Electrocardiographic repolarization-related variables as predictors of coronary heart disease death in the women's health initiative study.

BackgroundWe evaluated 25 repolarization-related ECG variables for the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) death in 52 994 postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative study.Methods and resultsHazard ratios from Cox regression were computed for subgroups of women with and without cardiovascular disease (CVD). During the average follow-up of 16.9 years, 941 CHD deaths occurred. Based on electrophysiological considerations, 2 sets of ECG variables with low correlations were considered as candidates for independent predictors of CHD death: Set 1, Ѳ(Tp|Tref), the spatial angle between T peak (Tp) and normal T reference (Tref) vectors; Ѳ(Tinit|Tterm), the angle between the initial and terminal T vectors; STJ depression in V6 and rate-adjusted QTp interval (QTpa); and Set 2, TaVR and TV1 amplitudes, heart rate, and QRS duration. Strong independent predictors with over 2-fold increased risk for CHD death in women with and without CVD were Ѳ(Tp|Tref) >42° from Set 1 and TaVR amplitude >-100 μV from Set 2. The risk for these CHD death predictors remained significant after multivariable adjustment for demographic/clinical factors. Other significant predictors for CHD death in fully adjusted risk models were Ѳ(Tinit|Tterm) >30°, TV1 >175 μV, and QRS duration >100 ms.ConclusionsѲ(Tp|Tref) angle and TaVR amplitude are associated with CHD mortality in postmenopausal women. The use of these measures to identify high-risk women for further diagnostic evaluation or more intense preventive intervention warrants further study.Clinical trial registration urlhttp://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00000611

Food Intake of Kansans Over 80 Years of Age Attending Congregate Meal Sites

As the population of the United States continues to age, it has become increasingly more important to recognize the food intake and eating habits of older adults. The objective of this study was to describe the food group intake, factors predicting food group intake, and the food choices of community-dwelling Kansans, 80 years of age and older who participate in congregate meal programs. Participants completed a short questionnaire querying demographic information, current health status, and dietary supplement use. Participants (n = 113) were then followed up via telephone to complete two 24-hour diet recalls. Data were analyzed to determine adequacy of food group intake and mean intake. Regression analyses were used to determine factors predicting intake and frequency analysis established food typically consumed. Female participants were significantly more likely to consume more fruit servings than males. Intake was low for all five of the food groups, especially dairy. Chronic health conditions and dietary supplement use were consistently predictive factors of the amount of each food group consumed

Adapting the Diabetes Prevention Program for low and middle-income countries: protocol for a cluster randomised trial to evaluate ‘Lifestyle Africa’

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.Introduction Low and middle-income countries like South Africa are experiencing major increases in burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular conditions. However, evidence-based interventions to address behavioural factors related to these diseases are lacking. Our study aims to adapt the CDC’s National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) within the context of an under-resourced urban community in Cape Town, South Africa. Methods/analysis The new intervention (Lifestyle Africa) consists of 17 weekly sessions delivered by trained community health workers (CHWs). In addition to educational and cultural adaptations of DPP content, the programme adds novel components of text messaging and CHW training in Motivational Interviewing. We will recruit overweight and obese participants (body mass index ≥25 kg/m2) who are members of 28 existing community health clubs served by CHWs. In a 2-year cluster randomised control trial, clubs will be randomly allocated to receive the intervention or usual care. After year 1, usual care participants will also receive the intervention and both groups will be followed for another year. The primary outcome analysis will compare percentage of baseline weight loss at year 1. Secondary outcomes will include diabetes and cardiovascular risk indicators (blood pressure, haemoglobin A1C, lipids), changes in self-reported medication use, diet (fat and fruit and vegetable intake), physical activity and health-related quality of life. We will also assess potential psychosocial mediators/moderators as well as cost-effectiveness of the programme. Ethics/dissemination Ethical approval was obtained from the University of Cape Town and Children’s Mercy. Results will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals and training curricula will be disseminated to local stakeholders. Trial registration number NCT03342274

