Country specific associations between social contact and mental health: evidence from civil servant studies across Great Britain, Japan and Finland.

OBJECTIVES: Little is known about which component, such as social contact of social networks is associated with mental health or whether such an association can be observed across countries. This study examined whether the association between frequent social contact and mental health differs by composition (relatives or friends) and whether the associations are similar across three occupational cohorts from Great Britain, Japan, and Finland. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of data from three prospective cohort studies. METHODS: Participants were civil servants of a prospective cohort study based in London (Men: n = 4519; Women: n = 1756), in the West Coast of Japan (Men: n = 2571; Women: n = 1102), and in Helsinki, Finland (Men: n = 1181; Women: n = 5633); we included the information on study variables which is complete. Mental health function was the study outcome, indicated by the total score from the Mental Health Component on the Short Form Health Survey36. Participants reported frequencies of contacts with their relatives or friends via a questionnaire. Age, marital status, and occupational position were treated as confounders in this study. RESULTS: Findings from multiple regression showed that the associations between social contact and mental health function were different depending on country of origin and gender. Among British or Japanese men, frequent contact with both friends and relatives was positively associated with their mental health function, while only social contact with friends was significantly associated with mental health of Finnish men. In women, the patterns of the associations between social contact and mental health were more distinctive: friends for Great Britain, relatives for Japan, and friends and relatives for Finland. These significant associations were independent of the confounders. CONCLUSIONS: Social contact was related to mental health of working people; however, culture and gender are likely to be tapped into.

Conflicts between work and family life and subsequent sleep problems among employees from Finland, Britain, and Japan.

PURPOSE: Research on the association between family-to-work and work-to-family conflicts and sleep problems is sparse and mostly cross-sectional. We examined these associations prospectively in three occupational cohorts. METHODS: Data were derived from the Finnish Helsinki Health Study (n = 3,881), the British Whitehall II Study (n = 3,998), and the Japanese Civil Servants Study (n = 1,834). Sleep problems were assessed using the Jenkins sleep questionnaire in the Finnish and British cohorts and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index in the Japanese cohort. Family-to-work and work-to-family conflicts measured whether family life interfered with work or vice versa. Age, baseline sleep problems, job strain, and self-rated health were adjusted for in logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: Adjusted for age and baseline sleep, strong family-to-work conflicts were associated with subsequent sleep problems among Finnish women (OR, 1.33 (95 % CI, 1.02-1.73)) and Japanese employees of both sexes (OR, 7.61 (95 % CI, 1.01-57.2) for women; OR, 1.97 (95 % CI, 1.06-3.66) for men). Strong work-to-family conflicts were associated with subsequent sleep problems in British, Finnish, and Japanese women (OR, 2.36 (95 % CI, 1.42-3.93), 1.62 (95 % CI, 1.20-2.18), and 5.35 (95 % CI, 1.00-28.55), respectively) adjusted for age and baseline sleep problems. In men, this association was seen only in the British cohort (OR, 2.02 (95 % CI, 1.42-2.88)). Adjustments for job strain and self-rated health produced no significant attenuation of these associations. CONCLUSION: Family-to-work and work-to-family conflicts predicted subsequent sleep problems among the majority of employees in three occupational cohorts.

Childhood socioeconomic position, adult socioeconomic position and social mobility in relation to markers of adiposity in early adulthood: evidence of differential effects by gender in the 1978/79 Ribeirao Preto cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Longitudinal studies drawn from high-income countries demonstrate long-term associations of early childhood socioeconomic deprivation with increased adiposity in adulthood. However, there are very few data from resource-poor countries where there are reasons to anticipate different gradients. Accordingly, we sought to characterise the nature of the socioeconomic status (SES)-adiposity association in Brazil. METHODS: We use data from the Ribeirao Preto Cohort Study in Brazil in which 9067 newborns were recruited via their mothers in 1978/79 and one-in-three followed up in 2002/04 (23-25years). SES, based on family income (salaries, interest on savings, pensions and so on), was assessed at birth and early adulthood, and three different adiposity measures (body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR)) ascertained at follow-up. The association between childhood SES, adult SES and social mobility (defined as four permutations of SES in childhood and adulthood: low-low, low-high, high-low, high-high), and the adiposity measures was examined using linear regression. RESULTS: There was evidence that the association between SES and the three markers of adiposity was modified by gender in both adulthood (P<0.02 for all outcomes) and childhood SES (P<0.02 for WC and WHR). Thus, in an unadjusted model, linear regression analyses showed that higher childhood SES was associated with lower adiposity in women (coefficient (95% confidence intervals) BMI: -1.49 (-2.29,-0.69); WC: -3.85 (-5.73,-1.97); WHR: -0.03 (-0.04,-0.02)). However, in men, higher childhood SES was related to higher adiposity (BMI: 1.03 (0.28,-1.78); WC: 3.15 (1.20, 5.09); WHR: 0.009 (-0.001, 0.019)) although statistical significance was not seen in all analyses. There was a suggestion that adult SES (but not adult health behaviours or birthweight) accounted for these relationships in women only. Upward mobility was associated with protection against greater adiposity in women but not men. CONCLUSION: In the present study, in men there was some evidence that both higher childhood and adulthood SES was related to a higher adiposity risk, while the reverse gradient was apparent in women.

