Bone Mineral Density in Neurofibromatosis Type 1: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

To assess BMD in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) using systematic review and meta-analysis technique. Potentially eligible studies were identified from Medline and EMBASE databases from inception to February 2023 using search strategy that comprised terms for "Bone mineral density" and Neurofibromatosis type 1″. Eligible study must include adult or pediatric patients with NF1. The study must report mean Z-score with variance of total body, lumbar spine, femoral neck or total hip BMD of the studied patients. Point estimates with standard errors were retrieved from each study and were combined using the generic inverse variance method. A total of 1,165 articles were identified. After systematic review, 19 studies were included. The meta-analysis revealed that patients with NF1 had negative mean Z-scores for total body BMD (pooled mean Z-score -0.808; 95%CI, -1.025 to -0.591) and BMD at lumbar spine (pooled mean Z-score -1.104; 95%CI, -1.376 to -0.833), femoral neck (pooled mean Z-score -0.726; 95%CI, -0.893 to -0.560) and total hip (pooled mean Z-score -1.126; 95%CI, -2.078 to -0.173). The subgroup meta-analysis in pediatric patients aged < 18 years revealed that patients with NF1 had negative mean Z-scores for lumbar spine BMD (pooled mean Z-score -0.938; 95%CI, -1.299 to -0.577) and femoral neck BMD (pooled mean Z-score -0.585; 95%CI, -0.872 to -0.298). The current meta-analysis found that patients with NF1 had low Z-scores although the degree of low BMD may not be of clinical significance. The results do not support the role of early BMD screening in children and young adults with NF1.

Inpatient epidemiology, healthcare utilization, and association with comorbidities of Turner syndrome: A National Inpatient Sample study.

We aimed to investigate the prevalence, resource utilization, and comorbidities of patients with Turner syndrome (TS) hospitalized in the United States. We identified patients within the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database from the year 2017 to 2019. A propensity-matched cohort of non-TS patients from the same database was constructed to serve as comparators. There were 9845 TS patients, corresponding to inpatient prevalence of 10.4 per 100,000 admissions. The most common admission diagnosis was sepsis (27.9%). TS patients had higher inpatient mortality (adjusted odds ratio 2.16, 95% confidence interval 1.57-2.96) and morbidity, including shock, ICU admission, acute kidney injury, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and multi-organ failure. Increased risk of comorbidities, such as stroke, myocardial infarction, autoimmune diseases, and non-variceal gastrointestinal bleeding, was observed. TS patients had longer length of stay (LOS; 5.1 days vs. 4.5 days, p < 0.01) and displayed a mean additional $5382 (p < 0.01) in total hospital costs and a mean additional $20,083 (p < 0.01) in total hospitalization charges. In conclusion, hospitalization of patients with TS was associated with a significantly higher inpatient morbidity, mortality, expenditures, and longer LOS compared to non-TS patients. Patients with TS had a higher risk of cardiovascular complications, autoimmune diseases, and gastrointestinal bleeding.

Association between statin use & risk of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: A systematic review & meta-analysis.

Background & objectives: Statin use has been shown to be associated with a decreased risk of several types of cancer, however, the data on diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) are still inconclusive. This study aimed to systematically summarize all available data on this association and conduct a meta-analysis on the same. Methods: A systematic review was performed using EMBASE and MEDLINE databases from inception upto October 2019 with a search strategy that included terms such as 'statin' and 'DLBCL'. Eligible studies included either case-control or cohort studies that reported the association between statin use and the risk of DLBCL. Relative risk, odds ratio (OR), hazard: risk ratio or standardized incidence ratio of this association and standard error were extracted and combined for calculating the pooled effect estimate using random-effects, generic inverse variance method. Results: A total of 1139 articles were screened. Of these six studies satisfied the inclusion criteria and were included for the meta-analysis. Statin use was associated with a significantly reduced risk of DLBCL with the pooled OR of 0.70 (95% confidence interval, 0.56-0.88; I[2]=70%). The funnel plot (fairly symmetric) was not suggestive of the presence of a publication bias. Interpretation & conclusions: The present systematic review and meta-analysis found that statin use is associated with a 30 per cent reduced odds of DLBCL. However, the pooled analysis utilized data from observational studies so causation cannot be concluded upon. Hence, it suggested that randomized-controlled studies are still needed to confirm this potential benefit.

