Abstract-Among the risk factors for hypertension, stress, especially work stress, has drawn increasing attention. Another potential work-related risk factor for hypertension identified in the past few years is work hours. This article presents an analysis of work hours and self-reported hypertension among the working population in the state of California. The data set used for this study comes from the Public

Scholarship concerning complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices within the United States could benefit from incorporating sociological perspectives into the development of a comprehensive research agenda. We review the literature on health and wellness emphasizing definitions and distinctions, the health lifestyles literature emphasizing issues of both life choices and life chances, and studies of CAM suggesting utilization as an aspect of a wellness lifestyle. This review forms the foundation of a new theoretical framework for CAM research based on the interrelationship of CAM with health promotion, wellness, and health lifestyles. To date, few studies have sought to bring these various elements together into a single, comprehensive model that would enable an assessment of the complexity of individual health and wellness in the context of CAM. We argue that attention to literatures on health measurement and health lifestyles are essential for exploring the effectiveness and continuing use of CAM.

Twenty-five years of public health efforts produced a striking reduction in lead exposure; the blood lead average in the United States has decreased to less than 20% of levels measured in the 1970s. However, poor minority groups that live in large urban centers are still at high risk for elevated lead levels. In this study, our data showed that pregnant immigrants (n = 1,428) who live in South Central Los Angeles--one of the most economically depressed regions of California--have significantly higher (p < .0001) blood lead levels (geometric mean = 2.3 microg/dl [0.11 micromol/l]) than 504 pregnant nonimmigrants (geometric mean = 1.9 microg/dl [0.09 micromol/l]). The most important factors associated with lower blood lead levels in both groups were younger age; more-recent date of blood sampling (i.e., decreasing secular trend); and blood sampling in mid-autumn, instead of mid-spring (i.e., seasonal trend). Blood lead levels of immigrants were strongly dependent on time elapsed since immigration to the United States; each natural log increase in years of residence was associated with an approximately 19% decrease in blood lead levels. Although blood lead means for both groups were almost the same as the estimated national average, 25 of the 30 cases of elevated blood lead (i.e., > or = 10 microg/dl [0.48 micromol/l) occurred in the immigrant group. The odds ratio (95% confidence intervals within parentheses) for having elevated blood lead levels (a) was 9.3 (1.9, 45.8) if the immigrant engaged in pica; (b) was 3.8 (1.4, 10.5) if the immigrant had low dietary calcium intake during pregnancy; and (c) was .65 (.43, .98) for every natural log unit increase of years of residence in the United States. The control of pica and dietary calcium intake may offer a means of reducing lead exposure in immigrants.

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