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Background: The role of cholesterol levels in the development of atrial fibrillation (AF) is still controversial. In addition, whether and to what extent apolipoproteins are associated with the risk of AF is rarely studied. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between blood lipid levels in midlife and subsequent risk of new-onset AF. Methods and findings: This population-based study included 65,136 individuals aged 45 to 60 years without overt cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) from the Swedish Apolipoprotein-Related Mortality Risk (AMORIS) cohort. Lipids were measured in 1985 to 1996, and individuals were followed until December 31, 2019 for incident AF (i.e., study outcome). Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Cox regression, adjusting for age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Over a mean follow-up of 24.2 years (standard deviation 7.5, range 0.2 to 35.9), 13,871 (21.3%) incident AF cases occurred. Higher levels of total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were statistically significantly associated with a lower risk of AF during the first 5 years of follow-up (HR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.41 to 0.99, p = 0.013; HR = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.45 to 0.92, p = 0.016), but not thereafter (HR ranging from 0.94 [95% CI: 0.89 to 1.00, p = 0.038] to 0.96 [95% CI: 0.77 to 1.19, p > 0.05]). Lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I) and higher triglycerides (TG)/HDL-C ratio were statistically significantly associated with a higher risk of AF during the entire follow-up (HR ranging from 1.13 [95% CI: 1.07 to 1.19, p < 0.001] to 1.53 [95% CI: 1.12 to 2.00, p = 0.007]). Apolipoprotein B (ApoB)/ApoA-I ratio was not associated with AF risk. The observed associations were similar among those who developed incident heart failure (HF)/coronary heart disease (CHD) and those who did not. The main limitations of this study include lack of adjustments for lifestyle factors and high blood pressure leading to potential residual confounding. Conclusions: High TC and LDL-C in midlife was associated with a lower risk of AF, but this association was present only within 5 years from lipid measurement and not thereafter. On the contrary, low HDL-C and ApoA-I and high TG/HDL-C ratio were associated with an increased risk of AF over almost 35 years of follow-up. ApoB/ApoA-I ratio was not associated with AF risk. Mozhu Ding and colleagues investigate investigate the association between blood lipid levels in midlife and subsequent risk of new-onset atrial fibrillation in Sweden. Author summary: Why was this study done?: High cholesterol level is an established risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), such as coronary heart disease (CHD). However, the role of cholesterol levels in the development of atrial fibrillation (AF), a very common cardiac arrhythmia in older adults, is debated. Compared to cholesterols, apolipoprotein B (ApoB), apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I), and their ratios have been shown to better predict CVD, but whether and how they are associated with AF is unclear. What did the researchers do and find?: In this large Swedish cohort with blood-based biomarker information, 65,136 individuals free of overt CVD and aged 45 to 60 years at lipid measurement were followed for up to 35 years for new-onset AF. High levels of total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were associated with a lower risk of AF (hazard ratio, HR = 0.61, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.41 to 0.99, p = 0.013; HR = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.45 to 0.92, p = 0.016), but this association was present only during the first 5 years since lipid measurement. On the contrary, low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and ApoA-I and a high triglyceride (TG)/HDL-C ratio were associated with an increased risk of AF throughout the follow-up time (HR ranging from 1.13 [95% CI: 1.07 to 1.19, p < 0.001] to 1.53 [95% CI: 1.12 to 2.00, p = 0.007]). High ApoB/ApoA-I ratio was not associated with the risk of subsequent AF. What do these findings mean?: Dyslipidemia expressed by a high TC or LDL-C, or a poor atherogenic to anti-atherogenic balance, does not seem to be associated with an increased risk of developing AF. Instead, the findings suggest that metabolic syndrome and inflammation, as indicated by low HDL-C and ApoA-I and a high TG/HDL-C ratio, may play a role in the onset of AF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Numerous epidemiological studies have investigated the role of blood lipids in prostate cancer (PCa) risk, though findings remain inconclusive to date. The ongoing research has mainly involved observational studies, which are often prone to confounding. This study aimed to identify the relationship between genetically predicted blood lipid concentrations and PCa.Methods and Findings: Data for low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), apolipoprotein A (apoA) and B (apoB), lipoprotein A (Lp(a)), and PCa were acquired from genome-wide association studies in UK Biobank and the PRACTICAL consortium, respectively. We used a two-sample summary-level Mendelian randomisation (MR) approach with both univariable and multivariable (MVMR) models and utilised a variety of robust methods and sensitivity analyses to assess the possibility of MR assumptions violation. No association was observed between genetically predicted concentrations of HDL, TG, apoA and apoB, and PCa risk. Genetically predicted LDL concentration was positively associated with total PCa in the univariable analysis, but adjustment for HDL, TG, and Lp(a) led to a null association. Genetically predicted concentration of Lp(a) was associated with higher total PCa risk in the univariable (ORweighted median per standard deviation (SD) = 1.091; 95% CI 1.028 to 1.157; P = 0.004) and MVMR analyses after adjustment for the other lipid traits (ORIVW per SD = 1.068; 95% CI 1.005 to 1.134; P = 0.034). Genetically predicted Lp(a) was also associated with advanced (MVMR ORIVW per SD = 1.078; 95% CI 0.999 to 1.163; P = 0.055) and early age onset PCa (MVMR ORIVW per SD = 1.150; 95% CI 1.015,1.303; P = 0.028). Although multiple estimation methods were utilised to minimise the effect of pleiotropy, the presence of any unmeasured pleiotropy cannot be excluded and may limit our findings.Conclusions: We observed that genetically predicted Lp(a) concentrations were associated with an increased PCa risk. Future studies are required to understand the underlying biological pathways of this finding, as it may inform PCa prevention through Lp(a)-lowering strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Perspective, Dimitrios Sagris, Stephanie Harrison, and Gregory Lip discuss new evidence concerning the paradoxical relationship between circulating lipids and atrial fibrillation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A number of epidemiological and genetic studies have attempted to determine whether levels of circulating lipids are associated with risks of various cancers, including breast cancer (BC). However, it remains unclear whether a causal relationship exists between lipids and BC. If alteration of lipid levels also reduced risk of BC, this could present a target for disease prevention. This study aimed to assess a potential causal relationship between genetic variants associated with plasma lipid traits (high-density lipoprotein, HDL; low-density lipoprotein, LDL; triglycerides, TGs) with risk for BC using Mendelian randomization (MR).Methods and Findings: Data from genome-wide association studies in up to 215,551 participants from the Million Veteran Program (MVP) were used to construct genetic instruments for plasma lipid traits. The effect of these instruments on BC risk was evaluated using genetic data from the BCAC (Breast Cancer Association Consortium) based on 122,977 BC cases and 105,974 controls. Using MR, we observed that a 1-standard-deviation genetically determined increase in HDL levels is associated with an increased risk for all BCs (HDL: OR [odds ratio] = 1.08, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.04-1.13, P < 0.001). Multivariable MR analysis, which adjusted for the effects of LDL, TGs, body mass index (BMI), and age at menarche, corroborated this observation for HDL (OR = 1.06, 95% CI = 1.03-1.10, P = 4.9 × 10-4) and also found a relationship between LDL and BC risk (OR = 1.03, 95% CI = 1.01-1.07, P = 0.02). We did not observe a difference in these relationships when stratified by breast tumor estrogen receptor (ER) status. We repeated this analysis using genetic variants independent of the leading association at core HDL pathway genes and found that these variants were also associated with risk for BCs (OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.06-1.16, P = 1.5 × 10-6), including locus-specific associations at ABCA1 (ATP Binding Cassette Subfamily A Member 1), APOE-APOC1-APOC4-APOC2 (Apolipoproteins E, C1, C4, and C2), and CETP (Cholesteryl Ester Transfer Protein). In addition, we found evidence that genetic variation at the ABO locus is associated with both lipid levels and BC. Through multiple statistical approaches, we minimized and tested for the confounding effects of pleiotropy and population stratification on our analysis; however, the possible existence of residual pleiotropy and stratification remains a limitation of this study.Conclusions: We observed that genetically elevated plasma HDL and LDL levels appear to be associated with increased BC risk. Future studies are required to understand the mechanism underlying this putative causal relationship, with the goal of developing potential therapeutic strategies aimed at altering the cholesterol-mediated effect on BC risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Circulating lipoprotein lipids cause coronary heart disease (CHD). However, the precise way in which one or more lipoprotein lipid-related entities account for this relationship remains unclear. Using genetic instruments for lipoprotein lipid traits implemented through multivariable Mendelian randomisation (MR), we sought to compare their causal roles in the aetiology of CHD.Methods and Findings: We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of circulating non-fasted lipoprotein lipid traits in the UK Biobank (UKBB) for low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, and apolipoprotein B to identify lipid-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Using data from CARDIoGRAMplusC4D for CHD (consisting of 60,801 cases and 123,504 controls), we performed univariable and multivariable MR analyses. Similar GWAS and MR analyses were conducted for high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and apolipoprotein A-I. The GWAS of lipids and apolipoproteins in the UKBB included between 393,193 and 441,016 individuals in whom the mean age was 56.9 y (range 39-73 y) and of whom 54.2% were women. The mean (standard deviation) lipid concentrations were LDL cholesterol 3.57 (0.87) mmol/L and HDL cholesterol 1.45 (0.38) mmol/L, and the median triglycerides was 1.50 (IQR = 1.11) mmol/L. The mean (standard deviation) values for apolipoproteins B and A-I were 1.03 (0.24) g/L and 1.54 (0.27) g/L, respectively. The GWAS identified multiple independent SNPs associated at P < 5 × 10-8 for LDL cholesterol (220), apolipoprotein B (n = 255), triglycerides (440), HDL cholesterol (534), and apolipoprotein A-I (440). Between 56%-93% of SNPs identified for each lipid trait had not been previously reported in large-scale GWASs. Almost half (46%) of these SNPs were associated at P < 5 × 10-8 with more than one lipid-related trait. Assessed individually using MR, LDL cholesterol (odds ratio [OR] 1.66 per 1-standard-deviation-higher trait; 95% CI: 1.49-1.86; P < 0.001), triglycerides (OR 1.34; 95% CI: 1.25-1.44; P < 0.001) and apolipoprotein B (OR 1.73; 95% CI: 1.56-1.91; P < 0.001) had effect estimates consistent with a higher risk of CHD. In multivariable MR, only apolipoprotein B (OR 1.92; 95% CI: 1.31-2.81; P < 0.001) retained a robust effect, with the estimate for LDL cholesterol (OR 0.85; 95% CI: 0.57-1.27; P = 0.44) reversing and that of triglycerides (OR 1.12; 95% CI: 1.02-1.23; P = 0.01) becoming weaker. Individual MR analyses showed a 1-standard-deviation-higher HDL cholesterol (OR 0.80; 95% CI: 0.75-0.86; P < 0.001) and apolipoprotein A-I (OR 0.83; 95% CI: 0.77-0.89; P < 0.001) to lower the risk of CHD, but these effect estimates attenuated substantially to the null on accounting for apolipoprotein B. A limitation is that, owing to the nature of lipoprotein metabolism, measures related to the composition of lipoprotein particles are highly correlated, creating a challenge in making exclusive interpretations on causation of individual components.Conclusions: These findings suggest that apolipoprotein B is the predominant trait that accounts for the aetiological relationship of lipoprotein lipids with risk of CHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Preterm birth has previously been linked with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adulthood. However, associations with lipid disorders (e.g., high cholesterol or triglycerides), which are major risk factors for CVD, have seldom been examined and are conflicting. Clinicians will increasingly encounter adult survivors of preterm birth and will need to understand the long-term health sequelae. We conducted the first large population-based study to determine whether preterm birth is associated with an increased risk of lipid disorders.Methods and Findings: A retrospective national cohort study was conducted of all 2,235,012 persons born as singletons in Sweden during 1973 to 1995 (48.6% women), who were followed up for lipid disorders identified from nationwide inpatient, outpatient, and pharmacy data through 2016 (maximum age 44 years). Cox regression was used to adjust for other perinatal and maternal factors, and co-sibling analyses assessed the potential influence of unmeasured shared familial (genetic and/or environmental) factors. A total of 25,050 (1.1%) persons were identified with lipid disorders in 30.3 million person-years of follow-up. Each additional 5 weeks of gestation were associated with a 14% reduction in risk of lipid disorders (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 0.86; 95% CI, 0.83-0.89; P < 0.001). Relative to full-term birth (gestational age 39-41 weeks), the adjusted HR associated with preterm birth (<37 weeks) was 1.23 (95% CI, 1.16-1.29; P < 0.001), and further stratified was 2.00 (1.41-2.85; P < 0.001) for extremely preterm (22-27 weeks), 1.33 (1.19-1.49; P < 0.001) for very preterm (28-33 weeks), and 1.19 (1.12-1.26; P < 0.001) for late preterm (34-36 weeks). These findings were similar in men and women (e.g., preterm versus full-term, men: HR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.14-1.31; P < 0.001; women: HR, 1.23; 1.12-1.32; P < 0.001). Co-sibling analyses suggested that they were substantially though not completely explained by shared genetic or environmental factors in families. The main study limitation was the unavailability of laboratory data to assess specific types or severity of lipid disorders.Conclusions: In this large national cohort, preterm birth was associated with an increased risk of lipid disorders in early- to midadulthood. Persons born prematurely may need early preventive evaluation and long-term monitoring for lipid disorders to reduce their future cardiovascular risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Physical exercise has been shown to be effective in relation to fatigue, aerobic fitness, and lower body strength in men with prostate cancer. However, research into the clinically relevant effects of interventions conducted in heterogeneous patient populations and in real-life clinical practice settings is warranted.Methods and Findings: We conducted a pragmatic, multicentre, parallel randomised controlled trial in 5 Danish urological departments. Recruitment began in May 2015, the first participant was randomised in June 2015, and the last participant was included in February 2017. In total, 214 men with prostate cancer were randomly assigned to either 6 months of free-of-charge football training twice weekly at a local club (football group [FG]) (n = 109) or usual care (usual care group [UG]) (n = 105), including brief information on physical activity recommendations at randomisation. Participants were on average 68.4 (SD 6.2) years old, 157 (73%) were retired, 87 (41%) were on castration-based treatment, 19 (9%) had received chemotherapy, and 41 (19%) had skeletal metastases at baseline. In this 1-year follow-up study, we evaluated the effects of community-based football training on the following outcomes: primary outcome, quality of life; secondary outcomes: continuation of football after 6 months, hip and lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD), mental health score, fat and lean body mass, and safety outcomes, i.e., fractures, falls, and hospital admissions. Intention to treat (ITT) and per protocol (PP) analyses were conducted. No statistically significant between-group difference was observed in change in prostate-cancer-specific quality of life (ITT: 1.9 points [95% CI -1.9 to 5.8], p = 0.325; PP: 3.6 points [95% CI -0.9 to 8.2], p = 0.119). A statistically significant between-group difference was observed in change in total hip BMD, in favour of FG (0.007 g/cm2 [95% CI 0.004 to 0.013], p = 0.037). No differences were observed in change in lumbar spine BMD or lean body mass. Among patients allocated to football, 59% chose to continue playing football after the end of the 6-month intervention period. At 1-year follow-up in the PP population, FG participants had more improvement on the Mental Component Summary (2.9 [95% CI 0.0 to 5.7], p = 0.048 points higher) than UG participants, as well as a greater loss of fat mass (-0.9 kg [95% CI -1.7 to -0.1], p = 0.029). There were no differences between groups in relation to fractures or falls. Hospital admissions were more frequent in UG compared to FG (33 versus 20; the odds ratio based on PP analysis was 0.34 for FG compared to UG). There were 3 deaths in FG and 4 in UG. Main limitations of the study were the physically active control group and assessment of physical activity by means of self-report.Conclusions: In this trial, participants allocated to football appeared to have improved hip BMD and fewer hospital admissions. Men who played football more than once a week for 1 year lost fat mass and reported improved mental health. Community-based football proved to be acceptable, even when club membership was not subsidised.