G M Leung
Biographic Data
| ID | 4285467 |
|---|---|
| NAME | G M Leung |
| GIVEN NAMES | G M |
| FAMILY NAME | Leung |
| SIGNATURE | LEUNG G M |
| AFFILIATIONS | School of Public Health Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR China |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 43 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Duration of puberty in preterm girls
OBJECTIVES: Preterm birth is associated with altered pubertal timing, but the effect on pubertal duration has rarely been assessed. Here, we tested the hypothesis that preterm birth is associated with shorter duration of puberty among girls in Hong Kong where preterm birth has little social patterning. METHODS: In the population-representative Chinese birth cohort "Children of 1997", we used multivariable linear regression to assess the associati…
Height, its components, and coagulability among older Chinese
OBJECTIVES: The causal role of some cardiovascular risk factors, such as HDL cholesterol, has been increasingly challenged and attention is returning to all elements of Virchow's triad, i.e., hypercoagulability (including viscosity) as well as endothelial function and blood flow. We examined the life course origins of coagulability. METHODS: We used multivariable linear regression to assess whether childhood influences, proxied by height and its …
Testosterone concentrations in young healthy us versus Chinese men
BACKGROUND: Previous small studies examining differences in testosterone concentrations by ethnicity found mixed results for Caucasians and Chinese men, which might be confounded by age differences and living standards. The aim of the present study is to examine the differences in total, free, and bioavailable testosterone concentrations between healthy young men from the United States (US) and from the most economically developed part of China, …
Genetically predicted 17β-estradiol and systemic inflammation in women
BACKGROUND: Many chronic diseases are characterised by low-grade systemic inflammation. Oestrogens may promote immune response consistent with sex-specific patterns of diseases. In vitro culture and animal experiments suggest oestrogens are anti-inflammatory and might thereby protect against low-grade systemic inflammation. Evidence from epidemiological studies is limited. Using a Mendelian randomisation analysis with a separate-sample instrument…
Inequality and inequity in access to health care and treatment for chronic conditions in China
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a large and rapidly-growing problem in China and other middle-income countries. Clinical treatment of NCDs is long-term and expensive, so it may present particular problems for equality and horizontal equity (equal treatment for equal need) in access to health care, although little is known about this at present in low- and middle-income countries. To address this gap, and inform policy for a substantial propo…
Systematic differences among never, occasional and moderate alcohol users in southern China, and its use in alcohol research
BACKGROUND: Western observational studies show moderate alcohol use, compared with never use, positively associated with health. Moderate users differ systematically from others, making these observations vulnerable to confounding. Observations from other contexts may help distinguish whether these associations are confounded. To assess whether southern Chinese would provide a more suitable setting to examine the association of moderate alcohol u…
Intergenerational influences on diabetes in a developing population
OBJECTIVES: Intergenerational "mismatch" and/or growth conditions may be relevant to the epidemic of diabetes in developing populations. In a rapidly developing southern Chinese population, we tested whether maternal environment, proxied by maternal literacy, or family socio-economic position (SEP), proxied by paternal literacy, were associated with fasting glucose and diabetes. To assess if intergenerational mismatch contributed, we tested wheth…
SP2-5 Diabetes in Asia
Introduction With rapid economic development, diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions in Asia, even in relatively non-obese populations. Changing lifestyles, obesity and genetics undoubtedly play a key role, however it is increasingly recognised that causes of disease may extend over generations. Methods The developmental origins of health paradigm has focused on the health consequences of constrained pre-natal or infant growth. Here we conside…
SP1-34 Pubertal muscle mass and diabetes markers in Chinese adolescents
Introduction There is an emerging epidemic of diabetes in China despite a relatively non-obese population. Genetics and lifestyle undoubtedly play a key role. We hypothesise that environmentally driven muscle mass acquisition at puberty may also be relevant. To test this hypothesis we examined the association of sex-steroids with muscle mass and of muscle mass with fasting glucose and insulin in a sample of Chinese adolescents. Methods In 40 adol…
SP3-47 Spatial proximity and childhood hospital admissions in a densely populated conurbation
Introduction Physical distance is a barrier to hospital utilisation. In a very densely populated city in China, we examined whether use of public hospitals by children was associated with individual-level residential proximity, and whether these associations varied with type of admission. Methods The authors used multivariable negative binomial regression in a large, population-representative birth cohort to examine the adjusted associations of p…
P2-148 Early life infections and pubertal onset
