Association of changes in frailty status with the risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular death in older people: results from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS).

BACKGROUND: Few studies have investigated the association between changes in frailty status and all-cause mortality, inconsistent results were reported. What's more, studies that evaluated the effect of changes of frailty on cardiovascular death in older population are scanty. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the association of such changes with the risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular death in older people, using data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). METHODS: A total of 2805 older participants from two consecutive waves (i.e. 2011 and 2014) of the CLHLS were included for analysis. Based on the changes in frailty status from wave 2011 to wave 2014, participants were categorized into 4 subgroups, including sustained pre/frailty, robustness to pre/frailty, pre/frailty to robustness and sustained robustness. Study outcomes were all-cause mortality and cardiovascular death, and Cox regression analysis examined the association of changes in frailty status with outcomes. RESULTS: From wave 2011 to wave 2014, 33.2% of the participants had frailty transitions. From wave 2014 to wave 2018, there were 952 all-cause mortalities and 170 cardiovascular deaths during a follow-up of 9530.1 person-years, and Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that cumulative incidences of the two outcomes were significantly lower in more robust participants (all log-rank p < 0.001). Compared with the subgroup of sustained pre/frailty, the fully adjusted HRs of all-cause mortality were 0.61 (95% CI: 0.51-0.73, p < 0.001), 0.51 (95% CI: 0.42-0.63, p < 0.001) and 0.41 (0.34-0.49, p < 0.001) in the subgroup of robustness to pre/frailty, the subgroup of pre/frailty to robustness, and the subgroup of sustained robustness, respectively. The fully adjusted HRs of cardiovascular death were 0.79 (95% CI: 0.52-1.19, p = 0.256) in the subgroup of robustness to pre/frailty, 0.45 (95% CI: 0.26-0.76, p = 0.003) in the subgroup of pre/frailty to robustness and 0.51 (0.33-0.78, p = 0.002) in the subgroup of sustained robustness when comparing to the subgroup of sustained pre/frailty, respectively. Stratified analysis and extensive sensitivity analyses revealed similar results. CONCLUSIONS: Frailty is a dynamic process, and improved frailty and remaining robust are significantly associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular death in older people.

Association of frailty status with overall survival in elderly hypertensive patients: based on the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension and frailty often coexist in older people. The present study aimed to evaluate the association of frailty status with overall survival in elderly hypertensive patients, using data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. METHODS: A total of 10,493 elderly hypertensive patients were included in the present study (median age 87.0 years, 58.3% male). Frailty status was assessed according to a 36-item frailty index (FI), which divides elderly individuals into four groups: robustness (FI ≤ 0.10), pre-frailty (0.10 < FI ≤ 0.20), mild-frailty (0.20 < FI ≤ 0.30), and moderate-severe frailty (FI > 0.30). The study outcome was overall survival time. Accelerated failure time model was used to evaluate the association of frailty status with overall survival. RESULTS: During a period of 44,616.6 person-years of follow-up, 7327 (69.8%) participants died. The overall survival time was decreased with the deterioration of frailty status. With the robust group as reference, adjusted time ratios (TRs) were 0.84 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.80-0.87) for the pre-frailty group, 0.68 (95% CI: 0.64-0.72) for the mild frailty group, and 0.52 (95% CI: 0.48-0.56) for the moderate-severe frailty group, respectively. In addition, restricted cubic spline analysis revealed a nearly linear relationship between FI and overall survival (p for non-linearity = 0.041), which indicated the overall survival time decreased by 17% with per standard deviation increase in FI (TR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.82-0.85). Stratified and sensitivity analyses suggested the robustness of the results. CONCLUSIONS: The overall survival time of elderly hypertensive patients decreased with the deterioration of frailty status. Given that frailty is a dynamic and even reversible process, early identification of frailty and active intervention may improve the prognosis of elderly hypertensive patients.

