Longitudinal biobanks-based study on the joint effects of infections, nutrition and hormones on risk of prostate cancer.

Background To evaluate the individual and combined effects of enterolactone, vitamin D, free testosterone, Chlamydia trachomatis and HPV-18 on the risk of prostate cancer in a large population-based biochemical material that combined three Nordic serum sample banks. Material and methods A joint cohort of 209 000 healthy men was followed using cancer registry linkages. From this cohort altogether 699 incident cases of prostate cancer were identified.

Dual role of physical workload and occupational noise in the association of the metabolic syndrome with risk of coronary heart disease: findings from the Helsinki Heart Study.

Objectives: Previous evidence indicates that occupational exposure to physical workload or noise entails development of hypertension and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). However, vigorous physical activity lessens the risks of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and CHD. We explored this issue by studying the joint effect of physical workload or noise and MetS on risk of CHD.

Joint effect of self-reported sleep problems and three components of the metabolic syndrome on risk of coronary heart disease.

Objective: This study explored the joint effect of two epidemics, sleep problems and metabolic syndrome (MetS), on the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD).

Methods: The study group is part of the Finnish middle-aged men who participated in the first screening for the Helsinki Heart Study (HHS) in 1981-1982. At that time, three components of MetS were measured: body mass index, HDL cholesterol, and blood pressure.

Estimation of VLDL, IDL, LDL, HDL2, apoA-I, and apoB from the Friedewald inputs--apoB and IDL, but not LDL, are associated with mortality in type 1 diabetes.

Background: There is an unmet need for a straightforward and cost-effective assessment of multiple lipoprotein risk factors for vascular diseases.

Aims: 1) To study the relation of various lipoprotein lipid and apolipoprotein (apo) measures on the Friedewald inputs, i.e.

Shift work, occupational noise and physical workload with ensuing development of blood pressure and their joint effect on the risk of coronary heart disease.

Objectives: The change in systolic blood pressure (SBP) over an 8-year period was explored in groups defined according to exposure to shift work, occupational noise, and physical workload. The impact of baseline SBP and its increase in relation to coronary heart disease (CHD) risk due to these exposures was also studied.

Methods: The study cohorts (N=1288 for CHD follow-up, N=884 for SBP follow-up) consisted of industrially employed middle-aged men from the Helsinki Heart Study.

Nordic biological specimen banks as basis for studies of cancer causes and control--more than 2 million sample donors, 25 million person years and 100,000 prospective cancers.

The Nordic countries have a long tradition of large-scale biobanking and comprehensive, population-based health data registries linkable on unique personal identifiers, enabling follow-up studies spanning many decades. Joint Nordic biobank-based studies provide unique opportunities for longitudinal molecular epidemiological research. The purpose of the present paper is to describe the possibilities for such joint studies, by describing some of the major Nordic biobank cohorts with a standardised calculation of the cancer incidence in these cohorts.

Interaction of factors related to the metabolic syndrome and vitamin D on risk of prostate cancer.

Background: Factors related to the metabolic syndrome and low levels of vitamin D have been implicated as risk factors for prostate cancer. Insofar, no studies have assessed their joint effects on prostate cancer risk.

Methods: We studied (a) the associations of vitamin D with the metabolic syndrome factors body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and (b) the prostate cancer risk associated with these factors and especially their joint effects with vitamin D on risk of prostate cancer.

The sense of coherence and incidence of cancer--role of follow-up time and age at baseline.

Objective: We studied the effect of the sense of coherence (SOC) on cancer incidence, the role of age at baseline, and the length of the follow-up in that association.

Methods: Five thousand eight hundred sixty-six middle-aged men initially in working life were followed up for 12 years after measurement of the SOC. The relative risks (RRs) of cancer were estimated using Cox regression models.

Chlamydia pneumoniae antibody levels before coronary events in the Helsinki Heart Study as measured by different methods.

The lack of specific tests for the diagnosis of chronic Chlamydia pneumoniae infection has led to the use of enzyme immunoassay (EIA) instead of the gold standard, that is, microimmunofluorescence (MIF), in the measurement of C. pneumoniae antibodies. We assessed the predictive values of C.

