Preoperative smoking was found to be associated with an increased risk of the following postoperative complications: general morbidity, wound complications, general infections, pulmonary complications, neurological complications, and admission to the intensive care unit.

Preoperative alcohol consumption was associated with an increased risk of general postoperative morbidity, general infections, wound complications, pulmonary complications, prolonged stay at the hospital, and admission to intensive care unit.

The aims of the study were to explore general trends and individual differences in cognitive changes from early adulthood to late midlife and to investigate associations between education and cognitive changes. We used data from the Lifestyle and Cognition Follow-Up Study 2015 on 1,543 Danish men born in 1950–1961. Test scores on the 78-item intelligence test used by the Danish conscription authorities, Børge Priens Prøve (BPP), completed at draft board examination (baseline, mean age = 20 years) and at follow-up (mean age = 61 years) were used to measure cognitive changes. The mean change in BPP scores was −2.94 (SD = 5.57), and a retest correlation of 0.81 between the baseline and follow-up BPP scores was observed. In spite of the substantial retest correlations, the 8.3% of the sample with statistically reliable change had a mean decline in BPP scores of −13.41 (SD = 2.56). In latent change score models adjusted for year of birth and retest interval, more years of education was associated with larger decline in BPP scores, but the association was reversed when further adjusting for baseline BPP scores. Moreover, significant interactions indicated that more years of education was associated with less cognitive decline in men with relatively low or average BPP scores at baseline, whereas no influence of education was found in men with high baseline scores. Hence, more years of education may compensate for low or average intelligence by increasing cognitive reserve in these individuals or by influencing mediating lifestyle and occupational factors.

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BackgroundPre- and postnatal factors have been found to be predictors of age at attaining milestones in infancy; however, the degree to which such factors are predictors of milestones in the subsequent years is less investigated. The aim was to conduct a systematic evaluation of a broad range of possible predictors of milestone attainment during the second and third years to identify factors that explain significant inter-individual variance.MethodsMothers of 4009 children from the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort (1959–61) were interviewed by a physician about 20 developmental milestones at a three-year examination. Milestones were related to: Language, Walking, Eating, Dressing, Social interaction, and Toilet training. Information on possible predictors was collected during pregnancy and at a 1- and 3-year follow-up.ResultsSeveral pre- and postnatal factors were significantly associated with the timing of milestone attainment; especially parental social status, paternal age, sex, gestational age, birth weight, birth length, weight increase in the first year of life, and motor development during the first year of life. The significant predictors explained 16.2% of the variance in the Overall mean of milestones and 20.3% of the variance in milestones related to Walking. The most influential individual factor for the timing of milestone attainment was previous motor development during the first year of life. Additionally, sex was an important factor as girls were generally faster at attaining milestones. Parental social status was a consistent, but relatively week predictor.ConclusionA notable amount of variance in the timing of milestones during the first three years of life can be explained by perinatal and early postnatal factors. The study provides evidence of developmental continuity as the main predictor of milestones in the second and third years was the speed of development during the first year.

Aims Alcohol consumption is a modifiable and plausible risk factor for age-related cognitive decline but more longitudinal studies investigating the association are needed. Our aims were to estimate associations of adult-life alcohol consumption and consumption patterns with age-related cognitive decline. Methods We investigated the associations of self-reported adult-life weekly alcohol consumption and weekly extreme binge drinking (≥10 units on the same occasion) with changes in test scores on an identical validated test of intelligence completed in early adulthood and late midlife in 2498 Danish men from the Lifestyle and Cognition Follow-up study 2015. Analyses were adjusted for year of birth, retest interval, baseline IQ, education and smoking. Results Men with adult-life alcohol consumption of more than 28 units/week had a larger decline in IQ scores from early adulthood to late midlife than men consuming 1–14 units/week (B29–35units/week = −3.6; P < 0.001). Likewise, a 1-year increase in weekly extreme binge drinking was associated with a 0.12-point decline in IQ scores (P < 0.001). Weekly extreme binge drinking explained more variance in IQ changes than average weekly consumption. In analyses including mutual adjustment of weekly extreme binge drinking and average weekly alcohol consumption, the estimated IQ decline associated with extreme binge drinking was largely unaffected, whereas the association with weekly alcohol consumption became non-significant. Conclusions Adult-life heavy alcohol consumption and extreme binge drinking appear to be associated with larger cognitive decline in men. Moreover, extreme binge drinking may be more important than weekly alcohol consumption in relation to cognitive decline.

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