Systolic Blood Pressure and Survival to Very Old Age: Results From the Women's Health Initiative.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between systolic blood pressure (SBP) and longevity is not fully understood. We aimed to determine which SBP levels in women ≥65 years of age with or without blood pressure medication were associated with the highest probability of surviving to 90 years of age. METHODS: The study population consisted of 16 570 participants enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative who were eligible to survive to 90 years of age by February 28, 2020, without a history of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or cancer. Blood pressure was measured at baseline (1993 through 1998) and then annually through 2005. The outcome was defined as survival to 90 years of age with follow-up. Absolute probabilities of surviving to 90 years of age were estimated for all combinations of SBP and age using generalized additive logistic regression modeling. The SBP that maximized survival was estimated for each age, and a 95% CI was generated. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 19.8 years, 9723 of 16 570 women (59%) survived to 90 years of age. Women with an SBP between 110 and 130 mm Hg at attained ages of 65, 70, 75, and 80 years had a 38% (95% CI, 34%-48%), 54% (52%-56%), 66% (64%-67%), or 75% (73%-78%) absolute probability to survive to 90 years of age, respectively. The probability of surviving to 90 years of age was lower for greater SBP levels. Women at the attained age of 80 years with 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, or 100% time in therapeutic range (defined as an SBP between 110 and 130 mm Hg) had a 66% (64%-69%), 68% (67%-70%), 71% (69%-72%), 73% (71%-74%), 75% (72%-77%), or 77% (74%-79%) absolute survival probability to 90 years of age. CONCLUSIONS: For women >65 years of age with low cardiovascular disease and other chronic disease risk, an SBP level <130 mm Hg was found to be associated with longevity. These findings reinforce current guidelines targeting an SBP target <130 mm Hg in older women.

Long-Term Effect of Randomization to Calcium and Vitamin D Supplementation on Health in Older Women : Postintervention Follow-up of a Randomized Clinical Trial.

BACKGROUND: Although calcium and vitamin D (CaD) supplementation may affect chronic disease in older women, evidence of long-term effects on health outcomes is limited. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate long-term health outcomes among postmenopausal women in the Women's Health Initiative CaD trial. DESIGN: Post hoc analysis of long-term postintervention follow-up of the 7-year randomized intervention trial of CaD. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00000611). SETTING: A multicenter (n = 40) trial across the United States. PARTICIPANTS: 36 282 postmenopausal women with no history of breast or colorectal cancer. INTERVENTION: Random 1:1 assignment to 1000 mg of calcium carbonate (400 mg of elemental calcium) with 400 IU of vitamin D3 daily or placebo. MEASUREMENTS: Incidence of colorectal, invasive breast, and total cancer; disease-specific and all-cause mortality; total cardiovascular disease (CVD); and hip fracture by randomization assignment (through December 2020). Analyses were stratified on personal supplement use. RESULTS: For women randomly assigned to CaD versus placebo, a 7% reduction in cancer mortality was observed after a median cumulative follow-up of 22.3 years (1817 vs. 1943 deaths; hazard ratio [HR], 0.93 [95% CI, 0.87 to 0.99]), along with a 6% increase in CVD mortality (2621 vs. 2420 deaths; HR, 1.06 [CI, 1.01 to 1.12]). There was no overall effect on other measures, including all-cause mortality (7834 vs. 7748 deaths; HR, 1.00 [CI, 0.97 to 1.03]). Estimates for cancer incidence varied widely when stratified by whether participants reported supplement use before randomization, whereas estimates on mortality did not vary, except for CVD mortality. LIMITATION: Hip fracture and CVD outcomes were available on only a subset of participants, and effects of calcium versus vitamin D versus joint supplementation could not be disentangled. CONCLUSION: Calcium and vitamin D supplements seemed to reduce cancer mortality and increase CVD mortality after more than 20 years of follow-up among postmenopausal women, with no effect on all-cause mortality. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health.

Vascular health years after a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy: The EPOCH study.

