Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2007. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (M.P.H.)--University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, 2008. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 46-05, page: 2667. Advisers: Kim Waller; Steven Kelder. Includes bibliographical references.

This study was designed to explore how Chinese elderly informants with diabetes experience and manage their illness at home. The method used in conducting this study was the phenomenological perspective of qualitative research. The Intent of the study was to understand the human experience of living with diabetes and the sociocultural context in which it is lived. Data collection and analysis ran concurrently. Data were collected through a series of interviews with nine Chinese informants who were diagnosed with late onset diabetes and were undergoing insulin treatment at home. Informants' ages ranged for a 69 to 90 years old. All informants are first generation immigrants in Canada. The specific questions that directed this study addressed the Chinese elderly informants' experience of living with diabetes, the meanings they assigned to living with diabetes, and the ways Chinese informants managed their diabetes. Theoretical sampling guided sample selection and determined sample size. The data were constructed based on a total of 21 interviews with the nine informants. As the researcher explored how the informants lived with diabetes, informants gave detailed accounts of how they viewed diabetes. Within the context of how they viewed diabetes, informants described an entire process they went through to make decisions in everyday life as they sought help and managed their illness. Based on informants' accounts, a decision making model was formulated. Informants gave detailed accounts of each step of the decision-making process, together with descriptions of meanings they assigned to each step. The data showed how informants made sense of their experience as they went through each phase of the decision-making process. The descriptions also revealed an "inner logic" used by informants to direct choices they make regarding health matters. In terms of nursing practice, these findings support the need to attend to client decision-making, from the clients' perspectives. The findings also address nurses' need to reevaluate their professional role in relation to clients' needs and expectations. With regard to nursing research, the findings suggest the need to further explore the topic of decision making from both the clients' and nurses' perspectives. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate

Aims: The overall aims of the study were to identify the information needs of Chinese HF population and to examine the effectiveness of a heart failure disease management programme (HFDMP) on patients' clinical outcomes, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and psychological status. / Background: Heart failure (HF) is a major and increasing public health problem globally. In China, there were approximately 4,000,000 patients with HF in the year 2000 and the number is continuously increasing due to the aging population. HF greatly influences patients' lives in all aspects. Programmes are therefore in imperative need to manage the disease and increase patients' sense of well-being. / Conclusion: Findings of the study provide further evidence that the simple combination of education and telephone follow-up could improve patients' medication adherence, HRQoL, and psychological status among Chinese HF population. Moreover, booklet developed in the study, to a certain extent, can be used as the tool for clinical HF education in China. The study also provides clues and direction for health professionals to develop interventions under the situation of busy clinical work and limited resources in Chinese health care practice. / Methods: First of all, a questionnaire survey (phase I, n=347), of which the questionnaire validation (n=247) was also included, and qualitative interviews with 26 patients and 24 health professionals (phase II) were consecutively conducted to know the information needs of patients with HF. According to the results of phase I and phase II studies, a booklet was developed to address the information needs of patients. Then a prospective controlled trial (phase III, n=160) was undertaken to examine the effectiveness of a HFDMP, including the components of two-session inpatient booklet education and weekly telephone follow-up for 4 weeks after discharge, on patients' performance of 6-minute walking test (6-MWT), clinical outcomes [death, cardiac-related admission (CRA) and length of stay (LoS) in hospital], medication adherence, HRQoL, and psychological status (depression and anxiety). Data collection was carried out at baseline, at 4 weeks (programme end) and 3 months (study end) after hospital discharge. Inferential statistics including independent t-test, paired t-test, Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, the Mann-Whitney U test, and the Generalized Estimating Equation model, were used to compare the baseline and various outcome variables within and between groups. / Results: According to the results of phase I, the questionnaire entitled "Heart Failure Patient Learning Needs Inventory" is valid and reliable to measure learning needs among Chinese HF population. Based on the information needs identified in phase I and II, infonnation about HF regarding definition, symptoms, risk factors, classification, treatment strategies, and self-management strategies such as weight and symptoms monitoring, low-salt diet, medication compliance, exercise, and emotion management was included in the booklet. The accuracy, readability, and applicability of the booklet were established by an expert panel and potential users. / With regard to the effectiveness of the HFDMP on patients' outcomes, patients in the experimental group showed greater improvement through the study period than those in control group in the following aspects: a significantly better medication adherence (p < 0.001) as measured by the Chinese version of the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale, a significantly better HRQoL (p < 0.001) as assessed by the Chinese version of the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire, and a significantly greater reduction in depression and anxiety (p < 0.001) as assessed by the Chinese version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. However, effectiveness of the programme on patients' 6-MWT, death, CRA, and LoS were not confirmed in the present study. / Yu, Mingming. / Adviser: Sek Ying Chair. