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Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it can potentially have negative effects on health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's weight divided by the square of the person's height—is over 30 kg/m2; the range 25–30 kg/m2 is defined as overweight. Some East Asian countries use lower values to calculate obesity. Obesity is a major cause of disability and is correlated with various diseases and conditions, particularly cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.
Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. Health can be promoted by encouraging healthful activities, such as regular physical exercise and adequate sleep, and by reducing or avoiding unhealthful activities or situations, such as smoking or excessive stress. Some factors affecting health are due to individual choices, such as whether to engage in a high-risk behavior, while others are due to structural causes, such as whether the society is arranged in a way that makes it easier or harder for people to get necessary healthcare services. Still, other factors are beyond both individual and group choices, such as genetic disorders.
The health effects of long-term alcohol consumption on health vary depending on the amount of ethanol consumed. Even light drinking poses health risks, but small amounts of alcohol may also have health benefits. Chronic heavy drinking causes severe health consequences which outweigh any potential benefits.
A case–control study is a type of observational study in which two existing groups differing in outcome are identified and compared on the basis of some supposed causal attribute. Case–control studies are often used to identify factors that may contribute to a medical condition by comparing subjects who have that condition/disease with patients who do not have the condition/disease but are otherwise similar. They require fewer resources but provide less evidence for causal inference than a randomized controlled trial. A case–control study is often used to produce an odds ratio, which is an inferior measure of strength of association compared to relative risk, but new statistical methods make it possible to use a case-control study to estimate relative risk, risk differences, and other quantities.
The Framingham Heart Study is a long-term, ongoing cardiovascular cohort study of residents of the city of Framingham, Massachusetts. The study began in 1948 with 5,209 adult subjects from Framingham, and is now on its third generation of participants. Prior to the study almost nothing was known about the epidemiology of hypertensive or arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Much of the now-common knowledge concerning heart disease, such as the effects of diet, exercise, and common medications such as aspirin, is based on this longitudinal study. It is a project of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, in collaboration with Boston University. Various health professionals from the hospitals and universities of Greater Boston staff the project.
The relationship between alcohol consumption and body weight is the subject of inconclusive studies. Findings of these studies range from increase in body weight to a small decrease among women who begin consuming alcohol. Some of these studies are conducted with numerous subjects; one involved nearly 8,000 and another 140,000 subjects.
An underweight person is a person whose body weight is considered too low to be healthy. A person who is underweight is malnourished.
The Nurses' Health Study is a series of prospective studies that examine epidemiology and the long-term effects of nutrition, hormones, environment, and nurses' work-life on health and disease development. The studies have been among the largest investigations into risk factors for major chronic diseases ever conducted. The Nurses' Health Studies have led to many insights on health and well-being, including cancer prevention, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. They have included clinicians, epidemiologists, and statisticians at the Channing Laboratory, Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, and several Harvard-affiliated hospitals, including Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, Children's Hospital Boston, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
The Mexican paradox is the observation that Mexicans exhibit a surprisingly low incidence of low birth weight, contrary to what would be expected from their socioeconomic status (SES). This appears as an outlier in graphs correlating SES with low-birth-weight rates. The medical causes of lower rates of low birth weights among birthing Mexican mothers has been called into question.
Preventable causes of death are causes of death related to risk factors which could have been avoided. The World Health Organization has traditionally classified death according to the primary type of disease or injury. However, causes of death may also be classified in terms of preventable risk factors—such as smoking, unhealthy diet, sexual behavior, and reckless driving—which contribute to a number of different diseases. Such risk factors are usually not recorded directly on death certificates, although they are acknowledged in medical reports.
Cognitive epidemiology is a field of research that examines the associations between intelligence test scores and health, more specifically morbidity and mortality. Typically, test scores are obtained at an early age, and compared to later morbidity and mortality. In addition to exploring and establishing these associations, cognitive epidemiology seeks to understand causal relationships between intelligence and health outcomes. Researchers in the field argue that intelligence measured at an early age is an important predictor of later health and mortality differences.