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02430792. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Asians are predisposed to a lean heart failure (HF) phenotype. Data on the 'obesity paradox', reported in Western populations, are scarce in Asia and have only utilised the traditional classification of body mass index (BMI). We aimed to investigate the association between obesity (defined by BMI and abdominal measures) and HF outcomes in Asia.Methods and Findings: Utilising the Asian Sudden Cardiac Death in Heart Failure (ASIAN-HF) registry (11 Asian regions including Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, and Korea; 46 centres with enrolment between 1 October 2012 and 6 October 2016), we prospectively examined 5,964 patients with symptomatic HF (mean age 61.3 ± 13.3 years, 26% women, mean BMI 25.3 ± 5.3 kg/m2, 16% with HF with preserved ejection fraction [HFpEF; ejection fraction ≥ 50%]), among whom 2,051 also had waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) measurements (mean age 60.8 ± 12.9 years, 24% women, mean BMI 25.0 ± 5.2 kg/m2, 7% HFpEF). Patients were categorised by BMI quartiles or WHtR quartiles or 4 combined groups of BMI (low, <24.5 kg/m2 [lean], or high, ≥24.5 kg/m2 [obese]) and WHtR (low, <0.55 [thin], or high, ≥0.55 [fat]). Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine a 1-year composite outcome (HF hospitalisation or mortality). Across BMI quartiles, higher BMI was associated with lower risk of the composite outcome (ptrend < 0.001). Contrastingly, higher WHtR was associated with higher risk of the composite outcome. Individuals in the lean-fat group, with low BMI and high WHtR (13.9%), were more likely to be women (35.4%) and to be from low-income countries (47.7%) (predominantly in South/Southeast Asia), and had higher prevalence of diabetes (46%), worse quality of life scores (63.3 ± 24.2), and a higher rate of the composite outcome (51/232; 22%), compared to the other groups (p < 0.05 for all). Following multivariable adjustment, the lean-fat group had higher adjusted risk of the composite outcome (hazard ratio 1.93, 95% CI 1.17-3.18, p = 0.01), compared to the obese-thin group, with high BMI and low WHtR. Results were consistent across both HF subtypes (HFpEF and HF with reduced ejection fraction [HFrEF]; pinteraction = 0.355). Selection bias and residual confounding are potential limitations of such multinational observational registries.Conclusions: In this cohort of Asian patients with HF, the 'obesity paradox' is observed only when defined using BMI, with WHtR showing the opposite association with the composite outcome. Lean-fat patients, with high WHtR and low BMI, have the worst outcomes. A direct correlation between high WHtR and the composite outcome is apparent in both HFpEF and HFrEF.Trial Registration: Asian Sudden Cardiac Death in HF (ASIAN-HF) Registry ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01633398. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite dietary recommendations of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) for cardiometabolic health, n-3 and n-6 PUFAs and their interplay in relation to diabetes risk remain debated. Importantly, data among pregnant women are scarce. We investigated individual plasma phospholipid n-3 and n-6 PUFAs in early to midpregnancy in relation to subsequent risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).Methods and Findings: Within the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Fetal Growth Studies-Singleton Cohort (n = 2,802), individual plasma phospholipid n-3 and n-6 PUFAs levels were measured at gestational weeks (GWs) 10-14, 15-26, 23-31, and 33-39 among 107 GDM cases (ascertained on average at GW 27) and 214 non-GDM controls. Conditional logistic regression was used, adjusting for major risk factors for GDM. After adjusting for covariates, individual n-3 eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were inversely correlated with insulin-resistance markers, whereas individual n-6 dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA) was positively correlated with insulin-resistance markers. At GW 15-26, a standard deviation (SD) increase in total n-3 PUFAs and individual n-3 DPA was associated with a 36% (adjusted odds ratio 0.64; 95% CI 0.42-0.96; P = 0.042) and 33% (0.67; 95% CI 0.45-0.99; P = 0.047) lower risk of GDM, respectively; however, the significance did not persist after post hoc false-discovery rate (FDR) correction (FDR-corrected P values > 0.05). Associations between total n-6 PUFAs and GDM were null, whereas associations with individual n-6 PUFAs were differential. Per SD increase, gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) at GWs 10-14 and DGLA at GWs 10-14 and 15-26 were significantly associated with a 1.40- to 1.95-fold higher risk of GDM, whereas docosatetraenoic acid (DTA) at GW 15-26 was associated with a 45% (0.55; 95% CI 0.37-0.83) lower risk of GDM (all FDR-corrected P values < 0.05). Null associations were observed for linoleic acid (LA) in either gestational window in relation to risk of GDM. Women with high (≥median) n-3 PUFAs and low (Conclusions: Our findings may suggest a potential role of primarily endogenously metabolized plasma phospholipid n-6 PUFAs including GLA, DGLA, and DTA in early to midpregnancy in the development of GDM. Null findings on primarily diet-derived n-3 EPA and DHA and n-6 LA do not provide strong evidence to suggest a beneficial role in prevention of GDM, although not excluding the potential benefit of EPA and DHA on glucose-insulin homeostasis given the inverse associations with insulin-resistance markers. Our findings highlight the importance of assessing individual circulating PUFAs to investigate their distinct pathophysiologic roles in glucose homeostasis in pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accelerated growth in early childhood is an established risk factor for later obesity and cardiometabolic disease, but the relative importance of fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM) accretion is not well understood. We aimed to study how FM and FFM at birth and their accretion during infancy were associated with body composition and cardiometabolic risk markers at 5 years.Methods and Findings: Healthy children born at term were enrolled in the Infant Anthropometry and Body Composition (iABC) birth cohort between December 2008 and October 2012 at Jimma University Specialized Hospital in the city of Jimma, Ethiopia. FM and FFM were assessed using air displacement plethysmography a median of 6 times between birth and 6 months of age. In 507 children, we estimated individual FM and FFM at birth and their accretion over 0-3 and 3-6 months of age using linear-spline mixed-effects modelling. We analysed associations of FM and FFM at birth and their accretion in infancy with height, waist circumference, FM, FFM, and cardiometabolic risk markers at 5 years using multiple linear regression analysis. A total of 340 children were studied at the 5-year follow-up (mean age: 60.0 months; girls: 50.3%; mean wealth index: 45.5 out of 100; breastfeeding status at 4.5 to 6 months post-partum: 12.5% exclusive, 21.4% almost exclusive, 60.6% predominant, 5.5% partial/none). Higher FM accretion in infancy was associated with higher FM and waist circumference at 5 years. For instance, 100-g/month higher FM accretion in the periods 0-3 and 3-6 months was associated with 339 g (95% CI: 243-435 g, p < 0.001) and 367 g (95% CI: 250-484 g, p < 0.001) greater FM at 5 years, respectively. Higher FM at birth and FM accretion from 0 to 3 months were associated with higher FFM and cholesterol concentrations at 5 years. Associations for cholesterol were strongest for low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, and remained significant after adjusting for current FM. A 100-g higher FM at birth and 100-g/month higher FM accretion from 0 to 3 months were associated with 0.16 mmol/l (95% CI: 0.05-0.26 mmol/l, p = 0.005) and 0.06 mmol/l (95% CI: 0.01-0.12 mmol/l, p = 0.016) higher LDL-cholesterol at 5 years, respectively. Higher FFM at birth and FFM accretion in infancy were associated with higher FM, FFM, waist circumference, and height at 5 years. For instance, 100-g/month higher FFM accretion in the periods 0-3 and 3-6 months was associated with 1,002 g (95% CI: 815-1,189 g, p < 0.001) and 624 g (95% CI: 419-829 g, p < 0.001) greater FFM at 5 years, respectively. We found no associations of FM and FFM growth with any of the other studied cardiometabolic markers including glucose, HbA1c, insulin, C-peptide, HOMA-IR, triglycerides, and blood pressure. Non-attendance at the 5-year follow-up visit was the main limitation of this study, which may have introduced selection bias and limited the power of the regression analyses.Conclusions: FM accretion in early life was positively associated with markers of adiposity and lipid metabolism, but not with blood pressure and cardiometabolic markers related to glucose homeostasis. FFM accretion was primarily related to linear growth and FFM at 5 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Metformin is increasingly offered as an acceptable and economic alternative to insulin for treatment of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in many countries. However, the impact of maternal metformin treatment on the trajectory of fetal, infant, and childhood growth is unknown.Methods and Findings: PubMed, Ovid Embase, Medline, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov, and the Cochrane database were systematically searched (from database inception to 26 February 2019). Outcomes of GDM-affected pregnancies randomised to treatment with metformin versus insulin were included (randomised controlled trials and prospective randomised controlled studies) from cohorts including European, American, Asian, Australian, and African women. Studies including pregnant women with pre-existing diabetes or non-diabetic women were excluded, as were trials comparing metformin treatment with oral glucose-lowering agents other than insulin. Two reviewers independently assessed articles for eligibility and risk of bias, and conflicts were resolved by a third reviewer. Outcome measures were parameters of fetal, infant, and childhood growth, including weight, height, BMI, and body composition. In total, 28 studies (n = 3,976 participants) met eligibility criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. No studies reported fetal growth parameters; 19 studies (n = 3,723 neonates) reported measures of neonatal growth. Neonates born to metformin-treated mothers had lower birth weights (mean difference -107.7 g, 95% CI -182.3 to -32.7, I2 = 83%, p = 0.005) and lower ponderal indices (mean difference -0.13 kg/m3, 95% CI -0.26 to 0.00, I2 = 0%, p = 0.04) than neonates of insulin-treated mothers. The odds of macrosomia (odds ratio [OR] 0.59, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.77, p < 0.001) and large for gestational age (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.62 to 0.99, p = 0.04) were lower following maternal treatment with metformin compared to insulin. There was no difference in neonatal height or incidence of small for gestational age between groups. Two studies (n = 411 infants) reported measures of infant growth (18-24 months of age). In contrast to the neonatal phase, metformin-exposed infants were significantly heavier than those in the insulin-exposed group (mean difference 440 g, 95% CI 50 to 830, I2 = 4%, p = 0.03). Three studies (n = 520 children) reported mid-childhood growth parameters (5-9 years). In mid-childhood, BMI was significantly higher (mean difference 0.78 kg/m2, 95% CI 0.23 to 1.33, I2 = 7%, p = 0.005) following metformin exposure than following insulin exposure, although the difference in absolute weights between the groups was not significantly different (p = 0.09). Limited evidence (1 study with data treated as 2 cohorts) suggested that adiposity indices (abdominal [p = 0.02] and visceral [p = 0.03] fat volumes) may be higher in children born to metformin-treated compared to insulin-treated mothers. Study limitations include heterogeneity in metformin dosing, heterogeneity in diagnostic criteria for GDM, and the scarcity of reporting of childhood outcomes.Conclusions: Following intrauterine exposure to metformin for treatment of maternal GDM, neonates are significantly smaller than neonates whose mothers were treated with insulin during pregnancy. Despite lower average birth weight, metformin-exposed children appear to experience accelerated postnatal growth, resulting in heavier infants and higher BMI by mid-childhood compared to children whose mothers were treated with insulin. Such patterns of low birth weight and postnatal catch-up growth have been reported to be associated with adverse long-term cardio-metabolic outcomes. This suggests a need for further studies examining longitudinal perinatal and childhood outcomes following intrauterine metformin exposure. This review protocol was registered with PROSPERO under registration number CRD42018117503. