Lifestyle risk factors for chronic disease across family origin among adults in multiethnic, low-income, urban neighborhoods.

Objectives: To describe the prevalence and co-occurrence of lifestyle risk factors for chronic disease by family origin.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis.

Setting: Multiethnic, low-income, urban neighborhoods in Montreal, Canada.

Smoking cessation attempts among adolescent smokers: a systematic review of prevalence studies.

Objective: To synthesise estimates of the prevalence of cessation attempts among adolescent smokers generally, and according to age and level of cigarette consumption.

Data Sources: PubMed, ERIC, and PsychInfo databases and Internet searches of central data collection agencies.

Study Selection: National population-based studies published in English between 1990 and 2005 reporting the prevalence, frequency and/or duration of cessation attempts among smokers aged >or=10 to <20 years.

Susceptibility to nicotine dependence: the Development and Assessment of Nicotine Dependence in Youth 2 study.

Objectives: The purpose of this work was to identify characteristics that predict progression from the first inhalation of a cigarette to dependence. We studied a cohort of 1246 public school 6th-graders in 6 Massachusetts communities (mean age at baseline: 12.2 years).

The influence of school smoking policies on student tobacco use.

Objective: To investigate the association between smoking behavior among secondary school students and school smoking policies.

Design: Cross-sectional provincially representative study.

Setting: Quebec secondary schools.

Gender differences among general practitioners in smoking cessation counseling practices.

Objectives: To describe gender differences in smoking cessation counseling practices among general practitioners (GPs), and to investigate the association between training for cessation counseling and counseling practices according to gender.

Methods: Data were collected in two cross-sectional mail surveys conducted in independent random samples of GPs in Montreal, the first in 1998, and the second in 2000.

Results: Respondents included 653 GPs (71% of 916 eligible).

Building the backbone for organisational research in public health systems: development of measures of organisational capacity for chronic disease prevention.

Background: : Research to investigate levels of organisational capacity in public health systems to reduce the burden of chronic disease is challenged by the need for an integrative conceptual model and valid quantitative organisational level measures.

Objective: To develop measures of organisational capacity for chronic disease prevention/healthy lifestyle promotion (CDP/HLP), its determinants, and its outcomes, based on a new integrative conceptual model.

Methods: Items measuring each component of the model were developed or adapted from existing instruments, tested for content validity, and pilot tested.

Symptoms of tobacco dependence after brief intermittent use: the Development and Assessment of Nicotine Dependence in Youth-2 study.

Objective: To extend the findings of the first Development and Assessment of Nicotine Dependence in Youth study by using diagnostic criteria for tobacco dependence and a biochemical measure of nicotine intake. The first study found that symptoms of dependence commonly appeared soon after the onset of intermittent smoking.

Design: A 4-year prospective study.

Physician delivery of smoking prevention counseling to young patients in the United Arab Emirates.

Objective: To describe the delivery of smoking preventive counseling to preadolescent, adolescent, and young adult patients in an Arab population, and to examine counseling behavior according to physician demographic characteristics and perceived barriers to counseling.

Methods: A cross-sectional mail survey was carried out among general practitioners (GPs) in private practice in the Emirates of Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Results: Of 391 eligible GPs, 218 (56%) completed the questionnaire.

A comprehensive view of sex-specific issues related to cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality in women. In fact, CVD is responsible for a third of all deaths of women worldwide and half of all deaths of women over 50 years of age in developing countries. The prevalence of CVD risk factor precursors is increasing in children.

Five-year predictors of physical activity decline among adults in low-income communities: a prospective study.

Background: Obesity in North America is now endemic, and increased understanding of the determinants of physical inactivity is critical. This analysis identified predictors of declines in physical activity over 5 years among adults in low-income, inner-city neighbourhoods.

Methods: Data on leisure time physical activity were collected in telephone interviews in 1992 and 1997 from 765 adults (47% of baseline respondents), as part of the evaluation of a community-based cardiovascular disease risk reduction program.

Delays to reperfusion therapy in acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: results from the AMI-QUEBEC Study.

Background: Through the AMI-QUEBEC Study we sought to describe delays to reperfusion therapy for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and to identify factors associated with prolonged delays.

Methods: We reviewed the charts of all consecutive patients with STEMI admitted to 17 hospitals in the province of Quebec in 2003 to obtain data on the time from presentation to reperfusion therapy. Data were available for 1189 (83.

Emergence of sex differences in prevalence of high systolic blood pressure: analysis of a longitudinal adolescent cohort.

Background: High systolic blood pressure (SBP) occurs more frequently both among men and boys than among women and girls. No longitudinal study has investigated whether the impact of SBP determinants differ according to sex in youth.

Methods And Results: Between 1999 and 2005, an adolescent cohort (n=1267) completed a questionnaire survey and underwent biannual blood pressure and anthropometric assessment (grades 7, 9, and 11).

Association between fruit and vegetable consumption in mothers and children in low-income, urban neighborhoods.

To understand factors influencing fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption in children, the authors studied the association between F&V consumption in mothers and children in a sample of 1,106 boys and girls in Grades 4-6 in 24 elementary schools in low-income, multiethnic neighborhoods in Montreal, Canada. Approximately 10% of girls and 19% of boys reported not having eaten any vegetables in the week prior to questionnaire administration; 53% of girls and 63% of boys did not consume whole fruits daily. Each unit increase in F&V consumption in mothers was associated with a 10% to 20% increase in F&V consumption in children.

