George Davey Smith

The applicability of measures of socioeconomic position to different ethnic groups within the UK. (2009)

Kelahar, Margaret, Paul, Sheila, Lambert, Helen, Ahmad, Waqar I. U., Smith, George Davey

In this paper we seek to tease out differences in socioeconomic position between ethnic groups. There are 3 main reasons why conventional socioeconomic indicators and asset based measures may not be...

A common genetic variant in the 15q24 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor gene cluster (CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4) is associated with a reduced ability of women to quit smoking in pregnancy (2009)

Freathy, Rachel M., Ring, Susan M., Shields, Beverley, Galobardes, Bruna, Knight, Beatrice, Weedon, Michael N., ...

Maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with low birth weight and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Women are more likely to quit smoking during pregnancy than at any other time in their lives, but...

Height and Site-specific Cancer Risk: A Cohort Study of a Korean Adult Population (2009)

Sung, Joohon, Song, Yun-Mi, Lawlor, Debbie A., Smith, George Davey, Ebrahim, Shah

To evaluate the association between height and risk of cancer in an East Asian, middle-income population, the authors followed up a cohort of 788,789 Koreans (449,214 men and 339,575 women) aged...

Alcohol Consumption Behaviours and Social Mobility in Men and Women of the Midspan Family Study (2009)

Hart, Carole L., Smith, George Davey, Upton, Mark N., Watt, Graham C. M.

Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate relationships between alcohol consumption and social mobility in a cohort study in Scotland. Methods: 1040 sons and 1298 daughters aged 30–59 from...

The social gradient in birthweight at term: quantification of the mediating role of maternal smoking and body mass index (2009)

Mortensen, Laust H., Diderichsen, Finn, Smith, George Davey, Andersen, Anne Marie Nybo

BACKGROUNDMaternal education is associated with the birthweight of offspring. We sought to quantify the role of maternal body mass index (BMI) and smoking as intermediary variables between maternal...

A non-synonymous variant in ADH1B is strongly associated with prenatal alcohol use in a European sample of pregnant women (2009)

Zuccolo, Luisa, Fitz-Simon, Nicola, Gray, Ron, Ring, Susan M., Sayal, Kapil, Smith, George Davey, ...

Pregnant women are advised to abstain from alcohol despite insufficient evidence on the fetal consequences of moderate prenatal alcohol use. Mendelian randomization could help distinguish causal...

TAS2R38 (phenylthiocarbamide) haplotypes, coronary heart disease traits, and eating behavior in the British Women’s Heart and Health Study 1–4 (2008)

Nic J Timpson, Mikkel Christensen, Debbie A Lawlor, Tom R Gaunt, Ian N Day, Shah Ebrahim, ...

Background: Variation in the perception of bitter tastes has been associated with eating behavior, body composition, and cardiovascular disease. Recent observations have implicated 2 common...

EDITORIAL STATEMENT Make it HuGE: human genome epidemiology reviews, population health, and the IJE (2008)

George Davey Smith, Marta Gwinn, Shah Ebrahim, Lyle J Palmer, Muin J Khoury

scientific evidence that can ultimately form the basis of strategies for improving population health. Hence, the IJE would be expected to remain cautious about the technological advances heralded by...

Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, and Diabetes—Mendelian Randomization Using CRP Haplotypes Points Upstream (2008)

Eric J. Brunner, Mika Kivimäki, Daniel R. Witte, Debbie A. Lawlor, George Davey Smith, Jackie A. Cooper, ...

BackgroundRaised C-reactive protein (CRP) is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. According to the Mendelian randomization method, the association is likely to be causal if genetic variants that affect...

Common variants near MC4R are associated with fat mass, weight and risk of obesity (2008)

Loos, Ruth J.F., Lindgren, Cecilia M., Li, Shengxu, Wheeler, Eleanor, Zhao, Jing Hua, Prokopenko, Inga, ...

To identify common variants influencing body mass index (BMI), we analyzed genome-wide association data from 16,876 individuals of European descent. After previously reported variants in FTO, the...

The impact of different measures of socioeconomic position on the relationship between ethnicity and health. (2008)

Kelahar, Margaret, Paul, Sheila, Lambert, Helen, Ahmad, Waqar I. U., Smith, George Davey

In this study we explicitly examine the effect of using asset-based and conventional measures of socioeconomic position (SEP) on ethnic differences in health.

Alcohol Intake and Blood Pressure: A Systematic Review Implementing a Mendelian Randomization Approach (2008)

Lina Chen, George Davey Smith, Roger M. Harbord, Sarah J. Lewis

BackgroundAlcohol has been reported to be a common and modifiable risk factor for hypertension. However, observational studies are subject to confounding by other behavioural and sociodemographic...

Exploring the Developmental Overnutrition Hypothesis Using Parental–Offspring Associations and FTO as an Instrumental Variable (2008)

Debbie A. Lawlor, Nicholas J. Timpson, Roger M. Harbord, Sam Leary, Andy Ness, Mark I. McCarthy, ...

BackgroundThe developmental overnutrition hypothesis suggests that greater maternal obesity during pregnancy results in increased offspring adiposity in later life. If true, this would result in the...

Best-practice interventions to reduce socioeconomic inequalities of coronary heart disease mortality in UK: a prospective occupational cohort study. (2008)

Kivimäki, Mika, Shipley, Martin J, Ferrie, Jane E, Singh-Manoux, Archana, Batty, G David, Chandola, Tarani, ...

BACKGROUND: How much the successful implementation of the most effective (ie, best-practice) interventions could reduce socioeconomic inequalities of coronary heart disease mortality is not known. We...

