Physician’s Health Study

The investigators identified 396 patients with newly diagnosed cases of acute MI among men in the Physician s Health Study. The patients were matched with one or two controls. The researchers determined the ADH3 genotype (7171, 7172, or 7272) in all subjects. 

Frieling, U.M. et al., A randomized, 12-year primary-prevention trial of beta carotene supplementation for nonmelanoma skin cancer in the physician s health study, Arch. Dermatol., 136, 179, 2000. 

Acronyms and abbreviations PHSl, Physician s Health Study I CHAOS, Cambridge Heart Antioxidant Study ATBC, Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Stirdy NHS, Nurses Healtli Study CVD, cardiovascular disease ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis NMD A, A-methyl-D-aspartate glutamate receptors. 

It has also been the case that clinical trials have not been particularly representative as regards the patients studied. For example, it has been claimed that women have often been under-represented for various reasons, not least because fear of damaging the unborn has led sponsors to exclude many women of child-bearing age from their trials. A particular trial in which this certainly was the case was the Physician s Health Study (Hennekens and Eberlein, 1985) in which 22 071 male US physicians were the subjects in a factorial study designed to look at the possible prophylactic effects of aspirin... 

Fig. 3. Hazard ratios of aspirin versus placebo for all cardiovascular (CV) events, all coronary (CHD) events, and all strokes in diabetic patients included in four randomized trials. ETDRS Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study PHS Physicians Health Study HOT Hypertension Optimal Treatment Study WHS Women s Health Study. References are indicated by numbers accompanying the acronyms.

Prospective cohort studies were not able to relate vitamin C with lens opacities. In the Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging, plasma ascorbic acid was not inversely associated with risk, but vitamin E was (Vitale et al., 1993). In the Women s Health Study and the Physicians Health Study of Harvard University, Boston, vitamin C intake did not show a meaningful relationship to risk (Hankinson et al., 1992 Seddon et al., 1994). A modest reduction in risk was found with multivitamin use in men. Also the Italian-American Cataract Study Group (1991) did not find a significant reduction in risk for any nutrient studied, including vitamin C. 

ATBC, Alpha Tocopherol Beta Carotene Prevention Study CARET, Beta Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial LCPS, Linxian Cancer Prevention Study PHS, Physicians Health Study PPP, Primary Prevention Project SCPS, Skin Cancer Prevention Study VACP, Vitamin A and Cancer Prevention WHS, Women s Health Study CHD, Coronary Heart Disease CVD, Cardiovascular disease. 

Iridologv, the study of the colored part of the eye, known as the iris, to diagnose health problems. had its first medical reference in a German physician s 1670 book Chiromatica Medica. 

Liu S, Lee IM, Ajani U, Cole SR, Buring JE, and Manson JE. Intake of vegetables rich in carotenoids and risk of coronary heart disease in men The Physicians Health Study. Int J Epidemiol. 2001 30 130-135. 

Albert, C.M., Gaziano, J.M., Willett, W.C., and Manson, J.E., Nut consumption and decreased risk of sudden cardiac death in the Physicians Health Study, Arch. Intern. Med., 162, 1382-1387, 2002. Mantzoros, C.S., Williams, C.J., Manson, J.E., Meigs, J.B., and Hu, F.B., Adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern is positively associated with plasma adiponectin concentrations in diabetic women. Am. J. Clin. Nutr., 84, 328-335, 2006. 

Understanding the Consumer s View. In 1997, the National Patient Safety Foundation commissioned a survey of how the public perceives risk when interacting with the health care system. Of those who responded, 42 percent reported that either they or someone they knew had experienced an injury when visiting a physician s office (Louis Harris and Associates, 1997). Studies by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Commonwealth Fund support these results. A 2002 Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that one-third of U.S. physicians reported that they or a family member had been harmed by medical error (Blendon and others, 2002). The Commonwealth Fund found that one in ten consumers reported... 

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