BACKGROUND: Preeclampsia is associated with a two-fold increase in a woman's lifetime risk of developing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), but the reasons for this association are uncertain. The objective of this study was to examine the associations between vascular health and a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy among women ≥ 2 years postpartum. METHODS: Pre-menopausal women with a history of either a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy (cases: preeclampsia or gestational hypertension) or a normotensive pregnancy (controls) were enrolled. Participants were assessed for standard ASCVD risk factors and underwent vascular testing, including measurements of blood pressure, endothelial function, and carotid artery ultrasound. The primary outcomes were blood pressure, ASCVD risk, reactive hyperemia index measured by EndoPAT and carotid intima-medial thickness. The secondary outcomes were augmentation index normalized to 75 beats per minute and pulse wave amplitude measured by EndoPAT, and carotid elastic modulus and carotid beta-stiffness measured by carotid ultrasound. RESULTS: Participants had a mean age of 40.7 years and were 5.7 years since their last pregnancy. In bivariate analyses, cases (N = 68) were more likely than controls (N = 71) to have hypertension (18% vs 4%, P = .034), higher calculated ASCVD risk (0.6 vs 0.4, P = .02), higher blood pressures (systolic: 118.5 vs 111.6 mm Hg, P = .0004; diastolic: 75.2 vs 69.8 mm Hg, P = .0004), and higher augmentation index values (7.7 vs 2.3, P = .03). They did not, however, differ significantly in carotid intima-media thickness (0.5 vs 0.5, P = .29) or reactive hyperemia index (2.1 vs 2.1, P = .93), nor in pulse wave amplitude (416 vs 326, P = .11), carotid elastic modulus (445 vs 426, P = .36), or carotid beta stiffness (2.8 vs 2.8, P = .86). CONCLUSION: Women with a prior hypertensive disorder of pregnancy had higher ASCVD risk and blood pressures several years postpartum, but did not have more endothelial dysfunction or subclinical atherosclerosis.

Traditional Mexican dietary pattern and cancer risk among women of Mexican descent.

PURPOSE: To examine the association of a traditional Mexican diet score with risk of total, breast, and colorectal cancer among women of Mexican ethnic descent in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). METHODS: Participants were WHI enrollees who self-identified as being of Mexican descent. Data from food frequency questionnaires self-administered at study baseline were used to calculate the MexD score, with higher scores indicating greater adherence to an a priori-defined traditional Mexican diet (high in dietary fiber, vegetables, and legumes). Incident cancers were self-reported by participants from 1993 to 2020 and adjudicated by trained physicians. We used multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: Among 2,343 Mexican descent women (median baseline age: 59 years), a total of 270 cancers (88 breast, 37 colorectal) occurred during a mean follow-up of 14.4 years. The highest tertile of MexD score was associated with a lower risk of all-cancer incidence (HR: 0.67; 95% CI 0.49-0.91; p-trend: 0.01) and colorectal cancer (HR: 0.38; 95% CI 0.14-0.998; p-trend < 0.05), with each unit increase in the MexD score associated with a 6% lower risk of all-cancer incidence (HR: 0.94; 95% CI 0.88-0.99). There was no statistically significant association with risk of breast cancer. CONCLUSION: Consumption of a traditional Mexican diet was associated with a significantly lower risk of all-cancer incidence and colorectal cancer. Confirmation of these findings in future studies is important, given the prevalence of colorectal cancer and a growing U.S. population of women of Mexican descent.

The Women's Health Initiative Randomized Trials and Clinical Practice: A Review.

Importance: Approximately 55 million people in the US and approximately 1.1 billion people worldwide are postmenopausal women. To inform clinical practice about the health effects of menopausal hormone therapy, calcium plus vitamin D supplementation, and a low-fat dietary pattern, the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) enrolled 161 808 postmenopausal US women (N = 68 132 in the clinical trials) aged 50 to 79 years at baseline from 1993 to 1998, and followed them up for up to 20 years. Observations: The WHI clinical trial results do not support hormone therapy with oral conjugated equine estrogens plus medroxyprogesterone acetate for postmenopausal women or conjugated equine estrogens alone for those with prior hysterectomy to prevent cardiovascular disease, dementia, or other chronic diseases. However, hormone therapy is effective for treating moderate to severe vasomotor and other menopausal symptoms. These benefits of hormone therapy in early menopause, combined with lower rates of adverse effects of hormone therapy in early compared with later menopause, support initiation of hormone therapy before age 60 years for women without contraindications to hormone therapy who have bothersome menopausal symptoms. The WHI results do not support routinely recommending calcium plus vitamin D supplementation for fracture prevention in all postmenopausal women. However, calcium and vitamin D are appropriate for women who do not meet national guidelines for recommended intakes of these nutrients through diet. A low-fat dietary pattern with increased fruit, vegetable, and grain consumption did not prevent the primary outcomes of breast or colorectal cancer but was associated with lower rates of the secondary outcome of breast cancer mortality during long-term follow-up. Conclusions and Relevance: For postmenopausal women, the WHI randomized clinical trials do not support menopausal hormone therapy to prevent cardiovascular disease or other chronic diseases. Menopausal hormone therapy is appropriate to treat bothersome vasomotor symptoms among women in early menopause, without contraindications, who are interested in taking hormone therapy. The WHI evidence does not support routine supplementation with calcium plus vitamin D for menopausal women to prevent fractures or a low-fat diet with increased fruits, vegetables, and grains to prevent breast or colorectal cancer. A potential role of a low-fat dietary pattern in reducing breast cancer mortality, a secondary outcome, warrants further study.