Best-practice interventions to reduce socioeconomic inequalities of coronary heart disease mortality in UK: a prospective occupational cohort study. (2008)

Kivimäki, Mika, Shipley, Martin J, Ferrie, Jane E, Singh-Manoux, Archana, Batty, G David, Chandola, Tarani, ...

BACKGROUND: How much the successful implementation of the most effective (ie, best-practice) interventions could reduce socioeconomic inequalities of coronary heart disease mortality is not known. We...

Best-practice interventions to reduce socioeconomic inequalities of coronary heart disease mortality in UK: a prospective occupational cohort study. (2008)

Kivimäki, Mika, Shipley, Martin J, Ferrie, Jane E, Singh-Manoux, Archana, Batty, G David, Chandola, Tarani, ...

BACKGROUND: How much the successful implementation of the most effective (ie, best-practice) interventions could reduce socioeconomic inequalities of coronary heart disease mortality is not known. We...

How Much of the Data Published in Observational Studies of the Association between Diet and Prostate or Bladder Cancer Is Usable for Meta-Analysis? (2008)

Bekkering, Geertruida E., Harris, Ross J., Thomas, Steve, Mayer, Anne-Marie B., Beynon, Rebecca, Ness, Andrew R., ...

Epidemiologic investigations often report dose-response associations, which may be combined in meta-analyses. The authors examined how often the log odds, risk, or hazard ratio per unit increase in...

Lifetime body mass index and later atherosclerosis risk in young adults: examining causal links using Mendelian randomization in the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study (2008)

Kivimäki, Mika, Smith, George Davey, Timpson, Nic J., Lawlor, Debbie A., Batty, G. David, Kähönen, Mika, ...

Aims Mendelian randomization uses genetic variants related to environmentally modifiable risk factors in an attempt to improve causal inference from observational data. We examined the effect of...

Discrimination and health in a British study. (2008)

Kelahar, Margaret, Paul, Sheila, Lambert, Helen, Ahmad, Waqar I. U., Paradies, Yin, Smith, George Davey

In this study we examine the relationship between education, racial discrimination and health among white (n = 227), African Caribbean (n = 213) and Indian and Pakistani (n = 233) adults aged between...

Genetic Epidemiology (2008) Inference From Genome-Wide Association Studies Using a Novel Markov Model (2008)

Fay J. Hosking, George Davey Smith, Peter J. Green

In this paper we propose a Bayesian modeling approach to the analysis of genome-wide association studies based on single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data. Our latent seed model combines various...

Clustered Environments and Randomized Genes: A Fundamental Distinction between Conventional and Genetic Epidemiology (2007)

George Davey Smith, Debbie A. Lawlor, Roger Harbord, Nic Timpson, Ian Day, Shah Ebrahim

BackgroundIn conventional epidemiology confounding of the exposure of interest with lifestyle or socioeconomic factors, and reverse causation whereby disease status influences exposure rather than...

Association of diarrhoea in childhood with blood pressure and coronary heart disease in older age: analyses of two UK cohort studies (2007)

Batty, G. David, Smith, George Davey, Fall, Caroline H.D., Sayer, Avan Aihie, Dennison, Elaine, Cooper, Cyrus, ...

BACKGROUND: There is a suggestion that acute dehydration in childhood may lead to elevated blood pressure. We examined if episodes of diarrhoea in childhood, a recognized proxy for acute dehydration,...

Variants in the CRP Gene as a Measure of Lifelong Differences in Average C-Reactive Protein Levels: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study, 1980 2001 (2007)

Kivimäki, Mika, Lawlor, Debbie A., Smith, George Davey, Eklund, Carita, Hurme, Mikko, Lehtimäki, Terho, ...

Genetic association studies have used variants in the C-reactive protein (CRP) gene to estimate causal effects of lifelong circulating CRP levels on disease endpoints. However, the extent to which...

Lactase Persistence and Bitter Taste Response: Instrumental Variables and Mendelian Randomization in Epidemiologic Studies of Dietary Factors and Cancer Risk (2007)

Sacerdote, Carlotta, Guarrera, Simonetta, Smith, George Davey, Grioni, Sara, Krogh, Vittorio, Masala, Giovanna, ...

Consumption of dairy products seems to increase the risk of cancer at several sites, while intake of cruciferous vegetables could have protective effects. However, these dietary intakes are subject...

Independent Associations of Fasting Insulin, Glucose, and Glycated Haemoglobin with Stroke and Coronary Heart Disease in Older Women (2007)

Debbie A. Lawlor, Abigail Fraser, Shah Ebrahim, George Davey Smith

BackgroundEvidence suggests that variations in fasting glucose and insulin amongst those without frank type 2 diabetes mellitus are important determinants of cardiovascular disease. However, the...

Schizophrenia and Neural Tube Defects: Comparisons From an Epidemiological Perspective (2007)

Zammit, Stanley, Lewis, Sarah, Gunnell, David, Smith, George Davey

In this review, we examine and compare epidemiological studies of schizophrenia and neural tube defects (NTDs). Although there is no apparent link between these 2 disparate disorders in terms of...

Measuring socioeconomic position in health research (2007)

Galobardes, Bruna, Lynch, John, Smith, George Davey

Objective In this article we review different measures of socioeconomic position (SEP) and their uses in health-related research. Areas of agreement Socioeconomic circumstances influence health. ...

Objectively Measured Physical Activity and Fat Mass in a Large Cohort of Children (2007)

Andy R. Ness, Sam D. Leary, Calum Mattocks, Steven N. Blair, John J. Reilly, Jonathan Wells, ...