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The National Health Service (NHS) in England introduced a population-wide programme for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention in 2009, known as NHS Health Checks. This research aimed to measure the cardiovascular risk management and cardiovascular risk factor outcomes of the health check programme during six years' follow-up.Methods and Findings: A controlled interrupted time series study was conducted. Participants were registered with general practices in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) in England and received health checks between 1 April 2010 and 31 December 2013. Control participants, who did not receive a health check, were matched for age, sex, and general practice. Outcomes were blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), smoking, and total cholesterol (TC) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL). Analyses estimated the net effect of health check by year, allowing for the underlying trend in risk factor values and baseline differences between cases and controls, adjusting for age, sex, deprivation, and clustering by general practice. There were 127,891 health check participants and 322,910 matched controls. Compared with controls, health check participants had lower BMI (cases mean 27.0, SD 4.8; controls 27.3, SD 5.6, Kg/m2), systolic blood pressure (SBP) (cases 129.0, SD 14.3; controls 129.3, SD 15.0, mm Hg), and smoking (21% in health check participants versus 27% in controls), but total and HDL cholesterol were similar. Health check participants were more likely to receive weight management advice (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 5.03, 4.98 to 5.08, P < 0.001), smoking cessation interventions (HR 3.20, 3.13 to 3.27, P < 0.001), or statins (HR 1.24, 1.21 to 1.27, P < 0.001). There were net reductions in risk factor values up to six years after the check for BMI (-0.30, -0.39 to -0.20 Kg/m2, P < 0.001), SBP (-1.43, -1.70 to -1.16 mm Hg, P < 0.001), and smoking (17% in health check participants versus 25% in controls; odds ratio 0.90, 0.87 to 0.94, P < 0.001). The main study limitation was that residual confounding may be present because randomisation was not employed; health check-associated measurement introduced differential recording that might cause bias.Conclusions: Our results suggest that people who take up a health check generally have lower risk factor values than controls and are more likely to receive risk factor interventions. Risk factor values show net reductions up to six years following a health check in BMI, blood pressure, and smoking, which may be of public health importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is ongoing debate about whether education or socioeconomic status (SES) should be inputs into cardiovascular disease (CVD) prediction algorithms and clinical risk adjustment models. It is also unclear whether intervening on education will affect CVD, in part because there is controversy regarding whether education is a determinant of CVD or merely correlated due to confounding or reverse causation. We took advantage of a natural experiment to estimate the population-level effects of educational attainment on CVD and related risk factors.Methods and Findings: We took advantage of variation in United States state-level compulsory schooling laws (CSLs), a natural experiment that was associated with geographic and temporal differences in the minimum number of years that children were required to attend school. We linked census data on educational attainment (N = approximately 5.4 million) during childhood with outcomes in adulthood, using cohort data from the 1992-2012 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; N = 30,853) and serial cross-sectional data from 1971-2012 waves of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES; N = 44,732). We examined self-reported CVD outcomes and related risk factors, as well as relevant serum biomarkers. Using instrumental variables (IV) analysis, we found that increased educational attainment was associated with reduced smoking (HRS β -0.036, 95%CI: -0.06, -0.02, p < 0.01; NHANES β -0.032, 95%CI: -0.05, -0.02, p < 0.01), depression (HRS β -0.049, 95%CI: -0.07, -0.03, p < 0.01), triglycerides (NHANES β -0.039, 95%CI: -0.06, -0.01, p < 0.01), and heart disease (HRS β -0.025, 95%CI: -0.04, -0.002, p = 0.01), and improvements in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (HRS β 1.50, 95%CI: 0.34, 2.49, p < 0.01; NHANES β 0.86, 95%CI: 0.32, 1.48, p < 0.01), but increased BMI (HRS β 0.20, 95%CI: 0.002, 0.40, p = 0.05; NHANES β 0.13, 95%CI: 0.01, 0.32, p = 0.05) and total cholesterol (HRS β 2.73, 95%CI: 0.09, 4.97, p = 0.03). While most findings were cross-validated across both data sets, they were not robust to the inclusion of state fixed effects. Limitations included residual confounding, use of self-reported outcomes for some analyses, and possibly limited generalizability to more recent cohorts.Conclusions: This study provides rigorous population-level estimates of the association of educational attainment with CVD. These findings may guide future implementation of interventions to address the social determinants of CVD and strengthen the argument for including educational attainment in prediction algorithms and primary prevention guidelines for CVD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease and have become leading causes of morbidity and mortality among Palestinian refugees in the Middle East, many of whom live in long-term settlements and receive grain-based food aid. The objective of this study was to estimate changes in type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality attributable to a transition from traditional food aid to either (i) a debit card restricted to food purchases, (ii) cash, or (iii) an alternative food parcel with less grain and more fruits and vegetables, each valued at $30/person/month.Methods and Findings: An individual-level microsimulation was created to estimate relationships between food aid delivery method, food consumption, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality using demographic data from the United Nations (UN; 2017) on 5,340,443 registered Palestinian refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank, food consumption data (2011-2017) from households receiving traditional food parcel delivery of food aid (n = 1,507 households) and electronic debit card delivery of food aid (n = 1,047 households), and health data from a random 10% sample of refugees receiving medical care through the UN (2012-2015; n = 516,386). Outcome metrics included incidence per 1,000 person-years of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease events, microvascular events (end-stage renal disease, diabetic neuropathy, and proliferative diabetic retinopathy), and all-cause mortality. The model estimated changes in total calories, sodium and potassium intake, fatty acid intake, and overall dietary quality (Mediterranean Dietary Score [MDS]) as mediators to each outcome metric. We did not observe that a change from food parcel to electronic debit card delivery of food aid or to cash aid led to a meaningful change in consumption, biomarkers, or disease outcomes. By contrast, a shift to an alternative food parcel with less grain and more fruits and vegetables was estimated to produce a 0.08 per 1,000 person-years decrease in the incidence of hypertension (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.05-0.11), 0.18 per 1,000 person-years decrease in the incidence of type 2 diabetes (95% CI 0.14-0.22), 0.18 per 1,000 person-years decrease in the incidence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease events (95% CI 0.17-0.19), and 0.02 decrease per 1,000 person-years all-cause mortality (95% CI 0.01 decrease to 0.04 increase) among those receiving aid. The benefits of this shift, however, could be neutralized by a small (2%) increase in compensatory (out-of-pocket) increases in consumption of refined grains, fats and oils, or confectionaries. A larger alternative parcel requiring an increase in total food aid expenditure by 27% would be more likely to have a clinically meaningful improvement on type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease incidence.Conclusions: Contrary to the supposition in the literature, our findings do not robustly support the theory that transitioning from traditional food aid to either debit card or cash delivery alone would necessarily reduce chronic disease outcomes. Rather, an alternative food parcel would be more effective, even after matching current budget ceilings. But compensatory increases in consumption of less healthy foods may neutralize the improvements from an alternative food parcel unless total aid funding were increased substantially. Our analysis is limited by uncertainty in estimates of modeling long-term outcomes from shorter-term trials, focusing on diabetes and cardiovascular outcomes for which validated equations are available instead of all nutrition-associated health outcomes, and using data from food frequency questionnaires in the absence of 24-hour dietary recall data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We aimed to investigate prospective associations of circulating or adipose tissue odd-chain fatty acids 15:0 and 17:0 and trans-palmitoleic acid, t16:1n-7, as potential biomarkers of dairy fat intake, with incident type 2 diabetes (T2D).Methods and Findings: Sixteen prospective cohorts from 12 countries (7 from the United States, 7 from Europe, 1 from Australia, 1 from Taiwan) performed new harmonised individual-level analysis for the prospective associations according to a standardised plan. In total, 63,682 participants with a broad range of baseline ages and BMIs and 15,180 incident cases of T2D over the average of 9 years of follow-up were evaluated. Study-specific results were pooled using inverse-variance-weighted meta-analysis. Prespecified interactions by age, sex, BMI, and race/ethnicity were explored in each cohort and were meta-analysed. Potential heterogeneity by cohort-specific characteristics (regions, lipid compartments used for fatty acid assays) was assessed with metaregression. After adjustment for potential confounders, including measures of adiposity (BMI, waist circumference) and lipogenesis (levels of palmitate, triglycerides), higher levels of 15:0, 17:0, and t16:1n-7 were associated with lower incidence of T2D. In the most adjusted model, the hazard ratio (95% CI) for incident T2D per cohort-specific 10th to 90th percentile range of 15:0 was 0.80 (0.73-0.87); of 17:0, 0.65 (0.59-0.72); of t16:1n7, 0.82 (0.70-0.96); and of their sum, 0.71 (0.63-0.79). In exploratory analyses, similar associations for 15:0, 17:0, and the sum of all three fatty acids were present in both genders but stronger in women than in men (pinteraction < 0.001). Whereas studying associations with biomarkers has several advantages, as limitations, the biomarkers do not distinguish between different food sources of dairy fat (e.g., cheese, yogurt, milk), and residual confounding by unmeasured or imprecisely measured confounders may exist.Conclusions: In a large meta-analysis that pooled the findings from 16 prospective cohort studies, higher levels of 15:0, 17:0, and t16:1n-7 were associated with a lower risk of T2D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Multiple occasions of device-measured physical activity have not been previously examined in relation to metabolic traits. We described associations of total activity, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and sedentary time from three accelerometry measures taken across adolescence with detailed traits related to systemic metabolism.Methods and Findings: There were 1,826 male and female participants recruited at birth in 1991-1992 via mothers into the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children offspring cohort who attended clinics in 2003-2005, 2005-2006, and 2006-2008 who were included in ≥1 analysis. Waist-worn uniaxial accelerometers measured total activity (counts/min), MVPA (min/d), and sedentary time (min/d) over ≥3 d at mean age 12y, 14y, and 15y. Current activity (at age 15y), mean activity across occasions, interaction by previous activity, and change in activity were examined in relation to systolic and diastolic blood pressure, insulin, C-reactive protein, and 230 traits from targeted metabolomics (nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy), including lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides, amino and fatty acids, glycoprotein acetyls, and others, at age 15y. Mean current total activity was 477.5 counts/min (SD = 164.0) while mean MVPA and sedentary time durations were 23.6 min/d (SD = 17.9) and 522.1 min/d (SD = 66.0), respectively. Mean body mass index at age 15y was 21.4 kg/m2 (SD = 3.5). Correlations between first and last activity measurement occasions were low (e.g., r = 0.40 for counts/min). Current activity was most strongly associated with cholesterol and triglycerides in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) particles (e.g., -0.002 mmol/l or -0.18 SD units; 95% CI -0.24--0.11 for triglycerides in chylomicrons and extremely large very low-density lipoprotein [XL VLDL]) and with glycoprotein acetyls (-0.02 mmol/l or -0.16 SD units; 95% CI -0.22--0.10), among others. Associations were similar for mean activity across 3 occasions. Attenuations were modest with adjustment for fat mass index based on dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). In mutually adjusted models, higher MVPA and sedentary time were oppositely associated with cholesterol and triglycerides in VLDL and HDL particles (MVPA more strongly with glycoprotein acetyls and sedentary time more strongly with amino acids). Associations appeared less consistent for sedentary time than for MVPA based on longer-term measures and were weak for change in all activity types from age 12y-15y. Evidence was also weak for interaction between activity types at age 15y and previous activity measures in relation to most traits (minimum P = 0.003; median P = 0.26 for counts/min) with interaction coefficients mostly positive. Study limitations include modest sample sizes and relatively short durations of accelerometry measurement on each occasion (3-7 d) and of time lengths between first and last accelerometry occasions (<4 years), which can obscure patterns from chance variation and limit description of activity trajectories. Activity was also recorded using uniaxial accelerometers which predated more sensitive triaxial devices.Conclusions: Our results support associations of physical activity with metabolic traits that are small in magnitude and more robust for higher MVPA than lower sedentary time. Activity fluctuates over time, but associations of current activity with most metabolic traits do not differ by previous activity. This suggests that the metabolic effects of physical activity, if causal, depend on most recent engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Observations from statin clinical trials and from Mendelian randomization studies suggest that low low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations may be associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Despite the findings from statin clinical trials and genetic studies, there is little direct evidence implicating low LDL-C concentrations in increased risk of T2DM.Methods and Findings: We used de-identified electronic health records (EHRs) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center to compare the risk of T2DM in a cross-sectional study among individuals with very low (≤60 mg/dl, N = 8,943) and normal (90-130 mg/dl, N = 71,343) LDL-C levels calculated using the Friedewald formula. LDL-C levels associated with statin use, hospitalization, or a serum albumin level < 3 g/dl were excluded. We used a 2-phase approach: in 1/3 of the sample (discovery) we used T2DM phenome-wide association study codes (phecodes) to identify cases and controls, and in the remaining 2/3 (validation) we identified T2DM cases and controls using a validated algorithm. The analysis plan for the validation phase was constructed at the time of the design of that component of the study. The prevalence of T2DM in the very low and normal LDL-C groups was compared using logistic regression with adjustment for age, race, sex, body mass index (BMI), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, and duration of care. Secondary analyses included prespecified stratification by sex, race, BMI, and LDL-C level. In the discovery cohort, phecodes related to T2DM were significantly more frequent in the very low LDL-C group. In the validation cohort (N = 33,039 after applying the T2DM algorithm to identify cases and controls), the risk of T2DM was increased in the very low compared to normal LDL-C group (odds ratio [OR] 2.06, 95% CI 1.80-2.37; P < 2 × 10-16). The findings remained significant in sensitivity analyses. The association between low LDL-C levels and T2DM was significant in males (OR 2.43, 95% CI 2.00-2.95; P < 2 × 10-16) and females (OR 1.74, 95% CI 1.42-2.12; P = 6.88 × 10-8); in normal weight (OR 2.18, 95% CI 1.59-2.98; P = 1.1× 10-6), overweight (OR 2.17, 