Evaluation of the association between circulating IL-1ß and other inflammatory cytokines and incident atrial fibrillation in a cohort of postmenopausal women.

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory cytokines play a role in atrial fibrillation (AF). Interleukin (IL)-1ß, which is targeted in the treatment of ischemic heart disease, has not been well-studied in relation to AF. METHODS: Postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative were included. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to evaluate the association between log-transformed baseline cytokine levels and future AF incidence. Models were adjusted for body mass index, age, race, education, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, current smoking, and history of coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, or peripheral artery disease. RESULTS: Of 16,729 women, 3,943 developed AF over an average of 8.5 years. Racial and ethnic groups included White (77.4%), Black/African-American (16.1%), Asian (2.7%), American Indian/Alaska Native (1.0%), and Hispanic (5.5%). Baseline IL-1ß log continuous levels were not significantly associated with incident AF (HR 0.86 per 1 log [pg/mL] increase, P= .24), similar to those of other inflammatory cytokines, IL-7, IL-8, IL-10, IGF-1, and TNF-α. There were significant associations between C-reactive protein (CRP) and IL-6 with incident AF. CONCLUSIONS: In this large cohort of postmenopausal women, there was no significant association between IL-1ß and incident AF, although downstream effectors, CRP and IL-6, were associated with incident AF.

Longitudinal patterns of abdominal visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue, total body composition, and anthropometric measures in postmenopausal women: Results from the Women's Health Initiative.

BACKGROUND: Abdominal adiposity, including visceral and subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue (VAT and SAT), is recognized as a strong risk factor for cardiometabolic disease, cancer, and mortality. OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of this analysis is to describe longitudinal patterns of change in abdominal adipose tissue in postmenopausal women, overall and stratified by age, race/ethnicity, and years since menopause. METHODS: The data are from six years of follow up on 10,184 postmenopausal women (7828 non-Hispanic White women, 1423 non-Hispanic Black women, and 703 Hispanic women) who participated in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). The WHI is a large prospective cohort study of postmenopausal women across the United States. All participants in this analysis had DXA scans in the 1990s as part of the WHI protocol. Hologic APEX software was used to re-analyze archived DXA scans and obtain measures of abdominal adipose tissue. Analyses examined differences in abdominal adipose tissue, overall adiposity, and anthropometric variables. RESULTS: There were important differences in VAT and SAT by age and race/ethnicity. In women <60 years, VAT increased over the follow-up period, while in women ≥70 years, VAT decreased. Non-Hispanic Black women had the highest levels of SAT. Hispanic women had the highest VAT levels. Women more than ten years since menopause had less SAT and more VAT than women less than ten years since menopause, resulting in a higher VAT/SAT ratio. There was a moderate to strong correlation between measures of abdominal adipose tissue and anthropometric measurements of body size. Still, there were substantial differences in the quantity of VAT and SAT within BMI and waist circumference categories. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate differences in VAT and SAT according to age, race/ethnicity, time since menopause, and compared to standard measures of body composition in a large and diverse cohort of postmenopausal women.

Associations of Biomarker-Calibrated Healthy Eating Index-2010 Scores with Chronic Disease Risk and Their Dependency on Energy Intake and Body Mass Index in Postmenopausal Women.