BackgroundPrevious studies have been unable to characterise the association between physical activity and obesity, possibly because most relied on inaccurate measures of physical activity and...

Epidemiologic Evidence for the Fetal Overnutrition Hypothesis: Findings from the Mater-University Study of Pregnancy and Its Outcomes (2007)

Lawlor, Debbie A., Smith, George Davey, O'Callaghan, Michael, Alati, Rosa, Mamun, Abdullah A., Williams, Gail M., ...

The fetal overnutrition hypothesis proposes that greater maternal adiposity results in increased obesity throughout life in the offspring. The authors examined the associations between parental...

Associations of Prepregnancy Cardiovascular Risk Factors with the Offspring's Birth Weight (2007)

Romundstad, Pål R., Smith, George Davey, Nilsen, Tom I. L., Vatten, Lars J.

Low birth weight of offspring has been associated with increased risk of maternal cardiovascular mortality, and cardiovascular risk factors measured within pregnancy have been related to offspring...

Association of diarrhoea in childhood with blood pressure and coronary heart disease in older age: analyses of two UK cohort studies (2007)

Batty, G David, Smith, George Davey, Fall, Caroline H D, Sayer, Avan Aihie, Dennison, Elaine, Cooper, Cyrus, ...

Background There is a suggestion that acute dehydration in childhood may lead to elevated blood pressure. We examined if episodes of diarrhoea in childhood, a recognized proxy for acute dehydration,...

Meta-analyses of Observational and Genetic Association Studies of Folate Intakes or Levels and Breast Cancer Risk (2006)

Lewis, Sarah J., Harbord, Roger M., Harris, Ross, Smith, George Davey

Background: Evidence from case–control studies suggests that increasing dietary folate intake is associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer. However, large cohort studies have found no such...

Indigenous Health and Socioeconomic Status in India (2006)

S. V. Subramanian, George Davey Smith, Malavika Subramanyam

BackgroundSystematic evidence on the patterns of health deprivation among indigenous peoples remains scant in developing countries. We investigate the inequalities in mortality and substance use...

Integrated single-label liquid-phase assay of APOE codons 112 and 158 and a lipoprotein study in British women19 (2006)

Abdollahi, Mohammad Reza, Guthrie, Philip A.I., Smith, George Davey, Lawlor, Debbie A., Ebrahim, Shah, Day, Ian N.M.

BACKGROUND: Apolipoprotein E (APOE) is an important element of lipid metabolism and, hence, cardiovascular disorders. APOE has 3 main allelic variants: epsilon3, epsilon4, and epsilon2. Of these,...

The association of the PON1 Q192R polymorphism with complications and outcomes of pregnancy: findings from the British Women's Heart and Health cohort study (2006)

Lawlor, Debbie A., Gaunt, Tom R., Hinks, Lesley J., Smith, George Davey, Timpson, Nick, Day, Ian N.M., ...

It has been hypothesised that paraoxonase genes would be related to adverse pregnancy outcomes, via a maternal or fetal effect on placental hypoperfusion and thrombosis. To date only two studies have...

The association of oestrogen receptor alpha-haplotypes with cardiovascular risk factors in the British Women's Heart and Health Study (2006)

Lawlor, Debbie A., Timpson, Nick, Ebrahim, Shah, Day, Ian N.M., Smith, George Davey

Aims One previous study among women with established coronary heart disease found a gene–treatment interaction between the oestrogen receptor gene (ESR1) and hormone replacement in their...

Schizophrenia and Neural Tube Defects: Comparisons From an Epidemiological Perspective (2006)

Zammit, Stanley, Lewis, Sarah, Gunnell, David, Smith, George Davey

In this review, we examine and compare epidemiological studies of schizophrenia and neural tube defects (NTDs). Although there is no apparent link between these 2 disparate disorders in terms of...

The association of oestrogen receptor {alpha}-haplotypes with cardiovascular risk factors in the British Women's Heart and Health Study (2006)

Lawlor, Debbie A., Timpson, Nick, Ebrahim, Shah, Day, Ian NM, Smith, George Davey

Aims One previous study among women with established coronary heart disease found a gene-treatment interaction between the oestrogen receptor gene (ESR1) and hormone replacement in their association...

The association of oestrogen receptor {alpha}-haplotypes with cardiovascular risk factors in the British Women's Heart and Health Study (2006)

Lawlor, Debbie A., Timpson, Nick, Ebrahim, Shah, Day, Ian N.M., Smith, George Davey

Aims One previous study among women with established coronary heart disease found a gene–treatment interaction between the oestrogen receptor gene (ESR1) and hormone replacement in their...

Mutation scanning by meltMADGE: validations using BRCA1 and LDLR, and demonstration of the potential to identify severe, moderate, silent, rare, and paucimorphic mutations in the general population (2005)

Alharbi, Khalid K., Aldahmesh, Mohammed A., Spanakis, Emmanuel, Haddad, Lema, Whittall, Roslyn A., Chen, Xiao-he, ...

We have developed a mutation-scanning approach suitable for whole population screening for unknown mutations. The method, meltMADGE, combines thermal ramp electrophoresis with MADGE to achieve...

Mutation scanning by meltMADGE: validations using BRCA1 and LDLR, and demonstration of the potential to identify severe, moderate, silent, rare, and paucimorphic mutations in the general population (2005)

Alharbi, Khalid K., Aldahmesh, Mohammed A, Spanakis, Emmanuel, Haddad, Lema, Whittall, Roslyn A, Chen, Xiao-he, ...

We have developed a mutation-scanning approach suitable for whole population screening for unknown mutations. The method, meltMADGE, combines thermal ramp electrophoresis with MADGE to achieve...