Prognostic value of albumin to fibrinogen ratio for mortality in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

BACKGROUND: Albumin to fibrinogen ratio (AFR), a new inflammatory marker, has emerged as a useful indicator to predict adverse outcomes for several diseases. However, whether AFR could be a new useful indicator to predict mortality in HCM patients remains to be evaluated. The study explored the predictive value of AFR for HCM-related death in adult HCM patients. METHODS: A total of 404 HCM patients were eventually enrolled in the study according to the inclusion criteria. Patients were divided into two groups based on the median of baseline AFR. The association between AFR and HCM-related death was analyzed. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 4.75 years, HCM-related death was observed in 45 patients (11.1%). The incidence of HCM-related death was significantly higher in the low AFR group (log-rank p < 0.001). With the high AFR group as reference, the unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) for HCM-related death was 2.97 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.53-5.75, p = 0.001) in the low AFR group, and after adjusting for potentially confounding variables, the adjusted HR for low AFR group was 3.15 (95% CI: 1.56-6.37, p = 0.001). No significant interactions between AFR and other variables were observed in subgroup analysis. Sensitivity analyses in patients with normal albumin and fibrinogen showed similar results. CONCLUSION: AFR is an independent prognostic factor for HCM-related death, adult HCM patients with a lower AFR have a higher risk of HCM-related death.

New metabolic health definition might not be a reliable predictor for mortality in the nonobese Chinese population.

BACKGROUND: Recently, a new metabolic health (MH) definition was developed from NHANES-III. In the origin study, the definition may stratify mortality risks in people who are overweight or normal weight. We aimed to investigate the association between the new MH definition and all-cause mortality in a nonobese Chinese population. METHODS: The data were collected in 1992 and then again in 2007 from the same group of 1157 participants. The association between the new MH definition and all-cause mortality were analyzed by Cox regression models with overlap weighting according to propensity score (PS) as primary analysis. RESULTS: At baseline in 1992, 920 (79.5%) participants were categorized as MH, and 237 (20.5%) participants were categorized as metabolically unhealthy (MUH) based on this new definition. During a median follow-up of 15 years, all-cause mortality occurred in 17 (1.85%) participants in MH group and 13 (5.49%) in MUH group, respectively. In the crude sample, Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated a significantly higher all-cause mortality in MUH group when compared to MH group (log-rank p = 0.002), and MUH was significantly associated with increased all-cause mortality when compared to MH with HR at 3.04 (95% CI: 1.47-6.25, p = 0.003). However, Kaplan-Meier analysis with overlap weighting showed that the cumulative incidence of all-cause mortality was not significantly different between MH and MUH groups (adjusted p = 0.589). Furthermore, in the primary multivariable Cox analysis with overlap weighting, adjusted HR for all-cause mortality was 1.42 (95% CI: 0.49-4.17, p = 0.519) in MUH group in reference to MH group. Other additional PS analyses also showed the incidence of all-cause mortality was not significantly different between the two groups. CONCLUSION: The new MH definition may be not appropriate for mortality risk stratification in non-obese Chinese people. Further investigations are needed.

Association of increased participation in social activity in later life with risk of all-cause mortality and heart diseases in older people: results from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS).

