(C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.”
“Background: We studied recent trends in mortality from seven mental

and neurological conditions and their determinants in 41 European countries. Methods: VX-689 Age-standardized mortality rates were analysed using standard methods of descriptive epidemiology, and were related to cultural, economic and health care indicators using regression analysis. Results: Rising mortality from mental and neurological conditions is seen in most European countries, and is mainly due to rising mortality from dementias. Mortality from psychoactive substance use and Parkinson’s disease has also risen in several countries. Mortality from dementias has risen particularly strongly in Finland, Iceland, Malta, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and is positively associated with self-expression values, average income, health care expenditure and life expectancy, but only the first has an independent effect. Conclusions: Although trends in mortality from dementias

have probably been affected by changes in cause-of-death classification, the high level of mortality from these conditions in a number of vanguard countries suggests that it is now among the most frequent causes of death in high-income countries. selleck compound Recognition of dementias as a cause of death, and/or refraining from life-saving treatment for patients with dementia, appear to be strongly dependent on cultural values.”
“Decline in adult smoking prevalence in Canada seems to have slowed, suggesting that smoking rate may have plateaued. It is unclear whether

this, at least in part, can be interpreted as evidence that some groups or individuals are becoming less resistant to tobacco control measures. This study examined trends in the prevalence of hardcore smoking in Canada. A nationally representative sample of adult daily smokers was drawn from the Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey 2004 to 2012 (n = 13,861). Hardcore smokers were defined in two ways: Hardcore 1 comprised those that reported no quit attempt, no quit intention, and smoke their first cigarette within 30 min after awakening and hardcore 2 comprised hardcore 1 plus those smoking 15 or more cigarettes per day. Logistic regression was used to PCI32765 examine associations between hardcore measures and year and socio-demographic variables. Overall, there was no significant difference in hardcore smoking over time for the periods covered in this study. Analysis examining a single hardcore component, time-to-first cigarette (TTFC) after awakening as a measure of nicotine dependence showed similar results. A clear marked socioeconomic gradient in TTFC was found, those with university education (OR 0.46, 95 % CI 0.37-0.57), college (OR 0.51, 95 % CI 0.42-0.63), secondary (OR 0.68, 95 % CI 0.57-0.82) were significantly less likely to have TTFC a parts per thousand currency sign 30 min compared with less than secondary education.