Background/objectives The dietary inflammatory index (DII) is a tool to measure the diet's inflammatory potential and has been used with adults to predict low-grade inflammation. The present study aims to assess whether this dietary score predicts low-grade inflammation in adolescents.Subjects/methods The sample comprises 329 adolescents (55.9% girls), aged 12-18 years, from LabMed Physical Activity Study. DII score was calculated based on a food-frequency questionnaire and categorized into tertiles. We collected blood samples to determine the follow inflammatory biomarkers: C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), complement component 3 (C3), and 4 (C4). In addition we calculated an overall inflammatory biomarker score. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were computed from binary logistic regression models.Results DII score, comparing first with third tertile, was positively associated with IL-6 in crude model (OR = 1.88, 95% CI:1.09-3.24, p trend = 0.011) and in fully adjusted (for biological and lifestyle variables) (OR = 3.38, 95%CI:1.24-9.20, p trend = 0.023). Also, DII score was positively associated with C4, when fully adjusted (OR = 3.12, 95%CI:1.21-8.10, p trend = 0.016). DII score was negatively associated with C3 in crude model, comparing first with second but not with third tertile, and no significant associations in fully adjusted model were observed, although a trend was found (OR = 1.71, 95% CI:0.63-4.66, p trend = 0.044). No significant associations were observed between DII score and CRP. However, DII score was positively associated with the overall inflammatory biomarker score, when fully adjusted (OR = 5.61, 95% CI:2.00-15.78, p trend = 0.002).Conclusions DII score can be useful to assess the diet's inflammatory potential and its association with low-grade inflammation in adolescents.

Doubly truncated data are often encountered in the analysis of survival times, when the sample reduces to those individuals with terminating event falling on a given observational window. In this paper we assume that some information about the bivariate distribution function (df) of the truncation times is available. More specifically, we represent this information by means of a parametric model for the joint df of the truncation times. Under this assumption, a new semiparametric estimator of the lifetime df is derived. We obtain asymptotic results for the new estimator, and we show in simulations that it may be more efficient than the Efron-Petrosian nonparametric maximum likelihood estimator. Data on the age at diagnosis of childhood cancer in North Portugal are analyzed with the new method.

Background The increase in average life expectancy increases the risk of illness and frailty in the elderly, especially in the cognitive arena. This study has the objective to estimate the prevalence and incidence of cognitive impairment, in a representative sample of 65 to 85 years old followed for a mean period of 6-years. Methods Subjects aged 65–85 years (n = 586) were screened at baseline (1999–2004) to estimate the prevalence of cognitive impairment using the Mini-Mental State Examination. A total of 287 individuals with a normal MMSE at baseline were reassessed after 6.2 mean years (± 4.30 years) to evaluate the incidence of cognitive impairment, defined as scoring below the age and education-adjusted MMSE cut-off points adapted for the Portuguese population. We did not exclude Dementia. Results The baseline prevalence of cognitive impairment was 15.5% (95% CI: 12.7–18.7). Higher in women (18.9%; 95% CI: 14.9–23.3), that in men (10.4%; 95% CI: 6.7–15.1). Increased with age and was highest for participants without any schooling. The overall incidence rate was 26.97 per 1000 person-years; higher in women (33.8 per 1000 person-years) than in men (18.0 per 1000 person-years). Higher for the oldest participants and those with no schooling. Taking the standard European population, we estimated a prevalence of 16.5% and an incidence of 34.4 per 1000 person-years. Conclusion The prevalence of cognitive impairment in Portugal is within the estimated interval for the European population, and the incidence is lower than for the majority of the European countries. Women, senior and elders without education have a higher risk of cognitive impairment. In our sample, neither employment nor marital status has a significant effect on cognitive impairment.

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