Donald E. Lamphiear

Grip and Arm Strength in Males and Females, Age 10 to 69

More than 6,000 males and females, age 10 to 69 in a total community, Tecumseh, Michigan, were given grip and arm strength tests. Eighty-two percent of the entire community were in the age range studied and participated in the study. Of this 82%, almost all persons without medical contraindications took the strength tests. Percentile scores for both sexes within narrow age ranges are presented. In most populations in which strength has been measured over a wide age range, the participants were volunteers; hence, it is not possible to define the population. Because of the high participation rate, the Tecumseh sample includes those who ordinarily would volunteer for strength tests, but, also those who generally would not. Therefore, the percentile scores presented probably more nearly represent arm and grip strength in healthy males and females than other data which has been published.

Prevalence of radiologically defined osteoarthritis in the finger and wrist joints of adult residents of Tecumseh, Michigan, 1962-65

Radiographs of the fingers and wrists of adult participants in the Tecumseh Community Health Study in 1962-65 were examined for signs of osteoarthritis (OA). The severity of OA for each of 32 joints of the fingers and wrists was recorded for each individual. Attention was restricted to the 3035 participants who were 32 years of age or older and for whom a diagnosis of OA was available for each of 32 joints. Joint-specific prevalence rates of OA increased sharply with age for both sexes, and at the older ages, the prevalence rates for most joints were higher for females. Older individuals with OA also had a greater number of affected joints, with females having a greater number of affected joints than males. Of those individuals aged 44 years or younger, only 6.2% had one or more joints affected with OA. The percentages were 21.6 and 42.0% for those aged 45-59 years and 60 or more years, respectively. The distal interphalangeal (DIP) joints were the most frequently affected joints in all age categories for both sexes and OA in the proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints was positively associated with OA in the DIP joints. However, controlling for the number of affected DIP joints, the PIP joints of older subjects were more likely to exhibit OA than the PIP joints of younger subjects. Though there is an association between OA in the DIP and PIP joints, there was only a small, nonsignificant association (OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 0.83, 1.84) between disease in the DIP and PIP joints of the same finger.

Characteristics of individuals and long term reproducibility of dietary reports: The Tecumseh diet methodology study

Food frequency reports in 1967-1969 were compared to frequency reports of the same foods asked retrospectively in 1982-1983 and 1967-1969 for 1184 respondents aged 45-64 years in the Tecumseh Community Health Study. The kappa statistic for concordance of the retrospective and baseline reports was used as a summary measure of the individuals ability to reproduce his or her earlier diet report. Reproducibility was estimated for total diet, represented by 83 foods, and for 9 subsets of foods of epidemiologic interest. In bivariate and multivariate analyses, reproducibility was strongly related to stability of diet; those whose diets changed least over the 15-year period had greatest diet reproducibility. Greater total diet reproducibility was also found among men with higher education, among women of less than 110% desirable weight reporting no special diet and among women reporting no medications. Consistent with current models of memory, the retrospective report of diet was strongly related to the current report of diet. Agreement between the retrospective and baseline diet reports was greater than agreement between the current and baseline diet reports. This indicates that, as a proxy for past diet, the retrospective report of diet is superior to the current report. Similar relationships were found for the 9 subset of foods.

Comparison of surrogate and subject reports of dietary practices, smoking habits and weight among married couples in the tecumseh diet methodology study

Agreement between surrogate and subject reports of current food frequencies and other eating habits, smoking behavior and weight was assessed in 1982-1983 for 180 husbands and wives, aged 45 through 64 years. Agreement was measured by per cent exact agreement and weighted kappa for frequencies of 30 itemized foods or food groups, and for surrogate- and subject-based quintiles of frequencies of eight broad food groups and of vitamin A and C consumption indexes. Surrogate and subject mean frequencies were generally similar, but at the individual level of analysis, agreement varied widely. Agreement was greatest, among the food items and groups, for alcoholic beverages, and among the other items, for smoking status. Extreme misclassification by quintile was very small, but only 40% of persons self-classified in either extreme quintile were similarly classified by their spouses. This level of misclassification may result in the dilution of real relationships between diet and health.

RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY AND URBAN-RURAL RESIDENCE WITHIN LIFE STAGES RELATED TO HEALTH RISK AND CHRONIC DISEASE IN TECUMSEH. MICHIGAN

Residential history, diagnosis of three chronic diseases, five clinical measurements and histories of smoking and drinking were obtained from a sample of 615 women and 529 men, aged 35-69, randomly selected from respondents of the Tecumseh Community Health Study. Two measures of residential mobility and one of urban-rural residence, during early life stages and over the entire lifetime, were related to subsequent adult health traits. Greater residential mobility, particularly in childhood but also in later life, was significantly associated with greater prevalence of hypertension and higher mean diastolic blood pressure in older persons. Greater duration of urban residence was associated with greater prevalence of chronic bronchitis. Both residential traits were associated with greater prevalence of CHD, and with behavior patterns, namely cigarette smoking and drinking, that are risk factors for certain chronic diseases.

EARLY LIFE SOCIAL INCONGRUITIES, HEALTH RISK FACTORS AND CHRONIC DISEASE*

Abstract This study tested specific hypotheses concerned with the relationships between three early life stress variables occurring between 0 and 16 yr of age and a variety of adult health status measures ascertained some 20–60 yr later in a 40% sample of the Tecumseh Community Health Study population 35–69 yr of age. The hypotheses stated that each of the following characteristics, relatively greater residential geographic mobility during childhood, being deprived of one or both natural parents for one or more years during this early formative period, and experiencing parental status incongruence, would be associated with higher levels of nine risk factors, greater prevalence of five chronic diseases, and a greater rate of mortality. The risk factors were systolic and diastolic blood pressure, blood glucose level, serum cholesterol, serum uric acid, the F.E.V. 1.0 measure of lung function; adiposity, number of cigarettes smoked currently, and amount of alcohol consumed currently. The chronic conditions were CHD, hypertension, diabetes, chronic bronchitis and asthma. Also measured were the aggregation of these chronic conditions and whether or not the respondents ever smoked cigarettes or drank alcohol. Five mobility measures and an index were developed. As predicted, in general, significant relationships were found among women between the five separate mobility variables and the health measures. Specifically, all five separate measures of mobility were related to CHD among older women, and most were related to cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption among all women. Various of the five mobility measures were related to various other specific health measures. In general, mobility was not related to the health measures studied among men. The hypotheses concerning parental deprivation and parental status incongruency were not substantiated by the data.

Correspondence Between Perceptions of Change in Diet and 15‐year change in diet reports in the Tecumseh diet methodology study

As part of an effort to assess the most reliable method of obtaining information about long-term dietary intake, a study was conducted of the correspondence between perception of change in diet and measured change in reported diet from 1967 to 1982. Respondents were 1,201 men and women participants in the Tecumseh Food Frequency Study of 1967-1969 who were 45-64 years of age in 1982-1983, the time of the Diet Methodology Study. Perceptions of change were obtained by asking respondents directly if they thought they currently ate each of 12 food groups more often, less often, or as often as they did during the year of their earlier interview. Measured change was obtained by subtracting each respondents baseline frequency for each of the 12 food groups from his or her current frequency. For 10 of the 12 food groups, correspondence was found between perception of change and measured change; fats and oils added at the table and meat were the exceptions. Significant linear relationships were found between perceptions and measured change for all food groups except fats and oils. However, greatly varying coefficients were associated with terms such as more often or as often as before, thereby limiting the potential utility of combining perceptions of change with current frequencies to obtain a reliable measure of baseline frequencies.

Altered Carbohydrate and Lipid Metabolism and Coronary Heart Disease among Men in Tecumseh, Michigan*

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the altered carbohydrate and lipid metabolism and coronary heart disease among men in Tecumseh, Michigan. In a study described in the chapter, a random sample of 282 men 30–69 years of age, who were stratified according to a decade of age, was selected for comprehensive biochemical studies. Men were not included if they were receiving insulin, oral hypoglycemic drugs, or other medications that alter glucose tolerance. The men with angina or infarction were leaner and had lower mean glucose and insulin values than the controls. They also had a lower proportion of abnormal insulin curves. Men with myocardial infarction had higher mean cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations than controls or men with angina. In the 50–59-year age group, there were 54 controls, 10 men with myocardial infarction, and five with angina pectoris. Men with angina were slightly fatter and had much higher mean insulin concentrations than men with infarctions or controls. Men with myocardial infarction differed from the other two groups because of a much higher mean blood glucose and a very high proportion of abnormal insulin curves.