Chronic antibiotic use during adulthood and weight change in the Sister Study

Background/Objectives: Antibiotic use in early life has been associated with weight gain in several populations. However, associations between chronic antibiotic use and weight among adults in the general population are unknown. Subjects/Methods: The NIEHS Sister Study is a longitudinal cohort of sisters of women with breast cancer. We examined associations between chronic antibiotic use (>= 3 months) during the fourth decade of life (30-39 years) and subsequent obesity at enrollment (mean age = 55) via logistic regression. We also examined associations between chronic antibiotic use in the 5 years and 12 months prior to enrollment and weight gain after enrollment in linear mixed models. Models were adjusted for race/ethnicity, education, urban/rural status, age, and smoking. Results: In adjusted analyses (n = 50,237), chronic penicillin use during the 4 th decade of life was associated with obesity at enrollment (OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.40, 2.87), and use in the 5 years prior to enrollment was associated with increased BMI change after enrollment (beta 1.00 95% CI 0.01, 2.00). Use of bactericidals (OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.29, 2.26) during the 4 th decade of life was also associated with obesity at enrollment. Associations for penicillins and bactericidals were consistent across indications for use. Bacteriostatic use in the 5 years prior to enrollment was associated with a reduction in BMI after enrollment (beta -0.52, 95% CI -1.04, 0.00), and tetracycline use during the 4 th decade of life was associated with reduced odds of obesity at enrollment (OR 0.72, 95% CI 0.56, 0.92). However, these inverse associations were only present for those who reported taking antibiotics for skin purposes. Cephalosporins, macrolides, quinolones, and sulfonamides were not associated with BMI change over time. Conclusions: Chronic use of antibiotics during adulthood may have long-lasting impacts on BMI. Associations may differ by antibiotic class, and confounding by indication may be important for some antibiotic classes.Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Institute of Environmental Sciences [Z01ES044005]; NIEHS [T32ES007018, K99ES028743]; NIHOpen access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Oxidative stress in relation to diet and physical activity among premenopausal women

Abstract Higher levels of oxidative stress, as measured by F 2 -isoprostanes, have been associated with chronic diseases such as CVD and some cancers. Improvements in diet and physical activity may help reduce oxidative stress; however, previous studies regarding associations between lifestyle factors and F 2 -isoprostane concentrations have been inconsistent. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate whether physical activity and intakes of fruits/vegetables, antioxidant nutrients, dietary fat subgroups and alcohol are associated with concentrations of F 2 -isoprostane and the major F 2 -isoprostane metabolite. Urinary F 2 -isoprostane and its metabolite were measured in urine samples collected at enrolment from 912 premenopausal women (aged 35–54 years) participating in the Sister Study. Physical activity, alcohol consumption and dietary intakes were self-reported via questionnaires. With adjustment for potential confounders, the geometric means of F 2 -isoprostane and its metabolite were calculated according to quartiles of dietary intakes, alcohol consumption and physical activity, and linear regression models were used to evaluate trends. Significant inverse associations were found between F 2 -isoprostane and/or its metabolite and physical activity, vegetables, fruits, vitamin C, α -carotene, vitamin E, β -carotene, vitamin A, Se, lutein+zeaxanthin and long-chain n -3 fatty acids. Although trans fats were positively associated with both F 2 -isoprostane and its metabolite, other dietary fat subgroups including SFA, n -6 fatty acids, n -3 fatty acids, MUFA, PUFA, short-chain n -3 fatty acids, long-chain n -3 fatty acids and total fat were not associated with either F 2 -isoprostane or its metabolite. Our findings suggest that lower intake of antioxidant nutrients and higher intake of trans fats may be associated with greater oxidative stress among premenopausal women

Outcome-dependent sampling design and inference for Cox’s proportional hazards Model

We propose a cost-effective outcome-dependent sampling design for the failure time data and develop an efficient inference procedure for data collected with this design. To account for the biased sampling scheme, we derive estimators from a weighted partial likelihood estimating equation. The proposed estimators for regression parameters are shown to be consistent and asymptotically normally distributed. A criteria that can be used to optimally implement the ODS design in practice is proposed and studied. The small sample performance of the proposed method is evaluated by simulation studies. The proposed design and inference procedure is shown to be statistically more powerful than existing alternative designs with the same sample sizes. We illustrate the proposed method with an existing real data from the Cancer Incidence and Mortality of Uranium Miners Study

