Association between estimated glucose disposal rate and atrial fibrillation recurrence in patients undergoing radiofrequency catheter ablation: a retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have shown a clear link between insulin resistance (IR) and an elevated risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). However, the relationship between the estimated glucose disposal rate (eGDR), which serves as a marker for IR, and the risk of AF recurrence after radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) remains uncertain. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the potential association between the eGDR and the risk of AF recurrence following RFCA. METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted at Nanchang University Affiliated Second Hospital. The study enrolled 899 patients with AF who underwent RFCA between January 2015 and January 2022. The formula used to calculate the eGDR was as follows: 19.02 - (0.22 * body mass index) - (3.26 * hypertension) - (0.61 * HbA1c). Cox proportional hazard regression models and exposure-effect curves were used to explore the correlation between the baseline eGDR and AF recurrence. The ability of the eGDR to predict AF recurrence was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). RESULTS: The study observed a median follow-up period of 11.63 months, during which 296 patients experienced AF recurrence. K‒M analyses revealed that the cumulative incidence AF recurrence rate was significantly greater in the group with the lowest eGDR (log-rank p < 0.01). Participants with an eGDR ≥ 8 mg/kg/min had a lower risk of AF recurrence than those with an eGDR < 4 mg/kg/min, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.28 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.18, 0.42]. Additionally, restricted cubic spline analyses demonstrated a linear association between the eGDR and AF recurrence (p nonlinear = 0.70). The area under the curve (AUC) for predicting AF recurrence using the eGDR was 0.75. CONCLUSIONS: The study revealed that a decrease in the eGDR is associated with a greater AF recurrence risk after RFCA. Hence, the eGDR could be used as a novel biomarker for assessing AF recurrence risk.

Nonlinear associations between the ratio of family income to poverty and all-cause mortality among adults in NHANES study.

Socioeconomic status (SES) has been linked to mortality rates, with family income being a quantifiable marker of SES. However, the precise association between the family income-to-poverty ratio (PIR) and all-cause mortality in adults aged 40 and older remains unclear. A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from NHANES III, including 20,497 individuals. The PIR was used to assess financial status, and various demographic, lifestyle, and clinical factors were considered. Mortality data were collected from the NHANES III linked mortality file. The study revealed a non-linear association between PIR and all-cause mortality. The piecewise Cox proportional hazards regression model showed an inflection point at PIR 3.5. Below this threshold, the hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality was 0.85 (95% CI 0.79-0.91), while above 3.5, the HR decreased to 0.66 (95% CI 0.57-0.76). Participants with lower income had a higher probability of all-cause mortality, with middle-income and high-income groups showing lower multivariate-adjusted HRs compared to the low-income group. This study provides evidence of a non-linear association between PIR and all-cause mortality in adults aged 40 and older, with an inflection point at PIR 3.5. These findings emphasize the importance of considering the non-linear relationship between family income and mortality when addressing socioeconomic health disparities.

Angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor delays progression from paroxysmal to persistent atrial fibrillation.

Progression from paroxysmal to persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) is linked to adverse clinical outcomes. The present study sought to clarify whether angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor (ARNI) can delay AF progression. A retrospective cohort study was conducted on consecutive patients with paroxysmal AF admitted at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University between January 2017 and January 2022. The risk of AF progression from paroxysmal to persistent was compared between paroxysmal patients treated with ARNI and those who received an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB). Seven-day Holter monitoring was performed to identify persistent AF. Propensity-score matched analysis was performed to compare the two groups. Cox-regression was used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) for AF progression events. A total of 1083 patients were screened, and 113 patients in the ARB group and 57 patients in the ARNI group were eligible for analysis. Before propensity-score matching, the ARNI therapy was associated with a lower risk of AF progression than the ARB therapy (HR 0.34; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.14-0.81; P = 0.015) after a median follow-up of 705 (interquartile range [IQR] 512 to 895) days. Among 170 patients, 47 ARNI-treated patients were successfully matched to 47 ARB-treated patients. After a median follow-up of 724 (541-929) days, compared to ARB, ARNI significantly reduced the risk of AF progression (HR 0.32; 95% CI 0.12-0.88; P = 0.016). ARNI may be superior to ARB in reducing the risk of progression from paroxysmal to persistent AF.

