Young adults may have high long-term atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk despite low short-term risk.
In this study, we sought to compare the performance of short-term and long-term ...ASCVD risk prediction tools in young adults and evaluate ASCVD incidence associated with predicted short-term and long-term risk.
We included adults aged 18 to 39 years, from 2008 to 2009 in a U.S. integrated health care system, and followed them through 2019. We calculated 10-year and 30-year ASCVD predicted risk and assessed ASCVD incidence.
Among 414,260 young adults, 813 had an incident ASCVD event during a median of 4 years (maximum 11 years). Compared with 10-year predicted risk, 30-year predicted risk improved reclassification (net reclassification index: 16%) despite having similar discrimination (Harrell’s C: 0.749 vs 0.726). Overall, 1.0% and 2.2% of young adults were categorized as having elevated 10-year (≥7.5%) and elevated 30-year (≥20%) predicted risk, respectively, and 1.6% as having low 10-year (<7.5%) but elevated 30-year predicted risk. The ASCVD incidence rate per 1,000 person-years was 2.60 (95% CI: 1.92-3.52) for those with elevated 10-year predicted risk, 1.87 (95% CI: 1.42-2.46) for those with low 10-year but elevated 30-year predicted risk, and 0.32 (95% CI: 0.30-0.35) for those with low 10-year and 30-year predicted risk. The age- and sex-adjusted incidence rate ratio was 3.04 (95% CI: 2.25-4.10) comparing those with low 10-year but elevated 30-year predicted risk and those with low 10-year and 30-year predicted risk.
Long-term ASCVD risk prediction tools further discriminate a subgroup of young adults with elevated observed risk despite low estimated short-term risk.
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Introduction
The impact of atrial arrhythmias on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19)‐associated outcomes are unclear. We sought to identify prevalence, risk factors and outcomes associated with ...atrial arrhythmias among patients hospitalized with COVID‐19.
Methods
An observational cohort study of 1053 patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection admitted to a quaternary care hospital and a community hospital was conducted. Data from electrocardiographic and telemetry were collected to identify atrial fibrillation (AF) or atrial flutter/tachycardia (AFL). The association between atrial arrhythmias and 30‐day mortality was assessed with multivariable analysis.
Results
Mean age of patients was 62 ± 17 years and 62% were men. Atrial arrhythmias were identified in 166 (15.8%) patients, with AF in 154 (14.6%) patients and AFL in 40 (3.8%) patients. Newly detected atrial arrhythmias occurred in 101 (9.6%) patients. Age, male sex, prior AF, renal disease, and hypoxia on presentation were independently associated with AF/AFL occurrence. Compared with patients without AF/AFL, patients with AF/AFL had significantly higher levels of troponin, B‐type natriuretic peptide, C‐reactive protein, ferritin and
d‐dimer. Mortality was significantly higher among patients with AF/AFL (39.2%) compared to patients without (13.4%; p < .001). After adjustment for age and co‐morbidities, AF/AFL (adjusted odds ratio OR: 1.93; p = .007) and newly detected AF/AFL (adjusted OR: 2.87; p < .001) were independently associated with 30‐day mortality.
Conclusion
Atrial arrhythmias are common among patients hospitalized with COVID‐19. The presence of AF/AFL tracked with markers of inflammation and cardiac injury. Atrial arrhythmias were independently associated with increased mortality.
Abstract
African Americans living in low socioeconomic circumstances are at high risk of poor health outcomes; this is particularly true for those with hypertension. Many African Americans with ...chronic hypertension living in the rural impoverished Southeastern USA have low health literacy and are socially isolated. These factors are known to have a negative impact on health outcomes, but it is possible that social support may overcome some of the effect of low health literacy. Since little has been reported about this association, we examined the association between social functioning and health literacy in a rural African American population in the Southeast USA. We used baseline data from participants in the Southeastern Collaboration to Improve Blood Pressure Control, a pragmatic trial that recruited rural African Americans with persistently uncontrolled hypertension and collected survey data. Overall, 33.5% of the 1221 person sample reported social isolation, 26.0% reported low instrumental support, 36.0% reported low emotional support, and 63.4% had inadequate health literacy. All three domains of low social functioning were significantly associated with low health literacy, and this effect was robust to multivariable adjustment for sociodemographics and cognitive functioning for social isolation (adjusted odds ratio 1.62, 95% confidence intervals 1.20–2.20). In conclusion, the majority of this sample living in the NC and AL Black Belt had high social functioning but inadequate health literacy. Tests of interventions to improve social support, especially social isolation, may be warranted to overcome low health literacy in this high-risk rural population.