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-06, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 267-310). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract and appendix also in Chinese.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. As the prevalence of AD increases with age, population aging will inevitably lead to an exponential increase in the proportion of older persons suffering from this disease. According to 2005 WHO estimate, 26.6 million people (approximately 0.55% of the general population) suffered from this disease. AD not only affects intellectual and functional abilities, it is also associated with significant neuropsychiatric disturbances. The pathogenesis of AD is characterized by widespread cerebral atrophy, abnormal deposition of amyloid plaques and tau protein in the central nervous system. While the classical histopathological features of AD are well recognized, exact physiological mechanisms that initiate the cascade of neural degeneration are still under active investigation. / As mentioned, the telomere length studies focused on ethically Chinese subjects recruited from two independent samples. The first clinical sample consisted of 411 older people and the other sample from healthy aging study, 976 community dwelling men were recruited. All subjects were assessed with the Cantonese version of the Mini-mental State Examination (CMMSE) for global cognitive function. Genomic DNA of the subjects was extracted from the peripheral whole blood sample. Lengths of the telomere were measured with Quantitative Real-Time PCR and the Ct ratio of the telomere and a control gene (36B4) of each sample was compared with the standard curve constructed with 4 selected sample's telomere lengths measured previously by Southern blotting. / For the first association study of the cell cycle checkpoint genes and AD, sample was recruited from a prospective study of cognitive function and risk factors for development of AD. 701 elderly were clinically evaluated for diagnosis of AD by psychiatrists. For this sample, genotyping of tagging SNPs of the 10 cell-cycle checkpoint genes were carried out by Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. All tagging SNPs were selected from HapMap database and 5000bp upstream and downstream regions of each gene was also included. / For the results, the association study with cell cycle checkpoint genes, there was no SNPs found to be associated with diagnosis of clinical AD. We also found out that telomere length was associated with age in both two healthy aging men and clinical samples. There was no association between education and telomere lengths. For subjects in the healthy aging study, participants with CMMSE scores fell into the lowest 25% were found to have shorter telomere lengths. Similar result was found in the clinical AD sample. / In the study, telomere lengths were negatively associated with age. As the telomere will be shortened for each cell cycle, this finding correlated with physiological function at a cellular level. Statistical analysis also showed that shorter telomere lengths were found in subjects with poorer cognitive function. However, as age is a major determinant for cognitive impairments, further studies are recommended to evaluate the interaction effects of age in this association. Telomere shortening will cause cell senescence, and may be associated with faster neuronal degeneration, thus affecting cognitive function. Further studies should be conducted to examine its usefulness as an adjuvant biomarker for risk stratification of AD intervention trials. / Recent researches begin to unfold the physiological significance of telomere. A telomere is a repetitive region at the end of a chromosome. Basic functions of telomeres are involved with protection of the chromosome during replication and preventing chromosomal rearrangement or fusion. Abnormal telomere lengthening may be related to cancerous conditions. At a cellular level, telomere may also be related to aging and limitation in cell lifespan. In my study, I aimed to evaluate the association between the lengths of telomere and global cognitive function in community dwelling Chinese older persons in Hong Kong. As the length of telomere is also determined by the turnover rates of cells, apart from association study of telomere lengths and cognitive function, I also tried to study the association of genes related to cell cycles and AD. Polymorphisms of ten cell-cycle checkpoint genes, i.e. RB1, CDKN1A, CDK5R1, CDK2AP1, CDKN2A, CDKN2C, MDM2, P53, GSK3B, TPND1 and CDKN1B genes, were chosen in my project. / The thesis comprised of three studies. The first study was an association study of cell cycle checkpoint gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with clinical diagnosis of AD. The second study was an association study of telomere lengths and clinical diagnosis of AD in a clinical sample of patients suffering from the disease. The third study was an association study of the telomere lengths and global cognitive status in a group of active community dwelling older men who participated in a healthy aging study. / Lau, San Shing. / Adviser: Linda C.W. Lam. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-01, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-124). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

A model was developed in this study to understand women's cervical screening behaviour. It revealed that the interaction among institutional factors, risk appraisal, coping appraisal, and health beliefs and cultural factors contributed to the complex nature of screening behaviour among Chinese women. The institutional component provided the contextual factors within which women perceived the risk of cervical cancer, perceived the practice of cervical screening, and decided to take or not to take cervical screening. Risk appraisal provided the premise factor that induces women to seek coping strategies to reduce or remove the risk. During the process of coping appraisal, women's motivation to have cervical screening could be increased or decreased as the perceived benefits and costs of screening interacted with each other. The importance of the women's health beliefs and cultural factors was reflected in the way that they were affected by their notions of health behaviour and their cultural beliefs about cervical cancer risk and