Action on the social determinants of health.

Closing the Gap in a Generation, the final report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) proposed that inequities in power, money and resources were responsible for much of the inequalities in health within and between countries. A toxic combination of poor policies and programmes, unfair economic arrangements and bad governance led to inequalities in the conditions of daily life: the circumstances in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. Our message is that there needs to be a cross-government commitment to action on social determinants of health. With this commitment, the knowledge synthesised in our report suggests that there is much that can be done at the practical level.

Job strain in relation to body mass index: pooled analysis of 160 000 adults from 13 cohort studies.

BACKGROUND: Evidence of an association between job strain and obesity is inconsistent, mostly limited to small-scale studies, and does not distinguish between categories of underweight or obesity subclasses. OBJECTIVES: To examine the association between job strain and body mass index (BMI) in a large adult population. METHODS: We performed a pooled cross-sectional analysis based on individual-level data from 13 European studies resulting in a total of 161 746 participants (49% men, mean age, 43.7 years). Longitudinal analysis with a median follow-up of 4 years was possible for four cohort studies (n = 42 222). RESULTS: A total of 86 429 participants were of normal weight (BMI 18.5-24.9 kg m(-2) ), 2149 were underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg m(-2) ), 56 572 overweight (BMI 25.0-29.9 kg m(-2) ) and 13 523 class I (BMI 30-34.9 kg m(-2) ) and 3073 classes II/III (BMI ≥ 35 kg m(-2) ) obese. In addition, 27 010 (17%) participants reported job strain. In cross-sectional analyses, we found increased odds of job strain amongst underweight [odds ratio 1.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.00-1.25], obese class I (odds ratio 1.07, 95% CI 1.02-1.12) and obese classes II/III participants (odds ratio 1.14, 95% CI 1.01-1.28) as compared with participants of normal weight. In longitudinal analysis, both weight gain and weight loss were related to the onset of job strain during follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: In an analysis of European data, we found both weight gain and weight loss to be associated with the onset of job strain, consistent with a 'U'-shaped cross-sectional association between job strain and BMI. These associations were relatively modest; therefore, it is unlikely that intervention to reduce job strain would be effective in combating obesity at a population level.

The impact of cash transfers to poor women in Colombia on BMI and obesity: prospective cohort study.

INTRODUCTION: Prevalence of obesity is rising in Latin America and increasingly affecting socially disadvantaged groups, particularly women. Conditional cash transfers are recently established welfare interventions in the region. One, Familias en Accion, transfers ∼20% of average monthly income to women in Colombia's poorest families. Previous work has found that families buy more food as a result. We tested the hypothesis that participation in Familias would be associated with increasing body mass index (BMI) in participating women. METHODS: Women from participating areas and control areas (matched on environmental and socioeconomic criteria) were surveyed in 2002 and 2006. Pregnant, breast-feeding or women aged <18 or with BMI <18.5 kg m(-2) were excluded. The sample comprises 835 women from control and 1238 from treatment areas. Because some treatment areas started Familias shortly before baseline data collection, a dummy variable was created that identified exposure independent of time point or area. Follow-up was 61.5%. BMI was measured by trained personnel using standardized techniques. Overweight was defined as BMI ≥ 25 kg m(-2) and obesity as ≥ 30 kg m(-2). The effect of Familias was estimated using linear regression (or logistic regression for dichotomous outcomes) in a double-difference technique, controlling for several individual, household and area characteristics, including parity and baseline BMI, using robust standard-errors clustered at area-level in an intention-to-treat analysis. RESULTS: At baseline, women's mean age was 33.3 years and mean BMI 25.3 kg m(-2); 12.3% women were obese. After adjustment, exposure to Familias was significantly associated with increased BMI (ß=0.25; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.03, 0.47; P=0.03). Age (ß=0.09; 95% CI 0.06, 0.13; P<0.001) and household wealth (ß=0.78; 95% CI 0.41, 1.15; P<0.001) were also positively associated with BMI. Familias was also associated with increased odds of obesity (odds ratio (OR)=1.27; 95% CI 1.03, 1.57; P=0.03), as was age (OR=1.04; 95% CI 1.02, 1.06; P=0.001). CONCLUSION: Conditional cash transfers to poor women in Colombia are independently associated with increasing BMI and obesity risk. Although conditional cash transfers are generally regarded as popular and successful schemes, parallel interventions at individual, household and community level are needed to avoid unanticipated adverse outcomes.

