Low IQ has become less important as a risk factor for early disability pension. A longitudinal population-based study across two decades among Swedish men.

BACKGROUND: Low IQ has been shown to be an important risk factor for disability pension (DP) but whether the importance has changed over time remains unclear. It can be hypothesised that IQ has become more important for DP over time in parallel with a more demanding working life. The aim of this study was to investigate the relative risk of low IQ on the risk of DP before age 30 between 1971 and 2006. METHODS: This study covered the entire Swedish male population born between 1951 and 1976, eligible for military conscription. Information about the study subjects was obtained by linkage of national registers. Associations between IQ and DP over time were analysed by descriptive measures (mean values, proportions, etc) and by Cox proportional hazards regressions. Analyses were adjusted for educational level. RESULTS: The cohort consisted of 1 229 346 men. The proportion that received DP before the age of 30 increased over time, from 0.68% in the cohort born between 1951 and 1955 to 0.95% in the cohort born between 1971 and 1976. The relative risk of low IQ (adjusted for education) in relation to high IQ decreased from 5.68 (95% CI 4.71 to 6.85) in the cohort born between 1951 and 1955 to 2.62 (95% CI 2.25 to 3.05) in the cohort born between 1971 and 1976. CONCLUSIONS: Our results gave no support to the idea that the importance of low IQ for the risk of DP has increased in parallel with increasing demands in working life. In fact, low IQ has become less important as a risk factor for DP compared with high IQ between the early 1970s and 1990s. An increased educational level over the same time period is likely to be part of the explanation.

Weight status at age 18 influences marriage prospects. A population-based study of Swedish men.

BACKGROUND: In a longitudinal population-based study of the relationship between body mass index (BMI) in early adulthood and marital status at 40 years of age, obese men were half as likely to be married compared with men of normal weight. Significant associations between obesity and marital status among men in a longitudinal setting are novel findings. METHODS: The study cohort comprised Swedish men born from 1951 to 1961. Height and weight at age 18 was gathered from the Military Service Conscription Register and information on marital status at 40 years of age was obtained from population registers by record-linkage using the unique personal identification number. The odds ratio (OR) for being married was calculated by polytomous logistic regression analysis adjusting for birth year, intellectual performance, education, country of birth, residential area, socioeconomic position in childhood and adulthood, parental education and muscle strength. RESULTS: Our study included 486 599 Swedish men. Young men who were obese (BMI ≥ 30.0) at 18 years of age had an OR of 0.49 (95% CI: 0.46-0.52) for being married at 40 years of age compared to normal weight men (BMI: 18.5-24.9). Underweight men (BMI ≤ 18.5) had an OR of 0.84 (0.82-0.86) and overweight men (BMI: 25.0-29.9) had an OR of 0.83 (0.80-0.85) for being married at 40 years of age. CONCLUSION: Underweight, overweight and obese men were less likely to be married than their normal weight counterparts. Obese men had the lowest likelihood of being married. Stigmatization and discrimination may partly explain these findings, but further research is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn.

Prejudice against obesity among 10-year-olds: a nationwide population-based study.

AIMS: Population-based research on children's possible prejudice against thin, obese and average body sizes is scarce. This study examined children's prejudice against various body sizes of both sexes. The effects of sex, body size, place of residence and socio-economic status (SES) on children's prejudice were also investigated. METHODS: In 2005, a nationally representative sample of 10-year-old children (N = 1409) responded to a questionnaire measuring stereotypes and prejudice against thin, average-weight and obese silhouettes. RESULTS: As estimated by odds ratios (ORs), children were more likely to report prejudice against obesity (OR = 53, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 42-67) and thinness (OR = 20, 95% CI: 16-26) than against average body weight. The risk of being prejudiced varied with child's sex and with sex and body size of the silhouette figure. No association was found between own body weight and prejudice against various body sizes. Children with high SES were more likely to be prejudiced against obesity compared with children with low SES (OR = 1.2, 95% CI: 1.1-1.4). CONCLUSION: This large, population-based study showed that Swedish 10-year-old children hold stereotypical attitudes and are prejudiced against not only peers with obesity but also those with thin body sizes. Interestingly, no association was found between own body weight and prejudice against various body sizes.

Obesity in young adulthood is related to social mobility among Swedish men.