Latino Risk-adjusted Mortality in the Men Screened for the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (2005)

Thomas, Avis J., Eberly, Lynn E., Neaton, James D., Smith, George Davey

Latinos are now the largest minority in the United States, but their distinctive health needs and mortality patterns remain poorly understood. Proportional hazards regressions were used to compare...

The Associations of Physical Activity and Adiposity with Alanine Aminotransferase and Gamma-Glutamyltransferase (2005)

Lawlor, Debbie A., Sattar, Naveed, Smith, George Davey, Ebrahim, Shah

The mechanisms linking obesity and inactivity to diabetes mellitus are unclear. Recent studies have shown associations of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) with...

Mutation scanning by meltMADGE: Validations using BRCA1 and LDLR, and demonstration of the potential to identify severe, moderate, silent, rare, and paucimorphic mutations in the general population (2005)

Alharbi, Khalid K., Aldahmesh, Mohammed A., Spanakis, Emmanuel, Haddad, Lema, Whittall, Roslyn A., Chen, Xiao-he, ...

We have developed a mutation-scanning approach suitable for whole population screening for unknown mutations. The method, meltMADGE, combines thermal ramp electrophoresis with MADGE to achieve...

Latino Risk-adjusted Mortality in the Men Screened for the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (2005)

Thomas, Avis J., Eberly, Lynn E., Neaton, James D., Smith, George Davey

Latinos are now the largest minority in the United States, but their distinctive health needs and mortality patterns remain poorly understood. Proportional hazards regressions were used to compare...

Latino Risk-adjusted Mortality in the Men Screened for the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (2005)

Thomas, Avis J., Eberly, Lynn E., Neaton, James D., Smith, George Davey

Latinos are now the largest minority in the United States, but their distinctive health needs and mortality patterns remain poorly understood. Proportional hazards regressions were used to compare...

The association of the PON1 Q192R polymorphism with coronary heart disease: findings from the British Women's Heart and Health cohort study and a meta-analysis (2004)

Lawlor, Debbie A., Day, Ian N.M., Gaunt, Tom R., Hinks, Lesley J., Briggs, Patricia J., Kiessling, Matthew, ...

Background There have been inconsistent results from case-control studies assessing the association of the PON1 Q192R polymorphism with coronary heart disease (CHD). Most studies have included...

The association of the PON1 Q192R polymorphism with coronary heart disease: findings from the British Women's Heart and Health cohort study and a meta-analysis (2004)

Lawlor, Debbie A., Day, Ian N.M., Gaunt, Tom R., Hinks, Lesley J., Briggs, Patricia J., Kiessling, Matthew, ...

Background There have been inconsistent results from case-control studies assessing the association of the PON1 Q192R polymorphism with coronary heart disease (CHD). Most studies have included...

Associations of parental, birth and early life characteristics with systolic blood pressure at 5 years of age. Findings from the Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy and Its Outcomes (2004)

Lawlor, Debbie A., Najman, Jake M., Sterne, Jonathan, Williams, Gail M., Ebrahim, Shah, Smith, George Davey

Background-We examined the associations of a range of parental and early life characteristics with systolic blood pressure at 5 years of age. Methods and Results-Information from 3864 children who...

Associations of Parental, Birth, and Early Life Characteristics With Systolic Blood Pressure at 5 Years of Age: Findings From the Mater-University Study of Pregnancy and Its Outcomes (2004)

Lawlor, Debbie A., Najman, Jake M., Sterne, Jonathan, Williams, Gail M., Ebrahim, Shah, Smith, George Davey

Background-We examined the associations of a range of parental and early life characteristics with systolic blood pressure at 5 years of age. Methods and Results-Information from 3864 children who...

Is Social Capital the Key to Inequalities in Health? (2003)

Pearce, Neil, Smith, George Davey

There has been vigorous debate between the “social capital” and “neomaterialist” interpretations of the epidemiological evidence regarding socioeconomic determinants of health. We argue that...

Self-reported stress and subsequent hospital admissions as a result of hypertension, varicose veins and haemorrhoids (2003)

Metcalfe, Chris, Smith, George Davey, Macleod, John, Heslop, Pauline, Hart, Carole

Background This study examines a cohort in which individuals of privileged socio‐economic position report greater psychological stress. We have previously shown in this cohort that stress is...

Shaving, Coronary Heart Disease, and Stroke: The Caerphilly Study (2003)

Ebrahim, Shah, Smith, George Davey, May, Margaret, Yarnell, John

The relation between frequency of shaving and all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality, coronary heart disease, and stroke events was investigated in a cohort of 2,438 men aged 45–59 years....

Adult Height and Cause-specific Mortality: A Large Prospective Study of South Korean Men (2003)

Song, Yun-Mi, Smith, George Davey, Sung, Joohon

To examine the relation of adult height with mortality, the authors conducted a cohort study of 386,627 middle-aged South Korean male civil servants from 1992 to 1998. An inverse association between...

Ethnicity, health and health care utilization in a British study. (2003)

Kelahar, Margaret, Paul, Sheila, Lambert, Helen, Ahmad, Waqar I. U., Fenton, Steve, Smith, George Davey

Despite the exponential growth in the number of studies addressing ethnicity and health, there is considerable debate about definitions of ethnicity, the appropriate use of ethnicity in health...

Leisure time physical activity and coronary heart disease mortality in men symptomatic or asymptomatic for ischaemia: evidence from the Whitehall study (2003)

Batty, G. David, Shipley, Martin J., Marmot, Michael, Smith, George Davey

Background Although numerous studies have shown an association between physical activity and coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality in healthy persons, few have reported on this relation in...

