The utility of online panel surveys versus computer-assisted interviews in obtaining substance-use prevalence estimates in the Netherlands.

Aims: Rather than using the traditional, costly method of personal interviews in a general population sample, substance-use prevalence rates can be derived more conveniently from data collected among members of an online access panel. To examine the utility of this method, we compared the outcomes of an online survey with those obtained with the computer-assisted personal interviews (CAPI) method.

Design: Data were gathered from a large sample of online panellists and in a two-stage stratified sample of the Dutch population using the CAPI method.

Do dietary patterns in older men influence change in homocysteine through folate fortification? The Normative Aging Study.

Objective: We aimed to describe the difference in B-vitamin intake and in plasma B-vitamin and homocysteine concentrations before and after folic acid fortification, in relation to dietary patterns.

Design: The Normative Aging Study (NAS) is a longitudinal study on ageing. Between 1961 and 1970, 2280 male volunteers aged 21-80 years (mean 42 years) were recruited.

Supplement use and mortality: the SENECA study.

Background: It is hypothesis that in relatively healthy older people supplement usage can be consider as healthy life style habit and as such can positively influence longevity.

Aim Of The Study: To determine whether supplement use was associated with all-cause mortality in the participants of the SENECA study.

Methods: Baseline measurements were carried out in 1988/1989 among 75 to 80-year-old people living in 15 European small towns.

Lifestyle, Mediterranean diet and survival in European post-myocardial infarction patients.

Background: The extent and benefits of adherence to lifestyle and dietary recommendations in secondary prevention are largely unknown.

Design: We examined the frequency of healthy dietary and lifestyle behaviours and their impact on survival in post-myocardial infarction (MI) patients in a prospective cohort study of elderly Europeans.

Methods: Adherence to a Mediterranean-type diet was measured with a modified Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) on an eight-point scale.

Body weight changes in elderly psychogeriatric nursing home residents.

Objective: This study was undertaken to identify predictors of body weight change in nursing home patients with possible to severe dementia.

Methods: For 24 weeks, 108 elderly residents of a nursing home were followed. Body weight was measured every 2 weeks.

Mediterranean diet, lifestyle factors, and 10-year mortality in elderly European men and women: the HALE project.

Context: Dietary patterns and lifestyle factors are associated with mortality from all causes, coronary heart disease, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer, but few studies have investigated these factors in combination.

Objective: To investigate the single and combined effect of Mediterranean diet, being physically active, moderate alcohol use, and nonsmoking on all-cause and cause-specific mortality in European elderly individuals.

Design, Setting, And Participants: The Healthy Ageing: a Longitudinal study in Europe (HALE) population, comprising individuals enrolled in the Survey in Europe on Nutrition and the Elderly: a Concerned Action (SENECA) and the Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Elderly (FINE) studies, includes 1507 apparently healthy men and 832 women, aged 70 to 90 years in 11 European countries.