Impaired lung function is a major clinical indicator of mortality risk in men and women for a wide range of diseases. The use of FEV1 as part of any health assessment of middle aged patients should be considered. Smokers with reduced FEV1 should form a priority group for targeted advice to stop smoking.

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Objective-To assess the needs of patients with cancer for information about their condition.Design-Cross sectional survey of patients' views by means of semistructured interview with questionnaire.Setting-A regional cancer centre and two university hospitals in west Scotland.Subjects-250 (93%) of 269 cancer patients invited to participate in study who were selected by age, sex, socioeconomic status, and tumour site to be representative of cancer patients in west Scotland.Main outcome measures-Patients' need to know whether they had cancer, the medical name of their illness, progress through treatment, how treatment works, side effects, chances of cure, and treatment options.Results-79% (95% confidence interval 73% to 84%) of patients wanted as much information as possible, and 96% (93% to 98%) had a need or an absolute need to know ifthey had cancer. Most patients also wanted to know the chance ofcure (91% (87% to 94%)) and about side effects of treatment (94% (90% to 97%)). When the replies were cross tabulated with patients' age, sex, deprivation score, and type of treatment there was a linear trend for patients from more affluent areas to want more information and those from deprived areas to want less. There was a strong preference for diagnosis of cancer to be given by a hospital doctor (60% (53% to 66%).

Objective: To investigate the effect of socioeconomic group (with reference to age and sex) on the rate of, course of, and survival after coronary events. Design: Community coronary event register from 1985 to 1991. Setting: City of Glasgow north of the River Clyde, population 196 000. Subjects: 3991 men and 1551 women aged 25-64 years on the Glasgow MONICA coronary event register with definite or fatal possible or unclassifiable events according to the criteria of the World Health Organisation's MONICA project (monitoring trends and determinants in cardiovascular disease). Main outcome measures: Rate of coronary events; proportion of subjects reaching hospital alive; case fatality in admitted patients and in community overall. Results: Event rates increased with age for both sexes and were greater in men than women at all ages. The rate increased 1.7-fold in men and 2.4-fold in women from the least (Q1) to the most (Q4) deprived socioeconomic quarter. The socioeconomic gradient decreased with age and was steeper for women than men. The proportion treated in hospital (66%) decreased with age, was greater in women than men, and decreased in both sexes with increasing deprivation (age standardised odds ratio 0.82 for Q4 v Q1) Case fatality in hospital (20%) increased with age, was greater for women than men when age was standardised, and showed no strong socioeconomic pattern. Overall case fatality in the community (50%) increased with age, was similar between the sexes, and increased from Q1 to Q4 (age standardised odds ratio 1.12 in men, 1.18 in women). Conclusions: Socioeconomic group affects not only death rates from myocardial infarction but also event rates and chance of admission. This should be taken into account when different groups of patients are compared. Because social deprivation is associated with so many more deaths outside hospital, primary and secondary prevention are more likely than acute hospital care to reduce the socioeconomic variation in mortality.

depression. Another explanation for the higher suicide rate after an abortion could be low social class, low social support, and previous life events or that abortion is chosen by women who are at higher risk for suicide because of other reasons. Increased risk for a suicide after an induced abortion can, besides indicating common risk factors for both, result from a negative effect of induced abortion on mental wellbeing. With our data, however, it was not possible to study the causality more carefully. Our data clearly show, however, that women who have experienced an abortion have an increased risk of suicide, which should be taken into account in the prevention of such deaths. Design-Cross sectional analysis of status of cardiovascular risk factors and past and present social circumstances.Subjects-5645 male participants in the west of Scotland collaborative study, a workplace screening study.Main outcome measures-Strength of association between each risk factor for cardiovascular disease (diastolic blood pressure, serum cholesterol concentration, level of recreational physical exercise, cigarette smoking, body mass index, and FEV1 score (forced expiratory volume in one second as percentage ofexpected value) and social class during childhood (based on father's main occupation) and adulthood (based on own occupation at time of screening).

As a single indicator of socioeconomic position occupational social class in adulthood is a better discriminator of socioeconomic differentials in mortality and smoking behaviour than is education. This argues against interpretations that see cultural--rather than material--resources as being the key determinants of socioeconomic differentials in health. The stronger association of education with death from cardiovascular causes than with other causes of death may reflect the function of education as an index of socioeconomic circumstances in early life, which appear to have a particular influence on the risk of cardiovascular disease.

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Objectives-Height is inversely associated with cardiovascular disease mortality risk and has shown variable associations with cancer incidence and mortality. The interpretation of findings from previous studies has been constrained by data limitations. Associations between height and specific causes of death were investigated in a large general population cohort of men and women from the West of Scotland. Design-Prospective observational study. Results-Over the follow up period 3347 men and 2638 women died. Height is inversely associated with all cause, coronary heart disease, stroke, and respiratory disease mortality among men and women. Adjustment for socioeconomic position and cardiovascular risk factors had little influence on these associations. Height is strongly associated with forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV 1 ) and adjustment for FEV 1 considerably attenuated the association between height and cardiorespiratory mortality. Smoking related cancer mortality is not associated with height. The risk of deaths from cancer unrelated to smoking tended to increase with height, particularly for haematopoietic, colorectal and prostate cancers. Stomach cancer mortality was inversely associated with height. Adjustment for socioeconomic position had little influence on these associations. Conclusion-Height serves partly as an indicator of socioeconomic circumstances and nutritional status in childhood and this may underlie the inverse associations between height and adulthood cardiorespiratory mortality. Much of the association between height and cardiorespiratory mortality was accounted for by lung function, which is also partly determined by exposures acting in childhood. The inverse association between height and stomach cancer mortality probably reflects Helicobacter pylori infection in childhood resulting in-or being associated with-shorter height. The positive associations between height and several cancers unrelated to smoking could reflect the influence of calorie intake during childhood on the risk of these cancers. Setting-Renfrew