Introduction With economic development, puberty occurs at younger ages, and may contribute to cardiovascular diseases and hormone-related cancers. Factors determining pubertal timing are poorly understood. The growth axis active during puberty is also active in the first 6 months of life and interacts with the immune system. Methods The authors examined whether prior infections, proxied by number of hospital episodes for infections at different a…
O1-5.3 The role of milk and dairy products in childhood obesity
Introduction Observational studies, mainly from western populations, suggest that dairy product consumption is inversely associated with adiposity. However, in such populations, there is a limited range of dairy product intake while dietary intake and obesity share social patterning making evidence from non-western developed settings valuable in distinguishing whether the observed associations are biologically mediated or socially confounded. Met…
SP1-79 Birth order, gestational age and birth weight and the age at onset of puberty
Introduction Intrauterine and pubertal factors are associated with reproductive and cardiovascular health in both sexes. It is unclear how intrauterine exposures, birth order, gestational age and birth weight, also affect the timing of puberty. Methods We used interval-censored survival analyses in 3750 boys and 3241 girls (84% follow-up) in a Chinese birth cohort, “Children of 1997”, comprising 88% of births in Hong Kong in April and May 1997, t…
P1-4 ALDH2 is a valid instrument for mendelian randomisation studies in alcohol epidemiology—the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study
Introduction Western observational studies show moderate alcohol use positively associated with many health outcomes. Moderate alcohol users differ systematically from others, making these observations susceptible to residual confounding. A randomised controlled trial of moderate alcohol use is unlikely to be possible. A Mendelian randomisation design using a genetic polymorphism affecting alcohol use ( ALDH2 ) as an instrumental variable offers …
P1-108 Impact of the smokefree legislation on smoking behaviour and attitudes of quitting among fathers with infants under 18 months in Hong Kong
Introduction Hong Kong has implemented the Smokefree legislation since January 2007 and smoking is prohibited in vast public and covered areas thereafter. The Smoke free legislation aims to protect people from exposing to SHS and motivating smokers to quit. This study explored the effect of the legislation on the smoking behaviour and their attitudes of quitting among fathers of newborn babies. Methods This is a cross-sectional survey on families…
P1-218 Is informal child care associated with childhood obesity? Evidence from the Hong Kong's “children of 1997” birth cohort
Introduction In western populations, informal child care is associated with childhood obesity. However, in western populations, informal child care and childhood obesity are associated with lower socio-economic position (SEP), making these observations vulnerable to residual confounding. In this situation, evidence from non-western developed settings can be valuable. Methods We used multivariable linear and logistic regression to estimate the ass…
P1-372 An age-period-cohort analysis of mortality associated with bacterial diseases in Hong kong
Introduction We aim to investigate longitudinal trends in bacterial disease related mortality in HK in order to describe how socio-economic transition affects mortality due to infections and to provide generalised aetiological insights. We use one of the major bacterial disease related death, septicaemia, as an exemplar. Methods We used local data on mortality due to septicaemia and mid-year population figures (1976–2005). We fitted Poisson age-p…
P1-210 Income inequality and cause-specific mortality during economic development
Introduction Life expectancy is strongly related to national income, whether there is an additional contribution of income inequality is unclear. We examined the association of income inequality with mortality over historic time in a non-western population which has experienced uniquely rapid economic development. Methods We used negative binomial regression to examine the association of neighbourhood level Gini, adjusted for age, sex and income,…
P2-471 Liver function related viruses and diabetes in China
Introduction Compared to western populations, diabetes mellitus is prevalent in China despite a relatively non-obese population. Exposures beyond lifestyle and genetics may be relevant. We hypothesised that liver infections, common in China, increase vulnerability to diabetes, via the physiological consequences of poor liver function. Methods We used multivariable regression to examine the adjusted associations of alanine transaminase (ALT) and a…
Leg length and age of puberty among men and women from a developing population
OBJECTIVES: Leg length and relative leg length are considered to be reliable markers of prepubertal living conditions. Cessation of leg growth, driven by estrogen, occurs earlier in puberty in girls than boys. We hypothesized that leg length and relative leg length, as sitting height to leg ratio, might have sex-specific associations with age of puberty. METHODS: We used multivariable linear regression in 10,046 older (>or=50 years) Chinese from …
A socio-biological explanation for social disparities in non-communicable chronic diseases
This study places social disparities in the major non-communicable chronic diseases within their global economic and historical contexts. Rapid economic transition outside the developed world provides a unique opportunity to re-examine the origins of, and biological mechanisms driving, social disparities. Gaps in prevailing theories focusing on material resources, civic infrastructure and social structure are identified. Using longstanding experi…