95% CI 1.65-2.83; P = 1.73× 10-8), and obese (OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.65-2.41; P = 8 × 10-13) categories; and in individuals with LDL-C < 40 mg/dl (OR 2.31, 95% CI 1.71-3.10; P = 3.01× 10-8) and LDL-C 40-60 mg/dl (OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.71-2.32; P < 2.0× 10-16). The association was significant in individuals of European ancestry (OR 2.67, 95% CI 2.25-3.17; P < 2 × 10-16) but not in those of African ancestry (OR 1.09, 95% CI 0.81-1.46; P = 0.56). A limitation was that we only compared groups with very low and normal LDL-C levels; also, since this was not an inception cohort, we cannot exclude the possibility of reverse causation.Conclusions: Very low LDL-C concentrations occurring in the absence of statin treatment were significantly associated with T2DM risk in a large EHR population; this increased risk was present in both sexes and all BMI categories, and in individuals of European ancestry but not of African ancestry. Longitudinal cohort studies to assess the relationship between very low LDL-C levels not associated with lipid-lowering therapy and risk of developing T2DM will be important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Earlier puberty is widely linked with future obesity and cardiometabolic disease. We examined whether age at puberty onset likely influences adiposity and cardiometabolic traits independent of childhood adiposity.Methods and Findings: One-sample Mendelian randomisation (MR) analyses were conducted on up to 3,611 white-European female and male offspring from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort recruited at birth via mothers between 1 April 1991 and 31 December 1992. Time-sensitive exposures were age at menarche and age at voice breaking. Outcomes measured at age 18 y were body mass index (BMI), dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry-based fat and lean mass indices, blood pressure, and 230 cardiometabolic traits derived from targeted metabolomics (150 concentrations plus 80 ratios from nuclear magnetic resonance [NMR] spectroscopy covering lipoprotein subclasses of cholesterol and triglycerides, amino acids, inflammatory glycoproteins, and others). Adjustment was made for pre-pubertal BMI measured at age 8 y. For negative control MR analyses, BMI and cardiometabolic trait measures taken at age 8 y (before puberty, and which therefore cannot be an outcome of puberty itself) were used. For replication analyses, 2-sample MR was conducted using summary genome-wide association study data on up to 322,154 adults for post-pubertal BMI, 24,925 adults for post-pubertal NMR cardiometabolic traits, and 13,848 children for pre-pubertal obesity (negative control). Like observational estimates, 1-sample MR estimates in ALSPAC using 351 polymorphisms for age at menarche (explaining 10.6% of variance) among 2,053 females suggested that later age at menarche (per year) was associated with -1.38 kg/m2 of BMI at age 18 y (or -0.34 SD units, 95% CI -0.46, -0.23; P = 9.77 × 10-09). This coefficient attenuated 10-fold upon adjustment for BMI at age 8 y, to -0.12 kg/m2 (or -0.03 SDs, 95% CI -0.13, 0.07; P = 0.55). Associations with blood pressure were similar, but associations across other traits were small and inconsistent. In negative control MR analyses, later age at menarche was associated with -0.77 kg/m2 of pre-pubertal BMI measured at age 8 y (or -0.39 SDs, 95% CI -0.50, -0.29; P = 6.28 × 10-13), indicating that variants influencing menarche also influence BMI before menarche. Cardiometabolic trait associations were weaker and less consistent among males and both sexes combined. Higher BMI at age 8 y (per 1 kg/m2 using 95 polymorphisms for BMI explaining 3.4% of variance) was associated with earlier menarche among 2,648 females (by -0.26 y, 95% CI -0.37, -0.16; P = 1.16 × 10-06), likewise among males and both sexes combined. In 2-sample MR analyses using 234 polymorphisms and inverse variance weighted (IVW) regression, each year later age at menarche was associated with -0.81 kg/m2 of adult BMI (or -0.17 SD units, 95% CI -0.21, -0.12; P = 4.00 × 10-15). Associations were weaker with cardiometabolic traits. Using 202 polymorphisms, later menarche was associated with lower odds of childhood obesity (IVW-based odds ratio = 0.52 per year later, 95% CI 0.48, 0.57; P = 6.64 × 10-15). Study limitations include modest sample sizes for 1-sample MR, lack of inference to non-white-European populations, potential selection bias through modest completion rates of puberty questionnaires, and likely disproportionate measurement error of exposures by sex. The cardiometabolic traits examined were heavily lipid-focused and did not include hormone-related traits such as insulin and insulin-like growth factors.Conclusions: Our results suggest that puberty timing has a small influence on adiposity and cardiometabolic traits and that preventive interventions should instead focus on reducing childhood adiposity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The association of metabolic syndrome (MetS) with the development of Parkinson disease (PD) is currently unclear. We sought to determine whether MetS and its components are associated with the risk of incident PD using large-scale cohort data for the whole South Korean population.Methods and Findings: Health checkup data of 17,163,560 individuals aged ≥40 years provided by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) of South Korea between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2012, were included, and participants were followed up until December 31, 2015. The mean follow-up duration was 5.3 years. The hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of PD were estimated using a Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for potential confounders. We identified 44,205 incident PD cases during follow-up. Individuals with MetS (n = 5,848,508) showed an increased risk of PD development compared with individuals without MetS (n = 11,315,052), even after adjusting for potential confounders including age, sex, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, income, body mass index, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and history of stroke (model 3; HR, 95% CI: 1.24, 1.21-1.27). Each MetS component was positively associated with PD risk (HR, 95% CI: 1.13, 1.10-1.16 for abdominal obesity; 1.13, 1.10-1.15 for hypertriglyceridemia; 1.23, 1.20-1.25 for low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; 1.05, 1.03-1.08 for high blood pressure; 1.21, 1.18-1.23 for hyperglycemia). PD incidence positively correlated with the number of MetS components (log-rank p < 0.001), and we observed a gradual increase in the HR for incident PD with increasing number of components (p < 0.001). A significant interaction between age and MetS on the risk of incident PD was observed (p for interaction < 0.001), and people aged ≥65 years old with MetS showed the highest HR of incident PD of all subgroups compared to those <65 years old without MetS (reference subgroup). Limitations of this study include the possibilities of misdiagnosis of PD and reverse causality.Conclusions: Our population-based large-scale cohort study suggests that MetS and its components may be risk factors of PD development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a Perspective, Joshua Knowles and Euan Ashley discuss the potential for use of genetic risk scores in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Clinical practice guidelines have traditionally recommended blood pressure treatment based primarily on blood pressure thresholds. In contrast, using predicted cardiovascular risk has been advocated as a more effective strategy to guide treatment decisions for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention. We aimed to compare outcomes from a blood pressure-lowering treatment strategy based on predicted cardiovascular risk with one based on systolic blood pressure (SBP) level.Methods and Findings: We used individual participant data from the Blood Pressure Lowering Treatment Trialists' Collaboration (BPLTTC) from 1995 to 2013. Trials randomly assigned participants to either blood pressure-lowering drugs versus placebo or more intensive versus less intensive blood pressure-lowering regimens. We estimated 5-y risk of CVD events using a multivariable Weibull model previously developed in this dataset. We compared the two strategies at specific SBP thresholds and across the spectrum of risk and blood pressure levels studied in BPLTTC trials. The primary outcome was number of CVD events avoided per persons treated. We included data from 11 trials (47,872 participants). During a median of 4.0 y of follow-up, 3,566 participants (7.5%) experienced a major cardiovascular event. Areas under the curve comparing the two treatment strategies throughout the range of possible thresholds for CVD risk and SBP demonstrated that, on average, a greater number of CVD events would be avoided for a given number of persons treated with the CVD risk strategy compared with the SBP strategy (area under the curve 0.71 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.70-0.72] for the CVD risk strategy versus 0.54 [95% CI 0.53-0.55] for the SBP strategy). Compared with treating everyone with SBP ≥ 150 mmHg, a CVD risk strategy would require treatment of 29% (95% CI 26%-31%) fewer persons to prevent the same number of events or would prevent 16% (95% CI 14%-18%) more events for the same number of persons treated. Compared with treating everyone with SBP ≥ 140 mmHg, a CVD risk strategy would require treatment of 3.8% (95% CI 12.5% fewer to 7.2% more) fewer persons to prevent the same number of events or would prevent 3.1% (95% CI 1.5%-5.0%) more events for the same number of persons treated, although the former estimate was not statistically significant. In subgroup analyses, the CVD risk strategy did not appear to be more beneficial than the SBP strategy in patients with diabetes mellitus or established CVD.Conclusions: A blood pressure-lowering treatment strategy based on predicted cardiovascular risk is more effective than one based on blood pressure levels alone across a range of thresholds. These results support using cardiovascular risk assessment to guide blood pressure treatment decision-making in moderate- to high-risk individuals, particularly for primary prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The metabolic basis of Alzheimer disease (AD) is poorly understood, and the relationships between systemic abnormalities in metabolism and AD pathogenesis are unclear. Understanding how global perturbations in metabolism are related to severity of AD neuropathology and the eventual expression of AD symptoms in at-risk individuals is critical to developing effective disease-modifying treatments. In this study, we undertook parallel metabolomics analyses in both the brain and blood to identify systemic correlates of neuropathology and their associations with prodromal and preclinical measures of AD progression.Methods and Findings: Quantitative and targeted metabolomics (Biocrates AbsoluteIDQ [identification and quantification] p180) assays were performed on brain tissue samples from the autopsy cohort of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) (N = 44, mean age = 81.33, % female = 36.36) from AD (N = 15), control (CN; N = 14), and "asymptomatic Alzheimer's disease" (ASYMAD, i.e., individuals with significant AD pathology but no cognitive impairment during life; N = 15) participants. Using machine-learning methods, we identified a panel of 26 metabolites from two main classes-sphingolipids and glycerophospholipids-that discriminated AD and CN samples with accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of 83.33%, 86.67%, and 80%, respectively. We then assayed these 26 metabolites in serum samples from two well-characterized longitudinal cohorts representing prodromal (Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative [ADNI], N = 767, mean age = 75.19, % female = 42.63) and preclinical (BLSA) (N = 207, mean age = 78.68, % female = 42.63) AD, in which we tested their associations with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of AD-related brain atrophy, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers of AD pathology, risk of conversion to incident AD, and trajectories of cognitive performance. We developed an integrated blood and brain endophenotype score that summarized the relative importance of each metabolite to severity of AD pathology and disease progression (Endophenotype Association Score in Early Alzheimer's Disease [EASE-AD]). Finally, we mapped the main metabolite classes emerging from our analyses to key biological pathways implicated in AD pathogenesis. We found that distinct sphingolipid species including sphingomyelin (SM) with acyl residue sums C16:0, C18:1, and C16:1 (SM C16:0, SM C18:1, SM C16:1) and hydroxysphingomyelin with acyl residue sum C14:1 (SM (OH) C14:1) were consistently associated with severity of AD pathology at autopsy and AD progression across prodromal and preclinical stages. Higher log-transformed blood concentrations of all four sphingolipids in cognitively normal individuals were significantly associated with increased risk of future conversion to incident AD: SM C16:0 (hazard ratio [HR] = 4.430, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.703-11.520, p = 0.002), SM C16:1 (HR = 3.455, 95% CI = 1.516-7.873, p = 0.003), SM (OH) C14:1 (HR = 3.539, 95% CI = 1.373-9.122, p = 0.009), and SM C18:1 (HR = 2.255, 95% CI = 1.047-4.855, p = 0.038). The sphingolipid species identified map to several biologically relevant pathways implicated in AD, including tau phosphorylation, amyloid-β (Aβ) metabolism, calcium homeostasis, acetylcholine biosynthesis, and apoptosis. Our study has limitations: the relatively small number of brain tissue samples may have limited our power to detect significant associations, control for heterogeneity between groups, and replicate our findings in independent, autopsy-derived brain samples.Conclusions: We present a novel framework to identify biologically relevant brain and blood metabolites associated with disease pathology and progression during the prodromal and preclinical stages of AD. Our results show that perturbations in sphingolipid metabolism are consistently associated with endophenotypes across preclinical and prodromal AD, as well as with AD pathology at autopsy. Sphingolipids may be biologically relevant biomarkers for the early detection of AD, and correcting perturbations in sphingolipid metabolism may be a plausible and novel therapeutic strategy in AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Data Collection on Adverse Events of Anti-HIV Drugs (D:A:D) study has developed predictive risk scores for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD, defined as confirmed estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR] ≤ 60 ml/min/1.73 m2) events in HIV-positive people. We hypothesized that participants in D:A:D at high (>5%) predicted risk for both CVD and CKD would be at even greater risk for CVD and CKD events.Methods and Findings: We included all participants with complete risk factor (covariate) data, baseline eGFR > 60 ml/min/1.73 m2, and a confirmed (>3 months apart) eGFR < 60 ml/min/1.73 m2 thereafter to calculate CVD and CKD risk scores. We calculated CVD and CKD event rates by predicted 5-year CVD and CKD risk groups (≤1%, >1%-5%, >5%) and fitted Poisson models to assess whether CVD and CKD risk group effects were multiplicative. A total of 27,215 participants contributed 202,034 person-years of follow-up: 74% male, median (IQR) age 42 (36, 49) years, median (IQR) baseline year of follow-up 2005 (2004, 2008). D:A:D risk equations predicted 3,560 (13.1%) participants at high CVD risk, 4,996 (18.4%) participants at high CKD risk, and 1,585 (5.8%) participants at both high CKD and high CVD risk. CVD and CKD event rates by predicted risk group were multiplicative. Participants at high CVD risk had a 5.63-fold (95% CI 4.47, 7.09, p < 0.001) increase in CKD events compared to those at low risk; participants at high CKD risk had a 1.31-fold (95% CI 1.09, 1.56, p = 0.005) increase in CVD events compared to those at low risk. Participants' CVD and CKD risk groups had multiplicative predictive effects, with no evidence of an interaction (p = 0.329 and p = 0.291 for CKD and