BACKGROUND—The association of overall diet, as characterized by dietary patterns, with risk of incident acute coronary heart disease (CHD) has not been studied extensively in samples including ...sociodemographic and regional diversity.
METHODS AND RESULTS—We used data from 17 418 participants in Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS), a national, population-based, longitudinal study of white and black adults aged ≥45 years, enrolled from 2003 to 2007. We derived dietary patterns with factor analysis and used Cox proportional hazards regression to examine hazard of incident acute CHD events – nonfatal myocardial infarction and acute CHD death – associated with quartiles of consumption of each pattern, adjusted for various levels of covariates. Five primary dietary patterns emergedConvenience, Plant-based, Sweets, Southern, and Alcohol and Salad. A total of 536 acute CHD events occurred over a median (interquartile range) 5.8 (2.1) years of follow-up. After adjustment for sociodemographics, lifestyle factors, and energy intake, highest consumers of the Southern pattern (characterized by added fats, fried food, eggs, organ and processed meats, and sugar-sweetened beverages) experienced a 56% higher hazard of acute CHD (comparing quartile 4 with quartile 1hazard ratio, 1.56; 95% confidence interval, 1.17–2.08; P for trend across quartiles=0.003). Adding anthropometric and medical history variables to the model attenuated the association somewhat (hazard ratio, 1.37; 95% confidence interval, 1.01–1.85; P=0.036).
CONCLUSIONS—A dietary pattern characteristic of the southern United States was associated with greater hazard of CHD in this sample of white and black adults in diverse regions of the United States.
Background Outcomes following heart failure (HF) hospitalizations are poor, with 90-day mortality rates of 15% to 20%. Although prior studies found associations between individual social determinants ...of health (SDOH) and post-discharge mortality, less is known about how an individuals' total burden of SDOH affects 90-day mortality. Methods and Results We included participants of the REGARDS (Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke) Study who were Medicare beneficiaries aged ≥65 years discharged alive after an adjudicated HF hospitalization. Guided by the Healthy People 2020 Framework, we examined 9 SDOH. First, we examined age-adjusted associations between each SDOH and 90-day mortality; those associated with 90-day mortality were used to create an SDOH count. Next, we determined the hazard of 90-day mortality by the SDOH count, adjusting for confounders. Over 10 years, 690 participants were hospitalized for HF at 440 unique hospitals in the United States; there were a total of 79 deaths within 90 days. Overall, 28% of participants had 0 SDOH, 39% had 1, and 32% had ≥2. Compared with those with 0, the age-adjusted hazard ratio for 90-day mortality among those with 1 SDOH was 2.89 (95% CI, 1.46-5.72) and was 3.06 (1.51-6.19) among those with ≥2 SDOH. The adjusted hazard ratio was 2.78 (1.37-5.62) and 2.57 (1.19-5.54) for participants with 1 SDOH and ≥2, respectively. Conclusions While having any of the SDOH studied here markedly increased risk of 90-day mortality after an HF hospitalization, a greater burden of SDOH was not associated with significantly greater risk in our population.