Fair society, healthy lives.

The final report of the World Health Organization Commission on the Social Determinants of Health (CSDH), published in 2008, affirmed that social injustice was killing on a grand scale, with a toxic combination of 'poor social policies and programmes, unfair economic arrangements, and bad politics' being responsible for producing and reinforcing health inequalities. It provided a comprehensive evidence-based discussion of pervasive inequalities of health in many countries, demonstrating the presence of a social gradient in health outcomes associated with the unfair distribution of the social determinants of health. The social determinants of health include the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, and the fundamental drivers of these conditions: the distribution of power; money; and resources. Following publication of the CSDH report and recommendations for action, the UK Government commissioned a Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England. This article provides an overview and reflection on the findings from the CSDH and the Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England, reviewing the case for putting fairness at the heart of all policy making. In the process, it highlights the need for action on the social determinants of health in order to address health inequalities and the social gradient in health outcomes.

Long working hours and symptoms of anxiety and depression: a 5-year follow-up of the Whitehall II study.

BACKGROUND: Although long working hours are common in working populations, little is known about the effect of long working hours on mental health. METHOD: We examined the association between long working hours and the onset of depressive and anxiety symptoms in middle-aged employees. Participants were 2960 full-time employees aged 44 to 66 years (2248 men, 712 women) from the prospective Whitehall II cohort study of British civil servants. Working hours, anxiety and depressive symptoms, and covariates were measured at baseline (1997-1999) followed by two subsequent measurements of depressive and anxiety symptoms (2001 and 2002-2004). RESULTS: In a prospective analysis of participants with no depressive (n=2549) or anxiety symptoms (n=2618) at baseline, Cox proportional hazard analysis adjusted for baseline covariates showed a 1.66-fold [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06-2.61] risk of depressive symptoms and a 1.74-fold (95% CI 1.15-2.61) risk of anxiety symptoms among employees working more than 55 h/week compared with employees working 35-40 h/week. Sex-stratified analysis showed an excess risk of depression and anxiety associated with long working hours among women [hazard ratios (HRs) 2.67 (95% CI 1.07-6.68) and 2.84 (95% CI 1.27-6.34) respectively] but not men [1.30 (0.77-2.19) and 1.43 (0.89-2.30)]. CONCLUSIONS: Working long hours is a risk factor for the development of depressive and anxiety symptoms in women.

Incidence and prognosis of angina pectoris in South Asians and Whites: 18 years of follow-up over seven phases in the Whitehall-II prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Whether the higher coronary mortality in South Asians compared with White populations is due to a higher incidence of disease is not known. This study assessed cumulative incidence of chest pain in South Asians and Whites, and prognosis of chest pain. METHODS: Over seven phases of 18-year follow-up of the Whitehall-II study (9,775 civil servants: 9,195 White, 580 South Asian), chest pain was assessed using the Rose questionnaire. Coronary death/non-fatal myocardial infarction was examined comparing those with chest pain to those with no chest pain at baseline. RESULTS: South Asians had higher cumulative frequencies of typical angina by Phase 7 (17.0 versus 11.3%, P < 0.001) and exertional chest pain (15.4 versus 8.5%, P < 0.001) compared with Whites. Typical angina and exertional chest pain at baseline were associated with a worse prognosis compared with those with no chest pain in both groups (typical angina, South Asians: HR, 4.67 and 95% CI, 2.12-0.30; Whites: HR, 3.56 95% CI, 2.59-4.88). Baseline non-exertional chest pain did not confer a worse prognosis. Across all types of pain, prognosis was worse in South Asians. CONCLUSION: South Asians had higher cumulative incidence of angina than Whites. In both, typical angina and exertional chest pain were associated with worse prognosis compared with those with no chest pain.