OBJECTIVE: Several studies have shown an inverse relationship between obesity and social status. The aim of this longitudinal study was to disentangle the relationship between BMI and social mobility between generations. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: The study population consisted of 752,081 men, born between 1951 and 1965, who were Swedish citizens at conscription examinations. Intellectual capacity and BMI (kg/m(2)) were measured at age 18 years. Childhood socioeconomic index (SEI) was measured at an approximate age of 10 years and adult SEI at age 30 years. The odds ratios of moving up, down, or being socially stable were estimated with polytomous logistic regression. Multivariate analyses controlled for childhood SEI, intellectual capacity, education, birth-year, and municipality. RESULTS: Men who were obese at age 18 years had a fully adjusted odds ratio of 0.72 (0.67; 0.77) of being upwardly mobile and an odds ratio of 1.32 (1.22; 1.43) of being downwardly mobile compared to normal weight men. DISCUSSION: Obese men in Sweden were more often downwardly mobile in the social hierarchy and less often upwardly mobile than normal weight men. BMI seems to be a determinant of the social mobility in Swedish men possibly indicating that societal factors influence the social mobility of obese men.

Blood pressure in young adulthood and later disability pension. A population-based study on 867 672 men from Sweden.

Hypertension is a common chronic condition and can lead to an economic burden for society because of the costs of treatment for high blood pressure and most likely also because of disabilities related to hypertension and its co-morbidities. The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent moderate/severe hypertension in young adulthood increases the risk of becoming a disability pensioner later in life. All Swedish men born 1951 to 1970, who had their systolic blood pressure measured at age 18-19 years in the compulsory military conscription examination were followed from 1990 to 2001 with respect to receiving disability pension. Among 867 672 men (84.3% of the target population), the hazard ratio was 1.33 (95% CI 1.15-1.52) for being granted disability pension because of moderate/severe hypertension compared with men with normal systolic blood pressure after adjustment for conscription centre, body mass index and socio-economic conditions in childhood and adulthood. Men with mild hypertension had also an increased hazard ratio (1.09, 95% CI 1.05-1.13) compared with men with normal systolic blood pressure. This study showed that hypertension in young adulthood increased the risk of disability pension in later life.

Obesity in young adulthood and later disability pension: a population-based cohort study of 366,929 Swedish men.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of obesity has increased threefold among Swedish men during recent decades. Knowledge from Sweden on how obese men manage in working life and become disability pensioners is sparse. The aim of this nationwide and population-based cohort study was to investigate to what extent body mass index (BMI) in young adulthood predicts later disability pension. METHOD: All Swedish men born 1952-59, who had their weight and height measured at age 18 years in the compulsory military conscription examinations, were followed up longitudinally from 1990 to 2001 with regard to receiving disability pension. Data on own socioeconomic position (1985), education and marital status (1990), parental socioeconomic position (1960), and education (1970) were obtained from censuses. For 366,929 men (81% of the eligible men) the hazard ratio for receiving disability pension was calculated with Cox regression controlling for own education, parental education, childhood and adult socioeconomic position, marital status, morbidity, and type of municipality. RESULTS: Obesity in young adulthood increased the risk for disability pension later in life (1.35, 95% CI 1.19, 1.52) compared with men of normal weight. The relationship between BMI and disability pension was J-shaped with higher risks for underweight (1.14, 95% CI 1.09, 1.20) and obese men. CONCLUSIONS: Obese men in Sweden are at higher risk of receiving disability pension. The relationship between BMI and disability pension is J-shaped. An important future task is to estimate the societal costs due to disability pension of obese people.

Physical activity, diet and gene-environment interactions in relation to body mass index and waist circumference: the Swedish young male twins study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to examine the relationships between genetic susceptibility to obesity, physical activity (PA), dietary fibre, sugar and fat intakes and 4-year changes in body mass index (BMI) and attained waist circumference (WC) in a cohort of 287 monozygotic and 189 dizygotic young adult male twin pairs. Increased knowledge about interactions between genes and environment may provide insight into why some individuals are more prone to obesity than others. DESIGN: Information about PA, BMI, dietary habits, WC and potential confounders was collected by questionnaire in 1998 and 2002. The cohort data were analysed by mixed linear models. RESULTS: Twins with low PA attained larger WC than twins with high PA (difference 2.5 cm; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3, 3.6). The twins with the lowest fibre intake were found to have attained the highest WC and to have increased most in BMI (difference between highest and lowest fibre intakes: 1.6 cm, 95% CI 0.4, 2.9 and 0.45 kg m(-2), 95% CI 0.15, 0.76, respectively). Furthermore, our results suggested the presence of interactions so that twins with genetic susceptibility to obesity were more prone to have larger WC if sedentary than twins without genetic susceptibility. CONCLUSION: PA and a diet rich in fibre may be protective against weight gain among younger adult men. An interaction between PA, genes and attained WC is a novel finding which needs confirmation by other studies.