A socio‐historical hypothesis for the diabetes epidemic in Chinese—Preliminary observations from Hong Kong as a natural experiment
It has been hypothesized that the emerging epidemic of diabetes in economically transitioning or recently transitioned populations is due to mismatch between developmental and mature environments. We took advantage of migration within an ethnically homogenous population to investigate this hypothesis, and the potentially modifying role of postnatal growth conditions, proxied by greater height. We used multivariable logistic regression in a popula…
Alcohol use and fasting glucose in a developing southern Chinese population
BACKGROUND: In observational studies, mainly from Western Caucasian populations, moderate alcohol use has been shown to be associated with a lower risk of diabetes. However, whether the protection is due to the attributes of alcohol or to those of moderate alcohol users is difficult to disentangle. A population with a different distribution of alcohol consumption and diabetes prevalence from Western populations was studied as a counterfactual com…
A Screen for Identifying Maladaptive Internet Use
Early life second-hand smoke exposure and serious infectious morbidity during the first 8 years
Household SHS exposure in early infancy increases severe infectious morbidity requiring hospital admission. Reducing SHS exposure in infants and particularly in more vulnerable infants will lower the bed-days burden due to infectious causes
The impact of community psychological responses on outbreak control for severe acute respiratory syndrome in Hong Kong
Objective: To examine the public’s knowledge and perception of SARS and the extent to which various precautionary measures have been adopted. Design: Cross sectional survey. Setting: General population of Hong Kong at the height of the SARS outbreak (29 March to 6 April 2003). Participants: 1115 ethnic Chinese adults. Main results: Forty per cent did not recognise fomites as a possible mode of transmission whereas 55.1% believed that the infectio…
A socio-biological explanation for social disparities in non-communicable chronic diseases
This study places social disparities in the major non-communicable chronic diseases within their global economic and historical contexts. Rapid economic transition outside the developed world provides a unique opportunity to re-examine the origins of, and biological mechanisms driving, social disparities. Gaps in prevailing theories focusing on material resources, civic infrastructure and social structure are identified. Using longstanding experi…
Are height and leg length universal markers of childhood conditions? The Guangzhou Biobank cohort study
OBJECTIVE: In developed western populations longer legs have been shown to be a marker of better early childhood conditions. In the first generations to experience the epidemiologic transition and associated economic development, epigenetic constraints on growth might preclude improved childhood conditions from increasing leg growth or height. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Multivariable linear regression was used to assess the association of …
Inequality and inequity in access to health care and treatment for chronic conditions in China
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a large and rapidly-growing problem in China and other middle-income countries. Clinical treatment of NCDs is long-term and expensive, so it may present particular problems for equality and horizontal equity (equal treatment for equal need) in access to health care, although little is known about this at present in low- and middle-income countries. To address this gap, and inform policy for a substantial propo…
Is leg length a biomarker of childhood conditions in older Chinese women? The Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study
OBJECTIVE: In developed western populations longer legs have been shown to be a biomarker of better early childhood conditions. It was hypothesised that in transitioning populations better childhood conditions may bring forward puberty and thus decrease leg length, counteracting the overall positive effect of a favourable childhood environment on leg growth. DESIGN: Structural equation modelling was used to assess the interrelationship of age, ed…
Alcohol use and fasting glucose in a developing southern Chinese population
BACKGROUND: In observational studies, mainly from Western Caucasian populations, moderate alcohol use has been shown to be associated with a lower risk of diabetes. However, whether the protection is due to the attributes of alcohol or to those of moderate alcohol users is difficult to disentangle. A population with a different distribution of alcohol consumption and diabetes prevalence from Western populations was studied as a counterfactual com…
Peptic ulcer disease and exposure to domestic pets
OBJECTIVES: This study assessed whether an association exists between household pets and peptic ulcer disease. METHODS: Canadian adults (n = 15,779) were asked about cats or dogs in their household and about history of peptic ulcer disease. Logistic regression was used to assess the association between pet ownership and a history of peptic ulcer disease, after adjustment for sociodemographic differences. RESULTS: No relationship was observed betw…
The economic burden of environmental tobacco smoke in the first year of life
Objectives: To assess public attitudes toward the tobacco industry and its products, and to identify predictors of attitudes supportive of tobacco industry denormalisation. Design: Population based, cross
The impact of community psychological responses on outbreak control for severe acute respiratory syndrome in Hong Kong
