Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2018-07-04"
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- Human biomonitoring studies contribution for better public health decisionsPublication . Louro, Henriqueta; Vasconcelos, Ana Luisa; Penque, Deborah; Silva, Maria JoãoThe use of chemicals in a wide spectrum of applications from biomedicine to agriculture has brought undeniable benefits to society. However, it is also important to assess, control and minimize potential costs, in terms of long-term impacts on human health and the environment quality. In order to enable chemicals risk assessment and management based on scientific evidence, it is crucial to know the real exposure of citizens to chemicals as well as their adverse effects on human health. In addition, within the framework of chemicals risk assessment, hazard characterization through in vitro and in vivo studies is also central. In this context, the team has developed biomonitoring and molecular epidemiology studies aimed at exploring interactions between occupational or environmental stressors and the human genome/proteome, as determinants of human diseases. Among these, the characterization of biological effects from occupational exposure to second-hand smoke and the effects of uranium mines and its residues on the population health will be presented to highlight their relevance for public health and environment policies. The results of an ongoing study focused on the genotoxicity of the chemical Di-(iso-nonyl)-cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate (DINCH), which has been applied as a non-aromatic plasticizer to replace other hazardous phthalate plasticizers will illustrate the additional need of toxicological studies for a comprehensive assessment of the potential adverse effects of chemicals on human health. Finally, the objectives of the European Biomonitoring Initiative - HBM4EU (https://www.hbm4eu.eu/) aimed at filling the knowledge gaps and promoting innovative approaches in the area of human exposure to chemicals will be presented, as an example of a multidisciplinary and integrative programme that is expected to support the formulation of better environment and health policies to protect human health.
- The social patterning of measurement errors in self-reports: Impact on socioeconomic inequalities estimatesPublication . Kislaya, Irina; Perelman, Julian; Tolonen, Hanna; Nunes, BaltazarReduction of unfair differences in health between socioeconomic groups and countries constitutes an important public health challenge in the 21st century. To monitor progress on this goal, health inequalities are most frequently estimated based on self-reported data from population surveys. However, it has been shown that self-reported data on cardiovascular disease risk factors is prompt to reporting error. If errors occur more often in specific socioeconomic groups (due to under-diagnosis or lower literacy) they are likely to seriously bias health inequality estimates. This study aims at comparing measurement errors between socioeconomic categories in self-reported hypertension, and their consequences on health inequality estimates. We used data from the Portuguese National Health Examination Survey (INSEF), a cross-sectional nationwide study conducted in 2015 on a probabilistic sample (n = 4911) of community-dwelling individuals aged between 25 and 74-years-old. Inequalities in hypertension between the highest and lowest socioeconomic status groups were measured using relative indexes of inequality (RII) and respective confidence intervals (95% CI), estimated by Poisson regression. Estimates of inequalities were stratified by age and sex, using four population groups (male 25–49-years-old, female 25–49-years-old, male 50–75-years-old, female 50–75-years-old). Age- and sex-specific results showed considerable discrepancies in inequality indicators between self-reported and examination-based data. Namely, differences in estimated gradients were more pronounced among 25–49-years-old males, with RII = 0.67 (95% CI: 0.29 to 1.54) for self-reported and RII = 1.90 (95% CI: 1.22 to 2.96) for examination-based hypertension. In 25–49-years-old females inequalities in self-reported hypertension were not statistically significant (RII = 3.18; 95% CI: 0.94 to 10.73), while females with the lowest education were 4.35 (95% CI: 2.60 to 7.27) times more likely to have examination-based hypertension then compared to the most educated. Our results illustrated the significant effect of measurement error in self-reported hypertension on estimates of socioeconomic inequalities. Use of self-reported data led to underestimation of educational inequalities among young and middle-aged individuals. Inequality indicators derived from self-report should be interpreted with caution
- Improving breakfast patterns of portuguese children - an evaluation of ready-to-eat cereals according to the European nutrient profile modelPublication . Rito, Ana; Dinis, Ana; Rascôa, Carla; Martins, Inês; Santos, Mariana; Lima, João; Mendes, Sofia; Padrão, Joana; Seint Novais, CamilaBackground/objectives: Ready-to-eat cereal (RTEC) breakfasts have been increasing in Portugal, among children. Eat Mediterranean (EM), a Portuguese comprehensive community-based intervention, proposed to improve breakfast patterns of children and adolescents and to evaluate the healthiness of RTEC according to WHO/Europe nutrient profile model (Euro- NP). Subjects/methods: EM Program was developed during two scholar years (15/16 and 16/17) toward 2333 students (pre to secondary education). Data on breakfast was provided using a family record form. The intervention consisted of 257 educational sessions addressing the principles of Mediterranean Diet, and promoting a “healthy breakfast at home”. To check for compliance with Euro-NP, RTEC package food labels’ nutritional composition was used. Results: After intervention 92.9% of children/adolescents had breakfast daily with no report of breakfast skippers. RTECs were one of the most frequent (66.5%) breakfasts. Statistically significant improvements were showed for: daily qualitative and complete breakfast frequency (5.6%) and fruit (11.2%). Consumption of RTEC decreased 28%. According to Euro-NP, 84.6% of the RTECs were non-compliant, regarding sugar content. Children’s RTECs presented 5% more of energy and 26% more sugar than the “non-children’s” RTECs. Conclusion: EM strategy showed to be a successful program to improve patterns and quality of breakfast of the children and adolescents, reinforcing the importance of school-based nutritional programs in changing lifestyles. Nutrient profiling can be a useful tool to provide a selection of foods to be part of a healthy diet and can be used by policymakers to design policies to identify the foods to which marketing restrictions to children, will apply.