Most adults do not achieve the levels of physical activity currently recommended for a healthy lifestyle. Population surveys suggest that there is a linear decline of activity levels with age, yet physical activity has many health benefits for older adults. If these are to be more widely adopted among older people, health policy and promotion require an understanding of the factors that influence decreasing activity with age. This study examined the patterns of physical activity of 699 participants in the West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study who were aged 60 years when interviewed in 1991 and followed up four to five years later. It examined the factors that influenced whether or not the subjects achieved currently recommended levels of activity, by applying random effects models with a seasonal adjustment. It was found that higher levels of physical activity associated with a healthier lifestyle, and that socio-economic factors played a minor role in determining the level of physical activity. A substantial amount of physical activity occurred at work but was lost by those who had retired, for while those who were not working were more physically active at home or at leisure than those in work, the majority of the sample did too little physical activity outside work to compensate for the loss of work-based activity. One conclusion is that health promotion initiatives that encourage people to become more physically active should be targeted at those who are about to retire.

Dietary antioxidants, waist circumference, and pulmonary function were measured in the Fourth Scottish MONICA cross-sectional survey of 865 men and 971 women aged 25-64 years. Waist circumference was inversely related to forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC), even after adjustment for age, height, weight, working status, energy intake, and smoking variables in a multiple linear regression model (men: beta = -0.017 for FEV1 l/cm, p < 0.01 and beta = -0.008 for FVC, p = 0.04; women: beta = -0.009 for FEV1, p < 0.01 and beta = -0.007 for FVC, p = 0.01). After additional adjustment for waist circumference, estimated vitamin C and beta-carotene intakes were positively associated with lung function in men (vitamin C: beta = 0.102 for FEV1 l/mg/day, p = 0.03; beta-carotene: beta = 0.073 for FVC l/g/day, p = 0.02). Retinol and vitamin E were not significantly related to lung function for either sex. A case-control study of airway obstruction showed that waist circumference was significantly associated, while vitamin C could be protective. The study suggests that adequate intake of antioxidants and avoidance of increasing girth could help to preserve lung function.

Study objective-To determine the contribution of diVerent foods to the estimated intakes of vitamin C among those diVering in plasma vitamin C levels, and thereby inform dietary strategies for correcting possible deficiency. Design-Cross sectional random population survey. Setting-North Glasgow, Scotland, 1992. Participants-632 men and 635 women, aged 25 to 74 years, not taking vitamin supplements, who participated in the third MONICA study (population survey monitoring trends and determinants of cardiovascular disease). Measurements and main results-Dietary and sociodemographic information was collected using a food frequency and lifestyle questionnaire. Plasma vitamin C was measured in non-fasted venous blood samples and subjects categorised by cut points of 11.4 and 22.7 µmol/l as being of low, marginal or optimal vitamin C status. Food sources of dietary vitamin C were identified for subjects in these categories. Plasma vitamin C concentrations were compared among groups classified according to intake of key foods. More men (26%) than women (14%) were in the low category for vitamin C status; as were a higher percentage of smokers and of those in the older age groups. Intake of vitamin C from potatoes and chips (fried potatoes) was uniform across categories; while the determinants of optimal versus low status were the intakes of citrus fruit, non-citrus fruit and fruit juice. Optimal status was achieved by a combined frequency of fruit, vegetables and/or fruit juice of three times a day or more except in older male smokers where a frequency greater than this was required even to reach a marginal plasma vitamin C level. Conclusion-Fruit, vegetables and/or fruit juice three or more times a day increases plasma vitamin C concentrations above the threshold for risk of deficiency.

The epidemiology of smoking, and contemporary and historical accounts of tobacco consumption, together suggest that the patterning of smoking by class, gender and gender role identities may differ markedly for people born at different stages in the establishment and demise of smoking in the 20th century. Here, we report an analysis that examines this assertion using empirical data collected from men and women living in the west of Scotland, an area with high rates of smoking, who were born in the 1930s, 1950s and 1970s. Class trends in smoking were less apparent for men than for women in the older two cohorts and there was little evidence of class patterning in either sex in the youngest participants. There was little relationship between the measures of gender role orientation and current smoking amongst men. Amongst women, the strongest association was between smoking and a well-validated measure of 'femininity' in the 1950s cohort; each unit increase in 'femininity' score increased the odds of being a smoker by 46%. In this same cohort of women, there was also a weaker relationship between smoking and higher masculinity scores. These results are discussed in the context of continuing use of gendered imagery to exploit new markets in the developing world.