Attitudes and opinions on health and medical care - a case study of the rural population of the Eastern Townships (Quebec).

This paper presents the relationship between concepts of attitude, perception of the availability of health care, scepticism toward medical care, scepticism toward medical practitioners, dependence resulting from illness and certain socioeconomic and demographic variables. The authors used the multiple classification analysis (M.C.A.) technique to put into operation these relationships. The findings show that age and income are, respectively, the best indicators of the perceptions of the availability of medical care and of the dependence resulting from illness. These findings corroborate the most recent research concerning the use of psychosocial factors to explain accessibility to medical care. The data used in this study come from an investigation during the summer of 1978 which involved 215 rural families from the Eastern Townships (Quebec).

Relative leucopenia in the peripheral blood of asbestos miners: a epidemiologic analysis.

The study examines differential leucocyte counts in blood of asbestos miners and quarriers identified during the course of a community health survey comprising 693 men over 25 years of age of all occupations. Subjects in the asbestos mining and quarrying occupational groups were present in the lowest total leucocyte quintile in significantly greater numbers than expected on the basis of a age-specific uniform leucocyte distribution based upon the total population of male workers. This relative leucopenia was not seen in their wives nor in any of the 22 other major occupational groups examined after their leucocyte counts were adjusted for age and sex variations.

Patterns of change in selected serum chemical parameters of middle and later years.

Six serum constituents known to vary with renal function were analyzed in a probability sample of 500 persons 55 years and over, and their sex trends compared to other ages. Creatinine, BUN and alkaline phosphatase are elevated in this group whereas calcium is low and phosphorus strikingly so, especially in males. A possible explanation lies in age-related renal parenchymal changes which influence both glomerular filtration and tubular functions in ways that differ from true renal disease. These results have directed implications for geriatric diagnosis and therapy.

A comparison of dietary methods in epidemiologic studies.

Three methods of estimating group and individual dietary consumption have been developed and assessed in a case-control study of diet and breast cancer. The methods comprised a 24-hour recall, a detailed quantitative diet history directed to the most recent two-month period and the two-month period six months before, and a four-day diet diary. There is a high degree of correlation between the estimates of food consumption for the controls using each of the methods. The highest estimate was obtained from the diet history, with a slightly higher estimate in the period six months before than the current period, while the lowest is found in the 24-hour recall. The latter corresponds with the same method in a Nutrition Canada Survey. It is concluded that all methods ara applicable to case-control studies, but the diet history is preferred when current food intake may be influenced by a disease.

A study of diet and breast cancer.

A case-control study has been conducted in four areas in Canada in which 400 cases of breast cancer matched by age and marital status with neighborhood controls were administered a medical and dietary history questionnaire, a 24-hour recall for dietary information and a four-day diet record. The Study has produced evidence of an association between an increased intake of nutrients, especially total fat, in both pre-menopausal and post-menopausal women with breast cancer. Reasons why a weak association might have been anticipated are discussed, and it is concluded that in reality the association is stronger. Furthermore, its consistency with other evidence, both experimental and international, suggests that it is causal.

An epidemiologic study of breast cancer.

A case-control study has been conducted in four areas of Canada in which 400 cases of breast cancer matched by age and marital status with neighborhood controls were administered medical and dietary questionnaires. The study is suggestive of an increased risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women with younger age at menarche and an increased risk with delay of age at natural menopause. No protective effect of early age at first pregnancy was demonstrated in either pre- or post-menopausal women. An increased frequency of pregnancies of four months duration or less was found in cases compared to controls and a greater frequency in pre-menopausal cases compared to controls of a history of irregular menstrual periods. In pre-menopausal women no association has been found between increased height and weight as risk factors for breast cancer. For post-menopausal women, however, a weak association with increased height has been found, while a strong association with increased weight both at the time of menopause and the 12 months preceding diagnosis has ben confirmed.