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Background: Lower BMI cutoffs as compared to standard cut-offs have been recommended to reduce the risk of obesity-related co-morbidities in some ethnic populations (e.g. south Asian and Chinese populations). Recent attempts have also been made to establish ethnicity-specific BMI cutoffs to identify individuals affected with obesity in relation to type 2 diabetes risk in multi-ethnic populations based in the UK and North America. However, to date, there is yet to have any published work done to identify these cut-offs in Central Asia populations nor specify any difference for genders even though the fat distribution varies amongst the different ethnic groups as well as between the genders. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study exploring new BMI and WC cut-offs in this population., Methods: To address this gap, we used a database of secondary care electronic health records from the National Research Cardiac Surgery Center to identify BMI and waist circumference cutoffs for obesity based on the risk of developing diabetes and other cardiometabolic disorders among 297 adults in Kazakhstan. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis were utilized to investigate the relationships between risk factors and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). BMI and WC thresholds were predicted using the Youden index., Results: For an equivalent age-adjusted and sex-adjusted incidence of type 2 diabetes at a BMI of 30·0 kg/m 2 in White populations, we found higher BMI cutoffs for Kazakhstani women (30.5 kg/m 2 ) but lower cut-offs for men (28·9 kg/m 2 ). As for waist circumference, the cut-off points for females were 95cm and 104 cm for males., Conclusions: For Central Asia populations, the current recommended BMI and WC cutoffs may not be suitable and further work is needed to establish specific cut-offs for this population., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Kali, Gusmanov, Aripov and Chan.)

Introduction: The burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is growing rapidly around the world. However, there is limited information on the overall regional prevalence of CKD, as well as the variations in national prevalence within Asia. We aimed to consolidate available data and quantify estimates of the CKD burden in this region., Methods: We systematically searched MEDLINE, Embase and Google Scholar for observational studies and contacted national experts to estimate CKD prevalence in countries of Asia (Eastern, Southern and South Eastern Asia). CKD was defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 mL/min/1.73 m 2 or the presence of proteinuria. For countries without reported data, we estimated CKD prevalence using agglomerative average-linkage hierarchical clustering, based on country-level risk factors and random effects meta-analysis within clusters. Published CKD prevalence data were obtained for 16 countries (of the 26 countries in the region) and estimates were made for 10 countries., Results: There was substantial variation in overall and advanced (eGFR <30 mL/min/1.73 m 2 ) CKD prevalence (range: 7.0%-34.3% and 0.1%-17.0%, respectively). Up to an estimated 434.3 million (95% CI 350.2 to 519.7) adults have CKD in Asia, including up to 65.6 million (95% CI 42.2 to 94.9) who have advanced CKD. The greatest number of adults living with CKD were in China (up to 159.8 million, 95% CI 146.6 to 174.1) and India (up to 140.2 million, 95% CI 110.7 to 169.7), collectively having 69.1% of the total number of adults with CKD in the region., Conclusion: The large number of people with CKD, and the substantial number with advanced CKD, show the need for urgent collaborative action in Asia to prevent and manage CKD and its complications., Competing Interests: Competing interests: TL, TT and KP have no relevant conflicts of interests to declare. MW declares consulting work for Amgen, Kyowa Kirin and Freeline, and was funded by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Investigator and Programme Grants. VP reports receiving personal fees for Advisory Boards or Scientific Presentations from Retrophin, Janssen, Merck, and Servier. VP also reports receiving fees for Advisory Boards, Steering Committee roles, or Scientific Presentations from Abbvie, Astellas, Astra Zeneca, Bayer, Baxter, BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim, Dimerix, Durect, Eli Lilly, Gilead, GSK, Janssen, Merck, Mitsubishi Tanabe, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Pharmalink, Relypsa, Retrophin, Sanofi, Servier, Vifor and Tricida. HS-F was a full-time employee and shareholder of GlaxoSmithKline. VJ reports grant funding from NephroPlus, Baxter Healthcare and GSK and speaker fees and honoraria from Baxter Healthcare and AstraZeneca (all monies paid to the employing organisation). MJ reports receiving research support from (1) the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council and (2) VentureWise (a wholly-owned subsidiary of NPS MedicineWise) to conduct a project funded by AstraZeneca., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Background: Many studies have indicated that most immigrant women come from underdeveloped countries, and this can have negative effects on their lives, children's adaptation to school, and medical care utilization. However, there is insufficient literature about differences in infant caretaking, pre-postpartum health care, and health outcome between immigrant and native Taiwanese populations. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences between Southern Asia immigrants and Taiwanese women in their access to medical care, postnatal growth, and infant care throughout the first six months postpartum., Methods: Comparative and descriptive designs were applied. Immigrant women were eligible if they visited three suburban settings of the Outpatient Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Outpatient Department of Pediatrics in Northern Taiwan during the period up to six months postpartum., Results: Immigrant women appeared to have a lower frequency of antenatal examinations and obtained less health information from health care providers. However, they did not differ significantly from native Taiwanese women in maternal body size, postnatal growth curves, exclusive breastfeeding rates or vaccination awareness at the 6th month postpartum., Conclusions: Learning strengths from cultural differences between immigrant and native women and closing the gaps in health inequality are important issues. Despite the limitation of small sample size, the present findings can be used as references to help health care providers to develop further health policies in Taiwan.