Generalization of adiposity genetic loci to US Hispanic women

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a public health concern. Yet the identification of adiposity-related genetic variants among United States (US) Hispanics, which is the largest US minority group, remains largely unknown. OBJECTIVE: To interrogate an a priori list of 47 (32 overall body mass and 15 central adiposity) index single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously studied in individuals of European descent among 3494 US Hispanic women in the Women's Health Initiative SNP Health Association Resource (WHI SHARe). DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of measured body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) were inverse normally transformed after adjusting for age, smoking, center and global ancestry. WC and WHR models were also adjusted for BMI. Genotyping was performed using the Affymetrix 6.0 array. In the absence of an a priori selected SNP, a proxy was selected (r2⩾0.8 in CEU). RESULTS: Six BMI loci (TMEM18, NUDT3/HMGA1, FAIM2, FTO, MC4R and KCTD15) and two WC/WHR loci (VEGFA and ITPR2-SSPN) were nominally significant (P<0.05) at the index or proxy SNP in the corresponding BMI and WC/WHR models. To account for distinct linkage disequilibrium patterns in Hispanics and further assess generalization of genetic effects at each locus, we interrogated the evidence for association at the 47 surrounding loci within 1 Mb region of the index or proxy SNP. Three additional BMI loci (FANCL, TFAP2B and ETV5) and five WC/WHR loci (DNM3-PIGC, GRB14, ADAMTS9, LY86 and MSRA) displayed Bonferroni-corrected significant associations with BMI and WC/WHR. Conditional analyses of each index SNP (or its proxy) and the most significant SNP within the 1 Mb region supported the possible presence of index-independent signals at each of these eight loci as well as at KCTD15. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence for the generalization of nine BMI and seven central adiposity loci in Hispanic women. This study expands the current knowledge of common adiposity-related genetic loci to Hispanic women

Cost-effectiveness of Lifestyle Africa: an adaptation of the diabetes prevention programme for delivery by community health workers in urban South Africa

Background Lifestyle Africa is an adapted version of the Diabetes Prevention Program designed for delivery by community health workers to socioeconomically disadvantaged populations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Results from the Lifestyle Africa trial conducted in an under-resourced community in South Africa indicated that the programme had a significant effect on reducing haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). Objective To estimate the cost of implementation and the cost-effectiveness (in cost per point reduction in HbA1c) of the Lifestyle Africa programme to inform decision-makers of the resources required and the value of this intervention. Methods Interviews were held with project administrators to identify the activities and resources required to implement the intervention. A direct-measure micro-costing approach was used to determine the number of units and unit cost for each resource. The incremental cost per one point improvement in HbA1c was calculated. Results The intervention equated to 71 United States dollars (USD) in implementation costs per participant and a 0.26 improvement in HbA1c per participant. Conclusions Lifestyle Africa reduced HbA1c for relatively little cost and holds promise for addressing chronic disease in LMIC. Decision-makers should consider the comparative clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of this intervention when making resource allocation decisions

A novel method for measuring patients' adherence to insulin dosing guidelines: introducing indicators of adherence

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Diabetic type 1 patients are often advised to use dose adjustment guidelines to calculate their doses of insulin. Conventional methods of measuring patients' adherence are not applicable to these cases, because insulin doses are not determined in advance. We propose a method and a number of indicators to measure patients' conformance to these insulin dosing guidelines.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used a database of logbooks of type 1 diabetic patients who participated in a summer camp. Patients used a guideline to calculate the doses of insulin lispro and glargine four times a day, and registered their injected doses in the database. We implemented the guideline in a computer system to calculate recommended doses. We then compared injected and recommended doses by using five indicators that we designed for this purpose: absolute agreement (AA): the two doses are the same; relative agreement (RA): there is a slight difference between them; extreme disagreement (ED): the administered and recommended doses are merely opposite; Under-treatment (UT) and over-treatment (OT): the injected dose is not enough or too high, respectively. We used weighted linear regression model to study the evolution of these indicators over time.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We analyzed 1656 insulin doses injected by 28 patients during a three weeks camp. Overall indicator rates were AA = 45%, RA = 30%, ED = 2%, UT = 26% and OT = 30%. The highest rate of absolute agreement is obtained for insulin glargine (AA = 70%). One patient with alarming behavior (AA = 29%, RA = 24% and ED = 8%) was detected. The monitoring of these indicators over time revealed a crescendo curve of adherence rate which fitted well in a weighted linear model (slope = 0.85, significance = 0.002). This shows an improvement in the quality of therapeutic decision-making of patients during the camp.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our method allowed the measurement of patients' adherence to their insulin adjustment guidelines. The indicators that we introduced were capable of providing quantitative data on the quality of patients' decision-making for the studied population as a whole, for each individual patient, for all injections, and for each time of injection separately. They can be implemented in monitoring systems to detect non-adherent patients.</p

Action for Health in Diabetes (Look AHEAD) Trial: Baseline Evaluation of Selected Nutrients and Food Group Intake

Little has been reported regarding food and nutrient intake in persons diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and most reports have been based on findings in select groups or persons who self-reported having diabetes