The PAQUIDcohort is a group of 3,777 individuals aged 65 years or older who were studied from 1988 until 2004. Researchers chose the group from at least 91 different areas of southwestern France to study the effects of different environmental, behavioral, and social vectors of age-related medical conditions and diseases. One of the major research goals was to determine some of the causes of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, such as the correlation between the levels of aluminum in drinking water and the occurrence of dementia.
Jeremiah Noah Morris was a Scottish epidemiologist who established the importance of physical activity in preventing cardiovascular disease.
The relationship between alcohol and breast cancer is clear: drinking alcoholic beverages, including wine, beer, or liquor, is a risk factor for breast cancer, as well as some other forms of cancer. Drinking alcohol causes more than 100,000 cases of breast cancer worldwide every year. Globally, almost one in 10 cases of breast cancer is caused by women drinking alcoholic beverages. Drinking alcoholic beverages is among the most common modifiable risk factors.
The Seven Countries Study is an epidemiological longitudinal study directed by Ancel Keys at what is today the University of Minnesota Laboratory of Physiological Hygiene & Exercise Science (LPHES). Begun in 1956 with a yearly grant of US$200,000 from the U.S. Public Health Service, the study was first published in 1978 and then followed up on its subjects every five years thereafter.
Lester Breslow was an American physician who promoted public health. Breslow's career had a significant impact. He is credited with pioneering chronic disease prevention and health behavior intervention. His work with the Human Population Laboratory in the Alameda County Study established the connection between mortality and lifestyle issues like exercise, diet, sleep, smoking, and alcohol. He has been called "Mr. Public Health".
The Caerphilly Heart Disease Study, also known as the Caerphilly Prospective Study (CaPS), is an epidemiological prospective cohort, set up in 1979 in a representative population sample drawn from Caerphilly, a typical small town in South Wales, UK.
Normal weight obesity is the condition of having normal body weight, but with a high body fat percentage, leading to some of the same health risks as obesity.
Ralph R. Frerichs is professor emeritus of epidemiology at UCLA where he was active as a full-time faculty member in the School of Public Health for 31 years and as the Epidemiology department chair for 13 years, before retiring in late 2008. Both at UCLA and in international workshops he taught epidemiologic methods, the use of rapid community-based surveys, epidemiologic simulation models for focused research, and screening and surveillance methods for HIV/AIDS and other diseases.
Ian Ambury Miller Prior was a New Zealand doctor, epidemiologist, environmental campaigner and arts patron. He is acknowledged as the founder of epidemiology in New Zealand. He conducted pioneering epidemiological studies of Māori, Cook Islanders and Tokelau Islanders in the 1960s. He was active in a number of environmental campaigns including the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and was well known for his support of the arts, in particular the Wellington Sculpture Trust.
References
- 1 2 Housman, Jeff; Dorman, Steve (September–October 2005). "The Alameda County Study: A Systematic, Chronological Review" (PDF). American Journal of Health Education. Reston, VA: American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. 36 (5): 302–308. doi:10.1080/19325037.2005.10608200. ISSN 1055-6699. S2CID 39133965. ERIC document number EJ792845. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
- ↑ Housman & Dorman 2005 , pp. 303–304. "The linear model supported previous findings, including regular exercise, limited alcohol consumption, abstinence from smoking, sleeping 7-8 hours a night, and maintenance of a healthy weight play an important role in promoting longevity and delaying illness and death." Citing: Wingard, D. L.; Berkman, L. F.; Brand, R. J. (1982). "A multivariate analysis of health-related practices: a nine-year mortality follow-up of the Alameda County Study". Am J Epidemiol. 116 (5): 765–775. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a113466. PMID 7148802.
- ↑ Kaplan, Robert M. (2004). "Alameda County Study" . Encyclopedia of Health and Behavior. SAGE Publications, Inc. p. 32. doi:10.4135/9781412952576.n10. ISBN 9780761923602 . Retrieved 2019-07-26.
- ↑ Berkman, L. F.; Syme, S. L. (1979). "Social networks, host resistance, and mortality: a nine-year follow-up study of Alameda County residents". Am J Epidemiol. 109 (2): 186–204. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a112674. PMID 425958. (Lay summary in: Brody, Jane E. (12 June 2017). "Social Interaction Is Critical for Mental and Physical Health". Personal Health column. The New York Times.)