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Item Genetic, dietary, and other lifestyle determinants of serum homocysteine levels in young adults in Costa Rica(Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública, vol17(4), 2005) Holst Schumacher, Ileana; Monge Rojas, Rafael; Cambronero Gutiérrez, Priscilla; Brenes Camacho, GilbertObjective: Elevated serum total homocysteine (tHcy) is considered an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The objective of this study was to develop the first-ever information on the prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia and its determinants in a population in Costa Rica. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine serum levels of tHcy, vitamin B12, folate and creatinine, as well as the presence of the genotype TT for the methylentetratrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) enzyme. Additionally, dietary vitamin intakes and other lifestyle risk factors were assessed. A total of 399 Costa Rican adults from the central valley of the country (where the capital city, San José, is located), aged 20 to 40 years, participated in this study in the year 2000. Analyses of variance were performed for continuous variables, and the chi-square test was used for categorical data. Spearman correlation tests were calculated to determine associations between variables. Three linear regression analyses and one binary logistic model were developed in order to determine the predictors for homocysteine levels in the population studied. Results: The overall prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia ( over 15 umol/L) in the population was 6%, 31% of the population were in the range of 10 to 15 umol/L, 29% had the genotype TT for the enzyme MTHFR, 18% presented a vitamin B12 deficiency ( less 165 pmol/L), and none of the persons had low serum folate levels (less 7,0 nmol/l). No significant associations were found between tHcy and age, smoking, consuming alcohol, or dietary vitamin intake. Conclusions: Only serum vitamin B12 levels and the genotype TT of the enzyme MTHFR were considered significant predictors of high serum tHcy levels in the Costa Rica population studied.Item Differences in the association of cardiovascular risk factors with education: a comparison of Costa Rica (CRELES) and the USA (NHANES)(J Epidemiol Community Health 2010: 64, 2009) Rehkopf, David H.; Dow, William H.; Rosero Bixby, LuisBackground Despite different levels of economic development, Costa Rica and the USA have similar mortalities among adults. However, in the USA there are substantial differences in mortality by educational attainment, and in Costa Rica there are only minor differences. This contrast motivates an examination of behavioural and biological correlates underlying this difference. Methods The authors used data on adults aged 60 and above from the Costa Rican Longevity and Healthy Ageing Study (CRELES) (n¼2827) and from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (n¼5607) to analyse the cross-sectional association between educational level and the following risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD): ever smoked, current smoker, sedentary, high saturated fat, high carbohydrates, high calorie diet, obesity, severe obesity, large waist circumference, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, hemoglobin A1c, fasting glucose, C-reactive protein, systolic blood pressure and BMI. Results There were significantly fewer hazardous levels of risk biomarkers at higher levels of education for more than half (10 out of 17) of the risk factors in the USA, but for less than a third of the outcomes in Costa Rica (five out of 17). Conclusions These results are consistent with the context-specific nature of educational differences in risk factors for CVD and with a non-uniform nature of association of CVD risk factors with education within countries. Our results also demonstrate that social equity in mortality is achieved without uniform equity in all risk factors.