Relations between reported alcohol consumption and certain biological variables in an "unselected" population.

Abstract We looked for variables that could serve as indexes of alcohol consumption. We tested iron, gamma-glutamyltransferase, mean erythrocyte volume, mean erythrocyte hemoglobin concentration, urea, uric acid, and alanine aminotransferase, among others, in an unselected population of men, and by principal components analysis we singled out the correlation between the two enzymes and the two hematologic values. On the other hand, calculation of the coefficients of correlation between the total amount of alcohol consumed and the 10 variables studied, together with multiple regression analysis, showed that the three variables that correlated most significantly with alcohol consumption were gamma-glutamyltransferase, mean erythrocyte volume, and the use of tobacco. Critical evaluation of the results leads us to conclude that still more discriminative biological indices msut be sought and that the use of psychosocial data is also desirable.</jats:p

Health care systems and the people: a five-nation study in the European Union.

The results of an exploratory five-nation survey of 2,239 adults interviewed on the telephone indicate general satisfaction with the health care system and less satisfaction with common welfare. In particular German respondents reported minor problems in their experiences with doctors with regard to communication and timing. Concerning health policy, French and Spanish respondents favoured more interventionist medicine, while Germans in particular preferred medicine as care. The public responsibility for care and the shifting of responsibility for future financial needs to employers and the public reveal a tendency that has been called corrupt. Overall, when evaluations and attitudes concerning health care and related policies were controlled for demographic factors, they were not particularly determined by social stratification, which indicates that the health system functions well in providing comprehensive care and securing the identity and integration of society. However, value orientations as a reflection of culture and the respective nationalities are strong determinants of health care systems. National identity confirms at the same time the validity of the comparative approach and the use of multivariate analyses