cron-web.org

[A1CR]

http://tinyurl.com/ekso3 is the URL for the latest American
Journal of
Epidemiology issue to view titles and abstracts for the paper.
The three papers below caught attention.

Notalable, for the first paper, was that the risk of wieght
gain was 14%
increased for those that had BMIs of 25-30, vs 58% increased
for those that
had lower BMIs than 25.

Sanjay R. Patel, Atul Malhotra, David P. White, Daniel J.
Gottlieb, and
Frank B. Hu
Association between Reduced Sleep and Weight Gain in Women
American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access published on
August 16, 2006
Am. J. Epidemiol. 2006 164: 947-954

Physiologic studies suggest that sleep restriction has
metabolic effects
that predispose to weight gain. The authors investigated the
association
between self-reported usual sleep duration and subsequent
weight gain in the
Nurses' Health Study. The 68,183 women who reported habitual
sleep duration
in 1986 were followed for 16 years. In analyses adjusted for
age and body
mass index, women sleeping 5 hours or less gained 1.14 kg
(95% confidence
interval (CI): 0.49, 1.79) more than did those sleeping 7
hours over 16
years, and women sleeping 6 hours gained 0.71 kg (95% CI:
0.41, 1.00) more.
The relative risks of a 15-kg weight gain were 1.32 (95% CI:
1.19, 1.47) and
1.12 (95% CI: 1.06, 1.19) for those sleeping 5 and 6 hours,
respectively.
The relative risks for incident obesity (body mass index:
>30 kg/m2) were
1.15 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.26) and 1.06 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.11).
These associations
remained significant after inclusion of important covariates
and were not
affected by adjustment for physical activity or dietary
consumption. These
data suggest that short sleep duration is associated with a
modest increase
in future weight gain and incident obesity. Further research
is needed to
understand the mechanisms by which sleep duration may affect
weight.

Esther H. J. Kim, Walter C. Willett, Graham A. Colditz,
Susan E. Hankinson,
Meir J. Stampfer, David J. Hunter, Bernard Rosner, and
Michelle D. Holmes
Dietary Fat and Risk of Postmenopausal Breast Cancer in a
20-year Follow-up
American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access published on
September 12,
2006
Am. J. Epidemiol. 2006 164: 990-997

Dietary fat in midlife has not been associated with breast
cancer risk in
most studies, but few have followed women beyond one decade.
The authors
examined the relation of dietary fat, assessed by repeated
questionnaires,
to incidence of postmenopausal breast cancer in a cohort of
80,375 US women
(3,537 new cases) prospectively followed for 20 years
between 1980 and 2000.
The multivariable relative risk for an increment of 5% of
energy from total
dietary fat intake was 0.98 (95% confidence interval: 0.95,
1.00).
Additionally, specific types of fat were not associated with
an increased
risk of breast cancer. Furthermore, secondary analyses
indicated no
differences in breast cancer risk by estrogen receptor or
progesterone
receptor status. However, stratification by waist
circumference indicated a
significant decrease in breast cancer risk for participants
with a waist
circumference of 35 inches (88.9 cm) or greater (p-trend =
0.04). None of
the latency intervals investigated were associated with an
increased risk of
breast cancer. In addition, fat intake before menopause was
not related to
risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. These results suggest
a reduction in
breast cancer risk for women with insulin resistance
syndrome who consume
high-fat diets and no association between specific sources
of fat during
midlife and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer.

Lonneke M. L. de Lau, Peter J. Koudstaal, Albert Hofman, and
Monique M. B.
Breteler
Serum Cholesterol Levels and the Risk of Parkinson's Disease
American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access published on
August 11, 2006

Several recent findings suggest a role of lipid and
cholesterol metabolism
in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. Therefore, the
authors examined
the association between serum levels of cholesterol and the
risk of
Parkinson's disease in the prospective, population-based
Rotterdam Study
among 6,465 subjects aged 55 or more years with repeated
in-person
examination and on average 9.4 years of follow-up
(1990-2004). Higher serum
levels of total cholesterol were associated with a
significantly decreased
risk of Parkinson's disease (age- and sex-adjusted hazard
ratio per
mmol/liter increase in cholesterol = 0.77, 95% confidence
interval: 0.64,
0.94), with evidence for a dose-effect relation. The
association was
restricted to women and remained unchanged after adjustment
for multiple
potential confounders. These findings may indicate a role of
lipids in the
pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. Alternatively, they
could reflect the
strong correlation-especially in women-between levels of
serum cholesterol
and the antioxidant coenzyme Q10. If confirmed, this would
provide further
support for an important role of oxidative stress in the
pathogenesis of
Parkinson's disease.