Explaining educational differences in leisure-time physical activity in Europe: the contribution of work-related factors.

Although educational differences in leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) exist across Europe, the independent effect of educational level on leisure-time physical activity has rarely been explored. This study examines the relative contribution of occupational class, employment status, and educational level to LTPA across 12 European countries. The data were obtained from 12 European health surveys conducted at the turn of the century and identified in the EUROTHINE project. All information was self-reported. Logistic regression was applied and relative inequality index (RII) was calculated. Analyses were limited to those in the prime working-age (age 30-59; total N=137,646) men and women. In all 12 European countries, LTPA was more common in the high-educated than in the low-educated. The association between education and LTPA remained mostly unchanged after adjusting for marital status, urbanization, and self-rated health. After further adjusting for occupational class and employment status, the educational differences in LTPA were only slightly attenuated. An inverse association was found between educational level and LTPA across almost all 12 European countries. Occupational class and employment status had only a modest effect on educational differences in LTPA in most of the examined countries, suggesting that education remains an important predictor of LTPA.

Lipid-lowering treatment is related to decreased risk of dementia: a population-based study (FINRISK).

BACKGROUND: Several lines of evidence have linked cholesterol to dementia. OBJECTIVE: To investigate lipid-lowering drug use and dementia development in a Finnish population. METHODS: FINRISK is a large population-based survey of cardiovascular risk factors carried out since 1972 every 5 years using independent, random and representative population samples from different parts of Finland. Several cohorts were part of the WHO-MONICA study. Data from cohorts 1972-2002 were linked to the Hospital Discharge Registry and Drug Reimbursement Registry (1995-2007) to ascertain dementia diagnoses and lipid-lowering treatment. Selection criteria for the study were: (1) alive and without dementia in 1995; (2) age > or = 60 years (in 1995 for earlier cohorts and in 1997 or 2002 for later cohorts; (3) treatment prescribed at least 1 year before dementia diagnosis. RESULTS: 17,597 persons were included in the study. Lipid-lowering treatment was related to decreased dementia risk. In Cox proportional hazards model, hazard ratio (95% CI) was 0.42 (0.37-0.49; controlled for age, sex, education, survey region, survey year, baseline cholesterol, body mass index and systolic blood pressure). CONCLUSION: Preliminary results from the FINRISK study indicate that lipid-lowering drugs may have a beneficial effect in dementia prevention. Further data linkage is ongoing in order to investigate the roles of different types of lipid-lowering drugs.