BACKGROUND: Prior studies examined associations between the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) and chronic disease risk based on self-reported diet without measurement error correction. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to test associations between biomarker calibration of the food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ)-derived HEI-2010 with incident cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, and type 2 diabetes (T2D) among Women's Health Initiative (WHI) participants. METHODS: Data were derived from WHI postmenopausal women (n = 100,374) aged 50-79 y at enrollment (1993-1998) at 40 US clinical centers, linked to nutritional biomarker substudies and outcomes over subsequent decades of follow-up. Baseline or year 1 FFQ-derived HEI-2010 scores were calibrated with nutritional biomarkers and participant characteristics (e.g., BMI) for systematic measurement error correction. Calibrated data were then used in HR models examining associations with incidence of CVD (total, subtypes, mortality), cancer (total, subtypes, mortality), and T2D in WHI participants with approximately 2 decades of follow-up. Models were multivariable-adjusted with further adjustment for BMI and doubly labeled water (DLW)-calibrated energy. RESULTS: Multivariable-adjusted HRs modeled a 20% increment in HEI-2010 score in relation to outcomes. HRs were modest using uncalibrated HEI-2010 scores (HRs = 0.91-1.09). Using biomarker-calibrated HEI-2010, 20% increments in scores yielded multivariable-adjusted HRs (95% CIs) of 0.75 (0.60, 0.93) for coronary heart disease; 0.75 (0.61, 0.91) for myocardial infarction; 0.96 (0.92, 1.01) for stroke; 0.88 (0.75, 1.02) for CVD mortality; 0.81 (0.70, 0.94) for colorectal cancer; 0.81 (0.74, 0.88) for breast cancer; 0.79 (0.73, 0.87) for cancer mortality; and 0.45 (0.36-0.55) for T2D. Except for cancer mortality and T2D incidence, results became null when adjusted for DLW-calibrated energy intake and BMI. CONCLUSIONS: Biomarker calibration of FFQ-derived HEI-2010 was associated with lower CVD and cancer incidence and mortality and lower T2D incidence in postmenopausal women. Attenuation after adjustment with BMI and DLW-calibrated energy suggests that energy intake and/or obesity are strong drivers of diet-related chronic disease risk in postmenopausal women. The Women's Health Initiative is registered at clinicaltrials.gov at NCT00000611.

Body size over the adult life course and the risk of colorectal cancer among postmenopausal women.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the associations among several anthropometric measures, as well as BMI trajectories and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk in older women. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Forty clinical centres in the USA. PARTICIPANTS: Totally, 79 034 postmenopausal women in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study. RESULTS: During an average of 15·8 years of follow-up, 1514 CRC cases were ascertained. Five BMI trajectories over 18-50 years of age were identified using growth mixture model. Compared with women who had a normal BMI at age 18, women with obesity at age 18 had a higher risk of CRC (HR 1·58, 95 % CI 1·02, 2·44). Compared with women who kept relatively low normal body size during adulthood, women who progressed from normal to obesity (HR 1·29, 95 % CI 1·09, 1·53) and women who progressed from overweight to obesity (HR 1·37, 95 % CI 1·13, 1·68) had higher CRC risks. A weight gain > 15 kg from age 18 to 50 (HR 1·20, 95 % CI 1·04, 1·40) and baseline waist circumference > 88 cm (HR 1·33, 95 % CI 1·19, 1·49) were associated with higher CRC risks, compared with stable weight and waist circumference ≤ 88 cm, respectively. CONCLUSION: Women who have a normal weight in early adult life and gain substantial weight later, as well as those who are persistently heavy over adulthood, demonstrated a higher risk of developing CRC. Our study highlights the importance of maintaining a healthy body weight over the life course for reducing the risk of developing CRC in women.

Accelerometer-measured physical activity and sitting with incident mild cognitive impairment or probable dementia among older women.

INTRODUCTION: Physical activity (PA) is prospectively inversely associated with dementia risk, but few studies examined accelerometer measures of PA and sitting with rigorously-adjudicated mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia risk. METHODS: We examined the associations of accelerometer measures (PA and sitting) with incident MCI/probable dementia in the Women's Health Initiative (n = 1277; mean age = 82 ± 6 years) RESULTS: Over a median follow-up of 4.2 years, 267 MCI/probable dementia cases were identified. Adjusted Cox regression HRs (95% CI) across moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) min/d quartiles were 1.00 (reference), 1.28 (0.90 to 1.81), 0.79 (0.53 to 1.17), and 0.69 (0.45 to 1.06); P-trend = 0.01. Adjusted HRs (95% CI) across steps/d quartiles were 1.00 (reference), 0.73 (0.51 to 1.03), 0.64 (0.43 to 0.94), and 0.38 (0.23 to 0.61); P-trend < 0.001. The HR (95% CI) for each 1-SD increment in MVPA (31 min/d) and steps/d (1865) were 0.79 (0.67 to 0.94) and 0.67 (0.54 to 0.82), respectively. Sitting was not associated with MCI/probable dementia. DISCUSSION: Findings suggest ≥ moderate intensity PA, particularly stepping, associates with lower MCI and dementia risk. HIGHLIGHTS: Few studies have examined accelerometer-measured physical activity, including steps, and sitting with incident ADRD. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and steps, but not light physical activity or sitting, were inversely associated with lower ADRD risk. Among older women, at least moderate intensity physical activity may be needed to reduce ADRD risk.

