ORCID Profile
0000-0003-3912-4214
Current Organisation
The University of Edinburgh
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Publisher: American Public Health Association
Date: 10-2001
Abstract: Objectives. This study examined predictors of low back pain onset in a British birth cohort. Methods. Univariate and multivariate analyses focused on in iduals who experienced onset of low back pain at 32 to 33 years of age (n= 571) and in iduals who were pain free (n = 5210). Participants were members of the 1958 British birth cohort. Results. Incident pain was elevated among those with psychological distress at 23 years of age (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 2.52, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.65, 3.86) and among persistent moderate or heavy smokers (adjusted OR = 1.63, 95% CI = 1.23, 2.17). Significant univariate associations involving other factors (e.g., social class, childhood emotional status, body mass index, job satisfaction) did not persist in multivariate analyses. Conclusions. This prospectively studied cohort provides evidence that psychological distress more than doubles later risk of low back pain, with smoking having a modest independent effect. Other prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings before implications for low back pain prevention can be assessed.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-1998
DOI: 10.1016/S0895-4356(98)00068-7
Abstract: To assess the performance of selective opportunistic screening in a primary care group practice. Cross-sectional survey of coronary heart disease risk factors and retrospective chart audit of cholesterol testing. Capitation-funded primary care group practice in Ontario, Canada. 7785 enrolled patients between the ages of 20 and 69 years. Protocol-based selective opportunistic screening program for hypercholesterolemia of 45 months duration. Targeting (proportion of screening tests that were appropriate), coverage (proportion of those meeting screening criteria who had a screening test performed), over-screening (proportion of those not meeting screening criteria who had a screening test performed), and screening ratio (likelihood that a screening test was performed on an in idual who met screening criteria rather than one who failed to meet screening criteria). 64.7% of patients tested met the practice criteria for screening. 37.7% of patients who met the practice screening criteria were tested and 24.9% of those not meeting practice screening criteria had a cholesterol test performed. The screening ratio was 1.52. Our findings bring into question the effectiveness of opportunistic approaches to preventive care.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 13-10-2012
DOI: 10.1093/IJE/DYS155
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 03-06-2005
DOI: 10.1093/IJE/DYI118
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 04-2009
Abstract: In Canada levels of smoking have decreased and levels of physical activity have increased over the last 20 years. However, little research has examined if educational inequalities in either of these important health determinants have changed. A secondary analysis of Canadian population-based surveys from 1974 through to 2005 was conducted. The prevalence of both smoking and physical activity across educational groups for both men and women, as well as relative and absolute measures of inequality was estimated. Differences in both smoking and physical activity across educational groups in all surveys examined between 1974 and 2005 were found, with lower educational groups more likely to be heavy smokers and inactive in each survey. Both relative and absolute educational inequalities in smoking widened between 1974 and 2005 (relative concentration index (RCI) for smoking 10 plus cigarettes per day changed from -7.9 to -26.9 among men and from -4.8 to -27.4 among women), with inequalities in physical activity narrowing between 1981 and 1996, then widening between 1996 and 2005 (RCI for inactivity -4.34 to -6.75 among men -3.57 to -5.54 among women). In general, results among men and women did not differ substantially. It is unlikely that the widening educational inequalities in smoking and physical activity documented here reflect lower knowledge of the consequences of smoking and physical inactivity among lower educated groups. The results suggest more work needs to be done in both designing population health approaches that focus on equity and the creation of supportive environments that provide equal opportunities for behaviour change for all educational groups in Canada.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 31-03-2005
DOI: 10.1093/IJE/DYI047
Abstract: To examine the association of a mismatch between educational qualifications and occupational attainment and subsequent declines in self-rated health (SRH) in a longitudinal nationally representative Canadian population s le. This study used longitudinal data from 4045 healthy, working respondents of the Canadian National Population Health Survey. Respondents were categorized as either qualified, overqualified, or underqualified based on the match between their education and the skills required for their current occupation over a 2-year period. Logistic regression analysis estimated the odds of decline in SRH over the following 4-year period, using the match between occupation and education as the main independent variable. Analyses were controlled for a number of confounding variables including health behaviours, mental health, self-esteem, job control, and demographic information. Relative to respondents with university education working in occupations for which they were qualified, respondents with university education, working in occupations for which they were overqualified had a significant risk of decline in SRH between 1996 and 2000, even after adjusting for a number of potential confounders (OR = 2.08, 95% CI 1.11-3.91). In respondents with secondary education or less, differences in occupational attainment were not associated with differences in the odds of decline in SRH. The effect of occupational attainment on health is important for in iduals who have invested the most time in their education. Conversely, differential occupational attainment is not associated with differences in the odds of decline in health for participants with lower levels of education.