Development and Validation of a Novel Prognostic Model Predicting the Atrial Fibrillation Recurrence Risk for Persistent Atrial Fibrillation Patients Treated with Nifekalant During the First Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to establish and assess a prediction model for patients with persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) treated with nifekalant during the first radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA). METHODS: In this study, 244 patients with persistent AF from January 17, 2017 to December 14, 2017, formed the derivation cohort, and 205 patients with persistent AF from December 15, 2017 to October 28, 2018, constituted the validation cohort. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression was used for variable screening and the multivariable Cox survival model for nomogram development. The accuracy and discriminative capability of this predictive model were assessed according to discrimination (area under the curve [AUC]) and calibration. Clinical practical value was evaluated using decision curve analysis. RESULTS: Body mass index, AF duration, sex, left atrial diameter, and the different responses after nifekalant administration were identified as AF recurrence-associated factors, all of which were selected for the nomogram. In the development and validation cohorts, the AUC for predicting 1-year AF-free survival was 0.863 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.801-0.926) and 0.855 (95% CI 0.782-0.929), respectively. The calibration curves showed satisfactory agreement between the actual AF-free survival and the nomogram prediction in the derivation and validation cohorts. In both groups, the prognostic score enabled stratifying the patients into different AF recurrence risk groups. CONCLUSIONS: This predictive nomogram can serve as a quantitative tool for estimating the 1-year AF recurrence risk for patients with persistent AF treated with nifekalant during the first RFCA.

A deep belief network-based clinical decision system for patients with osteosarcoma.

Osteosarcoma was the most frequent type of malignant primary bone tumor with a poor survival rate mainly occurring in children and adolescents. For precision treatment, an accurate individualized prognosis for Osteosarcoma patients is highly desired. In recent years, many machine learning-based approaches have been used to predict distant metastasis and overall survival based on available individual information. In this study, we compared the performance of the deep belief networks (DBN) algorithm with six other machine learning algorithms, including Random Forest, XGBoost, Decision Tree, Gradient Boosting Machine, Logistic Regression, and Naive Bayes Classifier, to predict lung metastasis for Osteosarcoma patients. Therefore the DBN-based lung metastasis prediction model was integrated as a parameter into the Cox proportional hazards model to predict the overall survival of Osteosarcoma patients. The accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score of the DBN algorithm were 0.917/0.888, 0.896/0.643, 0.956/0.900, and 0.925/0.750 in the training/validation sets, respectively, which were better than the other six machine-learning algorithms. For the performance of the DBN survival Cox model, the areas under the curve (AUCs) for the 1-, 3- and 5-year survival in the training set were 0.851, 0.806 and 0.793, respectively, indicating good discrimination, and the calibration curves showed good agreement between the prediction and actual observations. The DBN survival Cox model also demonstrated promising performance in the validation set. In addition, a nomogram integrating the DBN output was designed as a tool to aid clinical decision-making.

Predictive nomogram for coronary heart disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Objective: This study aimed to identify risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), build a clinical prediction model, and draw a nomogram. Study design and methods: Coronary angiography was performed for 1,808 diabetic patients who were recruited at the department of cardiology in The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University from June 2020 to June 2022. After applying exclusion criteria, 560 patients were finally enrolled in this study and randomly divided into training cohorts (n = 392) and validation cohorts (n = 168). The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) is used to filter features in the training dataset. Finally, we use logical regression to establish a prediction model for the selected features and draw a nomogram. Results: The discrimination, calibration, and clinical usefulness of the prediction model were evaluated using the c-index, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, calibration chart, and decision curve. The effects of gender, diabetes duration, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein A1, lipoprotein (a), homocysteine, atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), nerve conduction velocity, and carotid plaque merit further study. The C-index was 0.803 (0.759-0.847) in the training cohort and 0.775 (0.705-0.845) in the validation cohort. In the ROC curve, the Area Under Curve (AUC) of the training set is 0.802, and the AUC of the validation set is 0.753. The calibration curve showed no overfitting of the model. The decision curve analysis (DCA) demonstrated that the nomogram is effective in clinical practice. Conclusion: Based on clinical information, we established a prediction model for CHD in patients with T2DM.

Lowering serum homocysteine in H-type hypertensive patients with atrial fibrillation after radiofrequency catheter ablation to prevent atrial fibrillation recurrence.