MRI Based Validation of Abdominal Adipose Tissue Measurements From DXA in Postmenopausal Women.

INTRODUCTION: Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is a hypothesized driver of chronic disease. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) potentially offers a lower cost and more available alternative compared to gold-standard magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for quantification of abdominal fat sub-compartments, VAT and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT). We sought to validate VAT and SAT area (cm2) from historical DXA scans against MRI. METHODOLOGY: Participants (n = 69) from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) completed a 3 T MRI scan and a whole body DXA scan (Hologic QDR2000 or QDR4500; 2004-2005). A subset of 43 participants were scanned on both DXA devices. DXA-derived VAT and SAT at the 4th lumbar vertebrae (5 cm wide) were analyzed using APEX software (v4.0, Hologic, Inc., Marlborough, MA). MRI VAT and SAT areas for the corresponding DXA region of interest were quantified using sliceOmatic software (v5.0, Tomovision, Magog, Canada). Pearson correlations between MRI and DXA-derived VAT and SAT were computed, and a Bland-Altman analysis was performed. RESULTS: Participants were primarily non-Hispanic white (86%) with a mean age of 70.51 ± 5.79 years and a mean BMI of 27.33 ± 5.40 kg/m2. Correlations between MRI and DXA measured VAT and SAT were 0.90 and 0.92, respectively (p ≤ 0.001). Bland-Altman plots showed that DXA-VAT slightly overestimated VAT on the QDR4500 (-3.31 cm2); this bias was greater in the smaller subset measured on the older DXA model (QDR2000; -30.71 cm2). The overestimation of DXA-SAT was large (-85.16 to -118.66 cm2), but differences were relatively uniform for the QDR4500. CONCLUSIONS: New software applied to historic Hologic DXA scans provide estimates of VAT and SAT that are well-correlated with criterion MRI among postmenopausal women.

Menopause Transition and Cardiovascular Disease Risk: Implications for Timing of Early Prevention: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in women, who have a notable increase in the risk for this disease after menopause and typically develop coronary heart disease several years later than men. This observation led to the hypothesis that the menopause transition (MT) contributes to the increase in coronary heart disease risk. Over the past 20 years, longitudinal studies of women traversing menopause have contributed significantly to our understanding of the relationship between the MT and CVD risk. By following women over this period, researchers have been able to disentangle chronological and ovarian aging with respect to CVD risk. These studies have documented distinct patterns of sex hormone changes, as well as adverse alterations in body composition, lipids and lipoproteins, and measures of vascular health over the MT, which can increase a woman's risk of developing CVD postmenopausally. The reported findings underline the significance of the MT as a time of accelerating CVD risk, thereby emphasizing the importance of monitoring women's health during midlife, a critical window for implementing early intervention strategies to reduce CVD risk. Notably, the 2011 American Heart Association guidelines for CVD prevention in women (the latest sex-specific guidelines to date) did not include information now available about the contribution of the MT to increased CVD in women. Therefore, there is a crucial need to discuss the contemporary literature on menopause and CVD risk with the intent of increasing awareness of the significant adverse cardiometabolic health-related changes accompanying midlife and the MT. This scientific statement provides an up-to-date synthesis of the existing data on the MT and how it relates to CVD.

Randomized Trial Evaluation of the Benefits and Risks of Menopausal Hormone Therapy Among Women 50-59 Years of Age.

The health benefits and risks of menopausal hormone therapy among women aged 50-59 years are examined in the Women's Health Initiative randomized, placebo-controlled trials using long-term follow-up data and a parsimonious statistical model that leverages data from older participants to increase precision. These trials enrolled 27,347 healthy postmenopausal women aged 50-79 years at 40 US clinical centers during 1993-1998, including 10,739 post-hysterectomy participants in a trial of conjugated equine estrogens and 16,608 participants with a uterus in the trial of these estrogens plus medroxyprogesterone acetate. Over a (median) 18-year follow-up period (1993-2016), risk for a global index (defined as the earliest of coronary heart disease, invasive breast cancer, stroke, pulmonary embolism, colorectal cancer, endometrial cancer, hip fracture, and all-cause mortality) was reduced with conjugated equine estrogens with a hazard ratio of 0.82 (95% confidence interval: 0.71, 0.95), and with nominally significant reductions for coronary heart disease, breast cancer, hip fracture, and all-cause mortality. Corresponding global index hazard ratio estimates of 1.06 (95% confidence interval: 0.95, 1.19) were nonsignificant for combined estrogens plus progestin, but increased breast cancer risk and reduced endometrial cancer risk were observed. These results, among women 50-59 years of age, substantially agree with the worldwide observational literature, with the exception of breast cancer for estrogens alone.