Prevalence of concomitant angioedema in chronic spontaneous urticaria: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Angioedema (AE) is a condition associated with considerable morbidity and mortality that can significantly affect quality of life. AE often occurs in patients with CSU although the true prevalence remains unknown. Therefore, we conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize the available data. OBJECTIVE: This study is conducted with the aim of retrieving data from all published studies and create the pooled prevalence of AE in CSU patients. METHODS: Narrative reviews of AE and CSU, a systematic review, and a meta-analysis were conducted. The Ovid Medline and Embase databases were systematically searched per the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) recommendations. Studies were eligible if they were in English and measured the prevalence of AE in CSU in adults or children. Two reviewers independently extracted data and appraised each study's quality. Estimated prevalence and 95% confidence interval (CI) values were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. RESULTS: Seventeen studies from 16 countries were included. The pooled prevalence of AE in patients with CSU was 36.5% (95%CI, 30.9-42.5%; I2 = 96%). The pooled estimated prevalence of AE in patients with CSU was 44.0% (95%CI, 34.1-54.5%) in Europe, 44.5% (95%CI, 28.5-61.8%), America, and 29.4% (95%CI, 24.7-34.7%) in Asia. CONCLUSIONS: Our systematic review and meta?analysis showed that AE affects over one-third of CSU patients, although the prevalence from individual study varied considerably, ranging from 5 to 67 percent. Subgroup-analysis found that AE is more prevalent in Europe and America than in Asia.

Statins and the risk of polyneuropathy: A systematic review and two meta-analyses.

INTRODUCTION/AIMS: Previous studies have shown inconsistent data on the relationship between statin use and polyneuropathy (PN). The current systematic review and meta-analyses were conducted to comprehensively investigate the risk of incident PN among statin-users compared with non-users by identifying all available studies and summarizing their results. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted from MEDLINE and EMBASE databases from inception to October 31, 2020. We included cohort and case-control studies that compared the risk of incident PN between statin-users and non-users. Point estimates and standard errors from eligible studies were pooled together using the generic inverse variance method. RESULTS: Of 4968 retrieved articles, 6 studies in non-diabetic populations and 2 studies in diabetic populations fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Two meta-analyses were performed. The pooled analyses did not find a statistically significant association between the use of statins and risk of incident PN with the pooled odds ratio of 1.24 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.88-1.76; I2 74%) and 0.82 (95% CI, 0.56-1.21; I2 80%) in non-diabetic and diabetic groups respectively. DISCUSSION: No significant association between the use of statins and the risk of PN was observed in this systematic review and these two meta-analyses. However, there was a high degree of heterogeneity of the meta-analyses.

Association Between Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection and Esophageal Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with increased risk of hepatobiliary tract cancer. However, whether chronic HCV infection is also associated with elevated risk of other types of cancer is still unknown. This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted in order to investigate whether chronic HCV infection is positively associated with esophageal cancer. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted using Embase and MEDLINE databases from inception to November 2019, with a search strategy that comprised the terms for "hepatitis C virus" and "cancer." Eligible studies were cohort studies consisting of patients with chronic HCV infection and comparators without HCV infection, and followed them for incident esophageal cancer. Hazard risk ratio, incidence rate ratio, relative risk or standardized incidence ratio of this association were extracted from each eligible study along with their 95% confidence intervals and were combined to calculate the pooled effect estimate using the random effect, generic inverse variance method. RESULTS: A total of 20,459 articles were identified using this search strategy. After 2 rounds of independent review, 7 studies satisfied the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. Chronic HCV infection was significantly associated with a higher incidence of esophageal cancer with the pooled relative risk of 1.61 (95% confidence interval: 1.19-2.17; I2=39%). The funnel plot was relatively symmetric which was not suggestive of publication bias. CONCLUSION: This systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrated that there is a modest association between chronic HCV and incident esophageal cancer. However, more studies are needed to investigate the causality of this association.