Lifestyle behaviors in Black and White women with a family history of breast cancer

To examine lifestyle behaviors among non-Hispanic Black and White women with a family history of breast cancer and determine the extent to which they meet American Cancer Society (ACS) Nutrition and Physical Activity Recommendations for Breast Cancer Prevention

Incidence of Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Multiple Myeloma in Czech Uranium Miners: A Case–Cohort Study

OBJECTIVE: Uranium miners are chronically exposed to low levels of radon and its progeny. We investigated whether radon exposure is associated with increased incidence of leukemia, lymphoma, or multiple myeloma in this population. DESIGN: We conducted a retrospective case–cohort study in 23,043 uranium miners and identified a total of 177 incident cases of leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. Detailed information on occupational radon exposure was obtained for the cases and a randomly selected subcohort of 2,393 subjects. We used the proportional hazards model with power relative risk (RR) function to estimate and test the effects of cumulative radon exposures on incidence rates. RESULTS: Incidence of all leukemia combined and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) alone was positively associated with cumulative radon exposure. The RR comparing high radon exposure [110 working level months (WLM); 80th percentile] to low radon exposure (3 WLM; 20th percentile) was 1.75 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.10–2.78; p = 0.014] for all leukemia combined and 1.98 (95% CI, 1.10–3.59; p = 0.016) for CLL. Myeloid leukemia and Hodgkin lymphoma were also associated with radon, but RRs were not statistically significant. There was no apparent association of radon with either non-Hodgkin lymphoma or multiple myeloma. Exposure to radon and its progeny was associated with an increased risk of developing leukemia in underground uranium miners. CLL, not previously believed to be radiogenic, was linked to radon exposure

Statistical inference for the additive hazards model under outcome-dependent sampling

Cost-effective study design and proper inference procedures for data from such designs are always of particular interests to study investigators. In this article, we propose a biased sampling scheme, an outcome-dependent sampling (ODS) design for survival data with right censoring under the additive hazards model. We develop a weighted pseudo-score estimator for the regression parameters for the proposed design and derive the asymptotic properties of the proposed estimator. We also provide some suggestions for using the proposed method by evaluating the relative efficiency of the proposed method against simple random sampling design and derive the optimal allocation of the subsamples for the proposed design. Simulation studies show that the proposed ODS design is more powerful than other existing designs and the proposed estimator is more efficient than other estimators. We apply our method to analyze a cancer study conducted at NIEHS, the Cancer Incidence and Mortality of Uranium Miners Study, to study the risk of radon exposure to cancer

Deepwater Horizon oil spill exposures and nonfatal myocardial infarction in the GuLF STUDY.

BACKGROUND: Workers involved in the response and clean-up of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill faced possible exposures to crude oil, burning oil, dispersants and other pollutants in addition to physical and emotional stress. These exposures may have increased risk of myocardial infarction (MI) among oil spill workers. METHODS: Gulf Long-term Follow-up (GuLF) STUDY participants comprise individuals who either participated in the Deepwater Horizon response efforts or registered for safety training but were not hired. Oil spill-related exposures were assessed during enrollment interviews conducted in 2011-2013. We estimated risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals for the associations of clean-up work characteristics with self-reported nonfatal MI up to three years post-spill. RESULTS: Among 31,109 participants without history of MI prior to the spill, 77% worked on the oil spill. There were 192 self-reported MI during the study period; 151 among workers. Among the full cohort, working on the oil spill clean-up (vs not working on the clean-up) and living in proximity to the oil spill (vs further away) were suggestively associated with a possible increased risk of nonfatal MI [RR: 1.22 (0.86, 1.73) and 1.15 (0.82, 1.60), respectively]. Among oil spill workers, working for > 180 days was associated with MI [RR for > 180 days (vs 1-30 days): 2.05 (1.05, 4.01)], as was stopping working due to heat [RR: 1.99 (1.43, 2.78)]. There were suggestive associations of maximum total hydrocarbon exposure ≥3.00 ppm (vs  180 days and stopping work due to heat increased risk of nonfatal MI. Future research should evaluate whether the observed associations are related to specific chemical exposures or other stressors associated with the spill