CVD, respectively). The main study limitation is the difference in the ascertainment of the clinically defined CVD endpoints and the laboratory-defined CKD endpoints.Conclusions: We found that people at high predicted risk for both CVD and CKD have substantially greater risks for both CVD and CKD events compared with those at low predicted risk for both outcomes, and compared to those at high predicted risk for only CVD or CKD events. This suggests that CVD and CKD risk in HIV-positive persons should be assessed together. The results further encourage clinicians to prioritise addressing modifiable risks for CVD and CKD in HIV-positive people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Intensive blood pressure (BP) treatment can avert cardiovascular disease (CVD) events but can cause some serious adverse events. We sought to develop and validate risk models for predicting absolute risk difference (increased risk or decreased risk) for CVD events and serious adverse events from intensive BP therapy. A secondary aim was to test if the statistical method of elastic net regularization would improve the estimation of risk models for predicting absolute risk difference, as compared to a traditional backwards variable selection approach.Methods and Findings: Cox models were derived from SPRINT trial data and validated on ACCORD-BP trial data to estimate risk of CVD events and serious adverse events; the models included terms for intensive BP treatment and heterogeneous response to intensive treatment. The Cox models were then used to estimate the absolute reduction in probability of CVD events (benefit) and absolute increase in probability of serious adverse events (harm) for each individual from intensive treatment. We compared the method of elastic net regularization, which uses repeated internal cross-validation to select variables and estimate coefficients in the presence of collinearity, to a traditional backwards variable selection approach. Data from 9,069 SPRINT participants with complete data on covariates were utilized for model development, and data from 4,498 ACCORD-BP participants with complete data were utilized for model validation. Participants were exposed to intensive (goal systolic pressure < 120 mm Hg) versus standard (<140 mm Hg) treatment. Two composite primary outcome measures were evaluated: (i) CVD events/deaths (myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome, stroke, congestive heart failure, or CVD death), and (ii) serious adverse events (hypotension, syncope, electrolyte abnormalities, bradycardia, or acute kidney injury/failure). The model for CVD chosen through elastic net regularization included interaction terms suggesting that older age, black race, higher diastolic BP, and higher lipids were associated with greater CVD risk reduction benefits from intensive treatment, while current smoking was associated with fewer benefits. The model for serious adverse events chosen through elastic net regularization suggested that male sex, current smoking, statin use, elevated creatinine, and higher lipids were associated with greater risk of serious adverse events from intensive treatment. SPRINT participants in the highest predicted benefit subgroup had a number needed to treat (NNT) of 24 to prevent 1 CVD event/death over 5 years (absolute risk reduction [ARR] = 0.042, 95% CI: 0.018, 0.066; P = 0.001), those in the middle predicted benefit subgroup had a NNT of 76 (ARR = 0.013, 95% CI: -0.0001, 0.026; P = 0.053), and those in the lowest subgroup had no significant risk reduction (ARR = 0.006, 95% CI: -0.007, 0.018; P = 0.71). Those in the highest predicted harm subgroup had a number needed to harm (NNH) of 27 to induce 1 serious adverse event (absolute risk increase [ARI] = 0.038, 95% CI: 0.014, 0.061; P = 0.002), those in the middle predicted harm subgroup had a NNH of 41 (ARI = 0.025, 95% CI: 0.012, 0.038; P < 0.001), and those in the lowest subgroup had no significant risk increase (ARI = -0.007, 95% CI: -0.043, 0.030; P = 0.72). In ACCORD-BP, participants in the highest subgroup of predicted benefit had significant absolute CVD risk reduction, but the overall ACCORD-BP participant sample was skewed towards participants with less predicted benefit and more predicted risk than in SPRINT. The models chosen through traditional backwards selection had similar ability to identify absolute risk difference for CVD as the elastic net models, but poorer ability to correctly identify absolute risk difference for serious adverse events. A key limitation of the analysis is the limited sample size of the ACCORD-BP trial, which expanded confidence intervals for ARI among persons with type 2 diabetes. Additionally, it is not possible to mechanistically explain the physiological relationships explaining the heterogeneous treatment effects captured by the models, since the study was an observational secondary data analysis.Conclusions: We found that predictive models could help identify subgroups of participants in both SPRINT and ACCORD-BP who had lower versus higher ARRs in CVD events/deaths with intensive BP treatment, and participants who had lower versus higher ARIs in serious adverse events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mitral regurgitation in people without prior cardiac disease is considered a degenerative disease with no established risk factors for its prevention. We aimed to test the hypothesis that elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP) across its usual spectrum is associated with higher risk of mitral regurgitation.Methods and Findings: We used linked electronic health records from the United Kingdom Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) from 1 January 1990 to 31 December 2015. CPRD covers approximately 7% of the current UK population and is broadly representative of the population by age, sex, and ethnicity. About 5.5 million UK patients with no known cardiovascular or valve disease at baseline were included in this cohort study. We investigated the relationship between blood pressure (BP) and risk of mitral regurgitation using Cox regression models. Our primary exposure variable was SBP and our primary outcome was incident reports of mitral regurgitation, which were identified from hospital discharge reports or primary care records. Of the 5,553,984 patients in the CPRD that met our inclusion criteria, during the 10-year follow-up period, 28,655 (0.52%) were diagnosed with mitral regurgitation and a further 1,262 (0.02%) were diagnosed with mitral stenosis. SBP was continuously related to the risk of mitral regurgitation with no evidence of a nadir down to 115 mmHg (p < 0.001). Each 20 mmHg increment in SBP was associated with a 26% higher risk of mitral regurgitation (hazard ratio [HR] 1.26; CI 1.23, 1.29). The observed association was partially mediated by diseases affecting the left ventricle during follow-up (myocardial infarction [MI], ischaemic heart disease [IHD], cardiomyopathy, and heart failure). However, the percentage of excess risk mediated (PERM) by these proximate causes of secondary mitral regurgitation was only 13% (CI 6.1%, 20%), and accounting for them had little effect on the long-term association between SBP and mitral regurgitation (mediator-adjusted HR 1.22; CI 1.20, 1.25; p < 0.001). Associations were similar for each 10 mmHg increment in diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (p < 0.001) or each 15 mmHg increment in pulse pressure (PP) (p < 0.001). By contrast, there was no association between SBP and risk of mitral stenosis (HR per 20 mmHg higher SBP 1.03; CI 0.93, 1.14; p = 0.58). These analyses are based on routinely collected data from health records which may be sensitive to measurement errors, and the observed associations may not be generalizable to less severe and subclinical cases of mitral regurgitation.Conclusions: Long-term exposure to elevated BP across its whole spectrum is associated with an increased risk of primary and secondary mitral regurgitation. These findings suggest that BP control may be of importance in the prevention of mitral regurgitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Combinations of multiple fatty acids may influence cardiometabolic risk more than single fatty acids. The association of a combination of fatty acids with incident type 2 diabetes (T2D) has not been evaluated.Methods and Findings: We measured plasma phospholipid fatty acids by gas chromatography in 27,296 adults, including 12,132 incident cases of T2D, over the follow-up period between baseline (1991-1998) and 31 December 2007 in 8 European countries in EPIC-InterAct, a nested case-cohort study. The first principal component derived by principal component analysis of 27 individual fatty acids (mole percentage) was the main exposure (subsequently called the fatty acid pattern score [FA-pattern score]). The FA-pattern score was partly characterised by high concentrations of linoleic acid, stearic acid, odd-chain fatty acids, and very-long-chain saturated fatty acids and low concentrations of γ-linolenic acid, palmitic acid, and long-chain monounsaturated fatty acids, and it explained 16.1% of the overall variability of the 27 fatty acids. Based on country-specific Prentice-weighted Cox regression and random-effects meta-analysis, the FA-pattern score was associated with lower incident T2D. Comparing the top to the bottom fifth of the score, the hazard ratio of incident T2D was 0.23 (95% CI 0.19-0.29) adjusted for potential confounders and 0.37 (95% CI 0.27-0.50) further adjusted for metabolic risk factors. The association changed little after adjustment for individual fatty acids or fatty acid subclasses. In cross-sectional analyses relating the FA-pattern score to metabolic, genetic, and dietary factors, the FA-pattern score was inversely associated with adiposity, triglycerides, liver enzymes, C-reactive protein, a genetic score representing insulin resistance, and dietary intakes of soft drinks and alcohol and was positively associated with high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol and intakes of polyunsaturated fat, dietary fibre, and coffee (p < 0.05 each). Limitations include potential measurement error in the fatty acids and other model covariates and possible residual confounding.Conclusions: A combination of individual fatty acids, characterised by high concentrations of linoleic acid, odd-chain fatty acids, and very long-chain fatty acids, was associated with lower incidence of T2D. The specific fatty acid pattern may be influenced by metabolic, genetic, and dietary factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Children with moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) are treated with lipid-based nutrient supplement (LNS) or corn-soy blend (CSB). We assessed the effectiveness of (a) matrix, i.e., LNS or CSB, (b) soy quality, i.e., soy isolate (SI) or dehulled soy (DS), and (c) percentage of total protein from dry skimmed milk, i.e., 0%, 20%, or 50%, in increasing fat-free tissue accretion.Methods and Findings: Between September 9, 2013, and August 29, 2014, a randomised 2 × 2 × 3 factorial trial recruited 6- to 23-month-old children with MAM in Burkina Faso. The intervention comprised 12 weeks of food supplementation providing 500 kcal/day as LNS or CSB, each containing SI or DS, and 0%, 20%, or 50% of protein from milk. Fat-free mass (FFM) was assessed by deuterium dilution technique. By dividing FFM by length squared, the primary outcome was expressed independent of length as FFM index (FFMI) accretion over 12 weeks. Other outcomes comprised recovery rate and additional anthropometric measures. Of 1,609 children, 4 died, 61 were lost to follow-up, and 119 were transferred out due to supplementation being switched to non-experimental products. No children developed allergic reaction. At inclusion, 95% were breastfed, mean (SD) weight was 6.91 kg (0.93), with 83.5% (5.5) FFM. In the whole cohort, weight increased 0.90 kg (95% CI 0.88, 0.93; p < 0.01) comprising 93.5% (95% CI 89.5, 97.3) FFM. As compared to children who received CSB, FFMI accretion was increased by 0.083 kg/m2 (95% CI 0.003, 0.163; p = 0.042) in those who received LNS. In contrast, SI did not increase FFMI compared to DS (mean difference 0.038 kg/m2; 95% CI -0.041, 0.118; p = 0.35), irrespective of matrix. Having 20% milk protein was associated with 0.097 kg/m2 (95% CI -0.002, 0.196) greater FFMI accretion than having 0% milk protein, although this difference was not significant (p = 0.055), and there was no effect of 50% milk protein (0.049 kg/m2; 95% CI -0.047, 0.146; p = 0.32). There was no effect modification by season, admission criteria, or baseline FFMI, stunting, inflammation, or breastfeeding (p > 0.05). LNS compared to CSB resulted in 128 g (95% CI 67, 190; p < 0.01) greater weight gain if both contained SI, but there was no difference between LNS and CSB if both contained DS (mean difference 22 g; 95% CI -40, 84; p = 0.49) (interaction p = 0.017). Accordingly, SI compared to DS increased weight by 89 g (95% CI 27, 150; p = 0.005) when combined with LNS, but not when combined with CSB. A limitation of this and other food supplementation trials is that it is not possible to collect reliable data on individual adherence.Conclusions: Based on this study, children with MAM mainly gain fat-free tissue when rehabilitated. Nevertheless, LNS yields more fat-free tissue and higher recovery rates than CSB. Moreover, current LNSs with DS may be improved by shifting to SI. The role of milk relative to soy merits further research.Trial Registration: ISRCTN registry ISRCTN42569496. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A high proportion of women start pregnancy overweight or obese. According to the developmental overnutrition hypothesis, this could lead offspring to have metabolic disruption throughout their lives and thus perpetuate the obesity epidemic across generations. Concerns about this hypothesis are influencing antenatal care. However, it is unknown whether maternal pregnancy adiposity is associated with long-term risk of adverse metabolic profiles in offspring, and if so, whether this association is causal, via intrauterine mechanisms, or explained by shared familial (genetic, lifestyle, socioeconomic) characteristics. We aimed to determine if associations between maternal body mass index (BMI) and offspring systemic cardio-metabolic profile are causal, via intrauterine mechanisms, or due to shared familial factors.Methods and Findings: We used 1- and 2-stage individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis, and a negative-control (paternal BMI) to examine the association between maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and offspring serum metabolome from 3 European birth cohorts (offspring age at blood collection: 16, 17, and 31 years). Circulating metabolic traits were quantified by high-throughput nuclear magnetic resonance metabolomics. Results from 1-stage IPD meta-analysis (N = 5327 to 5377 mother-father-offspring trios) showed that increasing maternal and paternal BMI was associated with an adverse cardio-metabolic profile in offspring. We observed strong positive associations with very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL)-lipoproteins, VLDL-cholesterol (C), VLDL-triglycerides, VLDL-diameter, branched/aromatic amino acids, glycoprotein acetyls, and triglycerides, and strong negative associations with high-density lipoprotein (HDL), HDL-diameter, HDL-C, HDL2-C, and HDL3-C (all P < 0.003). Slightly stronger magnitudes of associations were present for maternal compared with paternal BMI across these associations; however, there was no strong statistical evidence for heterogeneity between them (all bootstrap P > 0.003, equivalent to P > 0.05 after accounting for multiple testing). Results were similar in each individual cohort, and in the 2-stage analysis. Offspring BMI showed similar patterns of cross-sectional association with metabolic profile as for parental pre-pregnancy BMI associations but with greater magnitudes. Adjustment of parental BMI-offspring metabolic traits associations for offspring BMI suggested the parental associations were largely due to the association of parental BMI with offspring BMI. Limitations of this study are that inferences cannot be drawn about the role of circulating maternal fetal fuels (i.e., glucose, lipids, fatty acids, and amino acids) on