The Relationship between Multiple Health Behaviours and Brachial Artery Reactivity

Background. The effects of smoking, alcohol consumption, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle on endothelial function (EF) have only been examined separately. The relative contributions of these behaviours on EF have therefore not been compared. Purpose. To compare the relative associations between these four risk factors and brachial artery reactivity in the same sample. Methods. 328 patients referred for single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) exercise stress tests completed a nuclear-medicine-based forearm hyperaemic reactivity test. Self-reported exercise behaviour, smoking habits, and alcohol consumption were collected and waist circumference was measured. Results. Adjusting for relevant covariates, logistic regression analyses revealed that waist circumference, abstinence from alcohol, and past smoking significantly predicted poor brachial artery reactivity while physical activity did not. Only waist circumference predicted continuous variations in EF. Conclusions. Central adiposity, alcohol consumption, and smoking habits but not physical activity are each independent predictors of poor brachial artery reactivity in patients with or at high risk for cardiovascular disease

The relationship of trait mindfulness to physical and psychological health during pregnancy

Introduction Research on mindfulness has extended to the prevention of psychopathology and physical conditions during pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between trait mindfulness assessed in the first or early second trimester to health outcomes throughout pregnancy. Methods A total of 510 women were recruited at McGill University-affiliated obstetrics clinics (average gestational age: 13.43 weeks, sd = 1.2). The Mindful Awareness and Attention Scale (MAAS) was administered at baseline. At three timepoints during pregnancy, participants completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), the Prenatal Distress Questionnaire-revised (PDQR) and a measure of pregnancy symptom intensity and indicated whether they had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes or high blood pressure. Results Higher MAAS scores predicted lower PSS, EPDS and PDQR scores and less severe physical discomforts throughout pregnancy. MAAS scores were a stronger predictor of PSS scores earlier in pregnancy. Logistic regressions found that trait mindfulness did not predict the presence of physical discomforts, diabetes or high blood pressure. Conclusions These results indicate that trait mindfulness is an important predictor of subjective stress, depression, anxiety and the severity of physical discomforts during pregnancy. These findings suggest that interventions earlier in pregnancy may increase the impact of mindfulness on maternal health

Predicting blood donation intention: the importance of fear

Blood donor recruitment remains an important worldwide challenge due to changes in population demographics and shifts in the demand for blood. Various cognitive models help predict donation intention, although the importance of affective deterrents has become increasingly evident. This study aimed to identify fears that predict donation intention, to explore their relative importance, and to determine if self-efficacy and attitude mediate this relationship, thus providing possible targets for intervention.A total of 347 individuals (269 nondonors and 78 donors) living in Québec responded to questionnaires assessing medical fears, psychosocial factors related to donation intention including the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) constructs, anticipated regret, and facilitating factors (i.e., time commitment and rewards). To examine the relative importance of these factors in the context of blood donation, the same questions were also asked about other medical activities that involve salient needle stimuli: flu vaccinations and dental examinations.Medical fears, especially blood-related fears, were significantly associated with donation intention. Bootstrapping tests confirmed that this relation was mediated by attitude and self-efficacy. Underlining the importance of medical fears in the blood donation context, these fears were not associated with attitudes and intentions for dental examinations or flu vaccinations.These results suggest that medical fears, especially blood-related fears, play a key role in predicting donation attitudes and intentions. Mediational pathways provide support for interventions to improve donation intentions by addressing specific fears while also improving a donor's belief in his or her ability to manage donation-related fears

The Relationship between Multiple Health Behaviours and Brachial Artery Reactivity

Background. The effects of smoking, alcohol consumption, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle on endothelial function (EF) have only been examined separately. The relative contributions of these behaviours on EF have therefore not been compared. Purpose. To compare the relative associations between these four risk factors and brachial artery reactivity in the same sample. Methods. 328 patients referred for single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) exercise stress tests completed a nuclear-medicine-based forearm hyperaemic reactivity test. Self-reported exercise behaviour, smoking habits, and alcohol consumption were collected and waist circumference was measured. Results. Adjusting for relevant covariates, logistic regression analyses revealed that waist circumference, abstinence from alcohol, and past smoking significantly predicted poor brachial artery reactivity while physical activity did not. Only waist circumference predicted continuous variations in EF. Conclusions. Central adiposity, alcohol consumption, and smoking habits but not physical activity are each independent predictors of poor brachial artery reactivity in patients with or at high risk for cardiovascular disease.Peer Reviewe

A methodological comparison of the porges algorithm, fast fourier transform and autoregressive spectral analysis for the estimation of heart rate variability in 5-month-old infants

Little empirical evidence exists on the comparability of heart rate variability (HRV) quantification methods commonly used in infants. The aim was to compare three methods of HRV estimation: (1) fast Fourier transform (FFT), (2) autoregressive (AR), and (3) the Porges methods. HRV was estimated in 63 healthy 5-month-old infants. HRV parameters were strongly correlated across methods (.92-.99) but yielded significantly different mean HRV estimates (Porges method > FFT > AR). There was no systematic bias over the whole range of values between the two spectral approaches, while differences between the Porges method and the spectral estimates were systematically greater for larger values. Additional comparative studies are needed to explore the between-method agreement across a range of physiological conditions