Height in Young Adulthood and Risk of Death from Cardiorespiratory Disease: A Prospective Study of Male Former Students of Glasgow University, Scotland (2002)

McCarron, Peter, Okasha, Mona, McEwen, James, Smith, George Davey

To investigate the association between height in young, socially homogeneous males and cause-specific mortality, the authors conducted a prospective study of 8,361 male former students who underwent...

Dietary fat intake and prevention of cardiovascular disease: systematic review (2001)

Hooper, Lee, Summerbell, Carolyn D., Higgins, Julian P.T., Thompson, Rachel L., Capps, Nigel E., Smith, George Davey, ...

Objective: To assess the effect of reduction or modification of dietary fat intake on total and cardiovascular mortality and cardiovascular morbidity. Design: Systematic review. Data sources:...

Socio-economic position and coronary heart disease risk factors in youth: Findings from the Young Hearts Project in Northern Ireland (2001)

VAN LENTHE, FRANK J., BOREHAM, COLIN A., TWISK, JOS W.R., STRAIN, JOHN J., SAVAGE, J. MAURICE, SMITH, GEORGE DAVEY

Background: This study investigates the existence of socioeconomic differentials in behavioural and biological risk factors for coronary heart disease in young people from Northern Ireland, taking...

Are women more sensitive to smoking than men? Findings from the Renfrew and Paisley study (2001)

Smith, George Davey, Hart, Carole L, Hole, David J

Background Prescott et al. found that the relative risks associated with smoking for respiratory and vascular deaths were higher for women who inhale than for inhaling men, and found no gender...

Social class differences in lung cancer mortality: risk factor explanations using two Scottish cohort studies (2001)

Hart, Carole L, Hole, David J, Gillis, Charles R, Smith, George Davey, Watt, Graham CM, Hawthorne, Victor M

Background The study investigated differences in lung cancer mortality risk between social classes. Methods Twenty years of mortality follow-up were analysed in 7052 men and 8354 women from the...

Intergenerational 20 year trends in the prevalence of asthma and hay fever in adults: the Midspan family study surveys of parents and offspring (2000)

Upton, Mark N., McConnachie, Alex, McSharry, Charles, Hart, Carole L., Smith, George Davey, Gillis, Charles R., ...

OBJECTIVE: To estimate trends between 1972-6 and 1996 in the prevalences of asthma and hay fever in adults. DESIGN: Two epidemiological surveys 20 years apart. Identical questions were asked about...

Childhood Socioeconomic Position and Adult Cardiovascular Mortality: The Boyd Orr Cohort (1999)

Frankel, Stephen, Smith, George Davey, Gunnell, David

The relation between childhood socioeconomic position and adult cardiovascular mortality is examined in 3,750 individuals whose families took part in the Carnegie survey of family diet and health in...

Lowering blood pressure: a systematic review of sustained effects of non-pharmacological interventions (1998)

Ebrahim, Shah, Smith, George Davey

Background Risk factors for raised blood pressure include obesity, physical inactivity, high dietary salt intake, stress, and high alcohol consumption. Much less is known about the effects on blood...

Disease aetiology and materialist explanations of socioeconomic mortality differentials (1997)

BLANE, DAVID, BARTLEY, MEL, SMITH, GEORGE DAVEY

The social structure can affect health by distributing exposure to environmental hazards and by conditioning behaviours which damage or promote health. The present paper concentrates on the former...

Low Levels of Sex Hormone-binding Globulin and Testosterone Predict the Development of Non-Insulin-dependent Diabetes Mellitus in Men (1996)

Haffner, Steven M., Shaten, Jessica, Stem, Michael P., Smith, George Davey, Kuller, Lewis

Few prospective data are available regarding the association of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), testosterone, and the risk of developing diabetes. Stored fasting serum samples from participants...

Explanations for socio-economic differentials in mortality: Evidence from Britain and elsewhere (1994)

SMITH, GEORGE DAVEY, BLANE, DAVID, BARTLEY, MEL

Socio-economic differentials in mortality are examined using the explanatory framework advanced by the Black Report. The evidence reviewed largely relates to studies carried out in Britain, although...

When is mortality risk determined? Historical insights into a current debate (1993)

KUH, DIANA, SMITH, GEORGE DAVEY

SUMMARY With regard to the development of chronic disease and the inprovement in adult life expectancy there is a longstanding debate on the relative importance of factors operating in early life...

Serum Cholesterol Concentration and Primary Malignant Brain Tumors: A Prospective Study (1992)

Smith, George Davey, Neaton, James D., Ben-Shlomo, Yoav, Shipley, Martin, Wentworth, Deborah

Case-control studies and a prospective study have suggested a positive relation between serum cholesterol and brain tumors. To examine this association further, mortality from malignant brain tumors...

Post-Challenge Glucose Concentration, Impaired Glucose Tolerance, Diabetes, and Cancer Mortality in Men (1992)

Smith, George Davey, Egger, Matthias, Shipley, Martin J., Marmot, M. G.

The possibility that diabetes is associated with an elevated risk of cancer mortality has been discussed for many years. Recently, Levine et al. (Am J Epidemiol, 1990; 131: 254–62) approached this...

Socioeconomic Differentials in Cancer among Men (1991)

SMITH, GEORGE DAVEY, LEON, DAVID, SHIPLEY, MARTIN J, ROSE, GEOFFREY

The relationship between cancer and socioeconomic position is examined for men using data from three sources—the Whitehall Study of London civil servants, the OPCS Longitudinal Study and the...