Body mass index and risk of clostridioides difficile infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To comprehensively investigate the association between obesity/high body mass index (BMI) and risk of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) using systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: Potentially eligible studies were identified from Medline and EMBASE databases from inception to February 2021 using search strategy consisting of terms for "Body Mass Index" and "Clostridioides Difficile". We only included studies that consist of a group of individuals with CDI and another group without CDI. Then, the studies must report their BMI or history of obesity. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% CIs of the association between BMI status and CDI were retrieved from each study and combined using the generic inverse variance method. Funnel plot was used to assess publication bias. RESULTS: A total of 4609 articles were identified. After two rounds of systematic review, 17 studies met the eligibility criteria and were included into the meta-analysis. Pooled analysis showed that individuals with high BMI had a significantly decreased odds of CDI with the pooled OR of 0.88 (95% CI 0.80-0.97). This meta-analysis had high statistical heterogeneity with I2 of 74%. Funnel plot was symmetric, which was not suggestive of presence of publication bias. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis revealed a significant negative association between BMI and CDI.

Mortality Risk After Atypical Femoral Fracture: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To summarize all available data using systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the 1-year mortality risk after atypical femoral fracture (AFF) and risk ratio of mortality after AFF versus typical femoral fracture (TFF). METHODS: Potentially eligible studies were identified from MEDLINE and Embase databases from inception to February 2022 using a search strategy that comprised the terms for "atypical femoral fracture" and "mortality." An eligible study must consist of a cohort of patients with AFF. Then, the study must report the 1-year mortality rate after the AFF or report effect estimates with 95% confidence intervals, comparing the incident mortality between patients with AFF and TFF. Point estimates with standard errors were retrieved from each study and combined using the generic inverse variance method. RESULTS: A total of 8967 articles were identified. After 2 rounds of independent review by 3 investigators, we identified 7 studies reporting the 1-year mortality rate of AFFs and 3 studies comparing the mortality rate of AFF with that of TFF. Pooled analysis revealed a pooled 1-year mortality rate after an AFF of 0.10 (95% confidence interval, 0.05-0.16; I2 = 93.3%). Two studies compared the mortality risks of AFF with those of TFF and revealed conflicting results. CONCLUSION: The 1-year mortality rate after an AFF was approximately 10%. However, evidence is insufficient to conclude whether there was a difference in mortality risk between AFF and TFF.

The Association Between Asthma and Risk of Myasthenia Gravis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the association between asthma and risk of myasthenia gravis (MG) using the method of systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: Potentially eligible studies were identified from Medline and EMBASE databases from inception to July 2020 using search strategy that comprised terms for "Asthma" and "Myasthenia Gravis". Eligible cohort study must consist of one cohort of individuals with asthma and another cohort of individuals without asthma. Then, the study must report relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) of incident MG between the groups. Eligible case-control studies must include cases with MG and controls without MG. Then, the study must explore their history of asthma. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% CIs of the association between asthma status and MG must be reported. Point estimates with standard errors were retrieved from each study and were combined together using the generic inverse variance method. RESULTS: A total of 6,835 articles were identified. After two rounds of independent review by five investigators, two cohort studies and three case-control studies met the eligibility criteria and were included into the meta-analysis. Pooled analysis showed that asthma was significantly associated with risk of MG with the pooled risk ratio of 1.38 (95% CI 1.02-1.86). Funnel plot was symmetric, which was not suggestive of publication bias. CONCLUSION: The current study found a significant association between asthma and increased risk of MG.