cervical screening participation. Commitment to participate in screening was a reinforcing factor inducing women to take up an offer of cervical screening. / Aim: To explore the knowledge and the perception of the risk of cervical cancer, identify the factors determining cervical screening behaviour, and develop a model to understand cervical screening behaviour among women in mainland China. / Background: Cervical cancer is the most common type of cancer, and is the second most common cause of cancer death in women in mainland China. Cervical screening is the most important intervention for the secondary prevention of cervical cancer. Theories of health behaviour and empirical research highlight risk perception as a significant factor motivating people to opt for cancer screening. However, little is known about the risk perception of cervical cancer and the factors influencing the screening participation of women in mainland China. / Conclusion: This study provides evidence of the complex factors influencing cervical screening behaviour and contributes new knowledge to the understanding of cervical screening behaviour within the Chinese cultural context. It further informs programmes for the promotion of cervical screening among this population. / Methods: A mixed method design consisting of two phases was used, employing both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. First, a cross-sectional survey was conducted to collect a baseline assessment of women's knowledge of cervical cancer and screening, their perceptions of the risk of cervical cancer, and the relationship between these factors and their cervical screening behaviour. Findings from this phase also guided the purposive sampling of participants in phase two. / Results: The findings from phase one demonstrated that the availability of an organized screening programme was a major motivator for women to opt for cervical screening. Multivariate analysis shows that having children (OR=2.57, p=0.026), a perception that visiting doctors regularly is important for health (OR-2.66, p=0.025), average (OR-4.84, 1)=0.006) and high levels of knowledge about cervical screening (OR-9.66, p=0.001) were significantly associated with having been screened in the previous three years. / Then in phase two, qualitative research was conducted using semi-structured interviews of 27 women, 16 of whom had been screened and 11 had not. The interview structure was based on an initial analysis of the data from phase one and from a review of the related literature. The data from the interviews were analyzed using latent content analysis, involving an interpretative reading of the symbolism underlying the surface structure in the text. The audio recordings of the interviews were transcribed verbatim in Chinese, and then the key phrases which were important for the objectives of the study were identified. The key phrases and words were grouped according to their commonality of meaning. Then, these groups of data were sorted and classified to create categories and sub-categories, which were mutually exclusive, explicit and accurate without overlapping. / Two themes emerged from the qualitative data from phase two. Theme I was that perceptions of cervical cancer and cervical screening included five categories: the perceived effects of suffering from cervical cancer; the perception of cervical screening; a lack of understanding about cervical cancer and screening; the perceived risk of cervical cancer; and factors related to the cultural beliefs system. Theme II was that the institutional and health care practitioner system included two categories: availability of an organised physical examination programme and the role of the health care practitioner in encouraging cervical screening utilization. / Gu, Can. / Adviser: Chan, Carmen. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-02, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 244-267). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with lifetime morbidity and the onset of disease frequently occurs in early life. Although IBD manifests throughout all ethnic groups, there has been marked heterogeneity in its incidence, prevalence, manifestation, and outcome. We sought to study the incidence, prevalence, and survival of ulcerative colitis (UC) and to examine the evolution and prognostic predictors of Crohn's disease (CD) and UC among Hong Kong Chinese. A total of 4 studies were performed to address these issues. One longitudinal cohort study examined the incidence, prevalence, survival and phenotypic changes of UC. Two other longitudinal cohort studies evaluated the phenotypic evolution of CD. One of them specifically compared the course of disease between patients with and patients without upper gastrointestinal tract phenotype. The final retrospective study identified clinical factors that predicted the occurrence of corticosteroid dependency and refractoriness in patients with IBD. The annual age-standardized incidence rate and point prevalence of UC per 100,000 Hong Kong Chinese in 2006 were 2.1 (95% CI: 1.1-3.7) and 26.5 (95% CI: 22.6-30.9), respectively. Incidence of UC has increased 6 times over the past two decades. The overall survival of UC patients was similar to the expected survival of the Hong Kong population. Phenotypic changes in CD also occurred in Chinese patients in the same way as the white patients with respect to disease behavior, though at a slower rate. Similar to the white CD patients, the location of disease remained relatively stable over the course of disease. Chinese CD patients had more upper gastrointestinal tract phenotype which predicted the need of surgery and subsequent hospitalization. On the other hand, the rate of proximal extension of UC was less than 25% after 10 years. In CD, thrombocytosis predicted, whereas colonic disease negatively predicted corticosteroid dependency. Stricturing CD was associated with corticosteroid refractoriness. In UC, thrombocytosis and extensive colitis predicted corticosteroid dependency, whereas anemia predicted corticosteroid-refractory disease. The results of these studies are important in the planning of health service and they also assist in the formulation of treatment strategy. / Chow, Kai Lai. / "May 2009." / Advisers: Francis KL Chan; Joseph JY Sung. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-01, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (M.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 193-235). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.