later offspring metabolic profile. In addition, BMI may not reflect potential effects of maternal pregnancy fat distribution.Conclusion: Our findings suggest that maternal BMI-offspring metabolome associations are likely to be largely due to shared genetic or familial lifestyle confounding rather than to intrauterine mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Vascular risk factors have been proposed as important targets for the prevention of dementia. As lipid fractions represent easily modifiable targets, we examined the longitudinal relationship of baseline lipid fractions with 13-y incident dementia and its subtypes (Alzheimer disease [AD] and mixed or vascular dementia) in older community-dwelling persons.Methods and Findings: Non-institutionalized persons aged 65+ y (n = 9,294) were recruited for the Three-City Study (3C Study), a population-based cohort study from the electoral rolls of the cities of Dijon, Bordeaux, and Montpellier, France, between March 1999 and March 2001. Follow-up examinations were performed every 2 y after the baseline assessment. The final study sample comprised 7,470 participants from the 3C Study (mean age ± standard deviation [SD] 73.8 ± 5.3 y, 61.0% women) who were prospectively followed up for up to 13 y. Fasting lipid fractions (triglycerides [TGs], high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL-C], low-density lipoprotein cholesterol [LDL-C], total cholesterol [TC]) were studied as continuous variables, and results are reported per SD increase of each lipid fraction. Incident dementia and its subtypes were studied as censored variables using Cox models with age as time scale. Analyses were adjusted for sex, study center, and educational level, as well as vascular risk factors and apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 genotype. We corrected for multiple testing, yielding a significance threshold of 0.0169. p-Values above the significance threshold but less than 0.05 were considered nominally significant. During a mean (± SD) follow-up period of 7.9 ± 3.6 y, 779 participants developed incident dementia (n = 532 AD and n = 154 mixed or vascular dementia). Higher LDL-C and TC concentrations at baseline were associated with an increased risk of AD (hazard ratio [HR] per SD increase = 1.13 [95% CI 1.04-1.22], p = 0.0045, and HR = 1.12 [1.03-1.22], p = 0.0072, respectively). These associations were largely unchanged after adjustment for vascular risk factors and were attenuated after adjustment for APOEε4 (HR per SD increase = 1.12 [1.03-1.23], p = 0.0110, and HR = 1.12 [1.02-1.23], p = 0.0171, respectively). Higher TG concentrations at baseline were associated with an increased risk of all dementia (HR per SD increase = 1.11 [1.03-1.19], p = 0.0044) and mixed or vascular dementia (HR = 1.21 [1.04-1.41], p = 0.0163). However, these associations disappeared after adjusting for vascular risk factors (HR = 1.07 [0.98-1.17], p = 0.1374, and HR = 1.17 [0.96-1.42], p = 0.1206, respectively). Main limitations of the study include interval censoring of incident dementia cases, potential selective survival bias, and the fact that variation in lipid concentrations during follow-up could not be accounted for in the analyses.Conclusions: In a large population-based sample of older community-dwelling persons with up to 13 y of follow-up, we observed that higher LDL-C and TC concentrations were associated with an increased risk of AD. This result was independent of vascular risk factors and was attenuated after adjustment for APOEε4 carrier status. TG and HDL-C concentrations were not associated with risk of incident dementia or its subtypes after accounting for vascular risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The metabolic basis of Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology and expression of AD symptoms is poorly understood. Omega-3 and -6 fatty acids have previously been linked to both protective and pathogenic effects in AD. However, to date little is known about how the abundance of these species is affected by differing levels of disease pathology in the brain.Methods and Findings: We performed metabolic profiling on brain tissue samples from 43 individuals ranging in age from 57 to 95 y old who were stratified into three groups: AD (N = 14), controls (N = 14) and "asymptomatic Alzheimer's disease" (ASYMAD), i.e., individuals with significant AD neuropathology at death but without evidence for cognitive impairment during life (N = 15) from the autopsy sample of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA). We measured 4,897 metabolite features in regions both vulnerable in the middle frontal and inferior temporal gyri (MFG and ITG) and resistant (cerebellum) to classical AD pathology. The levels of six unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) in whole brain were compared in controls versus AD, and the differences were as follows: linoleic acid (p = 8.8 x 10-8, FC = 0.52, q = 1.03 x 10-6), linolenic acid (p = 2.5 x 10-4, FC = 0.84, q = 4.03 x 10-4), docosahexaenoic acid (p = 1.7 x 10-7, FC = 1.45, q = 1.24 x 10-6), eicosapentaenoic acid (p = 4.4 x 10-4, FC = 0.16, q = 6.48 x 10-4), oleic acid (p = 3.3 x 10-7, FC = 0.34, q = 1.46 x 10-6), and arachidonic acid (p = 2.98 x 10-5, FC = 0.75, q = 7.95 x 10-5). These fatty acids were strongly associated with AD when comparing the groups in the MFG and ITG, respectively: linoleic acid (p < 0.0001, p = 0.0006), linolenic acid (p < 0.0001, p = 0.002), docosahexaenoic acid (p < 0.0001, p = 0.0024), eicosapentaenoic acid (p = 0.0002, p = 0.0008), oleic acid (p < 0.0001, p = 0.0003), and arachidonic acid (p = 0.0001, p = 0.001). Significant associations were also observed between the abundance of these UFAs with neuritic plaque and neurofibrillary tangle burden as well as domain-specific cognitive performance assessed during life. Based on the regional pattern of differences in brain tissue levels of these metabolites, we propose that alterations in UFA metabolism represent both global metabolic perturbations in AD as well as those related to specific features of AD pathology. Within the middle frontal gyrus, decrements in linoleic acid, linolenic acid, and arachidonic acid (control>ASYMAD>AD) and increases in docosahexanoic acid (AD>ASYMAD>control) may represent regionally specific threshold levels of these metabolites beyond which the accumulation of AD pathology triggers the expression of clinical symptoms. The main limitation of this study is the relatively small sample size. There are few cohorts with extensive longitudinal cognitive assessments during life and detailed neuropathological assessments at death, such as the BLSA.Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that unsaturated fatty acid metabolism is significantly dysregulated in the brains of patients with varying degrees of Alzheimer pathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: An increasing number of countries are implementing taxes on unhealthy foods and drinks to address the growing burden of dietary-related disease, but the cost-effectiveness of combining taxes on unhealthy foods and subsidies on healthy foods is not well understood.Methods and Findings: Using a population model of dietary-related diseases and health care costs and food price elasticities, we simulated the effect of taxes on saturated fat, salt, sugar, and sugar-sweetened beverages and a subsidy on fruits and vegetables, over the lifetime of the Australian population. The sizes of the taxes and subsidy were set such that, when combined as a package, there would be a negligible effect on average weekly expenditure on food (<1% change). We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of the interventions individually, then determined the optimal combination based on maximising net monetary benefit at a threshold of AU$50,000 per disability-adjusted life year (DALY). The simulations suggested that the combination of taxes and subsidy might avert as many as 470,000 DALYs (95% uncertainty interval [UI]: 420,000 to 510,000) in the Australian population of 22 million, with a net cost-saving of AU$3.4 billion (95% UI: AU$2.4 billion to AU$4.6 billion; US$2.3 billion) to the health sector. Of the taxes evaluated, the sugar tax produced the biggest estimates of health gain (270,000 [95% UI: 250,000 to 290,000] DALYs averted), followed by the salt tax (130,000 [95% UI: 120,000 to 140,000] DALYs), the saturated fat tax (97,000 [95% UI: 77,000 to 120,000] DALYs), and the sugar-sweetened beverage tax (12,000 [95% UI: 2,100 to 21,000] DALYs). The fruit and vegetable subsidy (-13,000 [95% UI: -44,000 to 18,000] DALYs) was a cost-effective addition to the package of taxes. However, it did not necessarily lead to a net health benefit for the population when modelled as an intervention on its own, because of the possible adverse cross-price elasticity effects on consumption of other foods (e.g., foods high in saturated fat and salt). The study suggests that taxes and subsidies on foods and beverages can potentially be combined to achieve substantial improvements in population health and cost-savings to the health sector. However, the magnitude of health benefits is sensitive to measures of price elasticity, and further work is needed to incorporate potential benefits or harms associated with changes in other foods and nutrients that are not currently modelled, such as red and processed meats and fibre.Conclusions: With potentially large health benefits for the Australian population and large benefits in reducing health sector spending on the treatment of non-communicable diseases, the formulation of a tax and subsidy package should be given a more prominent role in Australia's public health nutrition strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It has been suggested that greater maternal adiposity during pregnancy affects lifelong risk of offspring fatness via intrauterine mechanisms. Our aim was to use Mendelian randomisation (MR) to investigate the causal effect of intrauterine exposure to greater maternal body mass index (BMI) on offspring BMI and fat mass from childhood to early adulthood.Methods and Findings: We used maternal genetic variants as instrumental variables (IVs) to test the causal effect of maternal BMI in pregnancy on offspring fatness (BMI and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry [DXA] determined fat mass index [FMI]) in a MR approach. This was investigated, with repeat measurements, from ages 7 to 18 in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC; n = 2,521 to 3,720 for different ages). We then sought to replicate findings with results for BMI at age 6 in Generation R (n = 2,337 for replication sample; n = 6,057 for total pooled sample). In confounder-adjusted multivariable regression in ALSPAC, a 1 standard deviation (SD, equivalent of 3.7 kg/m2) increase in maternal BMI was associated with a 0.25 SD (95% CI 0.21-0.29) increase in offspring BMI at age 7, with similar results at later ages and when FMI was used as the outcome. A weighted genetic risk score was generated from 32 genetic variants robustly associated with BMI (minimum F-statistic = 45 in ALSPAC). The MR results using this genetic risk score as an IV in ALSPAC were close to the null at all ages (e.g., 0.04 SD (95% CI -0.21-0.30) at age 7 and 0.03 SD (95% CI -0.26-0.32) at age 18 per SD increase in maternal BMI), which was similar when a 97 variant generic risk score was used in ALSPAC. When findings from age 7 in ALSPAC were meta-analysed with those from age 6 in Generation R, the pooled confounder-adjusted multivariable regression association was 0.22 SD (95% CI 0.19-0.25) per SD increase in maternal BMI and the pooled MR effect (pooling the 97 variant score results from ALSPAC with the 32 variant score results from Generation R) was 0.05 SD (95%CI -0.11-0.21) per SD increase in maternal BMI (p-value for difference between the two results = 0.05). A number of sensitivity analyses exploring violation of the MR results supported our main findings. However, power was limited for some of the sensitivity tests and further studies with relevant data on maternal, offspring, and paternal genotype are required to obtain more precise (and unbiased) causal estimates.Conclusions: Our findings provide little evidence to support a strong causal intrauterine effect of incrementally greater maternal BMI resulting in greater offspring adiposity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a putative biological marker of immune system age, and there are demonstrated associations between LTL and cardiovascular disease. This may be due in part to the relationship of LTL with other biomarkers associated with cardiovascular disease risk. However, the strength of associations between LTL and adiposity, metabolic, proinflammatory, and cardiovascular biomarkers has not been systematically evaluated in a United States nationally representative population.Methods and Findings: We examined associations between LTL and 17 cardiovascular biomarkers, including lipoproteins, blood sugar, circulatory pressure, proinflammatory markers, kidney function, and adiposity measures, in adults ages 20 to 84 from the cross-sectional US nationally representative 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (n = 7,252), statistically adjusting for immune cell type distributions. We also examine whether these associations differed systematically by age, race/ethnicity, gender, education, and income. We found that a one unit difference in the following biomarkers were associated with kilobase pair differences in LTL: BMI -0.00478 (95% CI -0.00749--0.00206), waist circumference -0.00211 (95% CI -0.00325--0.000969), percentage of body fat -0.00516 (95% CI -0.00761--0.0027), high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol 0.00179 (95% CI 0.000571-0.00301), triglycerides -0.000285 (95% CI -0.000555--0.0000158), pulse rate -0.00194 (95% CI -0.00317--0.000705), C-reactive protein -0.0363 (95% CI 0.0601--0.0124), cystatin C -0.0391 (95% CI -0.0772--0.00107). When using clinical cut-points we additionally found associations between LTL and insulin resistance -0.0412 (95% CI -0.0685--0.0139), systolic blood pressure 0.0455 (95% CI 0.00137-0.0897), and diastolic blood pressure -0.0674 (95% CI -0.126--0.00889). These associations were 10%-15% greater without controlling for leukocyte cell types. There were very few differences in the associations by age, race/ethnicity, gender, education, or income. Our findings are relevant to the relationships between these cardiovascular biomarkers in the general population but not to cardiovascular disease as a clinical outcome.Conclusions: LTL is most strongly associated with adiposity, but is also associated with biomarkers across several physiological systems. LTL may thus be a predictor of cardiovascular disease through its association with multiple risk factors that are physiologically correlated with risk for development of cardiovascular disease. Our results are consistent with LTL being a biomarker of cardiovascular aging through established physiological mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability; worldwide it is estimated that 16.9 million people have a first stroke each year. Lipid-lowering, anticoagulant, and antihypertensive drugs can prevent strokes, but may be underused.Methods and Findings: We analysed anonymised electronic primary care records from a United Kingdom (UK) primary care database that covers approximately 6% of the UK population. Patients with first-ever stroke/transient ischaemic attack (TIA), ≥18 y, with diagnosis between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2013, were included. Drugs were considered under-prescribed when lipid-lowering, anticoagulant, or antihypertensive drugs were clinically indicated but were not prescribed prior to the time of stroke or TIA. The proportions of strokes or TIAs with prevention drugs under-prescribed, when clinically indicated, were calculated. In all, 29,043 stroke/TIA patients met the inclusion criteria; 17,680 had ≥1 prevention drug clinically indicated: 16,028 had lipid-lowering drugs indicated, 3,194 anticoagulant drugs, and 7,008 antihypertensive drugs. At least one prevention drug was not prescribed when clinically indicated in 54% (9,579/17,680) of stroke/TIA patients: 49% (7,836/16,028) were not prescribed lipid-lowering drugs, 52% (1,647/3,194) were not