Publications by authors named "Rachel Axelrod"
The hazard ratio (HR) is often reported as the main causal effect when studying survival data. Despite its popularity, the HR suffers from an unclear causal interpretation. As already pointed out in the literature, there is a built-in selection bias in the HR, because similarly to the truncation by death problem, the HR conditions on post-treatment survival.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Polypharmacy increases with age and is associated with serious health and economic costs. This study reports changes over a decade in medication-use patterns and polypharmacy, in Israeli community-dwelling older adults aged ≥ 65 years.
Methods: Demographic and health data from two representative national health cross-sectional surveys - MABAT ZAHAV 1 (MZ1) in 2005-2006, and MZ2 in 2014-2015 were analyzed.
Dietary patterns (DPs), usually established in adolescents, are important modifiable risk factors in the etiology of malnutrition and chronic diseases. This study aimed to identify DPs of adolescents and examine their associations with growth, sociodemographic, and lifestyle characteristics. A nationally representative, school-based, cross-sectional study was conducted in Israeli adolescents aged 11-18 years during 2015-2016.
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- Handgrip strength (HGS) is an important measure of muscle strength and overall health in older adults, with this study focusing on factors that affect HGS among community-dwelling elderly individuals in Israel.
- The study involved 1,039 participants aged 65 and older, using face-to-face interviews and measurements, concluding that lower HGS was associated with older age, while higher education and physical activity levels were linked to better muscle strength.
- Increased daily energy intake and larger midarm circumference were also correlated with reduced prevalence of low HGS, but no significant links were found with factors like ethnicity, body mass index, or macronutrient consumption.
Menarche at an Earlier Age: Results from Two National Surveys of Israeli Youth, 2003 and 2016.
J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol
October 2020
Study Objective: To assess emergent changes in the age at menarche and investigate associated factors in Israeli adolescents in 2003 and 2016.
Design: Cross-sectional study.
Setting: Two national representative school-based surveys (first and second "Mabat Youth").
Background: Human biomonitoring (HBM) data is increasingly being compared to risk-based screening values to assess human health risk. However, as screening values have not been established for assessing biomarker concentrations of organophosphate (OP) pesticide metabolites, there are few studies using HBM data on urinary OP concentrations to assess human health risk. The purpose of the current study was to measure OP exposure in a sample of children in Israel; to explore associations between dietary patterns and OP exposure; and to assess risk of OP pesticides using urinary metabolite concentrations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure in infants and children causes more frequent and severe asthma attacks, respiratory infections, ear infections, and sudden infant death syndrome. The aim of this study was to measure ETS exposure in children in Israel (ages 4-11 years) using urinary cotinine measurements, in order to compare exposure levels to other international populations, and to assess predictors of ETS exposure in children in Israel.
Methods: A subset of children who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Survey (RAV- MABAT) in 2015-2016 were invited to participate in the Second Israel Biomonitoring Survey.