Publications by authors named "Vellar O"

This study was designed to investigate the impact of family and peer role models during the early adolescent years on smoking onset and on subsequent daily smoking among young adults. Baseline data were collected from a sample of 827 students and their parents in 1979. Participating students were recruited among 5th, 6th and 7th graders (11-14 years old) attending six schools in Oslo, Norway.

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Background: The Oslo Youth Study was designed to demonstrate that health education in schools can result in lowered rates of smoking and alcohol consumption, improved eating patterns, and increased physical activity. The study was conducted from 1979 to 1981 in six schools in Oslo, Norway. This article presents the 10-year follow-up outcomes of the Oslo Youth Study Smoking Prevention Program.

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The influence of a 3-week vegetarian diet and fasting on serum concentration of peroxides, lipids, apolipoproteins, and plasma fibrinogen was studied in ten middle-aged fibromyalgia/fibrositis patients (eight women, two men). Mean serum peroxide concentration (estimated as thiobarbituric acid reacting substances) was reduced from 3.60 +/- 0.

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Aerobic fitness, resting pulse rate, and self-reported physical activity were examined along with prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors in a population-based study of 413 boys and 372 girls, ages 10 to 14 years. Cardiovascular fitness (VO2 max) was predicted from heart rate measured during submaximal bicycle exercise. For both genders, fitness level was significantly and inversely related to body weight, body mass index [weight in kilos/(height in meters)2], triceps skinfold thickness, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and pulse rate and positively related to high-density lipoprotein/total cholesterol ratio and physical activity.

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The relationships of serum total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and fasting triglycerides (adjusted for body mass index, wt/ht2) with stages of pubertal development were examined in a Norwegian population of 920 adolescents, aged 10 to 16 years. For 13- and 14-year-olds, all five stages of Tanner's maturity index were represented. For the whole population, total serum cholesterol showed a larger decrease when related to sexual maturity stage than to chronologic age.

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This article reports on the relationship between cigarette smoking, white blood cell count (WBC), platelet count (PC), and hematocrit in a Norwegian adolescent population. Data were obtained on 439 youths, 14 to 16 years old, as part of the Oslo Youth Study, an investigation of risk factors and behaviors for cardiovascular disease and cancer among adolescents. Analyses of covariance, controlling for height, weight, age, sexual maturation, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and hematocrit revealed that both male and female regular smokers (those reporting smoking at least once a week) had significantly higher mean WBCs.

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As part of a 2-year multiple risk factor intervention study, a school-based, multicomponent smoking prevention program for 10- to 15-year-old students in Oslo, Norway, resulted in a significant reduction in the onset of smoking relative to a reference group. Based on reported smoking behavior, the intervention group (N = 278) experienced a smoking onset rate of 16.5% and the reference group (N = 208) a rate of 26.

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The frequency distribution of serum cholesterol and triglycerides in 172 boys and 232 girls, 13--16 years, from four elementary schools in Oslo has been determined. The cholesterol values were significantly higher for girls 15--16 years than for boys of the same age group. In the case of triglycerides boys 15--16 years had significantly higher values than boys 13--14 years.

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In the spring of 1974 a representative sample (N = 1200) of all doctors in Norway (6 000) received a mailed questionnaire regarding past and present smoking habits. Close to 95% responded. Among late responders there was a disproportionately high number of smokers.

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Dysmenorrhea in industrial workers.

Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand

November 1975

In two Norwegian industrial companies 234 women of menstruating age were examined by the industrial nurse with regard to menstrual complaints. Every second woman experienced pain, 23% had consulted a doctor previously, about 30% had to stay in bed, and about 30% had been absent from work recently due to dysmenorrhea. Although pain was prevalent in all age groups, there were age-specific differences in other complaints, such as headache and depression, which were more frequent among the older women.

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