prescribed anticoagulant drugs, and 25% (1,740/7,008) were not prescribed antihypertensive drugs. The limitations of our study are that our definition of under-prescribing of drugs for stroke/TIA prevention did not address patients' adherence to medication or medication targets, such as blood pressure levels.Conclusions: In our study, over half of people eligible for lipid-lowering, anticoagulant, or antihypertensive drugs were not prescribed them prior to first stroke/TIA. We estimate that approximately 12,000 first strokes could potentially be prevented annually in the UK through optimal prescribing of these drugs. Improving prescription of lipid-lowering, anticoagulant, and antihypertensive drugs is important to reduce the incidence and burden of stroke and TIA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The association of APOE genotype with circulating apolipoprotein E (ApoE) concentration and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk is well established. However, the relationship of circulating ApoE concentration and CVD has received little attention.Methods and Findings: To address this, we measured circulating ApoE concentration in 9,587 individuals (with 1,413 CVD events) from three studies with incident CVD events: two population-based studies, the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the men-only Northwick Park Heart Study II (NPHSII), and a nested sub-study of the Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial (ASCOT). We examined the association of circulating ApoE with cardiovascular risk factors in the two population-based studies (ELSA and NPHSII) and the relationship between ApoE concentration and coronary heart disease and stroke in all three studies. Analyses were carried out within study, and, where appropriate, pooled effect estimates were derived using meta-analysis. In the population-based samples, circulating ApoE was associated with systolic blood pressure (correlation coefficient 0.08, p < 0.001, in both ELSA and NPHSII), total cholesterol (correlation coefficient 0.46 and 0.34 in ELSA and NPHSII, respectively; both p < 0.001), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (correlation coefficient 0.30 and 0.14, respectively; both p < 0.001), high-density lipoprotein (correlation coefficient 0.16 and -0.14, respectively; both p < 0.001), and triglycerides (correlation coefficient 0.43 and 0.46, respectivly; both p < 0.001). In NPHSII, ApoE concentration was additionally associated with apolipoprotein B (correlation coefficient 0.13, p = 0.001) and lipoprotein(a) (correlation coefficient -0.11, p < 0.001). In the pooled analysis of ASCOT, ELSA, and NPHSII, there was no association of ApoE with CVD events; the odds ratio (OR) for CVD events per 1-standard-deviation higher ApoE concentration was 1.02 (95% CI 0.96, 1.09). After adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors, the OR for CVD per 1-standard-deviation higher ApoE concentration was 0.97 (95% CI 0.82, 1.15). Limitations of these analyses include a polyclonal method of ApoE measurement, rather than isoform-specific measurement, a moderate sample size (although larger than any other study to our knowledge and with a long lag between ApoE measures), and CVD events that may attenuate an effect.Conclusions: In the largest study to date on this question, we found no evidence of an association of circulating ApoE concentration with CVD events. The established association of APOE genotype with CVD events may be explained by isoform-specific functions as well as other mechanisms, rather than circulating concentrations of ApoE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Several obesity-related factors have been associated with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), but it is unclear which individual factors directly influence risk. We addressed this question using genetic markers as proxies for putative risk factors and evaluated their relation to RCC risk in a mendelian randomization (MR) framework. This methodology limits bias due to confounding and is not affected by reverse causation. Methods and findings Genetic markers associated with obesity measures, blood pressure, lipids, type 2 diabetes, insulin, and glucose were initially identified as instrumental variables, and their association with RCC risk was subsequently evaluated in a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 10,784 RCC patients and 20,406 control participants in a 2-sample MR framework. The effect on RCC risk was estimated by calculating odds ratios (OR.sub.SD) for a standard deviation (SD) increment in each risk factor. The MR analysis indicated that higher body mass index increases the risk of RCC (OR.sub.SD : 1.56, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.44-1.70), with comparable results for waist-to-hip ratio (OR.sub.SD : 1.63, 95% CI 1.40-1.90) and body fat percentage (OR.sub.SD : 1.66, 95% CI 1.44-1.90). This analysis further indicated that higher fasting insulin (OR.sub.SD : 1.82, 95% CI 1.30-2.55) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP; OR.sub.SD : 1.28, 95% CI 1.11-1.47), but not systolic blood pressure (OR.sub.SD : 0.98, 95% CI 0.84-1.14), increase the risk for RCC. No association with RCC risk was seen for lipids, overall type 2 diabetes, or fasting glucose. Conclusions This study provides novel evidence for an etiological role of insulin in RCC, as well as confirmatory evidence that obesity and DBP influence RCC risk., Author(s): Mattias Johansson 1,*, Robert Carreras-Torres 1, Ghislaine Scelo 1, Mark P. Purdue 2, Daniela Mariosa 1, David C. Muller 3, Nicolas J. Timpson 4, Philip C. Haycock 4, Kevin [...]

Background: The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) study showed that weight loss in high-risk adults lowered diabetes incidence and cardiovascular disease risk. No prior analyses have aggregated weight and cardiometabolic risk factor changes observed in studies implementing DPP interventions in nonresearch settings in the United States.Methods and Findings: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we pooled data from studies in the United States implementing DPP lifestyle modification programs (focused on modest [5%-7%] weight loss through ≥150 min of moderate physical activity per week and restriction of fat intake) in clinical, community, and online settings. We reported aggregated pre- and post-intervention weight and cardiometabolic risk factor changes (fasting blood glucose [FBG], glycosylated hemoglobin [HbA1c], systolic or diastolic blood pressure [SBP/DBP], total [TC] or HDL-cholesterol). We searched the MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Clinicaltrials.gov databases from January 1, 2003, to May 1, 2016. Two reviewers independently evaluated article eligibility and extracted data on study designs, populations enrolled, intervention program characteristics (duration, number of core and maintenance sessions), and outcomes. We used a random effects model to calculate summary estimates for each outcome and associated 95% confidence intervals (CI). To examine sources of heterogeneity, results were stratified according to the presence of maintenance sessions, risk level of participants (prediabetes or other), and intervention delivery personnel (lay or professional). Forty-four studies that enrolled 8,995 participants met eligibility criteria. Participants had an average age of 50.8 years and body mass index (BMI) of 34.8 kg/m2, and 25.2% were male. On average, study follow-up was 9.3 mo (median 12.0) with a range of 1.5 to 36 months; programs offered a mean of 12.6 sessions, with mean participant attendance of 11.0 core sessions. Sixty percent of programs offered some form of post-core maintenance (either email or in person). Mean absolute changes observed were: weight -3.77 kg (95% CI: -4.55; -2.99), HbA1c -0.21% (-0.29; -0.13), FBG -2.40 mg/dL (-3.59; -1.21), SBP -4.29 mmHg (-5.73, -2.84), DBP -2.56 mmHg (-3.40, 1.71), HDL +0.85 mg/dL (-0.10, 1.60), and TC -5.34 mg/dL (-9.72, -0.97). Programs with a maintenance component achieved greater reductions in weight (additional -1.66kg) and FBG (additional -3.14 mg/dl). Findings are subject to incomplete reporting and heterogeneity of studies included, and confounding because most included studies used pre-post study designs.Conclusions: DPP lifestyle modification programs achieved clinically meaningful weight and cardiometabolic health improvements. Together, these data suggest that additional value is gained from these programs, reinforcing that they are likely very cost-effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Whether and how n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are related to type 2 diabetes (T2D) is debated. Objectively measured plasma PUFAs can help to clarify these associations.Methods and Findings: Plasma phospholipid PUFAs were measured by gas chromatography among 12,132 incident T2D cases and 15,919 subcohort participants in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-InterAct study across eight European countries. Country-specific hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated using Prentice-weighted Cox regression and pooled by random-effects meta-analysis. We also systematically reviewed published prospective studies on circulating PUFAs and T2D risk and pooled the quantitative evidence for comparison with results from EPIC-InterAct. In EPIC-InterAct, among long-chain n-3 PUFAs, α-linolenic acid (ALA) was inversely associated with T2D (HR per standard deviation [SD] 0.93; 95% CI 0.88-0.98), but eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were not significantly associated. Among n-6 PUFAs, linoleic acid (LA) (0.80; 95% CI 0.77-0.83) and eicosadienoic acid (EDA) (0.89; 95% CI 0.85-0.94) were inversely related, and arachidonic acid (AA) was not significantly associated, while significant positive associations were observed with γ-linolenic acid (GLA), dihomo-GLA, docosatetraenoic acid (DTA), and docosapentaenoic acid (n6-DPA), with HRs between 1.13 to 1.46 per SD. These findings from EPIC-InterAct were broadly similar to comparative findings from summary estimates from up to nine studies including between 71 to 2,499 T2D cases. Limitations included potential residual confounding and the inability to distinguish between dietary and metabolic influences on plasma phospholipid PUFAs.Conclusions: These large-scale findings suggest an important inverse association of circulating plant-origin n-3 PUFA (ALA) but no convincing association of marine-derived n3 PUFAs (EPA and DHA) with T2D. Moreover, they highlight that the most abundant n6-PUFA (LA) is inversely associated with T2D. The detection of associations with previously less well-investigated PUFAs points to the importance of considering individual fatty acids rather than focusing on fatty acid class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Effects of major dietary macronutrients on glucose-insulin homeostasis remain controversial and may vary by the clinical measures examined. We aimed to assess how saturated fat (SFA), monounsaturated fat (MUFA), polyunsaturated fat (PUFA), and carbohydrate affect key metrics of glucose-insulin homeostasis.Methods and Findings: We systematically searched multiple databases (PubMed, EMBASE, OVID, BIOSIS, Web-of-Knowledge, CAB, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, SIGLE, Faculty1000) for randomised controlled feeding trials published by 26 Nov 2015 that tested effects of macronutrient intake on blood glucose, insulin, HbA1c, insulin sensitivity, and insulin secretion in adults aged ≥18 years. We excluded trials with non-isocaloric comparisons and trials providing dietary advice or supplements rather than meals. Studies were reviewed and data extracted independently in duplicate. Among 6,124 abstracts, 102 trials, including 239 diet arms and 4,220 adults, met eligibility requirements. Using multiple-treatment meta-regression, we estimated dose-response effects of isocaloric replacements between SFA, MUFA, PUFA, and carbohydrate, adjusted for protein, trans fat, and dietary fibre. Replacing 5% energy from carbohydrate with SFA had no significant effect on fasting glucose (+0.02 mmol/L, 95% CI = -0.01, +0.04; n trials = 99), but lowered fasting insulin (-1.1 pmol/L; -1.7, -0.5; n = 90). Replacing carbohydrate with MUFA lowered HbA1c (-0.09%; -0.12, -0.05; n = 23), 2 h post-challenge insulin (-20.3 pmol/L; -32.2, -8.4; n = 11), and homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (-2.4%; -4.6, -0.3; n = 30). Replacing carbohydrate with PUFA significantly lowered HbA1c (-0.11%; -0.17, -0.05) and fasting insulin (-1.6 pmol/L; -2.8, -0.4). Replacing SFA with PUFA significantly lowered glucose, HbA1c, C-peptide, and HOMA. Based on gold-standard acute insulin response in ten trials, PUFA significantly improved insulin secretion capacity (+0.5 pmol/L/min; 0.2, 0.8) whether replacing carbohydrate, SFA, or even MUFA. No significant effects of any macronutrient replacements were observed for 2 h post-challenge glucose or insulin sensitivity (minimal-model index). Limitations included a small number of trials for some outcomes and potential issues of blinding, compliance, generalisability, heterogeneity due to unmeasured factors, and publication bias.Conclusions: This meta-analysis of randomised controlled feeding trials provides evidence that dietary macronutrients have diverse effects on glucose-insulin homeostasis. In comparison to carbohydrate, SFA, or MUFA, most consistent favourable effects were seen with PUFA, which was linked to improved glycaemia, insulin resistance, and insulin secretion capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a global priority. Let's Prevent Diabetes is a group-based diabetes prevention programme; it was evaluated in a cluster-randomised trial, in which the primary analysis showed a reduction in T2DM (hazard ratio [HR] 0.74, 95% CI 0.48-1.14, p = 0.18). We examined the association of engagement and retention with the Let's Prevent Diabetes prevention programme and T2DM incidence.Methods and Findings: We used data from a completed cluster-randomised controlled trial including 43 general practices randomised to receive either standard care or a 6-h group structured education programme with an annual refresher course for 2 y. The primary outcome was progression to T2DM at 3 y. The characteristics of those who attended the initial education session (engagers) versus nonengagers and those who attended all sessions (retainers) versus nonretainers were compared. Risk reduction of progression to T2DM by level of attendance was compared to standard care. Eight hundred and eighty participants were recruited, with 447 to the intervention arm, of which 346 (77.4%) were engagers and 130 (29.1%) were retainers. Retainers and engagers were more likely to be older, leaner, and nonsmokers than nonretainers/nonengagers. Engagers were also more likely to be male and be from less socioeconomically deprived areas than nonengagers. Participants who attended the initial session and at least one refresher session were less likely to develop T2DM compared to those in the control arm (30 people of 248 versus 67 people of 433, HR 0.38 [95% CI 0.24-0.62]). Participants who were retained in the programme were also less likely to develop T2DM compared to those in the control arm (7 people of 130 versus 67 people of 433, HR 0.12 [95% CI 0.05-0.28]). Being retained in the programme was also associated with improvements in glucose, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), weight, waist circumference, anxiety, quality of life, and daily step count. Given that the data used are from a clinical trial, those taking part might reflect a more motivated sample than the population, which should be taken into account when interpreting the results.Conclusions: This study suggests that being retained/engaged in a relatively low-resource, pragmatic diabetes prevention programme for those at high risk is associated with reductions in the progression to T2DM in comparison to those who receive standard care. Nonengagers and nonretainers share similar high-risk traits. Service providers of programmes should focus on reaching these hard-to-reach groups.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ISRCTN80605705. