Association between physical activity and the utilization of general practitioners in different age groups.

BACKGROUND: Physical activity (PA) is an important tool in health promotion, prevention, curation, and rehabilitation and should be part of general practitioners (GP) consultations. For tailoring GP's service it is important to know the PA habits of the clients. METHODS: Data from the Austrian Health Interview Survey 2014 with 15,770 subjects were analyzed. The association between PA, measured with the Physical Activity Questionnaire of the European Health Intervies Survey (EHIS-PAQ) and having visited a GP within the last 4 weeks was examined in different age groups (15-29, 30-64, and 65+ years). In multivariate analyses we adjusted for sociodemographic and health-related variables (body mass index, 17 chronic diseases, and the use of medication). RESULTS: In subjects aged 15-29 years and 30-64 years fulfilling aerobic PA recommendations was significantly associated with a lower chance of having consulted the GP with unadjusted OR (95% CI) 0.82 (0.70-0.96) and 0.90 (0.82-0.99), respectively, whereas work-related PA was associated with a higher chance, with OR 1.21 (1.03-1.42) and 1.10 (1.00-1.20), respectively. Adjusting for sociodemographic and health-related factors led to loss of significance. In subjects aged 30-64 years, muscle strengthening PA was associated with a higher chance for GP consultation with OR 1.12 (1.00-1.24) in the fully adjusted model. In subjects aged 65+ years, PA was associated with a lower chance of having visited the GP with OR 0.74 (0.64-0.86) and 0.83 (0.71-0.97) for work related PA and total PA, respectively, in the fully adjusted model. CONCLUSION: The association of PA and GP consultation is dependent on age and type of PA, and partly mediated by sociodemographic and health-related factors.

Primary vitamin D receptor target genes as biomarkers for the vitamin D3 status in the hematopoietic system.

Vitamin D(3) belongs to the few nutritional compounds that has, via the binding of its metabolite 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) (1,25(OH)(2)D(3)) to the transcription factor vitamin D receptor (VDR), a direct effect on gene regulation. The relation of thousands of genomic VDR-binding sites to a few hundred primary 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) target genes is still largely unresolved. We studied chromatin domains containing genes for the adhesion molecules CD97 and LRRC8A, the glucose transporter SLC37A2 and the coactivator NRIP1. These domains vary significantly in size (7.3 to 956 kb) but contain each one major VDR-binding site. In monocytic cells these four sites are associated with open chromatin and occupied by VDR, while in macrophage-like cells only the sites of LRRC8A, SLC37A2 and NRIP1 are accessible and receptor bound. The VDR site of CD97 does, in contrast to the three other loci, not carry any DR3-type binding sequence. CD97, LRRC8A, SLC37A2 and NRIP1 are early responding 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) target genes in monocytic cells, while in macrophage-like cells they respond less and, in part, delayed. In primary human peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 71 prediabetic subjects of a vitamin D(3) intervention study (VitDmet) CD97, LRRC8A, SLC37A2 and NRIP1 can be used as transcriptomic biomarkers for classifying human individuals for their possible benefit from vitamin D(3) supplementation. In particular, NRIP1 exceeds the potential of the previously identified marker CD14 by more than 40% and seems to be a well-suited molecular marker for the vitamin D(3) status in the hematopoietic system.