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Abstract Background Bilirubin has been found to protect against overt atherosclerotic diseases, but to date, few studies have investigated the effects of bilirubin especially within the normal range on lower limb atherosclerosis. Therefore, we aimed to assess the associations of bilirubin within normal limits including total bilirubin (TB), conjugated bilirubin (CB) and unconjugated bilirubin (UCB) with lower limb atherosclerosis in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods 7284 T2DM patients with normal levels of serum bilirubin were included in this cross-sectional, real-world study. Patients were divided into quintiles by TB levels ( 13.99 µmol/L). Lower limb ultrasonography was conducted to detect lower limb plaque and stenosis. The association between serum bilirubin and lower limb atherosclerosis was explored by multiple logistic regression. Results A remarkable decrease in the prevalence of lower limb plaque (77.5, 75.3, 70.7, 71.7 and 67.9%) and stenosis (21.1, 17.2, 13.3, 13.0 and 12.0%) was observed across the TB quintiles. Multivariable regression analysis showed that serum TB levels were negatively correlated with higher risks of lower limb plaque and stenosis, both as a continuous variable [OR (95%CI): 0.870 (0.784–0.964), p = 0.008 for plaque; and 0.835 (0.737–0.946), p = 0.005 for stenosis] and as categorized in quintiles (p = 0.015 and 0.016 for plaque and stenosis). Interestingly, serum CB levels were only negatively correlated with lower limb stenosis [OR (95%CI): 0.767 (0.685–0.858), p

BackgroundAs an indicator of abdominal obesity, waist circumference (WC) varied with race and gender in diagnosing metabolic syndrome (MetS). Therefore, it is clinically important to find an alternative indicator of abdominal obesity independent of these factors to diagnose MetS. Our aims were to evaluate the association between waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and MetS and further determine whether WHtR could be used as a simple and practical alternative to WC to diagnose MetS in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).MethodsThis cross-sectional, real-world study recruited 8488 hospitalized T2DM patients including 3719 women (43.8%) aged from 18 to 94 years and 4769 men (56.2%) aged from 18 to 91 years. A WHtR cut-off of 0.52 was used to diagnose MetS in both men and women T2DM patients based on our previous study. The association of WHtR with MetS in T2DM patients was analyzed by binary logistic regression. The consistency of two diagnostic criteria for MetS according to WC and WHtR was determined by Kappa test.ResultsThe prevalence of MetS according to WHtR was 79.4% in women and 68.6% in men T2DM patients, which was very close to the prevalence of MetS according to WC in both women (82.6%) and men (68.3%). The prevalence of MetS diagnosed by WC in both men and women with WHtR ≥ 0.52 was significantly higher than in those with WHtR < 0.52 after adjustment for age and duration of diabetes (89.2 vs. 38.7% for men; 92.8 vs. 57.4% for women; respectively, all p < 0.001). Binary logistic regression analysis displayed that after adjusting for confounding factors, WHtR was significantly associated with the presence of MetS in both men and women (men: OR = 4.821, 95% CI: 3.949–5.885; women: OR = 3.096, 95% CI: 2.484–3.860; respectively, all p < 0.001). Kappa test revealed that there was an excellent consistency between the diagnosis of MetS based on WC and on WHtR in T2DM patients (men: kappa value = 0.929, 95% CI: 0.918–0.940; women: kappa value = 0.874, 95% CI: 0.854–0.894; total: kappa value = 0.911, 95% CI: 0.901–0.921; respectively, all p < 0.001).ConclusionWHtR is independently associated with the presence of MetS and can be used as a simple and practical alternative to WC to diagnose MetS regardless of gender in T2DM patients.

Abstract Background Both nonthyroidal illness syndrome and renal dysfunction are associated with increased mortality risk in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, it is unclear whether combined NTIS and renal dysfunction further increase mortality risk. Therefore, our aim is to investigate whether combined NTIS and renal dysfunction further increases mortality risk in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods A total of 1295 inpatients with AMI were divided into normal group (n = 692), NTIS group (n = 139), renal dysfunction group (n = 304), and combined NTIS and renal dysfunction group (n = 160). Heart function, in-hospital, all-cause and cardiovascular mortality were compared among the four groups. Results After adjustment for age and sex, left ventricular ejection fraction was significantly lower in the combined group (48 ± 11%) than in the NTIS group (52 ± 10%, P = 0.017), the renal dysfunction group (52 ± 10%, P = 0.001) and the normal group (56 ± 8%, P