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In an effort to prevent continued increases in obesity and diabetes, in January 2014, the Mexican government implemented an 8% tax on nonessential foods with energy density ≥275 kcal/100 g and a peso-per-liter tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). Limited rigorous evaluations of food taxes exist worldwide. The objective of this study was to examine changes in volume of taxed and untaxed packaged food purchases in response to these taxes in the entire sample and stratified by socioeconomic status (SES).Methods and Findings: This study uses data on household packaged food purchases representative of the Mexican urban population from The Nielsen Company's Mexico Consumer Panel Services (CPS). We included 6,248 households that participated in the Nielsen CPS in at least 2 mo during 2012-2014; average household follow-up was 32.7 mo. We analyzed the volume of purchases of taxed and untaxed foods from January 2012 to December 2014, using a longitudinal, fixed-effects model that adjusted for preexisting trends to test whether the observed post-tax trend was significantly different from the one expected based on the pre-tax trend. We controlled for household characteristics and contextual factors like minimum salary and unemployment rate. The mean volume of purchases of taxed foods in 2014 changed by -25 g (95% confidence interval = -46, -11) per capita per month, or a 5.1% change beyond what would have been expected based on pre-tax (2012-2013) trends, with no corresponding change in purchases of untaxed foods. Low SES households purchased on average 10.2% less taxed foods than expected (-44 [-72, -16] g per capita per month); medium SES households purchased 5.8% less taxed foods than expected (-28 [-46, -11] g per capita per month), whereas high SES households' purchases did not change. The main limitations of our findings are the inability to infer causality because the taxes were implemented at the national level (lack of control group), our sample is only representative of urban areas, we only have 2 y of data prior to the tax, and, as with any consumer panel survey, we did not capture all foods purchased by the household.Conclusions: Household purchases of nonessential energy-dense foods declined in the first year after the implementation of Mexico's SSB and nonessential foods taxes. Future studies should evaluate the impact of the taxes on overall energy intake, dietary quality, and food purchase patterns (see S1 Abstract in Spanish). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Plant-based diets have been recommended to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, not all plant foods are necessarily beneficial. We examined the association of an overall plant-based diet and hypothesized healthful and unhealthful versions of a plant-based diet with T2D incidence in three prospective cohort studies in the US.Methods and Findings: We included 69,949 women from the Nurses' Health Study (1984-2012), 90,239 women from the Nurses' Health Study 2 (1991-2011), and 40,539 men from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986-2010), free of chronic diseases at baseline. Dietary data were collected every 2-4 y using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Using these data, we created an overall plant-based diet index (PDI), where plant foods received positive scores, while animal foods (animal fats, dairy, eggs, fish/seafood, poultry/red meat, miscellaneous animal-based foods) received reverse scores. We also created a healthful plant-based diet index (hPDI), where healthy plant foods (whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, vegetable oils, tea/coffee) received positive scores, while less healthy plant foods (fruit juices, sweetened beverages, refined grains, potatoes, sweets/desserts) and animal foods received reverse scores. Lastly, we created an unhealthful plant-based diet index (uPDI) by assigning positive scores to less healthy plant foods and reverse scores to healthy plant foods and animal foods. We documented 16,162 incident T2D cases during 4,102,369 person-years of follow-up. In pooled multivariable-adjusted analysis, both PDI and hPDI were inversely associated with T2D (PDI: hazard ratio [HR] for extreme deciles 0.51, 95% CI 0.47-0.55, p trend < 0.001; hPDI: HR for extreme deciles 0.55, 95% CI 0.51-0.59, p trend < 0.001). The association of T2D with PDI was considerably attenuated when we additionally adjusted for body mass index (BMI) categories (HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.74-0.87, p trend < 0.001), while that with hPDI remained largely unchanged (HR 0.66, 95% CI 0.61-0.72, p trend < 0.001). uPDI was positively associated with T2D even after BMI adjustment (HR for extreme deciles 1.16, 95% CI 1.08-1.25, p trend < 0.001). Limitations of the study include self-reported diet assessment, with the possibility of measurement error, and the potential for residual or unmeasured confounding given the observational nature of the study design.Conclusions: Our study suggests that plant-based diets, especially when rich in high-quality plant foods, are associated with substantially lower risk of developing T2D. This supports current recommendations to shift to diets rich in healthy plant foods, with lower intake of less healthy plant and animal foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Several prior studies have found an association between statin use and reduced risk of colorectal cancer. We hypothesized that these findings may be due to systematic bias and examined the independent association of colorectal cancer risk with statin use, serum cholesterol, and change in cholesterol concentration.Methods and Findings: 22,163 colorectal cancer cases and 86,538 matched controls between 1995 and 2013 were identified within The Health Improvement Network (THIN) a population-representative database. Conditional logistic regression models estimated colorectal cancer risk with statin use, serum total cholesterol (mmol/L), and change in total cholesterol level. We confirmed a decreased risk of colorectal cancer with statin use (long-term: odds ratio [OR], 0.95; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.91-0.99; short-term: OR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.85-0.99). However, to assess whether the observed association may result from indication bias, a subgroup analysis was conducted among patients prescribed a statin. In this subgroup (n = 5,102 cases, n = 19,032 controls), 3.1% of case subjects and 3.1% of controls discontinued therapy. The risk of colorectal cancer was not significantly different among those who continued statin therapy and those who discontinued (OR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.79-1.22). Increased serum cholesterol was independently associated with decreased risk of colorectal cancer (OR, 0.89 per mmol/L increase; 95% CI, 0.87-0.91); the association was only present if serum cholesterol was measured near the cancer diagnosis (<6 mo: OR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.47-0.61; >24 mo: OR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.93-1.03). Decreases in serum total cholesterol >1 mmol/L ≥1 year prior to cancer diagnosis were associated with subsequent colorectal cancer (statin users: OR, 1.25; 95 CI%, 1.03-1.53; nonusers: OR, 2.36; 95 CI%, 1.78-3.12). As an observational study, limitations included incomplete data and residual confounding.Conclusions: Although the risk of colorectal cancer was lower in statin users versus nonusers, no difference was observed among those who continued versus discontinued statin therapy, suggesting the potential for indication bias. The association between decreased serum cholesterol and colorectal cancer risk suggests a cholesterol-lowering effect of undiagnosed malignancy. Clinical judgment should be used when considering causes of cholesterol reduction in patients, including those on statin therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spencer Phillips Hey and Aaron Kesselheim propose that informativeness-asserting scientific facts-rather than truthfulness ought to be the standard for regulating commercial speech about pharmaceuticals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Patients infected with HIV-1 initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) containing a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) show presumably fewer atherogenic lipid changes than those initiating most ARTs containing a protease inhibitor. We analysed whether lipid changes differed between the two most commonly used NNRTIs, nevirapine (NVP) and efavirenz (EFV). Methods and Findings Prospective analysis of lipids and lipoproteins was performed in patients enrolled in the NVP and EFV treatment groups of the 2NN study who remained on allocated treatment during 48 wk of follow-up. Patients were allocated to NVP (n =417), or EFV (n =289) in combination with stavudine and lamivudine. The primary endpoint was percentage change over 48 wk in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), total cholesterol (TC), TC:HDL-c ratio, non-HDL-c, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides. The increase of HDL-c was significantly larger for patients receiving NVP (42.5%) than for patients receiving EFV (33.7%; p =0.036), while the increase in TC was lower (26.9% and 31.1%, respectively; p =0.073), resulting in a decrease of the TC:HDL-c ratio for patients receiving NVP ( 4.1%) and an increase for patients receiving EFV ( p 5.9%; p < 0.001). The increase of non-HDL-c was smaller for patients receiving NVP (24.7%) than for patients receiving EFV (33.6%; p =0.007), as were the increases of triglycerides (20.1% and 49.0%, respectively; p < 0.001) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (35.0% and 40.0%, respectively; p =0.378). These differences remained, or even increased, after adjusting for changes in HIV-1 RNA and CD4 p cell levels, indicating an effect of the drugs on lipids over and above that which may be explained by suppression of HIV-1 infection. The increases in HDL-c were of the same order of magnitude as those seen with the use of the investigational HDL-c-increasing drugs. Conclusion NVP-containing ART shows larger ... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Multiple micronutrients (MMN) are commonly prescribed in pediatric primary healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa to improve nutritional status and appetite without evidence for their effectiveness or international clinical guidelines. Community-wide MMN supplementation has shown limited and heterogeneous impact on growth and morbidity. Short-term ready-to-use therapeutic foods in acutely sick children in a hospital setting also had limited efficacy regarding subsequent growth. The effectiveness of MMN in improving morbidity or growth in sick children presenting for primary care has not been assessed.Methods and Findings: We undertook a double-blind randomised controlled trial of small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) fortified with 23 micronutrients in children aged 6 months (mo) to 5 years (y) presenting with an illness at a rural primary healthcare centre in The Gambia. Primary outcomes were repeat clinic presentations and growth over 24 wk. Participants were randomly assigned to receive 1 of 3 interventions: (1) supplementation with micronutrient-fortified SQ-LNS for 12 wk (MMN-12), (2) supplementation with micronutrient-fortified SQ-LNS for 6 wk followed by unfortified SQ-LNS for 6 wk (MMN-6), or (3) supplementation with unfortified SQ-LNS for 12 wk (MMN-0) to be consumed in daily portions. Treatment masking used 16 letters per 6-wk block in the randomisation process. Blinded intention-to-treat analysis based on a prespecified statistical analysis plan included all participants eligible and correctly enrolled. Between December 2009 and June 2011, 1,101 children (age 6-60 mo, mean 25.5 mo) were enrolled, and 1,085 were assessed (MMN-0 = 361, MMN-6 = 362, MMN-12 = 362). MMN supplementation was associated with a small increase in height-for-age z-scores 24 wk after recruitment (effect size for MMN groups combined: 0.084 SD/24 wk, 95% CI: 0.005, 0.168; p = 0.037; equivalent to 2-5 mm depending on age). No significant difference in frequency of morbidity measured by the number of visits to the clinic within 24 wk follow-up was detected with 0.09 presentations per wk for all groups (MMN-0 versus MMN-6: adjusted incidence rate ratio [IRR] 1.03, 95% CI: 0.92, 1.16; MMN-0 versus MMN-12: 1.05, 95% CI: 0.93, 1.18). In post hoc analysis, clinic visits significantly increased by 43% over the first 3 wk of fortified versus unfortified SQ-LNS (adjusted IRR 1.43; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.92; p = 0.016), with respiratory presentations increasing by 52% with fortified SQ-LNS (adjusted IRR 1.52; 95% CI: 1.01, 2.30; p = 0.046). The number of severe adverse events during supplementation were similar between groups (MMN-0 = 20 [1 death]; MMN-6 = 21 [1 death]; MMN-12 = 20 [0 death]). No participant withdrew due to adverse effects. Study limitations included the lack of supervision of daily supplementation.Conclusion: Prescribing micronutrient-fortified SQ-LNS to ill children presenting for primary care in rural Gambia had a very small effect on linear growth and did not reduce morbidity compared to unfortified SQ-LNS. An early increase in repeat visits indicates a need for the establishment of evidence-based guidelines and caution with systematic prescribing of MMN. Future research should be directed at understanding the mechanisms behind the lack of effect of MMN supplementation on morbidity measures and limited effect on growth.Trial Registration: ISRCTN 73571031. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The epsilon2, epsilon3, and epsilon4 alleles of the apolipoprotein E gene (APOE) encode three isoforms, apoE2, E3, and E4, respectively. The apoE isoforms circulate in different plasma concentrations, but plasma concentrations of the same isoform also differ between individuals. Whereas the isoforms have been associated with cardiovascular disease, the relation between plasma apoE levels and cardiovascular disease is unknown.Methods and Findings: We assessed APOE genotypes, plasma levels of apoE, cardiovascular risk factors, and mortality in a population-based sample of 546 individuals aged 85 y who participated in the Leiden 85-plus Study and were prospectively followed for specific causes of death for 5 y. Participants in the highest tertile of apoE levels suffered a twofold-increased risk of cardiovascular mortality (hazard ratio compared to lowest tertile, 2.08; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.30 to 3.33). Among the 324 participants with the epsilon3epsilon3 genotype, the hazard from cardiovascular disease was threefold increased (highest versus lowest tertile 3.01; 95% CI 1.60 to 5.66), with similar estimates for men and women. Other causes of death were not increased significantly. Plasma levels of apoE in epsilon3epsilon3 participants were positively correlated with total cholesterol (p < 0.001), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p < 0.001) and triglycerides (p < 0.001) and negatively with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (p = 0.010). Adjustment for plasma lipids did not change the hazard ratios, whereas interaction was absent. The risk associated with high levels of apoE, however, was strongest in participants from the lowest tertile of C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and absent in those from the highest tertile (p(interaction) < 0.001). Among participants from the lowest tertile of CRP levels, those with a high apoE levels had a significantly steeper increase in CRP than those with low apoE levels (p = 0.020). Similar cardiovascular mortality risks as in epsilon3epsilon3 participants were found in epsilon2 and epsilon4 carriers.Conclusions: In old age, high plasma apoE levels precede an increase of circulating CRP and strongly associates with cardiovascular mortality, independent of APOE genotype and plasma lipids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deals with a study which examined the efficacy of nevirapine and efavirenz antiretroviral drugs. Information on the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol caused by nevirapine and efavirenz; Medication for efavirenz to patients with cardiovascular risk factors; Analysis of lipid profiles of patients.