Performance of the IBIS/Tyrer-Cuzick model of breast cancer risk by race and ethnicity in the Women's Health Initiative.

BACKGROUND: The IBIS/Tyrer-Cuzick model is used clinically to guide breast cancer screening and prevention, but was developed primarily in non-Hispanic White women. Little is known about its long-term performance in a racially/ethnically diverse population. METHODS: The Women's Health Initiative study enrolled postmenopausal women from 1993-1998. Women were included who were aged <80 years at enrollment with no prior breast cancer or mastectomy and with data required for IBIS/Tyrer-Cuzick calculation (weight; height; ages at menarche, first birth, and menopause; menopausal hormone therapy use; and family history of breast or ovarian cancer). Calibration was assessed by the ratio of observed breast cancer cases to the number expected by the IBIS/Tyrer-Cuzick model (O/E; calculated as the sum of cumulative hazards). Differential discrimination was tested for by self-reported race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander, and American Indian or Alaskan Native) using Cox regression. Exploratory analyses, including simulation of a protective single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs140068132 at 6q25, were performed. RESULTS: During follow-up (median 18.9 years, maximum 23.4 years), 6783 breast cancer cases occurred among 90,967 women. IBIS/Tyrer-Cuzick was well calibrated overall (O/E ratio = 0.95; 95% CI, 0.93-0.97) and in most racial/ethnic groups, but overestimated risk for Hispanic women (O/E ratio = 0.75; 95% CI, 0.62-0.90). Discrimination did not differ by race/ethnicity. Exploratory simulation of the protective SNP suggested improved IBIS/Tyrer-Cuzick calibration for Hispanic women (O/E ratio = 0.80; 95% CI, 0.66-0.96). CONCLUSIONS: The IBIS/Tyrer-Cuzick model is well calibrated for several racial/ethnic groups over 2 decades of follow-up. Studies that incorporate genetic and other risk factors, particularly among Hispanic women, are essential to improve breast cancer-risk prediction.

Examining differences between overweight women and men in 12-month weight loss study comparing healthy low-carbohydrate vs. low-fat diets.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Biological sex factors and sociocultural gender norms affect the physiology and behavior of weight loss. However, most diet intervention studies do not report outcomes by sex, thereby impeding reproducibility. The objectives of this study were to compare 12-month changes in body weight and composition in groups defined by diet and sex, and adherence to a healthy low carbohydrate (HLC) vs. healthy low fat (HLF) diet. PARTICIPANTS/METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of the DIETFITS trial, in which 609 overweight/obese nondiabetic participants (age, 18-50 years) were randomized to a 12-month HLC (n = 304) or HLF (n = 305) diet. Our first aim concerned comparisons in 12-month changes in weight, fat mass, and lean mass by group with appropriate adjustment for potential confounders. The second aim was to assess whether or not adherence differed by diet-sex group (HLC women n = 179, HLC men n = 125, HLF women n = 167, HLF men n = 138). RESULTS: 12-month changes in weight (p < 0.001) were different by group. HLC produced significantly greater weight loss, as well as greater loss of both fat mass and lean mass, than HLF among men [-2.98 kg (-4.47, -1.50); P < 0.001], but not among women. Men were more adherent to HLC than women (p = 0.02). Weight loss estimates within group remained similar after adjusting for adherence, suggesting adherence was not a mediator. CONCLUSIONS: By reporting outcomes by sex significant weight loss differences were identified between HLC and HLF, which were not recognized in the original primary analysis. These findings highlight the need to consider sex in the design, analysis, and reporting of diet trials.

Sedentary behavior and cardiovascular disease in older women: The Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health (OPACH) Study.