Background: Previous studies have shown social activity is associated with reduced risk of health outcomes. However, among older people (≥65 years) who were socially inactive at baseline, limited study explored whether increased participation in social activity in later life was associated with reduced risk of health outcomes; therefore, using the data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, the study was performed. Methods: The study outcomes were 10-year all-cause mortality (sample number = 9,984) and 10-year heart diseases (sample number = 7,496). The exposure was the change of social activity frequency. Cox regression analysis was used for data analysis. Results: During the follow-up, there were 6,407 all-cause mortalities and 1,035 heart diseases, respectively. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that cumulative incidences of all-cause mortality were significantly lower in participants with changes into more frequent social activity (log-rank p < 0.001), while no significant difference was observed for heart diseases (log-rank p = 0.330). Compared with the subgroup who never participated in social activity at baseline, adjusted HRs of all-cause mortality were 0.79 (95% CI: 0.70-0.90, p < 0.001), 0.78 (95% CI: 0.63-0.96, p = 0.019), 0.74 (0.59-0.92, p = 0.006), and 0.70 (95% CI: 0.56-0.88, p = 0.002) for the subgroup of switching to sometimes, the subgroup of switching to once a month, the subgroup of switching to once a week, and the subgroup of switching to everyday, respectively. The corresponding HRs of heart diseases were 0.83 (95% CI: 0.65-1.08, p = 0.170), 0.82 (95% CI: 0.51-1.31, p = 0.412), 0.91 (0.58-1.42, p = 0.675) and 0.75 (95% CI: 0.47-1.20, p = 0.227), respectively. Stratified and sensitivity analyses revealed similar results. Conclusion: Among older people who never participated in social activity, increased participation in social activity in later life was associated with reduced risk of all-cause mortality, but was not associated with reduced risk of heart diseases.

Assessing the relationship between monocyte-to-HDL cholesterol ratio and mortality in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

OBJECTIVE: A new inflammatory marker, namely monocyte-to-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (MHR), has emerged as a useful indicator for adverse outcomes in several cardiovascular diseases; however, the relationship between MHR and the prognosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) remains to be evaluated. We examined the relationship between MHR and all-cause mortality (ACM) in Chinese adult patients with HCM. METHODS: We retrospectively performed clinical evaluation in 305 patients with HCM (median age: 52.0 years, male: 54.10%). RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 4.9 years, ACM occurred in 57 (18.7%) patients. Based on the tertiles of baseline MHR, ACM increased with higher tertile. With tertile 1 as reference, adjusted ACM hazard ratios (HRs) were 2.68 for tertile 2 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.18-6.11, p = 0.019) and 4.85 for tertile 3 (95% CI: 2.16-10.89, p < 0.001). Stratified analysis and E-value analysis suggested the robustness of the above-mentioned results. Furthermore, adjusted smooth curve fitting exhibited a non-linear relationship between MHR and ACM (inflection point: 0.5), and the risk of ACM increased significantly with higher MHR only the value below the inflection point (HR: 4.37 per one standard deviation, 95% CI: 1.81-10.6, p = 0.001). Finally, sensitivity analysis was similar to the main findings. CONCLUSION: In Chinese adult patients with HCM, higher MHR is a strong independent predictor of ACM, and a non-linear relationship is also observed between MHR and ACM.

Hypertension in frail older adults: current perspectives.

Hypertension is one of the most common chronic diseases in older people, and the prevalence is on the rise as the global population ages. Hypertension is closely associated with many adverse health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease and mortality, which poses a substantial threat to global public health. Reasonable blood pressure (BP) management is very important for reducing the occurrence of adverse events. Frailty is an age-related geriatric syndrome, characterized by decreased physiological reserves of multiple organs and systems and increased sensitivity to stressors, which increases the risk of falls, hospitalization, fractures, and mortality in older people. With the aging of the global population and the important impact of frailty on clinical practice, frailty has attracted increasing attention in recent years. In older people, frailty and hypertension often coexist. Frailty has a negative impact on BP management and the prognosis of older hypertensive patients, while hypertension may increase the risk of frailty in older people. However, the causal relationship between frailty and hypertension remains unclear, and there is a paucity of research regarding the efficacious management of hypertension in frail elderly patients. The management of hypertension in frail elderly patients still faces significant challenges. The benefits of treatment, the optimal BP target, and the choice of antihypertensive drugs for older hypertensive patients with frailty remain subjects of ongoing debate. This review provides a brief overview of hypertension in frail older adults, especially for the management of BP in this population, which may help in offering valuable ideas for future research in this field.

Disparities in overall survival by varying duration of disability in activities of daily living in older people: A population-based cohort from Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS).

