METHODS: Prospective study of 159 755 Mexican adults recruited from 1998-2004 and followed for cause-specific mortality to 1 January 2018. Participants were categorized according to baseline self-reported smoking status. Confounder-adjusted mortality rate ratios (RRs) at ages 35-89 were estimated using Cox regression, after excluding those with previous chronic disease (to avoid reverse causality).
RESULTS: Among 42 416 men and 86 735 women aged 35-89 and without previous disease, 18 985 men (45%) and 18 072 women (21%) reported current smoking and 8866 men (21%) and 53 912 women (62%) reported never smoking. Smoking less than daily was common: 33% of male current smokers and 39% of female current smokers. During follow-up, the all-cause mortality RRs associated with the baseline smoking categories of <10 cigarettes per day (average during follow-up 4 per day) or ≥10 cigarettes per day (average during follow-up 10 per day), compared with never smoking, were 1.17 (95% confidence interval 1.10-1.25) and 1.54 (1.42-1.67), respectively. RRs were similar irrespective of age or sex. The diseases most strongly associated with daily smoking were respiratory cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and gastrointestinal and vascular diseases. Ex-daily smokers had substantially lower mortality rates than those who were current daily smokers at recruitment.
CONCLUSIONS: In this Mexican population, low-intensity daily smoking was associated with increased mortality. Of those smoking 10 cigarettes per day on average, about one-third were killed by their habit. Quitting substantially reduced these risks.
METHODS: The study samples comprised 140 subjects aged 18 to 50 years old, natural and unnatural causes of sudden death brought to the Department of Forensic Medicine, Hospital Sungai Buloh (HSgB) and Hospital Sultanah Aminah Johor Bahru (HSAJB) for a period of 12 months. The subjects were categorised into 5 groups: cardiovascular disease (CVD), sudden unexplained death (SUD), thoracic trauma (TT), non-thoracic trauma (NTT) and other diseases (OD).
RESULTS: Median troponin concentration in cases of CVD, SUD, TT, NTT, and OD were 0.51 μg/L, 0.17 μg/L, 0.62 μg/L, 0.90 μg/L and 0.51 μg/L respectively. We found no significant difference of troponin T level in different causes of death (p ≥ 0.05). NTT has the highest median troponin concentration with 0.90 μg/L, SUD possessed the lowest median concentration with 0.17 μg/L.
CONCLUSION: Troponin T is neither specific nor useful as cardiac biomarker for post mortem sample. Therefore, it may not be a useful diagnostic tool at autopsy.