential for bone health even though it is still unclear how much of this vitamin is required to maintain bone strength and prevent fractures.

Associations of genetic lactase non-persistence and sex with bone loss in young adulthood.

Some studies have reported that after attainment of peak bone mass (PBM), slow bone loss may occur in both men and women; however, findings are inconsistent. Genetic factors play a significant role in bone loss, but the available evidence is conflicting. Genetic lactase non-persistence (lactase C/C(-13910) genotype) is suggested to increase risk for inadequate calcium intake predisposing to poorer bone health.

Risk factors for the development of hip osteoarthritis: a population-based prospective study.

Objectives: Potential risk factors and their roles in the aetiology of hip OA are poorly understood. We analysed several alleged risk factors predisposing to hip OA in a 22-yr prospective study.

Methods: A comprehensive health survey was carried out in 1978-80 in a nationally representative sample of adult Finns.

Relative bone mineral density measured by metacarpal index (MCI) and chronic spinal syndromes: an epidemiological study.

Objectives: The results of previous studies on the association between bone mineral density (BMD) and chronic spinal syndromes have been contradictory. Therefore, we studied relative BMD measured by the metacarpal index (MCI) and its associations with chronic neck and low-back syndromes and diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH).

Methods: A population sample of 8000 Finns aged 30 years and over was invited to a comprehensive health examination in 1978-1980; 90% complied.

Individual-level measures of social capital as predictors of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality: a population-based prospective study of men and women in Finland.

Individual-level social capital was assessed for prediction of mortality in a nationally representative study population aged 30-99 years at the baseline. A total of 90% of the original sample had participated in a comprehensive health examination (Mini-Finland Health Survey) in 1978-1980. After the first 5 years of the 24-year follow-up period, 1,196 of 3,014 men and 1,280 of 3,689 women died.

Distribution of glutathione S-transferase M1, P1 and T1 genotypes in different age-groups of Finns without diagnosed cancer.

Background: Xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes (XMEs) are important detoxifiers of hazardous environmental agents, and their polymorphisms may therefore modify the risk of environmentally induced cancers. Consequently, the XME polymorphisms have been extensively studied in this context during recent years. Particular attention has been given to the polymorphisms of glutathione S-transferase (GST) M1, P1 and T1 genes.

Low metacarpal index predicts hip fracture: a prospective population study of 3,561 subjects with 15 years of follow-up.

Background: Metacarpal index (MCI), measured from hand radiographs as the ratio between combined cortical thickness and bone diameter, has been suggested for assessment of bone mass and risk of osteoporotic fracture. We studied MCI for its ability to predict hip fractures.

Methods: Hand radiographs were taken and MCI determined in 3,561 subjects from a representative population sample of 8,000 Finns who were 30 years of age or over in 1978-80.

Leisure participation predicts survival: a population-based study in Finland.

The authors study whether leisure participation is an independent predictor of survival over 20 years. Of the nationally representative sample of 8000 adult Finns (Mini-Finland Health Survey), aged >or=30 years, the cohort of 30-59 years (n 5087) was chosen for the Cox proportional survival analyses. The sum score of leisure participation was divided in quartiles (the lowest quartile = scarce = 0-6), two intermediate quartiles = 7-11 and the highest quartile = abundant = 12-21).