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association between duration of disability in activity of daily living (ADL) and overall survival in older individuals. DESIGN: A prospective cohort study. SETTING: Community-based data from Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. PARTICIPANTS: In total, 13,560 participants without ADL disability and 2772 participants with ADL disability at baseline were included. MEASUREMENTS: ADL disability was assessed using Katz index scale, which included six essential ADLs: dressing, bathing, transferring, toileting, continence, and eating. Dependence of each item was scored on a scale of 1, the maximum total score was 6. At baseline, duration of ADL disability was defined as the maximum duration among the six items. The study outcome was overall survival. Accelerated failure time models were constructed to investigate the association between duration of ADL disability and overall survival. Subgroup analyses by sex, age, and multimorbidites, as well as sensitive analyses were conducted. RESULTS: During 81,868.7 person-years follow-up, 11,092 deaths were recorded. Overall, ADL disability was associated with lower overall survival compared to non-ADL disability. With duration of ADL disability extending, the overall survival strikingly dropped in the first 12 months, reaching its lowest point with adjusted time ratio (TR) at 0.66 (95%CI: 0.61-0.72, p < 0.001), then moderately grew until the 60th month, finally stayed constant thereafter. Participants with ADL scores of 1-3 had higher survival compared to those with scores of 4-6, and both groups followed a similar trend of varied survival to the whole cohort. Moreover, subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses showed the robustness of these findings. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings first address a golden time window for the older individuals with ADL disability. More attention should be given to them, especially in the first 12 months since diagnosis, to reduce mortality and extend the lifespan.

Association between social activity frequency and overall survival in older people: results from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS).

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to explore the impact of social activity frequency on mid- and long-term overall survival in older Chinese people. METHODS: The association between social activity frequency and overall survival was analysed in 28 563 subjects from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) cohorts. RESULTS: A total of 21 161 (74.1%) subjects died during the follow-up of 132 558.6 person-years. Overall, more frequent social activity was associated with longer overall survival. From baseline to 5 years of follow-up, adjusted time ratios (TRs) for overall survival were 1.42 (95% CI 1.21 to 1.66, p<0.001) in the not monthly but sometimes group, 1.48 (95% CI 1.18 to 1.84, p=0.001) in the not weekly but at least once/month group, 2.10 (95% CI 1.63 to 2.69, p<0.001) in the not daily but at least once/week group, and 1.87 (95% CI 1.44 to 2.42, p<0.001) in the almost everyday group versus never group. From 5 years to the end of follow-up, adjusted TRs for overall survival were 1.05 (95% CI 0.74 to 1.50, p=0.766) in the not monthly but sometimes group, 1.64 (95% CI 1.01 to 2.65, p=0.046) in the not weekly but at least once/month group, 1.23 (95% CI 0.73 to 2.07, p=0.434) in the not daily but at least once/week group, and 3.04 (95% CI 1.69 to 5.47, p<0.001) in the almost everyday group versus the never group. Stratified and sensitivity analysis revealed similar results. CONCLUSION: Frequent participation in social activity was significantly associated with prolonged overall survival in older people. However, only participating in social activity almost every day could significantly prolong long-term survival.

Promotion of Healthy Lifestyles Alone Might Not Substantially Reduce Socioeconomic Inequity-Related Mortality Risk in Older People in China: A Prospective Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Whether healthy lifestyles mediate the association of socioeconomic status (SES) with mortality in older people is largely unknown. METHODS: A total of 22,093 older participants (age ≥ 65 years) from 5 waves (2002-2014) of Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey cohort were included for analysis. Mediation analysis of lifestyles on the association of SES with all-cause mortality was conducted. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up period of 4.92 ± 4.03 years, 15,721 (71.76%) deaths occurred. Compared with high SES, medium SES increased the risk of mortality by 13.5% (HR [total effect]: 1.135, 95% CI 1.067-1.205, p < 0.001), and the total effect was not mediated by healthy lifestyles (mediation proportion: - 0.1%, 95% CI - 3.8 to 3.3%, p = 0.936). The total effect when participants of low SES were compared with participants of high SES was HR = 1.161 (95% CI 1.088-1.229, p < 0.001) for mortality, and the total effect was modestly mediated through healthy lifestyles (mediation proportion: - 8.9%, 95% CI - 16.6 to - 5.1%, p < 0.001). Stratification analyses by sex, age and comorbidities, as well as a series of sensitivity analyses indicated similar results. In addition, mortality risk showed a downward trend with increased number of healthy lifestyles within each SES level (all p for trend < 0.050). CONCLUSION: Promotion of healthy lifestyles alone can only reduce a small proportion of socioeconomic inequity-related mortality risk in older Chinese people. Even so, healthy lifestyles are important in reducing the overall mortality risk within each SES level.