Objective: To examine the public’s knowledge and perception of SARS and the extent to which various precautionary measures have been adopted. Design: Cross sectional survey. Setting: General population of Hong Kong at the height of the SARS outbreak (29 March to 6 April 2003). Participants: 1115 ethnic Chinese adults. Main results: Forty per cent did not recognise fomites as a possible mode of transmission whereas 55.1% believed that the infectio…
Secondhand smoke and respiratory ill health in current smokers
SHS exposure is strongly associated with increased acute respiratory symptoms and recent outpatient service utilisation in current smokers. If the association is causal, public health action to limit SHS exposure could also benefit smokers
A Screen for Identifying Maladaptive Internet Use
Early life second-hand smoke exposure and serious infectious morbidity during the first 8 years
Household SHS exposure in early infancy increases severe infectious morbidity requiring hospital admission. Reducing SHS exposure in infants and particularly in more vulnerable infants will lower the bed-days burden due to infectious causes
Are height and leg length universal markers of childhood conditions? The Guangzhou Biobank cohort study
OBJECTIVE: In developed western populations longer legs have been shown to be a marker of better early childhood conditions. In the first generations to experience the epidemiologic transition and associated economic development, epigenetic constraints on growth might preclude improved childhood conditions from increasing leg growth or height. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Multivariable linear regression was used to assess the association of …
Is leg length a biomarker of childhood conditions in older Chinese women? The Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study
OBJECTIVE: In developed western populations longer legs have been shown to be a biomarker of better early childhood conditions. It was hypothesised that in transitioning populations better childhood conditions may bring forward puberty and thus decrease leg length, counteracting the overall positive effect of a favourable childhood environment on leg growth. DESIGN: Structural equation modelling was used to assess the interrelationship of age, ed…
A socio‐historical hypothesis for the diabetes epidemic in Chinese—Preliminary observations from Hong Kong as a natural experiment
It has been hypothesized that the emerging epidemic of diabetes in economically transitioning or recently transitioned populations is due to mismatch between developmental and mature environments. We took advantage of migration within an ethnically homogenous population to investigate this hypothesis, and the potentially modifying role of postnatal growth conditions, proxied by greater height. We used multivariable logistic regression in a popula…
Alcohol use and fasting glucose in a developing southern Chinese population
BACKGROUND: In observational studies, mainly from Western Caucasian populations, moderate alcohol use has been shown to be associated with a lower risk of diabetes. However, whether the protection is due to the attributes of alcohol or to those of moderate alcohol users is difficult to disentangle. A population with a different distribution of alcohol consumption and diabetes prevalence from Western populations was studied as a counterfactual com…
Leg length and age of puberty among men and women from a developing population
OBJECTIVES: Leg length and relative leg length are considered to be reliable markers of prepubertal living conditions. Cessation of leg growth, driven by estrogen, occurs earlier in puberty in girls than boys. We hypothesized that leg length and relative leg length, as sitting height to leg ratio, might have sex-specific associations with age of puberty. METHODS: We used multivariable linear regression in 10,046 older (>or=50 years) Chinese from …
A socio-biological explanation for social disparities in non-communicable chronic diseases
This study places social disparities in the major non-communicable chronic diseases within their global economic and historical contexts. Rapid economic transition outside the developed world provides a unique opportunity to re-examine the origins of, and biological mechanisms driving, social disparities. Gaps in prevailing theories focusing on material resources, civic infrastructure and social structure are identified. Using longstanding experi…
Intergenerational influences on diabetes in a developing population
OBJECTIVES: Intergenerational "mismatch" and/or growth conditions may be relevant to the epidemic of diabetes in developing populations. In a rapidly developing southern Chinese population, we tested whether maternal environment, proxied by maternal literacy, or family socio-economic position (SEP), proxied by paternal literacy, were associated with fasting glucose and diabetes. To assess if intergenerational mismatch contributed, we tested wheth…
SP2-5 Diabetes in Asia
Introduction With rapid economic development, diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions in Asia, even in relatively non-obese populations. Changing lifestyles, obesity and genetics undoubtedly play a key role, however it is increasingly recognised that causes of disease may extend over generations. Methods The developmental origins of health paradigm has focused on the health consequences of constrained pre-natal or infant growth. Here we conside…
SP1-34 Pubertal muscle mass and diabetes markers in Chinese adolescents
Introduction There is an emerging epidemic of diabetes in China despite a relatively non-obese population. Genetics and lifestyle undoubtedly play a key role. We hypothesise that environmentally driven muscle mass acquisition at puberty may also be relevant. To test this hypothesis we examined the association of sex-steroids with muscle mass and of muscle mass with fasting glucose and insulin in a sample of Chinese adolescents. Methods In 40 adol…