Gemfibrozil in the treatment of dyslipidemia: an 18-year mortality follow-up of the Helsinki Heart Study.

Background: The Helsinki Heart Study was a double-blind, placebo-controlled primary prevention trial among 4081 dyslipidemic middle-aged men to test the efficacy of gemfibrozil in the prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD). After the 5-year trial, the participants were notified of their treatment group and invited to continue or start gemfibrozil therapy free of charge through 1995. Approximately two thirds of participants in both groups chose gemfibrozil therapy.

Long-term effect of occupational noise on the risk of coronary heart disease.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate the short- and long-term effects of occupational exposure to continuous and impulse noise on the risk of CHD.

Methods: The effect of noise on CHD was studied among 6005 Finnish middle-aged industrially employed men (part of the screeners in the Helsinki Heart Study) in a prospective 18-year follow-up study. The CHD end points (codes 410-414 in the ninth revision of the International Classification of Diseases and codes I20-I25 in the tenth revision) were obtained from official Finnish registers.

Serum iron, infection and inflammation; effects on coronary risk.

Objectives: To explore the potential pathways of association between serum iron and coronary heart disease, with major emphasis on factors related to infections and inflammation.

Design: A nested case-control study with 215 cases (myocardial infarction or coronary death) and 215 matched controls over 8.5 years.

Chlamydial antibodies and risk of prostate cancer.

Objective: We assessed the risk of prostate cancer by exposure to Chlamydia trachomatis.

Method: Seven hundred thirty eight cases of prostate cancer and 2,271 matched controls were identified from three serum sample banks in Finland, Norway, and Sweden by linkage to the population based cancer registries.

Results: A statistically significant inverse association (odds ratio, 0.

High levels of circulating testosterone are not associated with increased prostate cancer risk: a pooled prospective study.

Androgens stimulate prostate cancer in vitro and in vivo. However, evidence from epidemiologic studies of an association between circulating levels of androgens and prostate cancer risk has been inconsistent. We investigated the association of serum levels of testosterone, the principal androgen in circulation, and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) with risk in a case-control study nested in cohorts in Finland, Norway and Sweden of 708 men who were diagnosed with prostate cancer after blood collection and among 2,242 men who were not.

Both high and low levels of blood vitamin D are associated with a higher prostate cancer risk: a longitudinal, nested case-control study in the Nordic countries.

Vitamin D inhibits the development and growth of prostate cancer cells. Epidemiologic results on serum vitamin D levels and prostate cancer risk have, however, been inconsistent. We conducted a longitudinal nested case-control study on Nordic men (Norway, Finland and Sweden) using serum banks of 200,000 samples.

Synergistic effect of persistent Chlamydia pneumoniae infection, autoimmunity, and inflammation on coronary risk.

Background: Given the role of chronic infections, autoimmunity, and inflammation in atherosclerosis, we studied the joint effect of chronic Chlamydia pneumoniae infection, persistently elevated human heat-shock protein 60 (hHsp60) antibodies, and C-reactive protein (CRP) on coronary risk.

Methods And Results: The participants for this prospective nested case-control study were obtained from the Helsinki Heart Study, during which 241 nonfatal myocardial infarctions or coronary deaths occurred among 4081 dyslipidemic middle-aged men. Serum samples taken at baseline and 3 to 6 months before the coronary events that occurred during the 8.

Circulating enterolactone and prostate cancer risk: a Nordic nested case-control study.

Enterolactone, a phytoestrogen belonging to the class of lignans, is produced by the intestinal microflora from precursors in plant foods and has been implicated in protection against cancer. We study the effect of enterolactone on the risk of a subsequent diagnosis of prostate cancer. We conducted a longitudinal, nested case-control study by linkage of 3 biobanks to the cancer registries in Finland, Norway and Sweden, respectively.

Autoimmunity to human heat shock protein 60, Chlamydia pneumoniae infection, and inflammation in predicting coronary risk.

Heat shock protein 60 (Hsp60) and Chlamydia pneumoniae infection have both been associated with cardiovascular diseases. Our aim was to study the role of Hsp60 antibodies as coronary risk predictors and their association with C pneumoniae infection and inflammation. This was a prospective, nested, case-control study.