BACKGROUND Evidence on the interrelations between cigarette smoking and a cluster of lifestyle behaviors is scarce for the Chinese youth population. This study is conducted to identify the associations between cigarette smoking and multiple health-related behaviors in a Chinese sample of adolescents. METHODS We used data from 2012 Zhejiang Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which is a school-based s...

BACKGROUND Prehypertension frequently progresses into hypertension and is related to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. We studied the prevalence of prehypertension and their determinants by gender and age. METHODS The study used nationally representative data from 11,754 participants aged 20-91 years collected between 2010-2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey...

OBJECTIVE To examine associations between insufficient sleep (<8h on average school nights) and health-risk behaviors. METHODS 2007 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey data of U.S. high school students (n=12,154) were analyzed. Associations were examined on weighted data using multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS Insufficient sleep on an average school night was reported by 68.9% of st...

Residual renal function (RRF) in end-stage renal disease is clinically important as it contributes to adequacy of dialysis, quality of life, and mortality. This study was conducted to determine the predictors of RRF loss in a national random sample of patients initiating hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. The study controlled for baseline variables and included major predictors. The end poin...

Background Nearly every nation in the world faces shortages of health workers in remote areas. Cameroon is no exception to this. The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) is currently considering several rural retention strategies to motivate qualified health personnel to practice in remote rural areas.   Methods To better calibrate these mechanisms and to develop evidence-based retention strategies...

OBJECTIVES To estimate the national rate of early-term live births in Brazil and to evaluate the effect of birth at 37 and 38 weeks' gestation, as compared with 39 and 40 weeks' gestation on infant outcomes according to precursors of birth and the existence of maternal/fetal medical conditions. DESIGN National perinatal population-based cohort study. SETTING 266 maternity services located i...

BACKGROUND Childhood rotavirus diarrhea is still one of the major public health challenges. The present study aimed to determine changing characteristics of rotavirus diarrhea in under-5 children at two periods of time. METHODS We enrolled 5,357 under-5 children with rotavirus positive in two different time periods; i) 1993-1997 (n = 2,493), and ii) 2008-2012 (n = 2,864) considering beginning...