SP3-47 Spatial proximity and childhood hospital admissions in a densely populated conurbation
Introduction Physical distance is a barrier to hospital utilisation. In a very densely populated city in China, we examined whether use of public hospitals by children was associated with individual-level residential proximity, and whether these associations varied with type of admission. Methods The authors used multivariable negative binomial regression in a large, population-representative birth cohort to examine the adjusted associations of p…
P2-148 Early life infections and pubertal onset
Introduction With economic development, puberty occurs at younger ages, and may contribute to cardiovascular diseases and hormone-related cancers. Factors determining pubertal timing are poorly understood. The growth axis active during puberty is also active in the first 6 months of life and interacts with the immune system. Methods The authors examined whether prior infections, proxied by number of hospital episodes for infections at different a…
O1-5.3 The role of milk and dairy products in childhood obesity
Introduction Observational studies, mainly from western populations, suggest that dairy product consumption is inversely associated with adiposity. However, in such populations, there is a limited range of dairy product intake while dietary intake and obesity share social patterning making evidence from non-western developed settings valuable in distinguishing whether the observed associations are biologically mediated or socially confounded. Met…
SP1-79 Birth order, gestational age and birth weight and the age at onset of puberty
Introduction Intrauterine and pubertal factors are associated with reproductive and cardiovascular health in both sexes. It is unclear how intrauterine exposures, birth order, gestational age and birth weight, also affect the timing of puberty. Methods We used interval-censored survival analyses in 3750 boys and 3241 girls (84% follow-up) in a Chinese birth cohort, “Children of 1997”, comprising 88% of births in Hong Kong in April and May 1997, t…
P1-4 ALDH2 is a valid instrument for mendelian randomisation studies in alcohol epidemiology—the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study
Introduction Western observational studies show moderate alcohol use positively associated with many health outcomes. Moderate alcohol users differ systematically from others, making these observations susceptible to residual confounding. A randomised controlled trial of moderate alcohol use is unlikely to be possible. A Mendelian randomisation design using a genetic polymorphism affecting alcohol use ( ALDH2 ) as an instrumental variable offers …
P1-108 Impact of the smokefree legislation on smoking behaviour and attitudes of quitting among fathers with infants under 18 months in Hong Kong
Introduction Hong Kong has implemented the Smokefree legislation since January 2007 and smoking is prohibited in vast public and covered areas thereafter. The Smoke free legislation aims to protect people from exposing to SHS and motivating smokers to quit. This study explored the effect of the legislation on the smoking behaviour and their attitudes of quitting among fathers of newborn babies. Methods This is a cross-sectional survey on families…
P1-218 Is informal child care associated with childhood obesity? Evidence from the Hong Kong's “children of 1997” birth cohort
Introduction In western populations, informal child care is associated with childhood obesity. However, in western populations, informal child care and childhood obesity are associated with lower socio-economic position (SEP), making these observations vulnerable to residual confounding. In this situation, evidence from non-western developed settings can be valuable. Methods We used multivariable linear and logistic regression to estimate the ass…
P1-372 An age-period-cohort analysis of mortality associated with bacterial diseases in Hong kong
Introduction We aim to investigate longitudinal trends in bacterial disease related mortality in HK in order to describe how socio-economic transition affects mortality due to infections and to provide generalised aetiological insights. We use one of the major bacterial disease related death, septicaemia, as an exemplar. Methods We used local data on mortality due to septicaemia and mid-year population figures (1976–2005). We fitted Poisson age-p…
P1-210 Income inequality and cause-specific mortality during economic development
Introduction Life expectancy is strongly related to national income, whether there is an additional contribution of income inequality is unclear. We examined the association of income inequality with mortality over historic time in a non-western population which has experienced uniquely rapid economic development. Methods We used negative binomial regression to examine the association of neighbourhood level Gini, adjusted for age, sex and income,…
P2-471 Liver function related viruses and diabetes in China
Introduction Compared to western populations, diabetes mellitus is prevalent in China despite a relatively non-obese population. Exposures beyond lifestyle and genetics may be relevant. We hypothesised that liver infections, common in China, increase vulnerability to diabetes, via the physiological consequences of poor liver function. Methods We used multivariable regression to examine the adjusted associations of alanine transaminase (ALT) and a…
Medicine (31 works) · Internal Medicine (23 works) · Demography (21 works) · Population (20 works) · Environmental health (19 works) · Cohort study (17 works) · Cohort (16 works) · Internal Medicine (16 works) · Pediatrics (12 works) · Birth, Development, and Health (10 works)