Liu, Zhi Kai. / Thesis submitted in: December 2006. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-117). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract (English version) --- p.i / Abstract (Chinese version) --- p.v / Acknowledgement --- p.vii / Statement of contribution --- p.x / Table of Contents --- p.xi / List of Tables --- p.xv / List of Figures --- p.xviii / List of Abbreviations --- p.xix / Publications arising from this thesis --- p.xxi / Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction / Chapter 1.1 --- "Lipids, lipoproteins and lipid metabolism" --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.1 --- Cholesterol --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.2 --- Triglycerides --- p.2 / Chapter 1.1.3 --- Lipoproteins and their metabolic pathways --- p.3 / Chapter 1.2 --- Familial combined hyerlipidemia and combined hyperlipidemia --- p.4 / Chapter 1.3 --- Single nucleotide polymorphisms --- p.9 / Chapter 1.3.1 --- SNP genotyping methods --- p.9 / Chapter 1.3.2 --- Association of SNPs with genetic diseases --- p.10 / Chapter 1.4 --- Genetic analysis of FCH and CH --- p.10 / Chapter 1.4.1 --- FCH genome scans --- p.11 / Chapter 1.4.2 --- SNP based candidate gene analysis --- p.11 / Chapter 1.5 --- Candidate genes and SNPs associated with FCH and CH --- p.12 / Chapter 1.5.1 --- Apolipoprotein A1/C3/A4/A5 gene cluster --- p.12 / Chapter 1.5.1.1 --- Apolipoprotein A1 gene --- p.15 / Chapter 1.5.1.2 --- Apolipoprotein C3 gene --- p.16 / Chapter ].5.1.3 --- Apolipoprotein A4 gene --- p.17 / Chapter 1.5.1.4 --- Apolipoprotein A5 gene --- p.18 / Chapter 1.5.2 --- Upstream transcription factor 1 gene --- p.24 / Chapter 1.5.3 --- Lipoprotein lipase gene --- p.25 / Chapter 1.5.4 --- Peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor γ gene --- p.26 / Chapter 1.5.5 --- a-adducin gene --- p.27 / Chapter 1.5.6 --- SNPs selected from the haplotype map --- p.27 / Chapter 1.6 --- Objectives --- p.28 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Materials and methods / Chapter 2.1 --- Overview --- p.31 / Chapter 2.2 --- Routine assessments --- p.32 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Genetic hyperlipidemia survey --- p.32 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Physical examinations --- p.33 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Biochemical measurements --- p.33 / Chapter 2.2.3.1 --- Fasting plasma cholesterol --- p.33 / Chapter 2.2.3.2 --- Fasting plasma triglyceride --- p.34 / Chapter 2.2.3.3 --- Fasting plasma glucose --- p.34 / Chapter 2.3 --- Subjects --- p.34 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- FCH cases --- p.34 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- CH cases --- p.35 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Normal controls --- p.36 / Chapter 2.4 --- DNA extraction from blood specimens --- p.36 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Phenol chloroform method --- p.36 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- High pure PCR template preparation kit (Roche) --- p.37 / Chapter 2.5 --- Genotyping by the MassARRAY system --- p.38 / Chapter 2.6 --- Statistical analyses --- p.40 / Chapter 2.6.1 --- Overview --- p.40 / Chapter 2.6.2 --- Student's t-test --- p.41 / Chapter 2.6.3 --- Pearson's Chi-square test --- p.41 / Chapter 2.6.4 --- Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium --- p.41 / Chapter 2.6.5 --- Binary logistic regression test --- p.42 / Chapter 2.6.6 --- Analysis of covariance --- p.43 / Chapter 2.6.7 --- Haplotype analysis --- p.43 / Chapter 2.6.8 --- Bonferroni's correction --- p.44 / Chapter Chapter Three --- Results / Chapter 3.1 --- Overview --- p.46 / Chapter 3.2 --- Characteristics of the study population --- p.47 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- FCH cases versus controls --- p.47 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- CH cases versus controls --- p.50 / Chapter 3.3 --- Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium --- p.52 