Health-related variables

It is important to minimize or control for the impact of confounding variables in any study. In order to do so, it is imperative that all possible variables that may have an effect on the primary outcome be identified. These usually include demographic variables such as age, sex, income level, education level, and ethnicity. Health-related variables such as comorbidities and severity of illness should also be recorded. Variables also may be identified that cannot be measured. These may include outside education, changes in family structure or support system, and drastic changes in health status not related to the pertinent disease state. 

Additionally, other health-related variables include age, sex, physical condition, and size (mass). This relationship is referred to as dose/response, or in other words, the amount of the exposure and the resulting biological effect. Each plant or animal species has its own individual response to a given chemical. A substance administered at a dose large enough to be lethal to rabbits may have a lesser effect on rats or dogs. 

Kopel, David. Anti-Gun, Anti-Science The Real Enemy Is Shoddy Research. National Review Online. Available online. URL http //www. nationalreview.eom/kopel/kopel022701.shtml. Posted on February 27, 2001. Kopel, a criminologist and research director for the Independence Institute, imagines what it would be like if diseases were treated as crimes. The results would be as absurd and the research as shoddy as in the real world where some advocates want to treat gun violence as a health rather than criminal issue. An example of such junk science are studies that show higher risks of murder for people who have guns do not show causation and do not control for numerous related variables. 

When identifying economic, clinical, and humanistic variables to be measured, it is important to integrate elements from all components of health care. In our example, Cynthia is trying to manage her patients heart failure medications. Because she is a pharmacist, she may identify only medication-related variables to... 

Cross-sectional study Examines the relationship between diseases (or other health-related characteristics) and other variables of interest as they exist in defined populations at one particular time. The relationship between a variable and disease can be evaluated in terms of the prevalence of disease in different populations, or of the variable in terms of presence or absence of the variables in the diseased and non-diseased populations (Last, 2001). 

There is currently no legal basis for health-related information on foods. Another EU project began as an offshoot of the FUFOSE project with the object of establishing a basis for permitting health claims PASSCLAIM (process for assessment and scientific substantiation of health claims). This project was finalised in 2005. The basis for permitting health claims is solid scientific evidence that a functional food enhances function or reduces disease risk . For this purpose, biomarkers should be defined for the above-mentioned target functions that can be used as scientifically substantiated, measurable variables [15]. 

Wilson, I.B. Cleary, P.D. Linking clinical variables with health-related quality of life. A conceptual model of patient outcomes. JAMA, J. Am. Med. Assoc. 1995, 273, 59-65. 

Pablo R, Ortega F, Baltar JM, et al. Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of kidney transplanted patients Variables that influence it. ain Transplant 2000 14 199-207. 

A number of dietary and nondietary variables have been proposed as risk factors for osteoporosis. Among dietary factors, the relation between caffeine intake and bone health has been studied extensively. Although proof that caffeine adversely affects calcium metabolism and is detrimen-... 

Accordingly, the total petroleum hydrocarbons at a gasoline spill site will be comprised of mostly Cs to Cu compounds, while total petroleum hydrocarbons at an older site where the fuel has weathered will likely measure mostly Cg to Cn compounds. Because of this inherent variability in the method and the analyte, it is currently not possible to directly relate potential enviromnental or health risks with concentrations of total petroleum hydrocarbons. The relative mobility or toxicity of contaminants represented by total petroleum hydrocarbons analyses at one site may be completely different from that of another site (e.g., Ce to Cn compared to Cio to C25). There is no easy way to determine if total petroleum hydrocarbons from the former site will represent the same level of risk as an equal measure of the total petroleum hydrocarbons from the latter. For these reasons it is clear that the total petroleum hydrocarbons value offers limited benefits as an indicator measure for cleanup criteria. Its current widespread use as a soil cleanup criterion is a function of a lack of understanding of its proper application and... 

These studies, although few, suggest that exposure to photochemical oxidants can influence fertility and fecundity in animals and that the genera] health of newborn animals is much more likely to be impaired by exposure to oxidants than that of their parents. Whether the changes observed in reproduction variables can be related to mutagenic actions of ozone, discussed earlier, remains to be determined. In any event, it seems logical that effects of low concentrations of ozone and other photochemical oxidants on reproduction must be indirect and may be mediated by endocrine or ozone-biologic reaction products. 

Ca salts differ from one another in terms of the anions and molecules that they are associated with. CCM s characteristic aqueous solubility is directly related to the citrate and malate anions. The in vitro solubility of any Ca salf is essenfially constant under standard conditions (e.g., at neutral pH in water). Once a Ca source is consumed, it encoimters a host of variable environmental factors, such as pH changes, interactions with other food components, and the hormonal milieu, that alter its solubility and/or potential for absorption. It is the net impact of these internal factors, together with the combination of introduced variables, such as the food matrix in which Ca is incorporated and the timing of Ca intake, that contribute to determining just how beneficial to health a Ca source will be. 

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