Trends in the prevalence and pharmacological management of migraine during pregnancy in the UK, 2000–2018

Background: Migraine is common in women of reproductive age. This study aimed to (1) describe the prevalence of migraine in pregnant women in the UK, (2) identify drugs commonly prescribed for migraine during pregnancy and (3) identify characteristics associated with being prescribed medication for migraine during pregnancy. Methods: The Clinical Practice Research Datalink pregnancy register, a database of pregnancy episodes identified in anonymised primary care health records, was used. Crude and age-standardised prevalence of migraine during pregnancy and the proportion of women with migraine prescribed drugs used for migraine management were calculated for each year between 2000 and 2018. Logistic regression was used to describe the relationship between patient characteristics and being prescribed migraine medication during pregnancy. Results: 1 377 053 pregnancies were included, of which 187 328 were in women with a history of migraine. The age-adjusted prevalence increased from 11.4% in 2000 to 17.2% in 2018. There was an increase in the rates of prescription for numerous medications for the management of migraine. Older women (adjusted OR (aOR) 1.41 (1.20 to 1.66)), women of black (aOR 1.40 (1.32 to 1.48)) and South Asian ethnicity (aOR 1.48 (1.38 to 1.59)), those living in the most deprived areas (aOR 1.60 (1.54 to 1.66)), women who were obese (aOR 1.39 (1.35 to 1.43)), smokers (aOR 1.15 (1.12 to 1.18)) and those with comorbid conditions were more likely to receive a prescription during pregnancy. Conclusions: Rates of recorded migraine have increased over the past two decades as well as rates of prescribing in women with migraine. Higher prescribing rates are seen in certain groups, which has the potential to exacerbate health inequalities

Diet and risk of diverticular disease in Oxford cohort of European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC): prospective study of British vegetarians and non-vegetarians

Objective To examine the associations of a vegetarian diet and dietary fibre intake with risk of diverticular disease

Circulating Folate Concentrations and Risk of Peripheral Neuropathy and Mortality: A Retrospective Cohort Study in the U.K

BACKGROUND: Folate deficiency may increase the risk of peripheral neuropathy but there is a paucity of data from large prospective studies examining this association. METHODS: Longitudinal analysis of electronic health records in The Health Improvement Network (THIN), a U.K. primary care database including 594,338 patients aged 18-70 years with a folate measurement and without a history of peripheral neuropathy. RESULTS: After a mean follow-up of 3.71 (standard deviation (SD) = 3.14) years, 1949 patients were diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy and 20,679 patients died. In those <40 years, compared to patients with folate ≥13.6 nmol/L, those with folate <6.8 (deficient) and 6.8-13.5 nmol/L (insufficient) had a hazard ratio (HR) for peripheral neuropathy of 1.83 (95% confidence intervals (CI) = 1.16-2.91) and 1.48 (95% CI = 1.04-2.08), respectively. There was no significant association between folate and peripheral neuropathy among those aged 41-70 years. Compared to patients with folate ≥ 13.6 nmol/L, folate <6.8 nmol/L was associated with a greater risk of death among all ages. CONCLUSION: Folate deficiency and insufficiency was associated with a greater risk of peripheral neuropathy among younger patients. This investigation should be replicated in other large datasets and it may be important to monitor peripheral neuropathy incidence after the introduction of mandatory folic acid fortification of flour in the U.K

Sociodemographic characteristics and longitudinal progression of multimorbidity:A multistate modelling analysis of a large primary care records dataset in England

BackgroundMultimorbidity, characterised by the coexistence of multiple chronic conditions in an individual, is a rising public health concern. While much of the existing research has focused on cross-sectional patterns of multimorbidity, there remains a need to better understand the longitudinal accumulation of diseases. This includes examining the associations between important sociodemographic characteristics and the rate of progression of chronic conditions.Methods and findingsWe utilised electronic primary care records from 13.48 million participants in England, drawn from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD Aurum), spanning from 2005 to 2020 with a median follow-up of 4.71 years (IQR: 1.78, 11.28). The study focused on 5 important chronic conditions: cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes (T2D), chronic kidney disease (CKD), heart failure (HF), and mental health (MH) conditions. Key sociodemographic characteristics considered include ethnicity, social and material deprivation, gender, and age. We employed a flexible spline-based parametric multistate model to investigate the associations between these sociodemographic characteristics and the rate of different disease transitions throughout multimorbidity development. Our findings reveal distinct association patterns across different disease transition types. Deprivation, gender, and age generally demonstrated stronger associations with disease diagnosis compared to ethnic group differences. Notably, the impact of these factors tended to attenuate with an increase in the number of preexisting conditions, especially for deprivation, gender, and age. For example, the hazard ratio (HR) (95% CI; p-value) for the association of deprivation with T2D diagnosis (comparing the most deprived quintile to the least deprived) is 1.76 ([1.74, 1.78]; p ConclusionsOur results indicate that early phases of multimorbidity development could warrant increased attention. The potential importance of earlier detection and intervention of chronic conditions is underscored, particularly for MH conditions and higher-risk populations. These insights may have important implications for the management of multimorbidity