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- FCH cases and controls --- p.52 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- CH cases and controls --- p.53 / Chapter 3.4 --- APOA1/C3/A4/A5 gene cluster --- p.56 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- FCH cases versus controls --- p.56 / Chapter 3.4.1.1 --- Genotypic distribution and allelic frequency --- p.56 / Chapter 3.4.1.2 --- Odds ratio --- p.59 / Chapter 3.4.1.3 --- Parameter analysis --- p.61 / Chapter 3.4.1.4 --- Haplotype analysis --- p.68 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- CH cases versus controls --- p.69 / Chapter 3.4.2.1 --- Genotypic distribution and allelic frequency --- p.69 / Chapter 3.4.2.2 --- Odds ratio --- p.70 / Chapter 3.4.2.3 --- Parameter analysis --- p.74 / Chapter 3.4.2.4 --- Haplotype analysis --- p.83 / Chapter 3.5 --- USF1 gene --- p.84 / Chapter 3.5.1 --- FCH cases versus controls --- p.84 / Chapter 3.5.2 --- CH cases versus controls --- p.85 / Chapter 3.6 --- LPL gene --- p.87 / Chapter 3.6.1 --- FCH cases versus controls --- p.87 / Chapter 3.6.2 --- CH cases versus controls --- p.88 / Chapter 3.7 --- PPARγgene --- p.89 / Chapter 3.7.1 --- FCH cases versus controls --- p.89 / Chapter 3.7.2 --- CH cases versus controls --- p.90 / Chapter 3.8 --- ADD] gene --- p.91 / Chapter 3.8.1 --- FCH cases versus controls --- p.91 / Chapter 3.8.2 --- CH cases versus controls --- p.91 / Chapter Chapter Four --- Discussion / Chapter 4.1 --- Comparisons of the findings with these of other studies --- p.93 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- APOA1/C3/A4/A5 gene cluster --- p.93 / Chapter 4.1.1.1 --- APOA1 --- p.93 / Chapter 4.1.1.2 --- APOC3 --- p.94 / Chapter 4.1.1.3 --- APOA4 --- p.96 / Chapter 4.1.1.4 --- APOA4-A5 --- p.96 / Chapter 4.1.1.5 --- APOA5 --- p.97 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- USF1 --- p.101 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- LPL --- p.102 / Chapter 4.1.4 --- PPARγ --- p.102 / Chapter 4.1.5 --- ADD1 --- p.03 / Chapter 4.2 --- Conclusions --- p.103 / Chapter 4.3 --- Implications for future research --- p.104 / References --- p.105

Chang, Jianfang. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 183-217). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

Initiation of breast feeding and duration of any breast feeding are known to differ by ethnic group, but there are limited data on differences in exclusive breast feeding. This study aimed to determine if there are ethnic differences in the initiation and duration of any and exclusive breast feeding. METHODS: Breast-feeding data were obtained from a subsample of 1365 women recruited to a multi-ethnic cohort study (Born in Bradford) between August 2008 and March 2009. Poisson regression was used to investigate the impact of socio-economic, life style and birth factors on ethnic differences in the prevalence of breast feeding. RESULTS: Compared with white British mothers, initiation of breast feeding was significantly higher in all ethnic groups and this persisted after adjustment for socio-economic, life style and birth factors [Pakistani: prevalence rate ratio (PRR) = 1.19 (95% confidence interval 1.10, 1.29); Other South Asian: PRR = 1.29 (1.18, 1.42); Other ethnicities: PRR = 1.33 (1.21, 1.46)]. There were no differences in exclusive breast feeding at 4 months [Pakistani: PRR = 0.77 (0.54, 1.09); Other South Asian: PRR = 1.55 (0.99, 2.43); Other ethnicities: PRR = 1.50 (0.88, 2.56)]. Any breast feeding at 4 months was significantly higher in mothers of all non-white British ethnicities [Pakistani: PRR = 1.27 (1.02, 1.58); Other South Asian: PRR = 1.99 (1.52, 2.62); Other ethnicities: 2.45 (1.86, 3.21)]. CONCLUSIONS: Whilst women of ethnic minority groups were significantly more likely to initiate breast feeding and continue any breast feeding for 4 months compared with white British women, the rates of exclusive breast feeding at 4 months were not significantly different once socio-economic, life style and birth factors were accounted for.