Background: Prior investigation revealed that elevated serum total homocysteine (tHcy) are strongly correlated with atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence. Herein, the goal of this study was to elucidate whether folic acid (FA) treatment reduced AF recurrence following radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA). Methods: To conduct this retrospective research, we included consecutive H-type hypertensive AF patients, who were treated with first RFCA, between January 2010 and January 2022. We assessed the AF recurrence risk between patients who were taking 10 mg enalapril and 0.8 mg FA in a single-pill combination (enalapril-FA) daily and those who were taking a pill of 10 mg enalapril only. Outcomes were compared using the propensity-score matched analysis. Cox regression model was employed for the evaluation of AF recurrence events. Results: Out of 2,714 patients, 645 patients receiving enalapril and 282 patients receiving enalapril-FA were included for analysis. Following propensity score matching, 239 patients remained in each group. These patients were followed-up for a median of 379 (137-596) days, and revealed that the enalapril-FA patients had drastically reduced AF recurrence, compared to the enalapril patients [adjusted hazard ratio (HR), 0.68; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.48-0.97; P = 0.029]. Apart from this, no interactions were detected in the subgroup analysis. Conclusion: In H-type hypertensive AF patients who were treated with first RFCA, FA supplementation was correlated with a reduced AF recurrence risk.

Angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor therapy and recurrence of atrial fibrillation after radiofrequency catheter ablation: A propensity-matched cohort study.

Background: Compared with conventional medicines, angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor (ARNI) could further improve the prognosis for multiple cardiovascular diseases, such as heart failure, hypertension, and myocardial infarction. However, the relationship between ARNI therapy and the recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF) after radiofrequency catheter ablation is currently unknown. Methods: This study is a retrospective cohort study. Patients with consecutive persistent or paroxysmal AF undergoing first-time radiofrequency ablation were enrolled from February 2018 to October 2021. We compared the risk of AF recurrence in patients with catheter ablation who received ARNI with the risk of AF recurrence in those who received the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI). The propensity-score matched analysis was conducted to examine the effectiveness of ARNI. We used a Cox regression model to evaluate AF recurrence events. Results: Among 679 eligible patients, 155 patients with ARNI treatment and 155 patients with ACEI treatment were included in the analyses. At a median follow-up of 228 (196-322) days, ARNI as compared with ACEI was associated with a lower risk of AF recurrence [adjusted hazard ratio (HR), 0.39; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.24-0.63; p < 0.001]. In addition, no interaction was found in the subgroup analysis. Conclusion: Angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor treatment was associated with a decreased risk of AF recurrence after first-time radiofrequency catheter ablation.

Comparing the efficacy of angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor and enalapril in acute anterior STEMI patients after primary percutaneous coronary intervention: a prospective randomized trial.

Background: For patients with heart failure (HF), the effect of angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors (ARNIs, sacubitril/valsartan) on cardiac remodeling has been found to be superior to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI). However, little data have described the impact of early-initiation ARNI in patients with acute anterior ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Methods: In this prospective, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group trial, we enrolled 131 anterior STEMI patients who were treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) between February 2019 and December 2019. All patients received standard STEMI management and were divided into 2 groups (ARNI/enalapril). Primary efficacy outcomes were the between-group difference in change (from baseline to 4-, 12-, and 24-week) in N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) concentration, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and left ventricular end-systolic volumes and end-diastolic volumes (LVESV and LVEDV). Secondary outcomes were determined by a composite of death, reinfarction, outpatient HF or HF hospitalization, malignant arrhythmia, and stroke. Safety outcomes included worsening renal function, hypotension, hyperkalemia, angioedema and cough. Results: We found that NT-proBNP concentration decreased more in the ARNI group than in the enalapril group [4 weeks: ratio of ARNI vs. enalapril 0.36, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.24 to 0.52, P<0.001; 12 weeks: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.35 to 0.79, P<0.001; 24 weeks: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.32 to 0.83, P<0.001). When compared to the enalapril group, the ARNI group patients had a significant reduction in LVEDV (P<0.001) and LVESV (P<0.001), and an improvement in LVEF (P=0.011) at 24 weeks. Secondary outcomes occurred in 13 participants (20.3%) in the ARNI group and 22 participants (34.4%) in the enalapril group [hazard ratio (HR), 0.56; 95% CI: 0.28 to 1.12; P=0.102]. The incidence of outpatient HF or HF hospitalization in the ARNI group was significantly lower than that in the enalapril group (HR, 0.36; 95% CI: 0.14 to 0.94; P=0.037). There were no significant differences in the safety between the 2 groups. Conclusions: For patients with acute anterior STEMI undergoing primary PCI, early initiation of ARNI provided significant clinical benefits. Trial Registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2100042944) registered on February 1, 2021.