A Novel Mutation in the Upstream Open Reading Frame of the CDKN1B Gene Causes a MEN4 Phenotype

PubMed ID: 23555276This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Carbohydrate Intake in the Etiology of Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis

Background: Diet may have a role in the etiology of inflammatory bowel disease. In previous studies, the associations between increased intakes of carbohydrates, sugar, starch, and inflammatory bowel disease are inconsistent. However, few prospective studies have investigated the associations between these macronutrients and incident Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC). Methods: A total of 401,326 men and women were recruited between 1991 and 1998. At recruitment, dietary intakes of carbohydrate, sugar, and starch were measured using validated food frequency questionnaires. The cohort was monitored identifying participants who developed incident CD or UC. Cases were matched with 4 controls, and odds ratios were calculated for quintiles of total carbohydrate, sugar, and starch intakes adjusted for total energy intake, body mass index, and smoking. Results: One hundred ten participants developed CD, and 244 participants developed UC during follow-up. The adjusted odds ratio for the highest versus the lowest quintiles of total carbohydrate intake for CD was 0.87, 95% CI = 0.24 to 3.12 and for UC 1.46, 95% CI = 0.62 to 3.46, with no significant trends across quintiles for either (CD, Ptrend = 0.70; UC, Ptrend = 0.41). Similarly, no associations were observed with intakes of total sugar (CD, Ptrend = 0.50; UC, Ptrend = 0.71) or starch (CD, Ptrend = 0.69; UC, Ptrend = 0.17). Conclusions: The lack of associations with these nutrients is in agreement with many case–control studies that have not identified associations with CD or UC. As there is biological plausibility for how specific carbohydrates could have an etiological role in inflammatory bowel disease, future epidemiological work should assess individual carbohydrates, although there does not seem to be a macronutrient effect

Associations of antidiabetic drugs with diabetic retinopathy in people with type 2 diabetes: an umbrella review and meta-analysis

BackgroundDiabetic retinopathy (DR) is the most frequent complication of type 2 diabetes and remains the leading cause of preventable blindness. Current clinical decisions regarding the administration of antidiabetic drugs do not sufficiently incorporate the risk of DR due to the inconclusive evidence from preceding meta-analyses. This umbrella review aimed to systematically evaluate the effects of antidiabetic drugs on DR in people with type 2 diabetes.MethodsA systematic literature search was undertaken in Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library (from inception till 17th May 2022) without language restrictions to identify systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials or longitudinal studies that examined the association between antidiabetic drugs and DR in people with type 2 diabetes. Two authors independently extracted data and assessed the quality of included studies using the AMSTAR-2 (A MeaSurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews) checklist, and evidence assessment was performed using the GRADE (Grading of recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation). Random-effects models were applied to calculate relative risk (RR) or odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). This study was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022332052).ResultsWith trial evidence from 11 systematic reviews and meta-analyses, we found that the use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA), sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT-2i), or dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4i) was not statistically associated with the risk of DR, compared to either placebo (RR: GLP-1 RA, 0.98, 0.89-1.08; SGLT-2i, 1.00, 95% CI 0.79-1.27; DPP-4i, 1.17, 0.99-1.39) or other antidiabetic drugs. Compared to other antidiabetic drugs, meglitinides (0.34, 0.01-8.25), SGLT-2i (0.73, 0.10-5.16), thiazolidinediones (0.92, 0.67-1.26), metformin (1.15, 0.81-1.63), sulphonylureas (1.24, 0.93-1.65), and acarbose (4.21, 0.44-40.43) were not statistically associated with the risk of DR. With evidence from longitudinal studies only, insulin was found to have a higher risk of DR than other antidiabetic drugs (OR: 2.47, 95% CI: 2.04-2.99).ConclusionOur results indicate that antidiabetic drugs are generally safe to prescribe regarding the risk of DR among people with type 2 diabetes. Further robust and large-scale trials investigating the effects of insulin, meglitinides, and acarbose on DR are warranted.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=332052, identifier CRD42022332052