Hostility and depressive mood: results from the Whitehall II prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The psychosocial vulnerability model of hostility posits that hostile individuals, given their oppositional attitudes and behaviours, are more likely to have increased interpersonal conflicts, lower social support, more stressful life events (SL-E) and higher likelihood of depression. However, little research has tested this hypothesis using large-scale prospective samples. The present study aims to assess the predictive value of hostility for depressive mood. METHOD: Data are from 3399 participants in the Whitehall II cohort study, aged 35-55 years at baseline (phase 1 1985-1988). Cynical hostility was measured at phase 1. Depressive mood was assessed at phase 7 (2002-2004). Sociodemographic characteristics, health-related behaviours, common mental disorders and antidepressant medication intake were assessed at phase 1. SL-E and confiding/emotional support were measured at phases 1, 2 (1989-1990) and 5 (1997-1999). RESULTS: Compared with participants in the lowest quartile of cynical hostility, those in the highest quartiles were more likely to have depressive mood [second quartile: odds ratio (OR) 1.58, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.14-2.20; third quartile: OR 2.78, 95% CI 2.03-3.77; fourth quartile: OR 4.66, 95% CI 3.41-6.36] in analysis adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics. This graded association was somewhat attenuated (18%) but remained robust to adjustments for the covariates measured at baseline and follow-up. The association was also evident in participants free of mental health difficulties at baseline. CONCLUSIONS: Cynical hostility is a strong and robust predictor of depressive mood. Consideration of personality characteristics may be crucial to the understanding and management of depression.

The association of cognitive performance with mental health and physical functioning strengthens with age: the Whitehall II cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive performance has been associated with mental and physical health, but it is unknown whether the strength of these associations changes with ageing and with age-related social transitions, such as retirement. We examined whether cognitive performance predicted mental and physical health from midlife to early old age. METHOD: Participants were 5414 men and 2278 women from the Whitehall II cohort study followed for 15 years between 1991 and 2006. The age range included over the follow-up was from 40 to 75 years. Mental health and physical functioning were measured six times using SF-36 subscales. Cognitive performance was assessed three times using five cognitive tests assessing verbal and numerical reasoning, verbal memory, and phonemic and semantic fluency. Socio-economic status (SES) and retirement were included as covariates. RESULTS: High cognitive performance was associated with better mental health and physical functioning. Mental health differences associated with cognitive performance widened with age from 39 to 76 years of age, whereas physical functioning differences widened only between 39 and 60 years and not after 60 years of age. SES explained part of the widening differences in mental health and physical functioning before age 60. Cognitive performance was more strongly associated with mental health in retired than non-retired participants, which contributed to the widening differences after 60 years of age. CONCLUSIONS: The strength of cognitive performance in predicting mental and physical health may increase from midlife to early old age, and these changes may be related to SES and age-related transitions, such as retirement.

Performance of existing risk scores in screening for undiagnosed diabetes: an external validation study.

AIM: To compare the performance of nine published strategies for the selection of individuals prior to screening for undiagnosed diabetes. METHODS: We conducted a validation study, based on a cross-sectional analysis of 6990 participants of the Whitehall II study, an occupational cohort of civil servants in London. We calculated sensitivity, specificity and the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, indicative of the ability of a risk score to correctly identify those with undiagnosed diabetes. RESULTS: The prevalence of unknown diabetes was 2.0%. At a set level of sensitivity (0.70), the specificity of the different scores ranged between 0.41 and 0.57. A reference model, based solely on age and body mass index had an area under the ROC curve of 0.67 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.62, 0.72]. Four scores had a lower area under the ROC curve (lowest ROC AUC: 0.62; 95% CI: 0.58, 0.67) compared with the reference model, while the other five scores had similar areas (highest ROC AUC: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.63, 0.72). All ROC curve areas were lower than those reported in the original publications and validation studies. CONCLUSIONS: Existing risk scores for the detection of undiagnosed diabetes perform less well in a large validation cohort compared with previous validation studies. Our study indicates that non-invasive risk scores require further refinement and testing before they can be used as the first step in a diabetes screening programme.

Do the Joint British Society (JBS2) guidelines on prevention of cardiovascular disease with respect to plasma glucose improve risk stratification in the general population? Prospective cohort study.

