The prospective association of social relationships and activities reported during a round of interviews and medical examinations in 1967-1969 with mortality over the succeeding nine to 12 years was examined for a cohort of 2754 adult (aged 35-69 years as of 1967-1969) men and women in the Tecumseh Community Health Study. After adjustments for age and a variety of risk factors for mortality, men reporting a higher levels of social relationships and activities in 1967-1969 were significantly less likely to die during the follow-up period. Trends for women were similar, but generally nonsignificant once age and other risk factors were controlled. These results were invariant across age, occupational, and health status groups. No association was observed between mortality and satisfaction with social relationships or activities. How and why social relationships and activities predict mortality are discussed and identified as important foci for future research.

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The relationship between frequency of eating and adiposity was studied in a cross-sectional population of about 1000 men and 1000 women ages 35 to 69. A detailed 24-hr diet recall interview was administered by trained interviewers. Frequency of eating--eight categories--was determined by computer program using reported actual eating times and food consumed. The adiposity variable was an index using two skinfold measurements, height and weight. An analysis of covariance removing the effect of caloric intake showed that frequency of eating was related inversely to the adiposity index for men and women separately with statistical significance at the 1% level.

Prevalence rates of chronic bronchitis and asthma and mean levels of ventilatory lung function were related to age, smoking habits, occupation, education, and income in 4,699 men and women living in Tecumseh, Michigan. The prevalence of chronic bronchitis was higher and mean levels of 1-sec forced expiratory volume were lower in cigarette smokers than in other men and women, and heavy smokers were affected more than light smokers. The prevalence of chronic bronchitis was higher and mean 1-sec forced expiratory volume was lower in blue collar workers than in white collar workers. Men and women with some college education had higher mean values for 1-sec forced expiratory volume than did those with less formal education, and the prevalence of chronic bronchitis was least among men with most education. Mean levels of 1-sec forced expiratory volume were slightly lower in those with the smallest incomes. There were no significant associations between the prevalence of asthma and smoking habits, occupation, education, or income. Most of the differences in the prevalence of chronic bronchitis and mean 1-sec forced expiratory volume in men and women of different occupational, educational, or income classes were due to differences in smoking habits. In comparison with smoking, poor occupational, educational, or economic circumstances had only a weak deleterious effect.

Relationships between blood pressures (BPs) of young people and a number of personal, parental and familial characteristics have been assessed in the population of Tecumseh, Michigan. Systolic and fifth phase diastolic BPs were measured in 4500 persons under 20 years of age at the time of their first examination. Body size, fatness and heart rates of the subjects themselves were significantly related to their age- and sex-adjusted BP scores. The parents' BP scores were also correlated with those of the young subjects, and scores were significantly higher in those whose mothers had had high BP or toxemia in pregnancy of a stillbirth. A weak association between BP and socioeconomic circumstances was suggested by the slightly higher mean BP scores found in sons and daughters of men in blue collar jobs and of men and women with the least education. BP levels were not associated with birth order, sibship size or birth weight nor with the numbers of pregnancies, live births or abortions experienced by the mothers of young subjects. In a stepwise multiple regression, the most important determinants of BP were weight/height ratios of the subjects themselves and BP levels of their parents; a small additional effect of complications of pregnancy in the mother was detectable in the offspring 0--19 years laters.