Dietary intake and peripheral arterial disease incidence in middle-aged adults: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study

Background: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a costly source of morbidity and mortality among older persons in the United States. Dietary intake plays a role in the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease; however, few studies have examined the relation of food intake or dietary patterns with PAD

Trajectories of neighborhood poverty and associations with subclinical atherosclerosis and associated risk factors: the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis

The authors used data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and latent trajectory class modeling to determine patterns of neighborhood poverty over 20 years (1980-2000 residential history questionnaires were geocoded and linked to US Census data). Using these patterns, the authors examined 1) whether trajectories of neighborhood poverty were associated with differences in the amount of subclinical atherosclerosis (common carotid intimal-media thickness) and 2) associated risk factors (body mass index, hypertension, diabetes, current smoking) at baseline (January 2000-August 2002). The authors found evidence of 5 stable trajectory groups with differing levels of neighborhood poverty ( approximately 6%, 12%, 20%, 30%, and 45%) and 1 group with 29% poverty in 1980 and approximately 11% in 2000. Mostly for women, higher cumulative neighborhood poverty was generally significantly associated with worse cardiovascular outcomes. Trends generally persisted after adjustment for adulthood socioeconomic position and race/ethnicity, although they were no longer statistically significant. Among women who had moved during the 20 years, the long-term measure had stronger associations with outcomes (except smoking) than a single, contemporaneous measure. Results indicate that cumulative 20-year exposure to neighborhood poverty is associated with greater cardiovascular risk for women. In residentially mobile populations, single-point-in-time measures underestimate long-term effects.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78374/1/MurrayDiezRoux2010_AJE.pd

Associations of Acculturation and Socioeconomic Status With Subclinical Cardiovascular Disease in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61254/1/1963.htmhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61254/4/Lutsey_DiezRoux_Associationsofacculturationandsocioeconomicsubclinicalcardiovasculardisease2008.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61254/5/Lutsey_DiezRoux_Associationsofacculturationandsocioeconomicsubclinicalcardiovasculardisease2008.pd

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and risk of venous thromboembolism: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study

Some evidence suggests that an inadequate vitamin D level may increase the risk atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Whether low vitamin D has a role in venous thromboembolism (VTE), i.e., venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, is largely unexplored

Diet Soda Intake and Risk of Incident Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 Diabetes in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)*

Stereo imaging is an important area of image and video processing, with exploding progress in the last decades. An open issue in this field is the understanding of the conditions under which the straightforward application of a given image processing operator to both the left and right image of a stereo pair preserves the stereoscopic perception. In this paper, we explore this problem with application to artistic imaging and we prove that, unlike other methods, artistic operators based on edge preserving smoothing have this desirable property. We also present a novel multiresolution artistic operator, purposely designed for stereo images, which enhances the perception of three-dimensionality by means of a depth driven local scale control.

Impact of Atrial Fibrillation on Healthcare Utilization in the Community: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study

BackgroundAtrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with increased risk of hospitalization. Little is known about the impact of AF on utilization of noninpatient health care or about sex or race differences in AF‐related utilization. We examined rates of inpatient and outpatient utilization by AF status in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study.Methods and ResultsParticipants with incident AF enrolled in fee‐for‐service Medicare for at least 12 continuous months between 1991 and 2009 (n=932) were matched on age, sex, race and field center with up to 3 participants without AF (n=2729). Healthcare utilization was ascertained from Medicare claims and classified by primary International Classification of Diseases, ninth revision code. The average annual numbers of days hospitalized were 13.2 (95% CI 11.6 to 15.0) and 2.8 (95% CI 2.5 to 3.1) for those with and without AF, respectively. The corresponding numbers of annual outpatient claims were 53.3 (95% CI 50.5 to 56.3) and 22.9 (95% CI 22.1 to 23.8) for those with and without AF, respectively. Most utilization among AF patients was attributable to non‐AF conditions. The adjusted rate ratio for annual days hospitalized for other cardiovascular disease–related reasons was 4.58 (95% CI: 3.41 to 6.16) for those with AF versus those without AF. The association between AF and healthcare utilization was similar among men and women and among white and black participants.ConclusionsParticipants with AF had considerably greater healthcare utilization, and the difference in utilization for other cardiovascular disease–related reasons was substantial. In addition to rate or rhythm treatment, AF management should focus on the accompanying cardiovascular comorbidities

Fibroblast Growth Factor-23 and Incident Coronary Heart Disease, Heart Failure, and Cardiovascular Mortality: The Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities Study