The impact of hypertension on the prognosis of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: a single-center retrospective study.

Background: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and hypertension coexist fairly frequently in clinical practice. However, the evidence about the impact of hypertension on the prognosis of HCM is limited. The present study aims to investigate the impact of hypertension on the prognosis of HCM patients. Methods: A total of 468 HCM patients were enrolled, and patients were divided into hypertension group (31.8%) and non-hypertension group (68.2%). The primary study endpoint was HCM-related death, consisting of heart failure (HF)-related death, stroke-related death and sudden cardiac death (SCD). Associations between hypertension and HCM-related death were analyzed by Cox regression models with the use of propensity score matching (PSM) as primary analysis. Results: There were 55 HCM-related death during a median follow-up time of 4.6 years, and the mortality rate was 2.53 per 100 person years. Kaplan-Meier analysis based on the crude cohort or PSM cohort revealed no significant difference regarding the HCM-related death between the two groups. In the crude cohort, both univariable and multivariable Cox regression analysis indicated that hypertension was not significantly associated with HCM-related death with hazard ratios (HR) at 0.74 (95% CI [0.40-1.36], p value: 0.329) and 0.77 (95% CI [0.35-1.71], p value: 0.521), respectively. Similarly, no strong evidence for an association was observed between hypertension and HCM-related death in the PSM cohort with unadjusted HR at 0.90 (95% CI [0.34-2.41]; p value: 0.838) and adjusted HR at 0.77 (95% CI [0.35-1.71]; p value: 0.521), respectively. Other propensity score methods, including overlap weighting and inverse probability treatment weighting demonstrated similar results. Sensitivity analysis also indicated that the concomitant hypertension did not significantly increase the risk of HF-related death, stroke-related death or SCD in HCM patients. Conclusion: HCM-related death did not significantly differ between hypertension and non-hypertension groups, suggesting a negative impact of hypertension on the clinical prognosis of HCM patients.

Changes in daily sleep duration and subsequent risk of mortality among older people.

BACKGROUND: Single self-reported measures of daily sleep duration are associated with adverse health outcomes; however, the association between changes in daily sleep duration and all-cause mortality has not been thoroughly evaluated among a large group of older people. METHODS: Using data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Surveys, a total of 8588 older participants were included in the present study. Changes in daily sleep duration were assessed using annual changes, and Cox regression analysis examined the association of the annual changes with mortality. RESULTS: The median age of the study population was 82.00 (IQR: 72.00, 90.00) years, and 3974 (46.27%) participants were men. During a median follow-up period of 3.81 (IQR: 2.03, 6.74) years, 5100 (59.39%) deaths were recorded. After adjusting for initial daily sleep duration and other confounders, there was a non-linear relationship between annual changes in daily sleep duration and all-cause mortality. Annual changes were not associated with mortality before 0.0 h/year, and mortality risk increased after 0.0 h/year, specially after 1 h/year (adjusted HR: 1.32 per 1-hour/year increment, 95% CI: 1.18-1.47). Compared to the stable group (annual changes between -1 and 1 h), adjusted HRs for mortality were 0.98 (95% CI: 0.89-1.08) for the shorter group (annual decline more than 1 h) and 1.29 (95% CI: 1.19-1.41) for the longer group (annual increase greater than 1 h), respectively. Stratified and sensitivity analyses suggested robustness of the results. CONCLUSIONS: The present study suggested there was a non-linear relationship between annual changes in daily sleep duration and all-cause mortality among older people: longer changes were associated with higher mortality; while, shorter changes were not associated with mortality. Specially, mortality risk increased significantly with longer than 1 h of annual changes. The findings highlight the importance of closely monitoring the changes in daily sleep duration among older people.