Smoking & risk of advanced liver fibrosis among patients with primary biliary cholangitis: A systematic review & meta-analysis.

Background & objectives: Studies have suggested that smoking may accelerate the progression of fibrosis among patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), although the data are limited. The current review was undertaken with the aim to comprehensively analyze this possible association by identifying all relevant studies and summarizing their results. Methods: A comprehensive literature review on MEDLINE and EMBASE databases was performed from inception through February 2019 to identify all relevant studies. Eligible studies included cross-sectional studies that recruited patients with PBC and collected data on the smoking status and presence or absence of advanced liver fibrosis for each participant. Odds ratios (OR) with 95 per cent confidence intervals (CI) was desirable for inclusion or sufficient raw data to calculate the same for this association. Adjusted point estimates from each study were extracted and combined together using the generic inverse variance method of DerSimonian and Laird. I2 statistic, which quantifies the proportion of total variation across studies was used to determine the between-study heterogeneity. Results: Three cross-sectional studies with 544 participants were included. The pooled analysis found a significantly increased risk of advanced liver fibrosis among patients with PBC who were ever-smokers compared to those who were nonsmokers with the pooled OR of 3.00 (95% CI, 1.18-7.65). Statistical heterogeneity was high with I2 of 89 per cent. Interpretation & conclusions: This meta-analysis found that smoking is associated with a significantly higher risk of advanced liver fibrosis among patients with PBC. Further prospective studies are still required to determine whether this association is causal.

Inpatient epidemiology and economic burden of granulomatosis with polyangiitis: a 10-year study of the national inpatient sample.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize inpatient epidemiology and economic burden of granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA). METHODS: Patients with GPA were identified from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), the largest inpatient database in the USA consisting of over 4000 non-federal acute care hospitals, using the ICD-9 CM code. A cohort of comparators without GPA was also constructed from the same database. Data on demographics, procedures, length of stay, mortality, morbidity and total hospitalization charges were extracted. All analysed data were extracted from the database for the years 2005-2014. RESULTS: The inpatient prevalence of GPA was 32.6 cases per 100 000 admissions. GPA itself (38.3%), pneumonia (13.7%) and sepsis (8.4%) were the most common reasons for admission. After adjusting for potential confounders, the all-cause mortality adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of patients with GPA was significantly higher than that of patients without GPA (aOR 1.20; 95% CI: 1.41, 1.61). This was also true for several morbidities, including acute kidney injury, multi-organ failure, shock and need for intensive care unit admission. Hospitalizations of patients with GPA were associated with higher cost as demonstrated by an adjusted additional mean of $5125 (95% CI: $4719, $5531) for total hospital cost and an adjusted additional mean of $16 841 (95% CI: $15 280, $18 403) for total hospitalization charges when compared with patients without GPA. CONCLUSION: Inpatient prevalence of GPA was higher than what would be expected from prevalence in the general population. Hospitalizations of patients with GPA were associated with higher morbidity, mortality and cost.

Enhanced recovery after surgery in emergency resection for obstructive colorectal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) improves outcomes after elective colorectal operations. Whether it is beneficial for emergency colorectal surgery is unclear. This study aimed to systematically review and summarize evidence from all studies comparing ERAS versus conventional care in patients having emergency colectomy and/or proctectomy for obstructive colorectal cancer. METHODS: EMBASE, MEDLINE, and PUBMED from 1981 to December 2019 were systematically searched. Any studies comparing our primary outcome of interest (length of hospitalization) among patients having emergency resection for obstructive colorectal cancer who received ERAS versus conventional care were selected. Primary outcome was length of hospitalization. Secondary outcomes were gastrointestinal recovery, postoperative complication, 30-day readmission and mortality, and time to start adjuvant therapy. RESULTS: Three cohort studies with 818 participants (418 received ERAS and 400 received conventional care) were included. Length of hospitalization (mean reduction 3.07 days; 95% CI, - 3.91 to - 2.23) and risk of overall complication (risk ratio 0.78; 95% CI, 0.63 to 0.97) were significantly lower in ERAS than in conventional care. ERAS was also associated with quicker time to gastrointestinal recovery, a lower incidence of ileus, and a shorter interval between operation and commence of adjuvant chemotherapy. There was no significant difference in the rates of anastomotic leakage, surgical site infection, reoperation, readmission, and mortality within 30 days after surgery between groups. CONCLUSIONS: ERAS had advantages over conventional care in patients undergoing emergency resection for obstructive colorectal cancer-including a shorter length of hospitalization, a lower incidence of overall complication, and a quicker gastrointestinal recovery.