AIMS: British guidelines on vascular disease prevention recommend adding a random (casual) blood glucose measurement to a lipid profile in those aged > or = 40 years. To assess this recommendation, we compared the predictive value of a risk model based on the Framingham risk score alone to one which additionally included information on fasting blood glucose, with respect to incident coronary heart disease (CHD) over 11 years. METHOD: Men and women aged 40-63 years in Whitehall II were followed up for incident CHD: death/non-fatal myocardial infarction; angina confirmed by doctor diagnosis or electrocardiogram (ECG) and all first events. Fasting blood glucose was specified as a continuous variable or categorized by World Health Organization (WHO) 1999 glycaemic status (normal glucose tolerance, impaired fasting glucose or newly diagnosed diabetes). RESULTS: The hazard ratio for incident CHD was 1.10 (95%CI 1.09; 1.12) in men and 1.13 (1.10; 1.17) in women per percentage point increase in Framingham risk. The excess risk remained unchanged in models which added glycaemic status or continuous fasting glucose. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for the Framingham score and incident coronary heart disease [0.70 (0.68; 0.73)] did not change when glycaemic status or fasting glucose was added to the prediction model. Reclassification with these modified models improved discrimination based on the Framingham score alone when glycaemic status was added, net reclassification improvement 2.4% (95% CI 0.2%; 4.6%), but not when fasting glucose was added. CONCLUSION: Better detection of unrecognized diabetes is a valuable consequence of including a random blood glucose in a vascular risk profile. Our results suggest that this strategy is unlikely to improve risk stratification for CHD.

Work-family conflicts and health behaviors among British, Finnish, and Japanese employees.

BACKGROUND: Work-family conflicts are associated with poor health. However, work-family conflicts and health behaviors have been little studied. PURPOSE: This study examined the associations of conflicts between paid work and family life with unhealthy behaviors among British, Finnish, and Japanese employees. METHOD: Data were derived from postal questionnaire surveys among 40 to 60 years old employees from three cohorts, the British Whitehall II Study (n = 3,397), the Finnish Helsinki Health Study (n = 4,958), and the Japanese Civil Servants Study (n = 2,901). Outcomes were current smoking, heavy drinking, physical inactivity, and unhealthy food habits. Work-family conflicts were measured with eight items. Age, marital status, and occupational class were adjusted for in logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: Work-family conflicts had few and inconsistent associations with unhealthy behaviors in all three cohorts. In the Finnish cohort, strong work-family conflicts were associated with current smoking among men. Women with strong conflicts had more often unhealthy food habits and were more often heavy drinkers than women with weaker conflicts. Likewise, British women with strong work-family conflicts were more often heavy drinkers. CONCLUSION: Although work-family conflicts were fairly prevalent in the examined cohorts, these conflicts had but few associations with the studied key health behaviors.

Mother employment status and nutritional patterns in Japanese junior high schoolchildren.

AIMS: To investigate associations between mothers' employment (full, part time and no employment) and nutrition habits (regularity of breakfast, snack, dinner, meal speed and portion size) in a sample of Japanese junior high schoolchildren, 12-13 years of age. METHODS: A total of 10 453 children aged 12-13 years from the Toyama birth cohort study (fourth phase) participated, of whom 8906 children (89% response rate) responded to all questions related to the examined variables. Nutrition habits consisted of breakfast, snack, dinner, meal speed and meal portion. Children's obesity/overweight was measured by body mass index (BMI). RESULTS: Fathers' employment had no effect on their children's nutrition patterns. Children of full-time employed mothers were the most likely to snack and to skip dinner. Children of part-time employed mothers ate larger meal portions, and those of non-employed mothers reported faster meal speeds. BMI was significantly (P<0.001) higher among children of full-time employed mothers (19.3), and lowest among non-employed mothers (19.00). Children of full-time employed mothers are more likely to be overweight, but not obese compared with other children. CONCLUSION: There was a strong relationship between mother's employment and nutrition patterns in this cohort of Japanese schoolchildren; special programs focused on children's nutrition patterns should take into account the mothers' employment status.

Association between passive jobs and low levels of leisure-time physical activity: the Whitehall II cohort study.