Background: Evidence that higher sedentary time is associated with higher risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) is based mainly on self-reported measures. Few studies have examined whether patterns of sedentary time are associated with higher risk for CVD. Methods: Women from the Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health (OPACH) Study (n=5638, aged 63-97, mean age=79±7) with no history of myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke wore accelerometers for 4-to-7 days and were followed for up to 4.9 years for CVD events. Average daily sedentary time and mean sedentary bout duration were the exposures of interest. Cox regression models estimated hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for CVD using models adjusted for covariates and subsequently adjusted for potential mediators (body mass index (BMI), diabetes, hypertension, and CVD-risk biomarkers [fasting glucose, high-density lipoprotein, triglycerides, and systolic blood pressure]). Restricted cubic spline regression characterized dose-response relationships. Results: There were 545 CVD events during 19,350 person-years. Adjusting for covariates, women in the highest (≥ ~11 hr/day) vs. the lowest (≤ ~9 hr/day) quartile of sedentary time had higher risk for CVD (HR=1.62; CI=1.21-2.17; p-trend <0.001). Further adjustment for potential mediators attenuated but did not eliminate significance of these associations (p-trend<.05, each). Longer vs. shorter mean bout duration was associated with higher risks for CVD (HR=1.54; CI=1.27-2.02; p-trend=0.003) after adjustment for covariates. Additional adjustment for CVD-risk biomarkers attenuated associations resulting in a quartile 4 vs. quartile 1 HR=1.36; CI=1.01-1.83; p-trend=0.10). Dose-response associations of sedentary time and bout duration with CVD were linear (P-nonlinear >0.05, each). Women jointly classified as having high sedentary time and long bout durations had significantly higher risk for CVD (HR=1.34; CI=1.08-1.65) than women with both low sedentary time and short bout duration. All analyses were repeated for incident coronary heart disease (MI or CVD death) and associations were similar with notably stronger hazard ratios. Conclusions: Both high sedentary time and long mean bout durations were associated in a dose-response manner with increased CVD risk in older women, suggesting that efforts to reduce CVD burden may benefit from addressing either or both component(s) of sedentary behavior.

Circulating SHBG (Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin) and Risk of Ischemic Stroke: Findings From the WHI.

Background and Purpose- Circulating levels of SHBG (sex hormone-binding globulin) have been inversely linked to obesity, diabetes mellitus, and other cardiometabolic disorders. It remains uncertain whether low SHBG is prospectively predictive of stroke risk, particularly in women. We investigated whether SHBG is associated with risk of incident ischemic stroke (IS) among women in the WHI (Women's Health Initiative). Methods- From an observational cohort of 161 808 postmenopausal women enrolled in the WHI at 40 sites across the United States from 1993 to 1998, we identified 13 192 participants free of prevalent stroke at baseline who were included in an ancillary study that measured serum SHBG. We used Cox proportional hazards regression, stratified by SHBG measurement assay, to assess IS risk across quintiles of SHBG (Q1-Q5), adjusting first for demographic variables (model 1), additionally for body mass index, hypertension, alcohol use, and smoking status (model 2), and for physical activity and reproductive risk factors (model 3). In sensitivity analyses, potential mediators (diabetes mellitus status, levels of estradiol, testosterone, and CRP [C-reactive protein]) were included. Results- Of 13 192 participants (mean age, 62.5 years; 67.4% non-Hispanic white, 18.5% black, 7.6% Hispanic, and 5.0% Asian), after following for an average of 11.6 years, 768 IS events were adjudicated. Compared with the highest quintile of SHBG levels (referent), women in the lowest SHBG quintile had a higher risk of IS in all 3 multivariable models (model 1: hazard ratio, 1.88 [95% CI, 1.47-2.41]; model 2: hazard ratio, 1.69 [95% CI, 1.30-2.20]; model 3: hazard ratio, 1.61 [95% CI, 1.19-2.19]; trend tests P<0.05 for all models). Including potential mediators such as diabetes mellitus, estradiol, and testosterone in the models attenuated but did not eliminate significant inverse associations between SHBG and IS. Conclusions- In this prospective cohort of postmenopausal women, there was a statistically significant inverse association between serum SHBG levels and IS risk, which supports the notion that SHBG could be used as a risk stratification tool for predicting IS in women.

Physical activity and risk of bladder cancer among postmenopausal women.