Older individuals with chronic health conditions are at highest risk of adverse clinical outcomes from COVID-19, but there is widespread belief that risk to younger, relatively lower-risk individuals ...is negligible. We assessed the rate and predictors of life-threatening complications among relatively lower-risk adults hospitalized with COVID-19. Of 3766 adults hospitalized with COVID-19 to three hospitals in New York City from March to May 2020, 963 were relatively lower-risk based on absence of preexisting health conditions. Multivariable logistic regression models examined in-hospital development of life-threatening complications (major medical events, intubation, or death). Covariates included age, sex, race/ethnicity, hypertension, weight, insurance type, and area-level sociodemographic factors (poverty, crowdedness, and limited English proficiency). In individuals ≥55 years old (n = 522), 33.3% experienced a life-threatening complication, 17.4% were intubated, and 22.6% died. Among those <55 years (n = 441), 15.0% experienced a life-threatening complication, 11.1% were intubated, and 5.9% died. In multivariable analyses among those ≥55 years, age (OR 1.03 95%CI 1.01-1.06), male sex (OR 1.72 95%CI 1.14-2.64), being publicly insured (versus commercial insurance: Medicare, OR 2.02 95%CI 1.22-3.38, Medicaid, OR 1.87 95%CI 1.10-3.20) and living in areas with relatively high limited English proficiency (highest versus lowest quartile: OR 3.50 95%CI 1.74-7.13) predicted life-threatening complications. In those <55 years, no sociodemographic factors significantly predicted life-threatening complications. A substantial proportion of relatively lower-risk patients hospitalized with COVID-19 experienced life-threatening complications and more than 1 in 20 died. Public messaging needs to effectively convey that relatively lower-risk individuals are still at risk of serious complications.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Using a large, national sample, this study examined perceived caregiving strain and other caregiving factors in relation to all-cause mortality.
The REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in ...Stroke (REGARDS) study is a population-based cohort of men and women aged 45 years and older. Approximately 12% (n = 3,710) reported that they were providing ongoing care to a family member with a chronic illness or disability. Proportional hazards models were used for this subsample to examine the effects of caregiving status measures on all-cause mortality over the subsequent 5-year period, both before and after covariate adjustment.
Caregivers who reported high caregiving strain had significantly higher adjusted mortality rates than both no strain (hazard ratio HR = 1.55, p = .02) and some strain (HR = 1.83, p = .001) caregivers. The mortality effects of caregiving strain were not found to differ by race, sex, or the type of caregiving relationship (i.e., spouse, parent, child, sibling, and other).
High perceived caregiving strain is associated with increased all-cause mortality after controlling for appropriate covariates. High caregiving strain constitutes a significant health concern and these caregivers should be targeted for appropriate interventions.
IMPORTANCE: Race-specific and sex-specific stroke risk varies across the lifespan, yet few reports describe sex differences in stroke risk separately in black individuals and white individuals. ...OBJECTIVE: To examine incidence and risk factors for ischemic stroke by sex for black and white individuals. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This prospective cohort study included participants 45 years and older who were stroke-free from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) cohort, enrolled from the continental United States 2003 through 2007 with follow-up through October 2016. Data were analyzed from March 2018 to September 2018. EXPOSURES: Sex and race. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Physician-adjudicated incident ischemic stroke, self-reported race/ethnicity, and measured and self-reported risk factors. RESULTS: A total of 25 789 participants (14 170 women 54.9%; 10 301 black individuals 39.9%) were included. Over 222 120 person-years of follow-up, 939 ischemic strokes occurred: 159 (16.9%) in black men, 326 in white men (34.7%), 217 in black women (23.1%), and 237 in white women (25.2%). Between 45 and 64 years of age, white women had 32% lower stroke risk than white men (incidence rate ratio IRR, 0.68 95% CI, 0.49-0.94), and black women had a 28% lower risk than black men (IRR, 0.72 95% CI, 0.52-0.99). Lower stroke risk in women than men persisted at age 65 through 74 years in white individuals (IRR, 0.71 95% CI, 0.55-0.94) but not in black individuals (IRR, 0.94 95% CI, 0.68-1.30); however, the race-sex interaction was not significant. At 75 years and older, there was no sex difference in stroke risk for either race. For white individuals, associations of systolic blood pressure (women: hazard ratio HR, 1.13 95% CI, 1.05-1.22; men: 1.04 95% CI, 0.97-1.11; P = .099), diabetes (women: HR, 1.84 95% CI, 1.35-2.52; men: 1.13 95% CI, 0.86-1.49; P = .02), and heart disease (women: HR, 1.76 95% CI, 1.30-2.39; men, 1.26 95% CI, 0.99-1.60; P = .09) with stroke risk were larger for women than men, while antihypertensive medication use had a smaller association in women than men (women: HR, 1.17 95% CI, 0.89-1.54; men: 1.61 95% CI, 1.29-2.03; P = .08). In black individuals, there was no evidence of a sex difference for any risk factors. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: For both races, at age 45 through 64 years, women were at lower stroke risk than men, and there was no sex difference at 75 years or older; however, the sex difference pattern may differ by race from age 65 through 74 years. The association of risk factors on stroke risk differed by race-sex groups. While the need for primordial prevention, optimal management, and control of risk factors is universal across all age, racial/ethnic, and sex groups, some demographic subgroups may require earlier and more aggressive strategies.
