BACKGROUND: Studies have suggested that traffic noise is associated with markers of obesity. We investigated the association of exposure to road traffic noise with body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference in the Danish Nurse Cohort.

METHODS: We used data on 15,501 female nurses (aged >44 years) from the nationwide Danish Nurse Cohort who, in 1999, reported information on self-measured height, weight, and waist circumference, together with information on socioeconomic status, lifestyle, work and health. Road traffic noise at the most exposed façade of the residence was estimated using Nord2000 as the annual mean of a weighted 24-h average (L
den). We used multiple linear regression models to examine associations of road traffic noise levels in 1999 (1-year mean) with BMI and waist circumference, adjusting for potential confounders, and evaluated effect modification by degree of urbanization, air pollution levels, night shift work, job strain, sedative use, sleep aid use, and family history of obesity.

RESULTS: We did not observe associations between road traffic noise (per 10 dB increase in the 1-year mean L
den) and BMI (kg/m
2) (β: 0.00; 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.07, 0.07) or waist circumference (cm) (β: -0.09; 95% CI: -0.31, 0.31) in the fully adjusted model. We found significant effect modification of job strain and degree of urbanization on the associations between L
den and both BMI and waist circumference. Job strained nurses were associated with a 0.41 BMI-point increase, (95% CI: 0.06, 0.76) and a 1.00 cm increase in waist circumference (95% CI: 0.00, 2.00). Nurses living in urban areas had a statistically significant positive association of L
den with BMI (β: 0.26; 95% CI: 0.11, 0.42), whilst no association was found for nurses living in suburban and rural areas.

CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that road traffic noise exposure in nurses with particular susceptibilities, such as those with job strain, or living in urban areas, may lead to increased BMI, a marker of adiposity.

Background: Reduction in gadolinium (Gd) contrast agents is wanted due to the uncertainty of the potential side effects. Purpose: To investigate whether it is possible to reduce the contrast dose from conventional double dose to single dose when increasing the field strength from 1.5-T to 3-T for separating early cartilage degeneration from healthy cartilage, assessed by delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of cartilage (dGEMRIC). Material and Methods: Nine patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA), Kellgren–Lawrence grade (KLG) 1–4, were recruited from an ongoing weight loss cohort study. dGEMRIC was performed at 3-T using single (0.1 mmoI/kg) and double (0.2 mmoI/kg) doses of intravenous (i.v.) Gd-DTPA
^2-. Regions of interest (ROls) were drawn around the posterior weight-bearing femoral knee cartilage in lateral and medial compartments. In five medial compartments ROIs could not be drawn due to severe degeneration of cartilage. T1-relaxation times were compared to previously published values from 1.5-T and to non-contrast values from 3-T. Results: Mean dGEMRIC T1-relaxation time in the lateral compartment was 769 ms for single dose vs. 561 ms for double dose (P < 0.0001); and 685 ms for single dose vs. 454 ms for double dose (P = 0.004) in the medial compartment. Conclusion: We found a dose-response relationship between single and double doses of Gd-DTPA
^2- using 3-T in knee OA patients, similar to the findings at 1.5-T. Compared to the T1-relaxation time at 3-T without contrast (1240 ms), this further separation between OA and normal cartilage indicates that “single dose” dGEMRIC could be sufficient for cartilage health assessment at 3-T.

GOALS: It is unclear whether social inequality exists for mortality after stroke. Results of studies on the relation between socioeconomic position (SEP) and mortality after stroke have been inconsistent and inconclusive.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We studied the association between SEP expressed by income and the risk of death after stroke by merging data on incident stroke from Danish registries with nationwide coverage. We identified all incident cases of stroke hospitalized in Denmark 2003-2012 (n = 60503). Patients were followed up to 9years after stroke (median 2.6 years). Adjusting for age and sex we studied all-cause death and cause-specific death by stroke, cardiac disease, cancer, and other diseases certified by death records and stratified by income.

RESULTS: Of the patients 20,953 (34.6%) had died within follow-up: Death by stroke 8018 (13.2%); cardiac disease 4250 (7.0%); cancer 3060 (5.0%); other diseases 5625 (9.2%). Long-term mortality rates were inversely related to income for all causes of death. The difference in mortality between the lowest and the highest income group at 5years after stroke was 15.5% (relative) and 5.7% (absolute). Differences in short-term mortality (1-month to 1-year) between income groups were small and clinically insignificant.

CONCLUSIONS: Social inequality in mortality after stroke expressed by income was pronounced for long-term mortality while not for short-term mortality. It seems that social inequality is expressed in a greater risk among stroke patients with low income for the advent of new diseases subsequently leading to death rather than in their ability to survive the incident stroke.

Background: Occupational therapy and occupational science are founded on the theoretical core assumption that occupation and quality of life (QoL) are closely related. However, such theoretical core assumptions must be supported through empirically based research.

Objective: To investigate the association between QoL and occupation, here self-reported and observed ADL abilities as a part of occupation, among people with advanced cancer, including determining whether self-reported or observed ADL ability had the stronger association with QoL.

Methods: The study was nested in a cross-sectional study. The association between ADL ability and QoL among 108 people with advanced cancer was investigated using the ADL Interview (ADL-I), the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS), and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Core Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC-QLQ-C30).

Results and Conclusions: Results showed that high observed ADL motor ability was associated with high QoL. In contrast, observed ADL process ability and self-reported ADL ability were not significantly associated with QoL. Oppositely expected, observed ADL ability had a stronger association with QoL than self-reported ADL ability. Thereby, the study to some extent contributes knowledge confirming the theoretical core assumptions about the relation between occupation, here performance of ADL, and QoL.