Risk factors for incident self-reported arthritis in a 20 year followup of the Alameda County Study Cohort.

Objective: This longitudinal study examined the following variables as possible risk factors for self-reported arthritis: age, sex, race, body mass index (BMI), depressive symptoms, leisure-time physical activity, cigarette use, alcohol, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, education, income, and hard physical work.

Methods: Altogether, 1149 women and 964 men from the Alameda County Study Cohort without self-reported arthritis in 1974 were assessed for incident self-reported arthritis in 1994.

Results: In a multivariate model, the following variables were associated with increased odds of incident arthritis: increasing age (age 45-49, odds ratio 2.

Religious attendance and cause of death over 31 years.

Objective: Frequent attendance at religious services has been reported by several studies to be independently associated with lower all-cause mortality. The present study aimed to clarify relationships between religious attendance and mortality by examining how associations of religious attendance with several specific causes of death may be explained by demographics, socioeconomic status, health status, health behaviors, and social connections.

Method: Associations between frequent religious attendance and major types of cause-specific mortality between 1965 and 1996 were examined for 6545 residents of Alameda County, California.

A prospective study of dyspepsia in primary care.

Dyspepsia is a common complaint, but its course and associated resource utilization have not been well described. In this study, 288 adult, primary care patients with dyspepsia treated at ambulatory clinics were followed prospectively for one year. Medical chart, utilization, and baseline and one-year follow-up survey data were collected.