Water Supply, Sanitation and Diarrhoeal Disease in Nicaragua: Results from a Case-Control Study (1991)

GORTER, ANNA C, SANDIFORD, PETER, SMITH, GEORGE DAVEY, PAUW, JOHANNA P

A case-control study of risk factors for child diarrhoeal disease was undertaken in a rural area of Nicaragua. Some 1229 children under the age of five were matched with an equal number of children...

Inheriting heart trouble: the relevance of common-sense ideas to preventive measures (1989)

Davison, Charlie, Frankel, Stephen, Smith, George Davey

This paper is concerned with the cultural norms and common-sense ideas about inherited health and inherited heart trouble that were encountered during field research in an urban neighbourhood of...

Is there an intrauterine influence on obesity evidence from parent child associations in the avon longitudinal study of parents and children alspac (0000)

Smith, George Davey

It has been suggested that increasing obesity levels in young women lead to intrauterine environments that, in turn, stimulate increased obesity among their offspring, generating an intergenerational...

US regional and national cause-specific mortality and trends in income inequality: descriptive findings

John Lynch, George Davey Smith, Jim Dunn, Sam Harper, Nancy Ross, Michael Wolfson

We examined the concordance of income inequality trends with 30-year US regional trends in cause-specific mortality and 100-year trends in heart disease and infant mortality. The evidence suggests...

US regional and national cause-specific mortality and trends in income inequality: descriptive findings

John Lynch, George Davey Smith, Jim Dunn, Sam Harper, Nancy Ross, Michael Wolfson

We examined the concordance of income inequality trends with 30-year US regional trends in cause-specific mortality and 100-year trends in heart disease and infant mortality. The evidence suggests...

Intergenerational 20 year trends in the prevalence of asthma and hay fever in adults: the Midspan family study surveys of parents and offspring

Upton, Mark N., McConnachie, Alex, McSharry, Charles, Hart, Carole L., Smith, George Davey, Gillis, Charles R., ...

OBJECTIVE: To estimate trends between 1972-6 and 1996 in the prevalences of asthma and hay fever in adults. DESIGN: Two epidemiological surveys 20 years apart. Identical questions were asked about...

Adverse socioeconomic conditions in childhood and cause specific adult mortality: prospective observational study

Smith, George Davey, Hart, Carole, Blane, David, Hole, David

Objective: To investigate the association between social circumstances in childhood and mortality from various causes of death in adulthood.

Screening for chlamydial infections and the risk of ectopic pregnancy in a county in Sweden: ecological analysis

Egger, Matthias, Low, Nicola, Smith, George Davey, Lindblom, Bo, Herrmann, Björn

Objectives: To analyse trends in rates of genital chlamydial infection and ectopic pregnancy between 1985 and 1995 in a county in Sweden.

Effects of grandmothers' smoking in pregnancy on birth weight: intergenerational cohort study

Hyppönen, Elina, Smith, George Davey, Power, Chris

Objective To investigate the influences on birth weight of maternal smoking during pregnancy across generations.

Trends in blood pressure over 10 years in adolescents: analyses of cross sectional surveys in the Northern Ireland Young Hearts project

Watkins, David, McCarron, Peter, Murray, Liam, Cran, Gordon, Boreham, Colin, Robson, Paula, ...

Objective To examine secular trends in blood pressure over a 10 year period between two representative cohorts of adolescents from Northern Ireland.

Association between course of study at university and cause-specific mortality

McCarron, Peter, Okasha, Mona, McEwen, James, Smith, George Davey

Although socioeconomic position is clearly related to mortality and one measure of this is length of education, it is not known whether the choice of course at university determines future health. We...

Mutation scanning by meltMADGE: Validations using BRCA1 and LDLR, and demonstration of the potential to identify severe, moderate, silent, rare, and paucimorphic mutations in the general population

Alharbi, Khalid K., Aldahmesh, Mohammed A., Spanakis, Emmanuel, Haddad, Lema, Whittall, Roslyn A., Chen, Xiao-he, ...

We have developed a mutation-scanning approach suitable for whole population screening for unknown mutations. The method, meltMADGE, combines thermal ramp electrophoresis with MADGE to achieve...

Global inequality of life expectancy due to AIDS

Dorling, Danny, Shaw, Mary, Smith, George Davey

Global inequality in both health and wealth began to rise worldwide in the early 1980s and has been exacerbated by AIDS in Africa. This trend is not inevitable, and historical trends show that...

Risks and benefits of omega 3 fats for mortality, cardiovascular disease, and cancer: systematic review

Hooper, Lee, Thompson, Rachel L, Harrison, Roger A, Summerbell, Carolyn D, Ness, Andy R, Moore, Helen J, ...

Objective To review systematically the evidence for an effect of long chain and shorter chain omega 3 fatty acids on total mortality, cardiovascular events, and cancer.

Serum cholesterol, haemorrhagic stroke, ischaemic stroke, and myocardial infarction: Korean national health system prospective cohort study

Ebrahim, Shah, Sung, Joohon, Song, Yun-Mi, Ferrer, Robert L, Lawlor, Debbie A, Smith, George Davey

Objective To investigate risk factors, such as heavy alcohol consumption, that might explain any increased risk of haemorrhagic stroke associated with low blood cholesterol.

Life-Course Socioeconomic and Behavioral Influences on Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: The Collaborative Study

Smith, George Davey, Hart, Carole

Objectives. This study sought to demonstrate life-course influences on cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Smoking and Ill Health: Does Lay Epidemiology Explain the Failure of Smoking Cessation Programs Among Deprived Populations?

Lawlor, Debbie A, Frankel, Stephen, Shaw, Mary, Ebrahim, Shah, Smith, George Davey

The resistance of disadvantaged groups to anti-smoking advice is remarkable. In relation to the study of differing cultures, there is a long-standing academic tradition assuming that behavior that...

