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Few previous studies in Western populations have reported an association between C-reactive protein (CRP) and prehypertension. However, no previous study has examined this association in Asians. We examined individuals who were free of hypertension from two independent population-based studies in Singapore: the Singapore Prospective Study Programme (SP2, n=2843 Chinese, Malay and Indians aged 24 years) and the Singapore Malay Eye Study (SiMES, n=957 Malays, aged 40-80 years). Prehypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure (BP) 120-139 mm Hg or diastolic BP 80-89 mm Hg. CRP was analyzed as categories (<1, 1-3, >3 mg l(-1)). The prevalence of prehypertension increased with increasing categories of CRP in both cohorts (P for trend <0.05 in both cohorts). After adjusting for potential confounders including body mass index (BMI), smoking and diabetes, persons with higher levels of CRP were more likely to have prehypertension in both SP2 (compared with CRP <1 mg l(-1), odds ratio (OR) 1.23, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03-1.48 for CRP 1-3 and OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.32-2.10 for >3 mg l(-1)) and SiMES (OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.04-2.01 and OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.07-2.27) respectively. In conclusion, data from two population-based Asian cohorts suggest that elevated serum CRP levels are associated with prehypertension.

Objective: Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 38 obesity-associated loci among European populations. However, their contribution to obesity in other ethnicities is largely unknown., Methods: We utilised five GWAS (N=10 482) from Chinese (three cohorts, including one with type 2 diabetes and another one of children), Malay and Indian ethnic groups from Singapore. Data sets were analysed individually and subsequently in combined meta-analysis for Z-score body-mass index (BMI) associations., Results: Variants at the FTO locus showed the strongest associations with BMI Z-score after meta-analysis (P-values 1.16 × 10(-7)-7.95 × 10(-7)). We further detected associations with nine other index obesity variants close to the MC4R, GNPDA2, TMEM18, QPCTL/GIPR, BDNF, ETV5, MAP2K5/SKOR1, SEC16B and TNKS/MSRA loci (meta-analysis P-values ranging from 3.58 × 10(-4)-1.44 × 10(-2)). Three other single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from CADM2, PTBP2 and FAIM2 were associated with BMI (P-value ≤ 0.0418) in at least one dataset. The neurotrophin/TRK pathway (P-value=0.029) was highlighted by pathway-based analysis of loci that had statistically significant associations among Singaporean populations., Conclusion: Our data confirm the role of FTO in obesity predisposition among Chinese, Malays and Indians, the three major Asian ethnic groups. We additionally detected associations for 12 obesity-associated SNPs among Singaporeans. Thus, it is likely that Europeans and Asians share some of the genetic predisposition to obesity. Furthermore, the neurotrophin/TRK signalling may have a central role for common obesity among Asians.

Objective: To describe the rates of cataract extraction among Chinese, Malays, and Indians in an urban population in Asia., Design: Population-based incidence study using data from a medical savings fund., Study Population: Chinese, Malay, and Indian residents in Singapore., Methods: Data on all cataract operations performed for "senile cataract" (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification code 366.1) between 1991 and 1996 were retrieved from Medisave, a population-wide, government-administered medical savings fund. The Singapore census was used as a denominator to allow an estimation of age, sex, and race-specific annual rates of cataract surgery., Results: Between 1991 and 1996, 61 210 cataract operations for "senile cataract" were performed on Singapore residents, which is equivalent to an average rate of 356.4 cataract operations per 100 000 persons per year (95% confidence interval [CI], 353.6-359.2). The average rate was highest for Indians (age-sex adjusted rate of 396.5 per 100 000/year), followed by Chinese (371.2 per 100 000/year), and lowest for Malays (237.2 per 100 000/year). Women had higher rates of cataract extraction than men (age-adjusted relative risk, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.11-1.17), with this pattern consistent across the 3 racial groups. The rate of cataract extraction increased by an average of 40 operations per 100 000/year (95% CI, 28.6-52.8) between 1991 and 1996. Overall, the proportion of cataract extraction without concurrent intraocular lens implantation was low (n = 762, 1.2%), but rates still decreased by an average of 0.8 per 100 000 per year (95% CI, 0.03-1.5) during the 6 years., Conclusions: The rate of cataract extraction in Singapore is consistent with rates seen in developed countries in the West. Racial variation in rates suggests varying predisposition to cataract development and/or threshold for cataract surgery between Chinese, Malay, and Indian populations in Singapore.

Aim: To estimate the rates of hospital admissions for primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG) in Chinese, Malays, and Indians in Singapore, Methods: A population-wide hospital discharge database in Singapore was used to identify all hospital admissions with a primary discharge diagnosis of PACG (International Classification of Disease-CM code: 365.2). The Singapore census was used for denominator data., Results: Between 1993 and 1997 there were 894 hospital admissions for PACG. The mean annual rate of PACG admissions was 11.1 per 100 000 (95% confidence interval (CI), 10.4, 11.8) among people aged 30 years and over. The annual rate was highest for Chinese (age and sex adjusted rate: 12.2 per 100 000), which was twice that of Malays (6.0 per 100 000) and Indians (6.3 per 100 000). Females had two times higher rates than males in all three races (age adjusted relative risk: 2.0, 95% CI: 1.7, 2.3)., Conclusion: Malay and Indian people had identical rates of hospital admissions for PACG, which were only half the rates compared with Chinese.