Modulation of the biocatalytic activity and selectivity of CeO2 nanozymes via atomic doping engineering.

Artificial enzymes show prospects in biomedical applications due to their stable enzymatic catalytic activity and ease of preparation. CeO2 nanozymes represent a versatile platform showing multiple enzyme-mimicking activities, although their biocatalytic activities and selectivity are relatively poor for biomedical use. Herein, we developed Mn- and Co-doped CeO2 nanozymes (M/CeO2, M = Mn or Co) via atomic engineering to achieve a significant increase in enzyme-like activity. The M/CeO2 nanozymes exhibited outstanding peroxidase-like activity with a reaction rate about 8-10 times higher than that of CeO2. Importantly, the Co/CeO2 nanozyme preferred for catalase-like activity with a 4-6-fold higher catalytic rate than CeO2, while the Mn/CeO2 nanozyme had a predilection for improving the superoxide dismutase-like capacity. This indicated the selective modulation of enzyme-mimicking activities via atomic doping engineering. Cellular level experiments revealed the in vitro therapeutic effects of the nanozymes. Mn/CeO2 and Co/CeO2 selectively modulated the intracellular redox imbalance in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)- or H2O2-stimulated nerve cells and improved cell survival. This work provides a feasible strategy for the design of catalytically selective artificial enzymes and facilitates the widespread application of CeO2 nanozymes in redox-related diseases.

Mortality Risk in Older People Who Drank Alcohol in the Past by Varying Duration of Alcohol Abstention.

INTRODUCTION: This study aims to explore the mortality risk in older people who drank alcohol in the past by varying the duration of alcohol abstention. METHODS: In total, 31,999 participants aged ≥65 years from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (Waves 1998, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014) were included. Duration of alcohol abstention was assessed by designed questions, and the study outcome was all-cause mortality. Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine the association. Analyses occurred from 2022 to 2023. RESULTS: During a follow-up of 140,974.8 person-years, all-cause mortality occurred in 24,257 participants. Mortality significantly increased by 23% (adjusted hazard ratio=1.23, 95% CI=1.14, 1.33, p<0.001), by 17% (adjusted hazard ratio=1.17, 95% CI=1.06, 1.31, p=0.003), and by 17% (adjusted hazard ratio=1.17, 95% CI=1.07, 1.28, p=0.001) in people who drank alcohol in the past with ≤5 years, 5-10 years, 10-20 years of alcohol abstention, respectively, compared with that among those who drink alcohol at present. After 20 years of alcohol abstention, the increased mortality risk disappeared (adjusted hazard ratio=1.06, 95% CI=0.97, 1.15, p=0.204). Stratified and sensitivity analysis revealed similar results. In addition, compared with the risk of all-cause mortality among people who never drink alcohol, the risk of all-cause mortality in those who drank alcohol in the past also significantly increased in the following 20 years after they stop drinking, and then the increased risk disappeared afterward. CONCLUSIONS: An increased risk of all-cause mortality in older people who drank alcohol in the past was observed, which disappeared after 20 years of alcohol abstention.

Drinking natural water unchangeably is associated with reduced all-cause mortality in elderly people: A longitudinal prospective study from China.

