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Aims The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk of stroke and bleeding among patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) treated with direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) despite anaemia at treatment initiation time. Methods and results All Danish patients (N = 41 321) diagnosed with incident AF, having a baseline haemoglobin (Hb), and subsequently initiated DOAC therapy between 2012 and 2019 were identified through administrative registry databases. Patients with anaemia were subdivided according to the World Health Organization classification of anaemia and evaluated regarding risk of stroke and composite bleeding endpoint [hospitalization due to urogenital, gastrointestinal (GI), or intracranial bleeding or epistaxis]. Standardized absolute 1-year risks of stroke and composite bleeding endpoint were calculated using multivariable Cox regression analyses. The standardized absolute 1-year risk difference for composite bleeding increased by 0.96% [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.38-1.54] for patients with moderate/severe anaemia compared with patients with no anaemia. This risk was mainly driven by an increase in standardized absolute 1-year risk for serious GI bleeding, which increased by 0.41% (95% CI 0.19-0.63). No significant difference in standardized absolute 1-year bleeding risk was observed among patients with mild anaemia compared with patients with no anaemia 0.36% (95% CI -0.10 to 0.82). No significant difference in standardized absolute 1-year risk of stroke was observed among patients with mild anaemia, -0.16% (95% CI -0.13 to 0.15), and moderate/severe anaemia, -0.47% (95% CI -0.16 to 0.19), compared with patients with no anaemia. Conclusion For AF patients receiving DOACs, moderate/severe anaemia is a risk factor for serious GI bleeding, while stroke risk is the same regardless of whether anaemia was present at baseline or not.

Objective Thyroid hormones are crucial developmental factors, and thyroid disease in pregnant women is a concern. Overweight and obesity are also important health concerns, and we hypothesized thatin uteroexposure to maternal thyroid disease could programme the foetus to development of adiposity. Design Cohort and case-cohort studies. Participants Pregnant women from the Danish National Birth Cohort and their 7-year-old children. Measurements Maternal thyroid disease (hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism) was assessed from registrations of diagnoses and treatment (n = 71 706) or from the measurement of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) in a stored blood sample from the early pregnancy (n = 7624). Maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and child BMI at 7 years of age were used to define overweight and obesity, and associations were evaluated using regression models adjusting for potential confounders. Results No association was found between maternal thyroid disease in pregnancy and child overweight (hyperthyroidism: adjusted risk ratio (aRR): 1.02 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.58-1.82); hypothyroidism: 1.31 (0.86-1.97)) or obesity (hyperthyroidism: 0.96 (0.53-1.75); hypothyroidism: 1.25 (0.76-2.05)). On the other hand, pregnant women with hypothyroidism in early pregnancy had a higher risk of being overweight (aRR: 1.20 (95% CI: 1.03; 1.41)) and obese (1.45 (1.07; 1.96)), whereas women with hyperthyroidism had a lower risk of being overweight (0.79 (0.64; 0.98)). Conclusions Results provide no evidence that maternal thyroid disease in pregnancy programmes adiposity in the child, but corroborate an association between maternal thyroid disease and adiposity in the mother.

Background In this nationwide study, we used the unique Danish registries to estimate the risk of suicide and deliberate self-harm in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD). Methods and Results We identified all Danish citizens receiving a diagnosis of CHD between 1977 and 2007. As a reference cohort, we randomly selected 10 citizens for each patient, matched by sex and birth year. Using the Fine and Gray competing risk regression, we estimated the cumulative incidences of suicide and self-harm, and Cox proportional regression analysis was used to compare the risk of suicide and deliberate self-harm in patients with CHD with the reference cohort. We identified 14 433 patients with CHD. Mean follow-up was 21.3 years, with a maximum follow-up of 42 years. Since the time of diagnosis, 2659 patients had died, with a median age of death of 23 years. A total of 15 patients had died by suicide, compared with 232 suicides in the reference cohort. Patients with CHD had a low and similar risk of dying by suicide when compared with the reference cohort (cause-specific hazard ratio, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.48-1.37; and subhazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.41-1.16). We identified 336 events of self-harm among patients with CHD, and 3484 events in the reference group. The overall risk of deliberate self-harm was not increased in patients with CHD when compared with the reference group (subhazard ratio, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.85-1.06). Conclusions This is the first study to estimate the risk of suicide and deliberate self-harm in patients with CHD. We found that patients with CHD do not have an increased risk of suicide or deliberate self-harm when compared with a large reference cohort.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between adipose tissue content of the plant-derived n-3 fatty acid, alpha-linolenic acid, and the rate of incident peripheral artery disease (PAD). Methods: We conducted a case-cohort study nested within the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort (n = 57,053), which was established between 1993 and 1997. Potential PAD cases were identified using linkage with The Danish National Patient Register and all potential cases were validated. Adipose tissue samples from the buttock were collected at baseline and fatty acid composition was determined in cases and in a random sample (n = 3500) from the cohort by gas chromatography. Statistical analyses were performed using weighted Cox regression allowing for different baseline hazards among sexes. Results: During a median of 13.5 years of follow-up, we identified 863 PAD cases with complete information. The median adipose tissue content of ALA in the sub-cohort (n = 3197) was 0.84% (interquartile range 0.73–0.94%) of total fatty acids. In multivariate analyses including adjustment for established risk factors, we observed a U-shaped association between ALA in adipose tissue and rate of PAD, but the association was not statistically significant (P = 0.131). Similar pattern of associations were observed between ALA content in adipose tissue and the rate of PAD among men and women. Conclusions: We found indications of a U-shaped association between adipose tissue content of ALA and the rate of PAD, but the association was not statistically significant.