Tuesday 20 November 2012

21 November, 2012 Clippings


Unemployment ups heart attack risk

Unemployment, multiple job losses and short periods without work may be associated with an increased risk for acute myocardial infarction, researchers say.

Matthew E. Dupre and his colleagues from Duke University, Durham, N.C., examined the associations between different dimensions of unemployment and the risks for AMI in 13,451 U.S. adults aged 51 to 75 years in the Health and Retirement Study with biennial follow-up interviews from 1992 to 2010.

"Results demonstrated that several features of one's past and present employment increased risks for a cardiovascular event. Although the risks for AMI were most significant in the first year after job loss, unemployment status, cumulative number of job losses and cumulative time unemployed were each independently associated with increased risk for AMI," the authors wrote.

The study group (median age 62 years) had 1,061 AMI events (7.9 per cent) during 165,169 person-years of observation. In the study group, 14 percent of the individuals were unemployed at baseline, 69.7 percent had one or more cumulative job losses, and 35.1 percent had spent time unemployed, according to the study.

Statistical analysis indicated that AMI risks were significantly higher among the unemployed (hazard ratio [HR], 1.35) and that risks increased incrementally from one job loss (HR, 1.22) to four or more cumulative job losses (HR, 1.63) compared with no job loss.

The risks for AMI also were "particularly elevated" within the first year of unemployment (HR, 1.27) but not thereafter, according to the results.

"We found that the elevated risks associated with multiple job losses were of the magnitude of other traditional risk factors, such as smoking, diabetes mellitus and hypertension," the authors said.

"In the context of the current U.S. economy and projected increases in job instability and unemployment among workers, additional studies should investigate the mechanisms contributing to work-related disparities in AMI to identify viable targets for successful interventions," they added.

The study has been published online by Archives of Internal Medicine.

21.11.2012
Scared of dentists? Blame your parents
Fear of visiting the dentist is passed on to kids by their parents, a new study has revealed.
The study conducted by scientists at the Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid also highlighted the important role that parents play in the transmission of dentist fear in their family.
America Lara Sacido, one of the authors of the study explained that “along with the presence of emotional transmission of dentist fear amongst family members, we have identified the relevant role that fathers play in transmission of this phobia in comparison to the mother.
The study analysed 183 children between 7 and 12 years and their parents in the Autonomous Community of Madrid. The results were in line with previous studies, which found that fear levels amongst fathers, mothers and children are interlinked.
The authors confirmed that the higher the level of dentist fear or anxiety in one family member, the higher the level in the rest of the family. The study also revealed that fathers play a key role in the transmission of dentist fear from mothers to their children as they act as a mediating variable.
“Although the results should be interpreted with due caution, children seem to mainly pay attention to the emotional reactions of the fathers when deciding if situations at the dentist are potentially stressful,” stated Lara Sacido.
Consequently, transmission of fear from the mother to the child, whether it be an increase or reduction of anxiety, could be influenced by the reactions that the father displays in the dentist.
Amongst the possible implications of these results, the authors outline the two most salient: the need to involve mothers and especially fathers in dentist fear prevention campaigns and to make fathers to attend the dentist and display no signs of fear or anxiety.
The study has been published in the “International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry.”
21.11.2012






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