Sepsis is the syndrome of life-threatening organ dysfunction resulting from dysregulated host response to infection. Aspirin, an anti-inflammatory agent, may play a role in attenuating the ...inflammatory response during infection. We evaluated the association between aspirin use and long-term rates of sepsis as well as sepsis outcomes.
We analyzed data from 30,239 adults ≥45 years old in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) cohort. The primary exposure was aspirin use, identified via patient interview. The primary outcome was sepsis hospitalization, defined as admission for infection with two or more systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria. We fit Cox proportional hazards models assessing the association between aspirin use and rates of sepsis, adjusted for participant demographics, health behaviors, chronic medical conditions, medication adherence, and biomarkers. We used a propensity-matched analysis and a series of sensitivity analyses to assess the robustness of our results. We also examined risk of organ dysfunction and hospital mortality during hospitalization for sepsis.
Among 29,690 REGARDS participants with follow-up data available, 43% reported aspirin use (n = 12,869). Aspirin users had higher sepsis rates (hazard ratio 1.35; 95% CI: 1.22-1.49) but this association was attenuated following adjustment for potential confounders (adjusted HR 0.99; 95% CI: 0.88-1.12). We obtained similar results in propensity-matched and sensitivity analyses. Among sepsis hospitalizations, aspirin use was not associated with organ dysfunction or hospital death.
In the REGARDS cohort, baseline aspirin use was not associated with long-term rates of sepsis.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background The independent prognostic value of troponin and other biomarker elevation among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) are unclear. We sought to characterize biomarker levels ...in patients hospitalized with COVID‐19 and develop and validate a mortality risk score. Methods and Results An observational cohort study of 1053 patients with COVID‐19 was conducted. Patients with all of the following biomarkers measured—troponin‐I, B‐type natriuretic peptide, C‐reactive protein, ferritin, and d‐dimer (n=446) —were identified. Maximum levels for each biomarker were recorded. The primary end point was 30‐day in‐hospital mortality. Multivariable logistic regression was used to construct a mortality risk score. Validation of the risk score was performed using an independent patient cohort (n=440). Mean age of patients was 65.0±15.2 years and 65.3% were men. Overall, 444 (99.6%) had elevation of any biomarker. Among tested biomarkers, troponin‐I ≥0.34 ng/mL was the only independent predictor of 30‐day mortality (adjusted odds ratio, 4.38; P<0.001). Patients with a mortality score using hypoxia on presentation, age, and troponin‐I elevation, age (HA2T2) ≥3 had a 30‐day mortality of 43.7% while those with a score <3 had mortality of 5.9%. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the HA2T2 score was 0.834 for the derivation cohort and 0.784 for the validation cohort. Conclusions Elevated troponin and other biomarker levels are commonly seen in patients hospitalized with COVID‐19. High troponin levels are a potent predictor of 30‐day in‐hospital mortality. A simple risk score can stratify patients at risk for COVID‐19–associated mortality.
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