Association Between Childhood Socioeconomic Status and Coronary Heart Disease Risk Among Postmenopausal Women: Findings From the British Women's Heart and Health Study

Lawlor, Debbie A., Smith, George Davey, Ebrahim, Shah

Objectives. We assessed the association between childhood socioeconomic status (SES) and coronary heart disease among postmenopausal women.

Indigenous Health and Socioeconomic Status in India

Subramanian, S. V, Smith, George Davey, Subramanyam, Malavika

Indigenous groups in India were found to have excess mortality rates compared with non-indigenous groups. A socioeconomic gradient within indigenous populations was also found.

Adverse socioeconomic conditions in childhood and cause specific adult mortality: prospective observational study

Smith, George Davey, Hart, Carole, Blane, David, Hole, David

Objective: To investigate the association between social circumstances in childhood and mortality from various causes of death in adulthood.

Screening for chlamydial infections and the risk of ectopic pregnancy in a county in Sweden: ecological analysis

Egger, Matthias, Low, Nicola, Smith, George Davey, Lindblom, Bo, Herrmann, Björn

Objectives: To analyse trends in rates of genital chlamydial infection and ectopic pregnancy between 1985 and 1995 in a county in Sweden.

Effects of grandmothers' smoking in pregnancy on birth weight: intergenerational cohort study

Hyppönen, Elina, Smith, George Davey, Power, Chris

Objective To investigate the influences on birth weight of maternal smoking during pregnancy across generations.

Trends in blood pressure over 10 years in adolescents: analyses of cross sectional surveys in the Northern Ireland Young Hearts project

Watkins, David, McCarron, Peter, Murray, Liam, Cran, Gordon, Boreham, Colin, Robson, Paula, ...

Objective To examine secular trends in blood pressure over a 10 year period between two representative cohorts of adolescents from Northern Ireland.

Association between course of study at university and cause-specific mortality

McCarron, Peter, Okasha, Mona, McEwen, James, Smith, George Davey

Although socioeconomic position is clearly related to mortality and one measure of this is length of education, it is not known whether the choice of course at university determines future health. We...

Mutation scanning by meltMADGE: Validations using BRCA1 and LDLR, and demonstration of the potential to identify severe, moderate, silent, rare, and paucimorphic mutations in the general population

Alharbi, Khalid K., Aldahmesh, Mohammed A., Spanakis, Emmanuel, Haddad, Lema, Whittall, Roslyn A., Chen, Xiao-he, ...

We have developed a mutation-scanning approach suitable for whole population screening for unknown mutations. The method, meltMADGE, combines thermal ramp electrophoresis with MADGE to achieve...

Global inequality of life expectancy due to AIDS

Dorling, Danny, Shaw, Mary, Smith, George Davey

Global inequality in both health and wealth began to rise worldwide in the early 1980s and has been exacerbated by AIDS in Africa. This trend is not inevitable, and historical trends show that...

Risks and benefits of omega 3 fats for mortality, cardiovascular disease, and cancer: systematic review

Hooper, Lee, Thompson, Rachel L, Harrison, Roger A, Summerbell, Carolyn D, Ness, Andy R, Moore, Helen J, ...

Objective To review systematically the evidence for an effect of long chain and shorter chain omega 3 fatty acids on total mortality, cardiovascular events, and cancer.

Life-Course Socioeconomic and Behavioral Influences on Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: The Collaborative Study

Smith, George Davey, Hart, Carole

Objectives. This study sought to demonstrate life-course influences on cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Smoking and Ill Health: Does Lay Epidemiology Explain the Failure of Smoking Cessation Programs Among Deprived Populations?

Lawlor, Debbie A, Frankel, Stephen, Shaw, Mary, Ebrahim, Shah, Smith, George Davey

The resistance of disadvantaged groups to anti-smoking advice is remarkable. In relation to the study of differing cultures, there is a long-standing academic tradition assuming that behavior that...

Association Between Childhood Socioeconomic Status and Coronary Heart Disease Risk Among Postmenopausal Women: Findings From the British Women's Heart and Health Study

Lawlor, Debbie A., Smith, George Davey, Ebrahim, Shah

Objectives. We assessed the association between childhood socioeconomic status (SES) and coronary heart disease among postmenopausal women.

Serum cholesterol, haemorrhagic stroke, ischaemic stroke, and myocardial infarction: Korean national health system prospective cohort study

Ebrahim, Shah, Sung, Joohon, Song, Yun-Mi, Ferrer, Robert L, Lawlor, Debbie A, Smith, George Davey

Objective To investigate risk factors, such as heavy alcohol consumption, that might explain any increased risk of haemorrhagic stroke associated with low blood cholesterol.

Indigenous Health and Socioeconomic Status in India

Subramanian, S. V, Smith, George Davey, Subramanyam, Malavika

Indigenous groups in India were found to have excess mortality rates compared with non-indigenous groups. A socioeconomic gradient within indigenous populations was also found.

Intergenerational 20 year trends in the prevalence of asthma and hay fever in adults: the Midspan family study surveys of parents and offspring

Upton, Mark N., McConnachie, Alex, McSharry, Charles, Hart, Carole L., Smith, George Davey, Gillis, Charles R., ...

OBJECTIVE: To estimate trends between 1972-6 and 1996 in the prevalences of asthma and hay fever in adults. DESIGN: Two epidemiological surveys 20 years apart. Identical questions were asked about...

Objectively Measured Physical Activity and Fat Mass in a Large Cohort of Children

Ness, Andy R, Leary, Sam D, Mattocks, Calum, Blair, Steven N, Reilly, John J, Wells, Jonathan, ...