Physical activity is associated with decreased risk for many cancers. Studies on the association between physical activity and risk of bladder cancer are limited, and findings are inconsistent. Postmenopausal women (mean age = 63.3) were recruited into the Women's Health Initiative from 1993 to 1998. Self-reported baseline information on physical activity and other covariates were available in 141 288 participants. Incident bladder cancer cases were collected through 2018 and centrally adjudicated. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were determined by Cox proportional hazard regression models. Effect modification due to smoking was assessed. During an average of 18.5 years of follow-up, 817 bladder cancer cases were identified. Compared to physically inactive women, those who engaged in ≥15 MET-hours/week of total physical activity, ≥8.75 MET-hours/week of walking or ≥11.25 MET-hours/week of moderate to vigorous physical activity had lower risk of bladder cancer (HR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.59-0.94, P for linear trend = .02; HR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.63-0.98, P for linear trend = .03; and HR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.61-0.94, P for linear trend = .02, respectively). No effect modification was found by smoking status (P for interaction = .06, 0.91 and 0.27, respectively). We found that total physical activity, walking and moderate to vigorous physical activity were inversely associated with bladder cancer incidence among postmenopausal women in a dose-response manner. Physical activity may play a potential role in the primary prevention of bladder cancer. Further studies with objective measurements of physical activity are needed to confirm these findings.

Diurnal patterns of sedentary behavior and changes in physical function over time among older women: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Sedentary behavior (SB) is linked to negative health outcomes in older adults. Most studies use summary values, e.g., total sedentary minutes/day. Diurnal timing of SB accumulation may further elucidate SB-health associations. METHODS: Six thousand two hundred four US women (mean age = 79 ± 7; 50% White, 34% African-American) wore accelerometers for 7-days at baseline, yielding 41,356 person-days with > 600 min/day of data. Annual follow-up assessments of health, including physical functioning, were collected from participants for 6 years. A novel two-phase clustering procedure discriminated participants' diurnal SB patterns: phase I grouped day-level SB trajectories using longitudinal k-means; phase II determined diurnal SB patterns based on proportion of phase I trajectories using hierarchical clustering. Mixed models tested associations between SB patterns and longitudinal physical functioning, adjusted for covariates including total sedentary time. Effect modification by moderate-vigorous-physical activity (MVPA) was tested. RESULTS: Four diurnal SB patterns were identified: p1 = high-SB-throughout-the-day; p2 = moderate-SB-with-lower-morning-SB; p3 = moderate-SB-with-higher-morning-SB; p4 = low-SB-throughout-the-day. High MVPA mitigated physical functioning decline and correlated with better baseline and 6-year trajectory of physical functioning across patterns. In low MVPA, p2 had worse 6-year physical functioning decline compared to p1 and p4. In high MVPA, p2 had similar 6-year physical functioning decline compared to p1, p3, and p4. CONCLUSIONS: In a large cohort of older women, diurnal SB patterns were associated with rates of physical functioning decline, independent of total sedentary time. In particular, we identified a specific diurnal SB subtype defined by less SB earlier and more SB later in the day, which had the steepest decline in physical functioning among participants with low baseline MVPA. Thus, diurnal timing of SB, complementary to total sedentary time and MVPA, may offer additional insights into associations between SB and physical health, and provide physicians with early warning of patients at high-risk of physical function decline.

Barriers to eating are associated with poor physical function in older women.

Older adults have physical and social barriers to eating but whether this affects functional status is unknown. We examined associations between eating barriers and physical function in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). In 2012-14, a subset of alive and participating women (n = 5910) completed an in-home examination including the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) (grip strength, balance, timed walking speed, chair stand). WHI participants complete annual mailed questionnaires; the 2013-14 questionnaire included items on eating alone, eating < two meals/day, dentition problems affecting eating, physical difficulties with cooking/shopping and monetary resources for food. Linear regression tested associations of these eating barriers with SPPB, adjusting for BMI, age, race/ethnicity, and medical multimorbidities. Over half (56.8%) of participants were ≥ 75 years, 98.8% had a BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m2 and 66% had multimorbidities. Eating barriers, excluding eating alone, were associated with significantly lower total (all p < .001) and component-specific, multivariate-adjusted SPPB scores (all p < .05). Compared to no barriers, eating < two meals/day (7.83 vs. 8.38, p < .0002), dentition problems (7.69 vs. 8.38, p < .0001), inability to shop/prepare meals (7.74 vs. 8.38, p < .0001) and insufficient resources (7.84 vs. 8.37 p < .001) were significantly associated with multivariate-adjusted mean SPPB score < 8. Models additionally adjusting for Healthy Eating Index-2010 had little influence on scores. As barriers increased, scores declined further for grip strength (16.10 kg for 4-5 barriers, p = .001), timed walk (0.58 m/s for 4-5 barriers, p = .001) and total SPPB (7.27 for 4-5 barriers, p < .0001). In conclusion, in this WHI subset, eating barriers were associated with poor SPPB scores.