BackgroundFibroblast growth factor‐23 (FGF‐23) is a hormone involved in phosphorous regulation and vitamin D metabolism that may be associated with cardiovascular risk, and it is a potential target for intervention. We tested whether elevated FGF‐23 is associated with incident coronary heart disease, heart failure, and cardiovascular mortality, even at normal kidney function.Methods and ResultsA total of 11 638 Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities study participants, median age 57 at baseline (1990–1992), were followed through 2010. Cox regression was used to evaluate the independent association of baseline serum active FGF‐23 with incident outcomes. Models were adjusted for traditional cardiovascular risk factors and estimated glomerular filtration rate. During a median follow‐up of 18.6 years, 1125 participants developed coronary heart disease, 1515 developed heart failure, and 802 died of cardiovascular causes. For all 3 outcomes, there was a threshold, whereby FGF‐23 was not associated with risk at 40 pg/mL. Compared with those with FGF‐23 <40 pg/mL, those in the highest FGF‐23 category (≥58.8 pg/mL) had a higher risk of incident coronary heart disease (adjusted hazard ratio, 95% CIs: 1.65, 1.40 to 1.94), heart failure (1.75, 1.52 to 2.01), and cardiovascular mortality (1.65, 1.36 to 2.01). Associations were modestly attenuated but remained statistically significant after further adjustment for estimated glomerular filtration rate. In stratified analyses, similar results were observed in African Americans and among persons with normal kidney function.ConclusionsHigh levels of serum FGF‐23 were associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease, heart failure, and cardiovascular mortality in this large, biracial, population‐based cohort. This association was independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors and kidney function

Life-course socioeconomic positions and subclinical atherosclerosis in the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis

A major limitation of past work on the social patterning of atherosclerosis has been the reliance on measures of neighborhood or individual-level socioeconomic position (SEP) assessed at a single point in time in adulthood. Risk of chronic disease is thought to accumulate throughout the life-course, so the use of a measure for a single point in time may result in inaccurate estimates of the social patterning of subclinical disease. Using data from the US Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), we examined the relation between childhood SEP [CSEP] (father or caretaker's education), adulthood SEP [ASEP] (a summary score of income, education, and wealth), and 20-year average exposure to neighborhood poverty [NSEP] (residential addresses geocoded and linked to census data) and the prevalence of subclinical atherosclerosis, as assessed by common carotid intimal-medial thickness (IMT) in mid to late adulthood. Participants were 45-84 years of age at baseline and were sampled from six study sites in the United States. After adjustment for age, CSEP and ASEP were both inversely and independently associated with IMT in men. All three indicators CSEP, ASEP, and NSEP were inversely and independently associated with IMT in women. Associations were somewhat reduced after adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors, suggesting that these factors may play a mediating role. There was evidence of heterogeneity in effects of NSEP by gender, and in the effects of ASEP and NSEP by race/ethnicity. Our results contribute to the growing body of work that shows that SEP at multiple points in the life-course, and at the individual and neighborhood level, contributes to the development of atherosclerosis.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61830/1/Lifecourse socioeconomic positions and subclinical atherosclerosis in the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis.pd

Loneliness and its predictors among older adults prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic: Cross-sectional and longitudinal survey findings from participants of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study cohort in the USA

Objectives We aimed to ascertain the prevalence of perceived loneliness among older adults following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and to examine factors contributing to the perception of loneliness. Design Cross-sectional and longitudinal data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study cohort. Setting The ARIC Study cohort, a prospective cohort that recruited (1987-1989) participants from four distinct communities in the USA. Participants 2984 ARIC cohort members. Primary and secondary outcomes Perceived loneliness assessed using the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) UCLA three-item Loneliness Scale telephone interviews conducted May-October 2020 and prior to March 2020. Results Of the total 5037 participants alive in 2020, 2984 (56.2%) responded to the UCLA three-item questionnaire (mean age 82.6 (SD 4.6) years, 586 (19.6%) black participants, 1081 (36.2%) men), of which 66 (2.2%) reported having had a COVID-19 infection during the observation period. The proportion of participants reporting feeling lonely was 56.3% (n=1680). Among participants with repeat measures of loneliness (n=516), 35.2% (n=182) reported feeling more lonely following pandemic onset. Self-rated health and emotional resilience were strongly associated with self-perceived loneliness. The burden of COVID-19 infections, concern about the pandemic and decreased self-reported physical activity were greater among black as compared with white participants and among those with an educational attainment of less than high school as compared with high school or more. Conclusion Findings from this study document the increase in perceived loneliness among older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA

Prospective study of sickle cell trait and venous thromboembolism incidence

Sickle cell trait may increase risk of venous thromboembolism, but this is not fully established