A study with 5,500 12-year-olds shows an inverse association between physical activity and obesity, which is stronger in boys, and suggests that high-intensity activity is more important than total...

Access to health care resources in the UK: the case of care for arthritis

Carol Propper, Jenny Eachus, Philip Chan, Nicky Pearson, George Davey Smith

The paper uses new and detailed data from a population sample of individuals with arthritis to examine the impact of objective measures of need for treatment and individual measures of socio-economic...

Independent Associations of Fasting Insulin, Glucose, and Glycated Haemoglobin with Stroke and Coronary Heart Disease in Older Women

Lawlor, Debbie A, Fraser, Abigail, Ebrahim, Shah, Smith, George Davey

From a prospective study of women aged 60-79 years, Debbie Lawlor and colleagues conclude that insulin resistance is an important risk factor for coronary heart disease and stroke.

Clustered Environments and Randomized Genes: A Fundamental Distinction between Conventional and Genetic Epidemiology

Smith, George Davey, Lawlor, Debbie A, Harbord, Roger, Timpson, Nic, Day, Ian, Ebrahim, Shah

In a cross-sectional study Davey Smith and colleagues show why observational studies can produce misleading claims regarding potential causal factors for disease, and illustrate the use of mendelian...

Exploring the Developmental Overnutrition Hypothesis Using Parental–Offspring Associations and FTO as an Instrumental Variable

Lawlor, Debbie A, Timpson, Nicholas J, Harbord, Roger M, Leary, Sam, Ness, Andy, McCarthy, Mark I, ...

Using parental-offspring associations and theFTO gene as an instrumental variable for maternal adiposity, Debbie Lawlor and colleagues found that greater maternal BMI during offspring development...

Is there an intrauterine influence on obesity evidence from parent child associations in the avon longitudinal study of parents and children alspac

Smith, George Davey

It has been suggested that increasing obesity levels in young women lead to intrauterine environments that, in turn, stimulate increased obesity among their offspring, generating an intergenerational...

Variations in the G6PC2/ABCB11 genomic region are associated with fasting glucose levels

Chen, Wei-Min, Erdos, Michael R., Jackson, Anne U., Saxena, Richa, Sanna, Serena, Silver, Kristi D., ...

Identifying the genetic variants that regulate fasting glucose concentrations may further our understanding of the pathogenesis of diabetes. We therefore investigated the association of fasting...

Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, and Diabetes—Mendelian Randomization Using CRP Haplotypes Points Upstream

Brunner, Eric J, Kivimäki, Mika, Witte, Daniel R, Lawlor, Debbie A, Smith, George Davey, Cooper, Jackie A, ...

Using a Mendelian randomization approach, Eric Brunner and colleagues show that the associations between serum C-reactive protein and insulin resistance, glycemia, and diabetes are likely to be...

Schizophrenia and Neural Tube Defects: Comparisons From an Epidemiological Perspective

Zammit, Stanley, Lewis, Sarah, Gunnell, David, Smith, George Davey

In this review, we examine and compare epidemiological studies of schizophrenia and neural tube defects (NTDs). Although there is no apparent link between these 2 disparate disorders in terms of...

Socioeconomic Position, Co-Occurrence of Behavior-Related Risk Factors, and Coronary Heart Disease: the Finnish Public Sector Study

Kivimäki, Mika, Lawlor, Debbie A., Smith, George Davey, Kouvonen, Anne, Virtanen, Marianna, Elovainio, Marko, ...

Objectives. We examined the associations between socioeconomic position, co-occurrence of behavior-related risk factors, and the effect of these factors on the relative and absolute socioeconomic...

Poverty, child undernutrition and morbidity: new evidence from India.

Nandy, Shailen, Irving, Michelle, Gordon, David, Subramanian, S. V., Smith, George Davey

Undernutrition continues to be a primary cause of ill-health and premature mortality among children in developing countries. This paper examines how the prevalence of undernutrition in children is...

Common variants in the region around Osterix are associated with bone mineral density and growth in childhood

Timpson, Nicholas J., Tobias, Jon H., Richards, J. Brent, Soranzo, Nicole, Duncan, Emma L., Sims, Anne-Marie, ...

Peak bone mass achieved in adolescence is a determinant of bone mass in later life. In order to identify genetic variants affecting bone mineral density (BMD), we performed a genome-wide association...

A common genetic variant in the 15q24 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor gene cluster (CHRNA5–CHRNA3–CHRNB4) is associated with a reduced ability of women to quit smoking in pregnancy

Freathy, Rachel M., Ring, Susan M., Shields, Beverley, Galobardes, Bruna, Knight, Beatrice, Weedon, Michael N., ...

Maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with low birth weight and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Women are more likely to quit smoking during pregnancy than at any other time in their lives, but...

Height, wealth, and health: An overview with new data from three longitudinal studies

Batty, G. David, Shipley, Martin J., Gunnell, David, Huxley, Rachel, Kivimaki, Mika, Woodward, Mark, ...

This overview, based on a literature review and new data from the three cohorts (Whitehall Studies I and II, and the Vietnam Experience Study), has four objectives: (a) to outline the major...

A non-synonymous variant in ADH1B is strongly associated with prenatal alcohol use in a European sample of pregnant women

Zuccolo, Luisa, Fitz-Simon, Nicola, Gray, Ron, Ring, Susan M., Sayal, Kapil, Smith, George Davey, ...

Pregnant women are advised to abstain from alcohol despite insufficient evidence on the fetal consequences of moderate prenatal alcohol use. Mendelian randomization could help distinguish causal...