Objective: Because of rapid economic growth and followed urban expansion in China, many people drinking natural water had to change their water sources to tap water. We aimed to test the unknown association that whether continued use of natural water for drinking is different from switching to tap water in all-cause mortality risks in elderly people. Methods: In total, based on Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, 26,688 elderly participants drinking natural water from childhood to young-old were included in the final analyses. Associations between whether changing drinking water sources or not and all-cause mortality risk were then estimated by Cox regression models with the use of multiple propensity score methods, and the primary analysis used propensity score matching, with other propensity score methods confirming the robustness of the results. Results: Baseline characteristics were fairly well balanced by the three post-randomization methods. During a median follow-up period of 3.00 (IQR: 1.52, 5.73) years, 21,379 deaths were recorded. The primary analysis showed people using natural water unchangeably was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality than those switching to tap water in later life (HR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.91-0.97, p < 0.001). Other propensity score methods, as well as Cox regression analysis without using propensity score methods, showed similar results. Conclusions: Among elderly people depending on natural water for drinking from their childhood to young-old in China, continued use of natural water was associated with a lower all-cause mortality risk than conversion to tap water later. Further studies in different countries and populations are needed to verify our conclusions.

Application of the ALBI Scoring System for Mortality Outcome Prediction in Patients with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.

Background: There is no information about the clinical significance of the albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) score in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Objective: We retrospectively performed clinical evaluations in 462 patients with HCM to estimate whether the ALBI score could be a new tool to predict mortality in HCM. Methods and Results: During a median follow-up of 4.7 years, HCM-related death occurred in 52 (11.3%) patients. Overall, there was a significant positive association between ALBI score and HCM-related death (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 1.79 per one standard deviation [SD] increment, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.36-2.35). When the score was assessed as tertiles, the adjusted HRs of HCM-related death were 1.30 (95% CI: 0.42-3.99) for the tertile 2 and 4.43 (95% CI: 1.65-11.89) for the tertile 3, compared with the tertile 1. Stratified analysis and E-value analysis suggested the robustness of the above-mentioned results. Meanwhile, time-dependent ROC analysis showed ALBI score could discriminate HCM-related death at various time points (AUC ranges: 0.725-0.850). Furthermore, exploratory analysis indicated the dynamic changes of ALBI score also could predict HCM-related death. Finally, multiple linear regression analysis suggested some pathogenetic pathways associated with HCM-related adverse outcomes significantly correlated with ALBI score, and the pathways included inflammation, myocardial injury, nutritional status and some clinical characteristics, but not abnormal cardiac structure and function itself. Conclusions: Higher ALBI score is a strong independent predictor of HCM-related death in patients with HCM.

Association of cumulative blood pressure with cardiovascular mortality in Chinese older people: A longitudinal prospective study.

OBJECTIVE: Long-term cumulative blood pressure (BP) was associated with cardiovascular mortality in middle-aged to older people. Whether cumulative BP was associated with cardiovascular mortality is uncertain in Chinese older people. DESIGN: Data were obtained from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), a nationwide, ongoing, prospective cohort study of community-dwelling Chinese older people. SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A total of 3361 older participants from the CLHLS study were included (men: 46.68 %, age: ≥65 years, median age: 78.00 years [IQR: 71.0-86.00 years]). METHODS: Cumulative BP, including systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP) and pulse pressure (PP), was determined by the area under the curve based on three measurements of BP (waves 2008, 2011, and 2014). The outcome was cardiovascular mortality, which was followed from wave 2014 to wave 2018. RESULTS: During a median follow-up period of 3.98 years, 211 cardiovascular death were recorded. The higher cumulative SBP and PP tended to be positively linearly associated with an elevated risk of cardiovascular mortality. For each SD increment, the adjusted HRs of mortality risk was 1.28 (95 % CI: 1.11-1.47; p = 0.001) and 1.24 (95 % CI, 1.09-1.43; p = 0.002) for cumulative SBP and PP, respectively. While there was no association between cumulative DBP and cardiovascular mortality. In addition, multiple sensitivity analyses suggested robustness of the results. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Our results indicate that cumulative SBP and PP were associated with cardiovascular mortality in Chinese older people; however, there was no such association between cumulative DBP and mortality. Therefore, control of long-term SBP and PP may be required in those people.

New metabolic health definition might not be a reliable predictor for diabetes in the nonobese Chinese population.

