Annals of medicine
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The relationship between childhood blood eosinophils and subtypes of allergic diseases remains understudied. This study aimed to examine the associations between childhood blood eosinophils and subtypes of asthma, rhinitis and dermatitis, as well as the modifying effect of age. ⋯ Higher eosinophil counts were associated with the increased risk of allergic subtype symptoms and the decreased risk of non-allergic subtypes in children. Moreover, the associations between eosinophils and allergic asthma/rhinitis were accentuated in the school-aged child. These findings may contribute to providing novel insights for clinical administration relevance of allergic-related symptoms.Key messages:There was a positively nonlinear association between childhood eosinophils and allergic asthma/rhinitis.Age modified the associations between eosinophils and allergy-related outcomes. The associations of eosinophil with allergic asthma/rhinitis accentuated in the school-aged child (6-13, years).
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Longitudinal data on the association between smoking and glycemic control in men with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is scarce. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the extent of the association between smoking and glycemic control in this population. ⋯ Our findings show that smoking was independently associated with unfavourable glycemic control among men with newly diagnosed T2DM, and such a detrimental association could be stronger in men with a lower BMI.
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Soluble α-Klotho (s-Klotho) is a circulating protein with pleiotropic effects that mainly induce protective effects. Our study investigates the associations between s-Klotho and several established inflammatory biomarkers, with the aim of examining whether s-Klotho levels are representative of inflammatory states. ⋯ s-Klotho is significantly associated with well-recognized inflammatory biomarkers. A decrease in s-Klotho levels implies a general inflammatory status; therefore, s-Klotho serves as a potential biomarker that is inversely correlated with inflammatory conditions. Further applications in clinical practice will provide us with a better understanding of its role.Key messagesSoluble α-Klotho (s-Klotho) levels are significantly associated with the inflammatory markers uric acid, C-reactive protein, white blood cell count, and mean platelet volume.S-Klotho is involved in inflammatory processes and plays a protective role.S-Klotho may serve as an inverse indicator of inflammation.
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Alongside the emergence of COVID-19 in the United States, several reports highlighted increasing rates of opioid overdose from preliminary data. Yet, little is known about how state-level opioid overdose death trends and decedent characteristics have evolved using official death records. ⋯ This research analyzes vital statistics data from 11 states, highlighting new trends in opioid overdose deaths and decedent characteristics across 10 of these states. These findings can inform state-specific public health interventions and highlight the need for timely and comprehensive fatal opioid overdose data, especially amidst concurrent crises such as COVID-19. Key messages:Our results highlight shifts in opioid overdose trends during the COVID-19 pandemic that cannot otherwise be extracted from aggregated or provisional opioid overdose death data such as those published by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids continue to drive increases in fatal overdoses, making it difficult to separate these trends from any possible COVID-19-related factors.Black non-Hispanic people are making up an increasing proportion of opioid overdose deaths in some states.State-specific limitations and variations in data-reporting for vital statistics make it challenging to acquire and analyse up-to-date data on opioid-related overdose deaths. More timely and comprehensive data are needed to generate broader insights on the nature of the intersecting opioid and COVID-19 crises.
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Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) are selected for oral anticoagulation based on individual patient characteristics. There is little information on how clinical AF burden associates with the risk of ischaemic stroke or systemic embolism (SSE). The aim of this study was to explore the association of the frequency of cardioversions (CV) as a measure of clinical AF burden on the long-term SSE risk, with a focus on patients at intermediate stroke risk based on CHA2DS2-VASc score. For these patients, additional SSE risk stratification by assessing CV frequency may aid in the decision on whether to initiate oral anticoagulation. ⋯ Frequency of CVs for symptomatic AF episodes provides additional information on stroke risk in AF patients with CHA2DS2-VASc score 1.Key messagesThis retrospective study offers a unique opportunity to observe the natural course of AF patients with infrequent episodes of clinical arrhythmia when they were not using OAC (before introduction of CHA2DS2-VASc score).Stroke or systemic embolism rate was very low (0.08 per 100 patient-years) in patients with one CHA2DS2-VASc point who visited the emergency room for cardioversion less than once a year.Frequency of cardioversions can be used for additional risk stratification in patients at intermediate risk of stroke based on CHA2DS2-VASc score.