A longitudinal study of the association between attending cultural events and coronary heart disease.

Background: The experiences of art and music are an essential part of human life and this study aimed to examine the longitudinal association between cultural participation and coronary heart disease.

Methods: This was a longitudinal study on a randomly selected representative adult cohort (n = 3296) of the Swedish population. The study period was over 36 years (1982-2017) with three separate eight-year interval measurements of cultural exposure (for example, visiting theatres and museums) starting in 1982/83.

Association between attending cultural events and all-cause mortality: a longitudinal study with three measurements (1982-2017).

Objectives: To examine the association between cultural attendance and all-cause mortality.

Design: A longitudinal cohort study over 36 years (1982-2017) with three 8-year interval measurements of exposure (1982/1983, 1990/1991 and 1998/1999) to cultural attendance and a follow-up period to 31 December 2017.

Setting: Sweden.

Human transgenerational responses to early-life experience: potential impact on development, health and biomedical research.

Mammalian experiments provide clear evidence of male line transgenerational effects on health and development from paternal or ancestral early-life exposures such as diet or stress. The few human observational studies to date suggest (male line) transgenerational effects exist that cannot easily be attributed to cultural and/or genetic inheritance. Here we summarise relevant studies, drawing attention to exposure sensitive periods in early life and sex differences in transmission and offspring outcomes.

Change in paternal grandmothers' early food supply influenced cardiovascular mortality of the female grandchildren.

Background: This study investigated whether large fluctuations in food availability during grandparents' early development influenced grandchildren's cardiovascular mortality. We reported earlier that changes in availability of food - from good to poor or from poor to good - during intrauterine development was followed by a double risk of sudden death as an adult, and that mortality rate can be associated with ancestors' childhood availability of food. We have now studied transgenerational responses (TGR) to sharp differences of harvest between two consecutive years' for ancestors of 317 people in Överkalix, Sweden.

Accuracy of death certificates of cardiovascular disease in a community intervention in Sweden.

Aim: The aim was to investigate the possibility to evaluate the mortality pattern in a community intervention programme against cardiovascular disease by official death certificates.

Methods: For all deceased in the intervention area (Norsjö), the accuracy of the official death certificates were compared with matched controls in the rest of Västerbotten. The official causes of death were compared with new certificates, based on the last clinical record, issued by three of the authors, and coded by one of the authors, all four accordingly blinded.

Intergenerational health responses to adverse and enriched environments.

Health consequences of relative or absolute poverty constitute a definitive area of study in social medicine. As demonstrated in the extreme example of the Dutch Hunger Winter from 1944 to 1945, prenatal hunger can lead to adult schizophrenia and depression. A Norwegian study showed how childhood poverty resulted in a heightened risk of myocardial infarction in adulthood.

Migration and mortality trajectories: a study of individuals born in the rural community of Överkalix, Sweden.

Migration may result in exposure to factors that are both beneficial and harmful for good health. How the act of migration is associated with mortality, or whether the socio-economic condition of migrants prior to migration influences their mortality trajectory, is not well understood. In the present study, a cohort of 413 randomly selected individuals born in the rural community of Överkalix, Sweden, between 1890 and 1935 were followed from birth to either death or old age.

Patterns of receptive and creative cultural activities and their association with perceived health, anxiety, depression and satisfaction with life among adults: the HUNT study, Norway.

Background: Cultural participation has been used both in governmental health policies and as medical therapy, based on the assumption that cultural activities will improve health. Previous population studies and a human intervention study have shown that religious, social and cultural activities predict increased survival rate. The aim of this study was to analyse the association between cultural activity and perceived health, anxiety, depression and satisfaction with life in both genders.

All-cause mortality of patients with dyslipidemia up to 19 years after a multidisciplinary lifestyle modification programme: a randomized trial.

Background: Many studies have shown that individual lifestyle factors are associated with cardiovascular mortality and all-cause mortality. Observational studies of comprehensive programmes have reported risk reductions. The objectives were to assess the long-term all-cause mortality by diagnosis in patients referred to a lifestyle modification programme, aimed at combating coronary heart disease and stroke.

Cultural participation and health: a randomized controlled trial among medical care staff.

Objective: Population studies demonstrate that attending cultural events is conducive to improved health when baseline health, income, education, and health habits are taken into account. Animal experiments suggest possible mechanisms. We studied the link in humans between attending cultural events and health in a randomized controlled trial.

Are variations in rates of attending cultural activities associated with population health in the United States?

Background: Population studies conducted in Sweden have revealed an association between attendance at cultural activities and health. Using data from US residents, we examined whether the association could be observed in the US.

Methods: Participants in the current study included 1,244 individuals who participated in the 1998 General Social Survey.

Transgenerational response to nutrition, early life circumstances and longevity.

Nutrition might induce, at some loci, epigenetic or other changes that could be transmitted to the next generation impacting on health. The slow growth period (SGP) before the prepubertal peak in growth velocity has emerged as a sensitive period where different food availability is followed by different transgenerational response (TGR). The aim of this study is to investigate to what extent the probands own childhood circumstances are in fact the determinants of the findings.

Sex-specific, male-line transgenerational responses in humans.

Transgenerational effects of maternal nutrition or other environmental 'exposures' are well recognised, but the possibility of exposure in the male influencing development and health in the next generation(s) is rarely considered. However, historical associations of longevity with paternal ancestors' food supply in the slow growth period (SGP) in mid childhood have been reported. Using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), we identified 166 fathers who reported starting smoking before age 11 years and compared the growth of their offspring with those with a later paternal onset of smoking, after correcting for confounders.

Socio-demographic determinants of initiation and duration of breastfeeding in northwest Russia.

Aim: This study examines socio-demographic determinants of initiation and duration of breastfeeding in a community-based cohort in northwest Russia.

Methods: All infants born to women who were registered at the antenatal clinics in Severodvinsk in 1999 comprised the cohort (n=1399) and were followed up at 1 y. Data on maternal and infant characteristics as well as the duration of breastfeeding were obtained from medical records.

Outcomes of comprehensive lifestyle modification in inpatient setting.

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of a 4-week inpatient non-pharmacological risk factor modification programme for individuals with the metabolic syndrome. The aim of the program was to reduce patients' over risks for stroke and myocardial infarction.

Methods: A prospective clinical study including 2468 patients--1096 men and 1372 women--with and average age of 50 +/- 10 years.

Housing conditions, perceived stress, smoking, and alcohol: determinants of fetal growth in Northwest Russia.

Background: Social determinants of health have become important in countries of the former Soviet Union during the time of transition.

Aim: This article estimates the influence of living conditions, smoking, alcohol, and maternal stress on fetal growth indices in an urban Russian setting.

Methods: All pregnant women registered at antenatal care centres in Severodvinsk (Northwest Russia) and their infants comprised the study base (n = 1399).

Socio-demographic determinants of poor infant outcome in north-west Russia.

The infant outcome determinants vary in different settings, and there is still a need for analysis within environments. This study was designed to examine the relation between poor infant outcome (PIO), (i.e.

Change in food availability during pregnancy: Is it related to adult sudden death from cerebro- and cardiovascular disease in offspring?

Maternal access to food during pregnancy affects birth weight and other characteristics of offspring. It has been suggested that fluctuations in food availability during infancy, ranging from plentiful to starvation, may influence cerebro-cardiovascular risk factors for the offspring during adult life. This study was designed to test the correlation between food availability changes during life before birth and adult sudden death from disease.