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 04-1999
Abstract: To explore the previously stated hypothesis that risk factors for atherothrombotic disease are associated with back pain. Prospective (mean of four years of follow up) and retrospective analyses using two main outcome measures: (a) short ( 7 days) spells of sickness absence because of back pain reported separately in men and women (b) consistency of effect across the resulting four duration of spell and sex cells. 14 civil service departments in London. 3506 male and 1380 female white office-based civil servants, aged 35-55 years at baseline. In age adjusted models, low apo AI was associated with back pain across all four duration-sex cells and smoking was associated across three cells. Six factors were associated with back pain in two cells: low exercise and high BMI, waist-hip ratio, triglycerides, insulin and Lp(a). On full adjustment (for age, BMI, employment grade and back pain at baseline), each of these factors retained a statistically significant effect in at least one duration-sex cell. Triglycerides were associated with short and long spells of sickness absence because of back pain in men in fully adjusted models with rate ratios (95% confidence intervals) of 1.53 (1.1, 2.1) and 1.75 (1.0, 3.2) respectively. There was little or no evidence of association in age adjusted models with: fibrinogen, glucose tolerance, total cholesterol, apoB, hypertension, factor VII, von Willebrand factor, electrocardiographic evidence of coronary heart disease and reported angina. In this population of office workers, only modest support was found for an atherothrombotic component to back pain sickness absence. However, the young age of participants at baseline and the lack of distinction between different types of back pain are likely to bias the findings toward null. Further research is required to ascertain whether a population sub-group of atherothrombotic back pain can be identified.
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 10-2007
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 11-2016
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 2008
Abstract: To examine the pathways through which job control affects health status to examine if the effects of job control on health status are attenuated by including other measures associated with lower socioeconomic status, and to examine if the relationship between job control and health status is consistent across socioeconomic status groups. A prospective observational cohort study over eight years (1994-2002). 4886 Respondents aged 25-60 years, who were non-self-employed labour force participants, working more than 20 hours per week, without physical or mental limitations restricting the type or amount of work they could do at baseline. After longitudinal attrition, the remaining study s le was 3411 (87% of the original study s le who did not die or become pregnant during the survey period). Low job control in 1994 was associated with worse than expected self-rated health in 2002, both directly and indirectly via a lower physical activity level in 1996. Adjustment for other factors associated with low socioeconomic status did not attenuate these relationships to a large extent. No differences were found in the effects of job control on physical activity or health status between socioeconomic groups (high and low education and high and low household income). The inclusion of other factors associated with lower socioeconomic status did not attenuate the direct and indirect effects of job control on health status. The finding that low job control is associated with lower physical activity levels deserves further investigation, given the increasing concern about rising levels of obesity in the developed world.
Publisher: American Public Health Association
Date: 04-2007
Abstract: In public health, the generation, management, and transfer of knowledge all need major improvement. Problems in generating knowledge include an imbalance in research funding, publication bias, unnecessary studies, adherence to fashion, and undue interest in novel and immediate issues. Impaired generation of knowledge, combined with a dated and inadequate process for managing knowledge and an inefficient system for transferring knowledge, mean a distorted body of evidence available for decisionmaking in public health. This article hopes to stimulate discussion by proposing a Global Registry of Anticipated Public Health Studies. This prospective, comprehensive system for tracking research in public health could help enhance collaboration and improve efficiency. Practical problems must be discussed before such a vision can be further developed.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2018
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 2008
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for John W. Frank.