Medicine
-
No risk assessment tool is available for identifying high risk population of breast cancer (BCa) in Hong Kong. A case-control study including 918 BCa cases and 923 controls was used to develop the risk assessment model among Hong Kong Chinese women. Each participant received an in-depth interview to obtain their lifestyle and environmental risk factors. ⋯ The AUCs were 0.640 (95% CI, 0.598-0.681) and 0.655 (95% CI, 0.621-0.653) for pre- and postmenopausal women, respectively. Further subgroup evaluation revealed that the model performance was better for women aged 50 to 70 years or ER-positive. This BCa risk assessment tool in Hong Kong Chinese women based on LASSO selection is promising, which shows a slightly higher discriminative accuracy than those developed in other populations.
-
Gene polymorphisms had been found to be associated with increased risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The aim of the present study was to assess the association between rs2896019 and rs3810622 in PNPLA3 with the susceptibility to NAFLD in Han Chinese population. A total of 384 NAFLD patients and 384 controls were enrolled in the study. ⋯ Likewise, patients with genotype TT of rs3810622 had higher levels of ALT (P = 0.021) and blood glucose (GLU) (P = 0.034). Haplotype association analysis showed that GT haplotype conferred a statistically significant increased risk for NAFLD (OR = 1.49; 95% CI = 1.20-1.84, P < 0.01). These results suggest that PNPLA3 rs2896019 and rs3810622 polymorphisms significantly contribute to increased NAFLD risk in Han Chinese population.
-
The body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) are commonly used anthropometric measures for predicting cardiovascular diseases risk factors, but it is uncertain which specific measure might be the most appropriate predictor of a cluster of cardiometabolic abnormalities (CMA) in Chinese adults. A body shape index (ABSI) and body roundness index (BRI) have been recently developed as alternative anthropometric indices that may better reflect health status. The main aims of this study were to investigate the predictive capacity of ABSI and BRI in identifying various CMA compared to BMI, WC, waist-to-hip ratio (WHpR), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), and to determine whether there exists a best single predictor of all CMA. ⋯ According to the multivariate logistic regression analysis, BRI and WHtR were superior in discriminating hyperuricemia and at least 1 CMA while BMI performed better in predicting hypertension, diabetes, and MetS in women. In men, WC and BRI were the 2 best predictor of all CMA except MetS, and the ABSI was the worst. Our results showed the novel index BRI could be used as a single suitable anthropometric measure in simultaneously identifying a cluster of CMA compared to BMI and WHtR, especially in Chinese women, whereas the ABSI showed the weakest discriminative power.
-
We investigated the risk factors for adenoma occurrence at surveillance colonoscopy, especially focusing on patient characteristics, including metabolic factors. Surveillance colonoscopy intervals depend on baseline adenoma characteristics. However, patients' characteristics may also influence the occurrence of adenomas. ⋯ The cumulative incidence of adenoma occurrence in the high-risk group was higher than that in the low-risk group, whereas the incidence in the high-risk group without MetS was comparable with that in the low-risk group with MetS. Patient characteristics, such as MetS, obesity, older age, and male sex, in addition to adenoma characteristics, were independent risk factors for adenoma occurrence at surveillance colonoscopy. These patient characteristics may be considered in surveillance colonoscopy intervals.
-
Cervical cancer ranks as the fourth leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide. In Taiwan, although the universal health insurance system has achieved 99.9% coverage and ensured easy access to medical care, some cervical cancer patients continue to delay initiation of definitive treatment after diagnosis. This study focused on cervical cancer patients who delayed treatment for at least 4 months, and examined the characteristics, related factors, and survival in these patients. ⋯ Those who delayed treatment had 2.31 times the mortality risk of those who underwent timely treatment (P < 0.05). Delayed cervical cancer treatment in Taiwan was associated with age, comorbidity, cancer stage, diagnosing hospital level, and hospital ownership. Delaying treatment for ≥4 months substantially raised mortality risk in cervical cancer patients.