Milestones in the natural course of onset of cigarette use among adolescents.

Background: The natural course of onset of cigarette use has been conceptualized as progressing sequentially through 5 stages (preparation, trying, irregular use, regular use, nicotine-dependent smoking). However, recent studies suggest that symptoms of nicotine dependence can occur early in the onset process, raising questions about the validity of this model. The objective of our study was to describe the sequence and timing of 12 milestones (6 related to cigarette use and 6 to symptoms of nicotine dependence) during onset of cigarette use.

Effect of a ban on extracurricular sports activities by secondary school teachers on physical activity levels of adolescents: a multilevel analysis.

To study the effect of a teachers' ban on supervising sports-related extracurricular physical activities (ECAs), levels of physical activity among 979 grade 7 students (mean age=12.7 [0.5] years at baseline) were compared during and after the ban in seven schools that fully implemented the ban, and three schools that did not implement the ban fully.

Adiponectin, adiposity, and insulin resistance in children and adolescents.

Context: Determinants of adiponectin and its association with insulin resistance (IR) are less well studied in youth than in adults.

Objectives: The objective of the study was to describe, in youth, the age- and sex-specific distribution of adiponectin concentrations and the association with demographic, anthropometric, and lifestyle factors, parental diabetes, and markers of IR.

Design, Setting, Participants: We studied 1632 French Canadian youth aged 9, 13, and 16 yr who participated in the Québec Child and Adolescent Health and Social Survey, a province-wide, school-based survey conducted in 1999.

Opportunities for student physical activity in elementary schools: a cross-sectional survey of frequency and correlates.

The objectives of this study were to describe opportunities for student physical activity (PA) in elementary schools and to identify factors in the school environment associated with higher PA opportunity. Self-report questionnaires were completed by school principals and physical education teachers in 277 schools (88% response) in metropolitan Montreal. Correlates of opportunity were identified using ordinal logistic regression.

Reliability of self-reports of cigarette use in novice smokers.

This analysis reports the 3-month test-retest reliability of self-reports of cigarette use in novice smokers, and identifies factors associated with adequate recall. Participants included 63 novice smokers (mean age 14.1 years) from the McGill University Study on the Natural History of Nicotine Dependence in Teens.

Smoking trajectories of adolescent novice smokers in a longitudinal study of tobacco use.

Purpose: To describe longitudinal trajectories of smoking intensity in adolescent novice smokers and to identify predictors of trajectory class membership.

Methods: Cigarette consumption among 369 novice smokers (mean age 13 years) was measured over a mean 24 months of follow-up after smoking onset. Classes of smoking intensity trajectories were identified using latent class growth modeling.

Distribution of LDL particle size in a population-based sample of children and adolescents and relationship with other cardiovascular risk factors.

Background: Smaller, denser LDL particles are associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). In youths, data on the distribution of LDL particle size and on its association with other CVD risk factors are limited.

Methods: We determined LDL peak particle size by nondenaturing 2%-16% gradient gel electrophoresis in a representative sample of 2249 youths 9, 13, and 16 years of age who participated in a school-based survey conducted in 1999 in the province of Quebec, Canada.

Using linking systems to build capacity and enhance dissemination in heart health promotion: a Canadian multiple-case study.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the utility of linking systems between public health resource and user organizations for health promotion dissemination and capacity building, and to identify factors related to the success of linking systems. The design is a parallel-case study using key informant interviews and content analysis of project reports (synthesized qualitative and quantitative data) of three provincial dissemination projects of the Canadian Heart Health Initiative-Dissemination Phase. Each provincial project used linking activities with public health user groups including meetings, skill building, resources, collaboration, networking and research feedback to facilitate capacity building for and implementation of heart health promotion activities.

Intestinal fatty acid binding protein and microsomal triglyceride transfer protein polymorphisms in French-Canadian youth.

Growing evidence suggests an association between lipid abnormalities and fatty acid binding protein (FABP) and microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) gene variants. Our objectives were to determine whether Ala54Thr FABP2 and G-493T MTP polymorphisms are associated with increased risks of insulin resistance syndrome (IRS) in youth and/or modify the expression of accompanying dyslipidemia. Our study of 1,742 French-Canadians aged 9, 13, and 16 years did not provide evidence of a potential predisposition to IRS related to either FABP2 or MTP genotypes.

Blood pressure and adiposity in children and adolescents.

Background: Although obesity is associated with important hemodynamic disturbances, there are few data on population-wide blood pressure (BP) distribution in children and adolescents in this era of endemic pediatric obesity.

Methods And Results: We conducted a school-based survey of a representative sample of youth aged 9, 13, and 16 years in Quebec, Canada. Resting BP was measured with an oscillometric device in 3589 subjects (80% response).

Lifestyle risk factors for chronic disease by family origin among children in multiethnic, low-income, urban neighborhoods.

Objectives: To describe the prevalence of lifestyle risk factors (LRF) for chronic disease by family origin (FO) among children in multiethnic, low-income, urban neighborhoods.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis.

Setting: 16 elementary schools located in disadvantaged, multiethnic neighborhoods in Montreal, Canada.