Publications by authors named "Samu Hakala"

Objective: International comparability of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure levels is difficult. This study assesses whether estimating children's exposure from information on adult smoking and exposure to ETS makes international comparisons more reliable.

Methods: The exposure among children was estimated using three different combinations (models) based on different sets of information on adult smoking, household composition or adult exposure to ETS at home in three cross-sectional nationally representative samples drawn from data sets from Estonia (n=2650), Finland (n=2829) and Latvia (n=5440) in the years 2002 and 2004.

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Objective: The relationship of socio-economic status and vegetable consumption is examined in nine European countries. The aim is to analyse whether the pattern of socio-economic variation with regard to vegetable consumption is similar in all studied countries with high v. low vegetable availability and affordability, and whether education has an independent effect on vegetable consumption once the effects of other socio-economic factors have been taken into account.

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Background: Sweden and Finland, neighbouring countries in Scandinavia, share features in health and social policies but retain a few differences in tobacco policy, including oral tobacco product regulation. This paper analyses the differences between tobacco policy and tobacco use between these two countries.

Material: Representative data sets from both countries, for age groups 18 to 64, were used to compare the status of tobacco use.

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Background: An uncontrolled systematic error in serum biomarkers may be a serious problem when comparing their trends both within and between populations. The aim of the study was to assess which factors are responsible for systematic errors in the measurement of serum triglycerides (Tg) and the effect of fasting on serum triglycerides in Finnish population surveys.

Methods: Data on precision and accuracy during 30 years for serum triglycerides were documented from participation in 492 rounds of five different external quality assessment (EQA) programs.

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