AIM: To investigate the predictive values of the new metabolic health (MH) definition for future diabetes in a nonobese Chinese population, compared with the MH definition from metabolic syndrome (MetS). METHODS: The data were collected in 1992 and then again in 2007 from the same group of 653 participants. The risk assessment of the new MH definition and the MH definition from MetS for future diabetes was performed by Cox regression analysis with overlap weighting as the primary analysis. RESULTS: During the follow-up, 62 participants were diagnosed with diabetes. In the primary analysis with overlap weighting, there was no significant association between new MH and diabetes (HR: 1.12; 95% CI: 0.45-2.78, p = 0.803); conversely, based on the MH definition from MetS, the participants with MH were less likely to have had diabetes than the participants with MUHs (HR: 0.41; 95% CI: 0.22-0.78, p = 0.007). Furthermore, other analysis methods also confirmed the reproducibility of abovementioned results. In addition, sensitivity analysis excluding participants with prediabetes also demonstrated similar results with the primary analysis. CONCLUSION: In contrast to the previous MH definition from MetS, the new MH definition was not a reliable predictor for future diabetes in the nonobese Chinese population.

New risk score model for identifying individuals at risk for diabetes in southwest China.

The prevalence of diabetes is increasing rapidly and becoming a major public health issue worldwide. We aimed to develop a novel nomogram model for long-term diabetic risk prediction in a Chinese population. A prospective cohort study was performed on 687 nondiabetic individuals who underwent routine physical examination in 1992 and 2007. Using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator model to optimize feature selection. Multiple Cox regression analysis was performed, and a simple nomogram was constructed. The area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and calibration plot were conducted to assess the predictive accuracy of the model. The model was subjected to bootstrap internal validation. Of the 687 participants without diabetes at baseline, 74 developed diabetes during the follow-up time. This simple nomogram model was constructed by family history of diabetes, height, waist circumference, triglycerides, fasting plasma glucose and white blood cell count. The AUCs were 0.812 (95% CI: 0.729-0.895) and 0.794 (95% CI: 0.734-0.854) for 10-year and 15-year diabetic risk. The bootstrap corrected c-index was 0.771 (95% CI: 0.721-0.821). The calibration plot also achieved good agreement between observational and actual diabetic incidence. The stratification into different risk groups by optimal cut-off value of 12.8 allowed significant distinction between cumulative diabetic incidence curves in the whole cohort and several subgroups. We established and internally validated a novel nomogram which can provide individual diabetic risk prediction for Chinese population and this practical screening model may help clinicians to identify individuals at high risk of diabetes.

Assessing the relationship between systemic immune-inflammation index and mortality in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

BACKGROUND: This study investigates the predictive value of the systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), which was calculated as platelet × neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, for all-cause mortality in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). METHODS: A total of 360 HCM patients were enrolled. They were divided into three groups based on the tertiles of baseline SII. The association between SII and all-cause mortality was analyzed. RESULTS: There were 53 HCM patients who died during a mean follow-up time of 4.8 years (min: 6 days and max: 10.8 years), and the mortality rate was 3.0 per 100 person years. The cumulative mortality rate was significantly different among the three tertiles of SII (P = 0.004), and the mortality rate in tertile 3 was much higher than that in the first two tertiles. In reference to tertile 1, the fully adjusted hazard ratios of all-cause mortality were 1.02 for the tertile 2 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.45-2.31, P = 0.966) and 2.31 for tertile 3 (95% CI: 1.10-4.87, P = 0.027). No significant interactions between SII and other variables were observed during subgroup analysis. The discriminative power was better for mid-term outcome than that for short-term or long-term outcomes. Sensitivity analyses including patients with normal platelet and white blood cell count have revealed similar results. CONCLUSION: SII was a significant risk factor for all-cause mortality in HCM patients. However, the discriminative power was poor to moderate. It could be used in combination with other risk factors in mortality risk stratification in HCM.