Objectives In Scotland, legislation was implemented in March 2006 prohibiting smoking in all wholly or partially enclosed public spaces. We investigated the impact on attempts to quit smoking and smoking prevalence. Methods We performed time series models using Box-Jenkins autoregressive integrated moving averages (ARIMA) on monthly data on the gross …
A review of the surgical costs and results in a group of patients randomly allocated to surgery as part of a large prospective randomized trial of patients with chronic back pain. OBJECTIVE: To report the observational data from the surgical arm of a randomized trial comparing surgery with intensive rehabilitation …
Previous studies have suggested a reduction in the total number of hospital admissions for acute coronary syndrome after the enactment of legislation banning smoking in public places. However, it is unknown whether the reduction in admissions involved nonsmokers, smokers, or both. Mar 21, 2014
Background Increasing regulation of medical research, in particular the requirement for explicit consent, may reduce the quantity and quality of clinical epidemiological research. Aim To assess the potential biases arising from the need for explicit consent in our hospital-based stroke research register. Design Comparison of patients enrolled into our stroke …
Many studies rely on self-reported smoking status. We hypothesized that patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), a smoking-related condition, would be more prone to misclassify themselves as ex-smokers, because of pressure to quit. We compared patients admitted with ACS with a general population survey conducted in the same country at …
The psychosocial working environment is an important determinant of health status and health inequalities in Canada. Particular dimensions of the psychosocial work environment such as low job control, job strain and imbalances between perceived efforts and rewards have been related to cardiovascular disease (the leading cause of mortality in Canada) …
Introduction In the past few years, comprehensive smoke-free laws that prohibit smoking in all workplaces have been introduced in many jurisdictions in the US, Canada, and Europe. In this paper, we review published studies to ascertain if there is any evidence of health benefits resulting from the implementation of these …
Background and Purpose’ Whether and how the arterial pathology underlying lacunar ischemic stroke differs from the atherothrombotic processes causing most other ischemic strokes is still debated. Different risks of recurrent stroke and MI after lacunar versus nonlacunar ischemic stroke may support a distinct lacunar arteriopathy. Methods’ We prospectively followed a …
Objective: To determine whether exposure to secondhand smoke is associated with early prognosis following acute coronary syndrome. Design, setting and participants: We interviewed consecutive patients admitted to nine Scottish hospitals over 23 months. Information was obtained, via questionnaire, on age, sex, smoking status, postcode of residence and admission serum cotinine …
Background The objective of this study was to determine whether: (a) markers of acute inflammation (white cell count, glucose, interleukin-6, C-reactive protein, and fibrinogen) are associated with poor outcome after stroke and (b) the addition of markers to previously validated prognostic models improves prediction of poor outcome. Methods and Findings …