BACKGROUND: There is mixed evidence on the association between psychosocial work exposures (ie, passive jobs) and physical activity, but previous studies did not take into account the effect of cumulative exposures nor did they examine different trajectories in exposure. We investigated whether exposure to passive jobs, measured three times over an average of 5 years, is associated with leisure-time physical activity (LTPA). METHODS: Data were from working men (n = 4291) and women (n = 1794) aged 35-55 years who participated in the first three phases of the Whitehall II prospective cohort. Exposure to passive jobs was measured at each phase and LTPA at phases 1 and 3. Participants were categorised according to whether or not they worked in a passive job at each phase, leading to a scale ranging from 0 (non-passive job at all three phases) to 3 (passive job at all three phases). Poisson regression with robust variance estimates were used to assess the prevalence ratios of low LTPA. RESULTS: An association was found in men between exposure to passive jobs over 5 years and low LTPA at follow-up, independently of other relevant risk factors. The prevalence ratio for low LTPA in men was 1.16 (95% CI 1.01 to 1.33) times greater for employees with three reports of passive job than for those who had never worked in passive jobs. No association was observed in women. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence that working in passive jobs may encourage a passive lifestyle in men.

Cumulative exposure to high-strain and active jobs as predictors of cognitive function: the Whitehall II study.

OBJECTIVES: A high-strain job (a combination of high job demands and low job control) is expected to increase the risk of health problems, whereas an active job (high demands and high control) can be hypothesised to be associated with a greater capacity to learn. We tested associations between high-strain and active jobs and cognitive function in middle-aged men and women. METHODS: Data on 4146 British civil servants (2989 men and 1157 women) aged 35-55 years at baseline came from the Whitehall II study. Cumulative exposure to both high-strain and active jobs was assessed at phases 1 (1985-1988), 2 (1989-1990) and 3 (1991-1993). Cognitive performance was assessed at phases 5 (1997-1999) and 7 (2003-2004) using the following tests: verbal memory, inductive reasoning (Alice Heim), verbal meaning (Mill Hill), phonemic and semantic fluency. Analyses were adjusted for age, sex and employment grade. RESULTS: Longer exposure to high job strain and shorter exposure to active jobs were associated with lower scores in most of the cognitive performance tests. However, these associations disappeared on adjustment for employment grade. Phonemic fluency was an exception to this pattern. Associations between exposure to an active job and phonemic fluency at both follow-up phases were robust to adjustment for employment grade. However, there was no association between exposure to active jobs and change in phonemic fluency score between the follow-up phases after adjustment for employment grade. CONCLUSIONS: In these data, associations between cumulative exposure to high-strain or active jobs and cognition are largely explained by socioeconomic position.

Why does birthweight vary among ethnic groups in the UK? Findings from the Millennium Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Birthweight varies according to ethnic group, but it is not clear why such differences exist. We examine the contribution of socioeconomic, maternal and behavioural factors to differences in mean birthweight and the prevalence of low birthweight across ethnic groups. METHODS: Data from the nationally representative UK Millennium Cohort Study (n = 16,157) on White, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black Caribbean and Black African infants were analysed. Cohort members were born in 2000-02, and data on birthweight, maternal, infant, behavioural and socioeconomic factors were collected by home interviews. RESULTS: Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi infants were 280-350 g lighter, and 2.5 times more likely to be low birthweight compared with White infants. Black Caribbean infants were 150 g and Black African infants 70 g lighter compared with White infants, and Black Caribbean and Black African infants were 60% more likely to be low birthweight compared with White infants. For Black Caribbean, Black African, Bangladeshi and Pakistani infants, socioeconomic factors were important in explaining birthweight differences and, for Indian and Bangladeshi infants, maternal and infant factors were important in explaining birthweight differences. CONCLUSION: Future policies aimed at reducing inequalities in birthweight must pay attention to the different socioeconomic and culturally-related profiles of ethnic minority groups in the UK.

Cigarette smoking and site-specific cancer mortality: testing uncertain associations using extended follow-up of the original Whitehall study.

BACKGROUND: The relation between cigarette smoking and several malignancies is still unclear. We examined the association of cigarette smoking with death attributed to 15 cancer sites, 7 of which are regarded as having an uncertain relation with tobacco. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The original Whitehall study is a prospective cohort of 17 363 London-based male government employees (age 40-69 years) who were examined in the late 1960s and then followed up for a maximum of 38 years. RESULTS: Following adjustment for demographic characteristics, risk factors, and prevalent disease, established positive cigarette smoking--cancer gradients were confirmed for carcinoma of the lung, stomach, pancreas, bladder, upper aero-digestive (including oesophagus), and liver, and for myeloid leukaemia. Among the cancers of uncertain relation with smoking, mortality rates for malignancy of the colon, rectum and prostate and for lymphatic leukaemia were elevated in current and/or former smokers. There was essentially no apparent relation between smoking and mortality from carcinoma of the brain or from lymphoma. CONCLUSION: In this study, cigarette smoking appears to be a risk factor for several malignancies of previously unclear association with tobacco use.