Inequalities in the Management of Diabetic Kidney Disease in UK Primary Care: :A Cross‐Sectional Analysis of A Large Primary Care Database

Aims: To determine differences in the management of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) relevant to patient sex, ethnicity and socio-economic group in UK primary care. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis as of January 1, 2019 was undertaken using the IQVIA Medical Research Data dataset, to determine the proportion of people with DKD managed in accordance with national guidelines, stratified by demographics. Robust Poisson regression models were used to calculate adjusted risk ratios (aRR) adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity and social deprivation. Results: Of the 2.3 million participants, 161,278 had type 1 or 2 diabetes, of which 32,905 had DKD. Of people with DKD, 60% had albumin creatinine ratio (ACR) measured, 64% achieved blood pressure (BP, <140/90 mmHg) target, 58% achieved glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c, <58 mmol/mol) target, 68% prescribed renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitor in the previous year. Compared to men, women were less likely to have creatinine: aRR 0.99 (95% CI 0.98–0.99), ACR: aRR 0.94 (0.92–0.96), BP: aRR 0.98 (0.97–0.99), HbA 1c: aRR 0.99 (0.98–0.99) and serum cholesterol: aRR 0.97 (0.96–0.98) measured; achieve BP: aRR 0.95 (0.94–0.98) or total cholesterol (<5 mmol/L) targets: aRR 0.86 (0.84–0.87); or be prescribed RAAS inhibitors: aRR 0.92 (0.90–0.94) or statins: aRR 0.94 (0.92–0.95). Compared to the least deprived areas, people from the most deprived areas were less likely to have BP measurements: aRR 0.98 (0.96–0.99); achieve BP: aRR 0.91 (0.8–0.95) or HbA 1c: aRR 0.88 (0.85–0.92) targets, or be prescribed RAAS inhibitors: aRR 0.91 (0.87–0.95). Compared to people of white ethnicity; those of black ethnicity were less likely to be prescribed statins aRR 0.91 (0.85–0.97). Conclusions: There are unmet needs and inequalities in the management of DKD in the UK. Addressing these could reduce the increasing human and societal cost of managing DKD

Circulating Fatty Acids and Prostate Cancer Risk: Individual Participant Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies

Background: Individual studies have suggested that some circulating fatty acids are associated with prostate cancer risk, but have not been large enough to provide precise estimates of associations, particularly by stage and grade of disease. Methods: Principal investigators of prospective studies on circulating fatty acids and prostate cancer were invited to collaborate. Investigators provided individual participant data on circulating fatty acids (weight percent) and other characteristics of prostate cancer cases and controls. Prostate cancer risk by study-specific fifths of 14 fatty acids was estimated using multivariable-adjusted conditional logistic regression. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results: Five thousand and ninety-eight case patients and 6649 control patients from seven studies with an average follow-up of 5.1 (SD = 3.3) years were included. Stearic acid (18:0) was inversely associated with total prostate cancer (odds ratio [OR] Q5 vs Q1 = 0.88, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.78 to 1.00, P trend = .043). Prostate cancer risk was, respectively, 14% and 16% greater in the highest fifth of eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3) (OR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.01 to 1.29, P trend = .001) and docosapentaenoic acid (22:5n-3) (OR = 1.16, 95% CI = 1.02 to 1.33, P trend = .003), but in each case there was heterogeneity between studies (P = .022 and P < .001, respectively). There was heterogeneity in the association between docosapentaenoic acid and prostate cancer by grade of disease (P = .006); the association was statistically significant for low-grade disease but not high-grade disease. The remaining 11 fatty acids were not statistically associated with total prostate cancer risk. Conclusion: There was no strong evidence that circulating fatty acids are important predictors of prostate cancer risk. It is not clear whether the modest associations of stearic, eicosapentaenoic, and docosapentaenoic acid are causal