Obesity and attained education: cohort study of more than 700,000 Swedish men.

OBJECTIVE: To study the relationship between BMI at age 18 years and later attained education, with control for intelligence and parental social position. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: A cohort of 752,283 Swedish men born from 1952 to 1973 were followed in registers with respect to attainment of high education (>or=15 years of education) until December 31, 2001. Intelligence and BMI (kilograms per meter squared) were measured at compulsory military conscription at age 18 years. Ninth grade school marks were available for a subgroup born from 1972 to 1973 (N = 93,374). The hazard ratio for attaining high education was estimated with proportional hazard regression analysis controlling for intelligence, height, parental socioeconomic position, country of birth, conscription center, and municipality. RESULTS: Young men who were obese (BMI >or= 30) at age 18 years (N = 10,782) had a much lower chance of attaining a high education than normal-weight subjects [(18.5

The Swedish Young Male Twins Study: a resource for longitudinal research on risk factors for obesity and cardiovascular diseases.

The Swedish Young Male Twins Study is a population-based longitudinal twin study founded in 1997 through record-linkages of several national registers. Details on pregnancy and birth were obtained from the Swedish Medical Birth Register and used to identify 3566 male twins (1783 pairs) born in Sweden between 1973 and 1979 and resident in Sweden in 1997. A record-linkage was made between the Medical Birth Register and the Military Service Conscription Register for the years 1991 to 1999, providing information on body weight, height, blood pressure, muscle strength, cognitive ability of these twins at age 18 and 19 years. In 1998, 2002 and 2005 to 2006, the twins were surveyed on their zygosity, socioeconomic status, lifestyle factors (such as eating habits, physical activity, smoking habits, use of alcohol etc), height and weight. In 2002, additional information was collected on perceived body shape and size, and eating behavior, according to the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire. In 2003, DNA via buccal mucosa was collected from a subset of the twins. Recent research using the Swedish Young Male Twins datasets has explored the relationships between fetal growth, body size and blood pressure in young adulthood, genetic and environmental contributions to eating behavior and physical activity, and relationships between diet and physical activity patterns with longitudinal changes in body mass index and attained waist circumference.

Evaluation of anti-tumour effects of oral fenretinide (4-HPR) in rats with human neuroblastoma xenografts.

Neuroblastoma, the most common extracranial solid tumour in children, may undergo spontaneous differentiation or regression, but the majority of metastatic neuroblastomas have poor prognosis despite intensive treatment. Retinoic acid and its analogues regulate growth and differentiation of neuroblastoma cells in vitro, and 13-cis retinoic acid has shown activity against human neuroblastomas in vivo. Fenretinide [N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)retinamide] has been identified as a synthetic retinoid able to induce apoptosis of numerous malignant cell lines in vitro, including neuroblastoma. Furthermore, in animal models, fenretinide has shown chemopreventive and therapeutic efficacy against several malignancies without any obvious signs of toxicity. To investigate the anti-neuroblastoma tumour growth effects of oral fenretinide in vivo we used a human neuroblastoma xenograft model. Nude rats with established neuroblastoma xenograft tumours were treated orally with fenretinide for 10 days. Five different doses of fenretinide were used ranging from 2.5 to 75 mg/rat/day (10-300 mg/kg). Tumour volumes and toxic side effects were monitored during treatment and tumour weights were recorded at autopsy. In this study we found no significant anti-tumour growth effects of fenretinide in vivo, when used as oral treatment of rats with established neuroblastoma xenograft tumours. Furthermore, there were no intra tumoural differences in treated compared to untreated tumours. However, because of the promising results of fenretinide on neuroblastoma growth in vitro, further in vivo studies are warranted using other modalities of drug administration.