Diagnostic and predictive value of speckle tracking echocardiography in cardiac sarcoidosis.

BACKGROUND: Sarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatous disease that may affect the myocardium. This study evaluated the diagnostic and prognostic value of 2-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography in cardiac sarcoidosis (CS). METHODS: Eighty-three patients with extracardiac, biopsy-proven sarcoidosis and definite/probable diagnosis of cardiac involvement diagnosed from January 2005 through December 2016 were included. Strain parameters in early stages of CS, in a subgroup of 23 CS patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) within normal limits (LVEF> 52% for men: > 54% for women, mean value: 57.3% ± 3.8%) and no wall motion abnormalities was compared with 97 controls (1:4) without cardiac disease. LV and right ventricular (RV) global longitudinal (GLS), circumferential (GCS), and radial (GRS) strain and strain rate (SR) analyses were performed with TomTec software and correlated with cardiac outcomes (including heart failure and arrhythmias). This study was approved by the Mayo Clinic Institutional Review Board, and all patients gave informed written consent to participate. RESULTS: Mean age of CS patients was 53.6 ± 10.8 years, and 34.9% were women. Mean LVEF was 43.2% ± 12.4%; LV GLS, - 12.4% ± 3.7%; LV GCS, - 17.1% ± 6.5%; LV GRS, 29.3% ± 12.8%; and RV wall GLS, 14.6% ± 6.3%. In the 23 patients with early stage CS with normal LVEF and RV systolic function, strain parameters were significantly reduced when compared with controls (respectively: LV GLS, - 15.9% ± 2.5% vs - 18.2% ± 2.7% [P = .001]; RV GLS, - 16.9% ± 4.5% vs - 24.1% ± 4.0% [P < .001]). A LV GLS value of - 16.3% provided 82.2% sensitivity and 81.2% specificity for the diagnosis of CS (AUC 0.91), while a RV value of - 19.9% provided 88.1% sensitivity and 86.7% specificity (AUC 0.93). Hospital admission and heart failure significantly correlated to impaired LV GLS (> - 14%). CONCLUSION: Reduced strain values in the LV GLS and RV GLS can be used in the diagnostic algorithm in patients with suspicion of cardiac sarcoidosis. These values also correlate with adverse cardiovascular events.

Obesity and Risk of Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Recent studies have proposed that obesity may be associated with a higher risk of small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) although the results were inconsistent. The microbiome has a known metabolic role; its impact on obesity in animal models generated the hypothesis of an association between a dysfunctional microbiome and obesity. We performed this systematic review and meta-analysis to elucidate this possible association by summarizing all available data. METHODS: A literature search utilizing MEDLINE and EMBASE databases from inception until August 2019 was conducted. Eligible studies included either cohort studies or cross-sectional studies that consisted of two groups of participants, those with obesity and those without obesity, and compared the prevalence of SIBO between the groups. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) from each study were consolidated by the generic inverse variance method of DerSimonian and Laird. RESULTS: A total of five studies with 515 patients fulfilled eligibility criteria and were included in this meta-analysis. The risk of SIBO among individuals with obesity was higher than in individuals without obesity but did not reach statistical significance with a pooled OR of 2.08 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.82-5.31; p = 0.12; I2 84%]. Sensitivity analysis including only studies from Western countries increased the pooled OR to 3.41 and reached statistical significance (95% CI 1.21-9.59; p = 0.02; I2 62%). CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis found that the risk of SIBO was about two times higher among individuals with obesity compared to individuals without obesity, although the result did not reach statistical significance. The risk increased to threefold and reached statistical significance when only studies from Western countries were included. These observations may suggest the role of obesity as a predisposing factor for SIBO although more studies are still needed to corroborate these preliminary results.

Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection is Associated with an Increased Risk of Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma. However, whether HCV infection also increases the risk of extra-hepatic cancer is still not well-established. This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted in order to investigate the relationship between chronic HCV infection and lung cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic review was performed using MEDLINE and EMBASE databases from inception to November 2019 with search strategy that included the terms for "hepatitis C virus" and "cancer". Eligible studies must be cohort studies that included patients with chronic HCV infection and comparators without HCV infection, then followed them for incident lung cancer. Relative risk, incidence rate ratio, standardized incidence ratio or hazard risk ratio of this association along with associated 95% confidence interval (CI) were extracted from each eligible study and combined for the calculation of the pooled effect estimate using the random effect, generic inverse variance method. RESULTS: A total of 20,459 articles were identified using the aforementioned search strategy. After two rounds of review, eight studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were included into the meta-analysis. Chronic HCV infection was significantly associated with an increased risk of lung cancer with the pooled relative risk of 1.94 (95% CI 1.56-2.42; I2 = 87%). Funnel plot was fairly symmetric and not suggestive of presence of publication bias. CONCLUSIONS: The current study demonstrated that chronic HCV infection is significantly associated with a 1.94-fold increased risk of developing lung cancer. However, further studies are still needed to investigate if this association is causative.

Direct-acting antiviral agents decrease haemoglobin A1c level in patients with diabetes infected with hepatitis C virus: A systematic review & meta-analysis.

Background & objectives: Several epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is more prevalent in patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), and the eradication of HCV has been shown to decrease the risk of T2DM. This meta-analysis was undertaken to see if treatment with direct-acting antiviral (DAA) agents would improve glycaemic control among HCV-infected patients with T2DM. Methods: A systematic review was conducted using MEDLINE and EMBASE databases since inception to February 2018. Eligible studies must be cohort studies that recruited HCV-infected patients with T2DM and received DAA therapy. The studies must report the change of haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level (before vs. after DAA therapy). Patients who achieved sustained virologic response (SVR) were included in the meta-analysis. The mean HbA1c level and standard deviation of participants were extracted from each study to calculate the mean difference (MD). Pooled MD was then calculated using the random effects model. Results: Four cohort studies with 2648 patients were included. Among HCV-infected T2DM patients who achieved SVR with DAA agents, the mean HbA1c level after treatment was significantly lower than the mean HbA1c level before treatment, with the pooled MD of -0.50 per cent (95% confidence interval, -0.66 to -0.34, I[2] = 77%). The main limitation of this study was the lack of comparison groups. Therefore, it could not be concluded that the observed decreased HbA1c level was a direct result of DAA therapy. Interpretation & conclusions: Treatment with DAA agents was found to be associated with a significant reduction of post-treatment HbA1c level compared with pre-treatment HbA1c level among T2DM patients who achieved SVR.

Association between sarcopenia and hepatic encephalopathy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Studies have suggested that the presence of sarcopenia in patients with cirrhosis could be a predisposing risk factor for hepatic encephalopathy. This systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to summarize all available evidence on this relationship. A systematic review was carried out in Medline and EMBASE database through December 2018 to identify studies that recruited patients with cirrhosis from any causes and collected data on the presence of minimal or overt hepatic encephalopathy as well as sarcopenia. All study designs (case-control, cohort and cross-sectional studies) were eligible for the meta-analysis. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were extracted from the included studies and were pooled together using random-effect, generic inverse variance method of DerSimonian and Laird. Five cross-sectional studies with a total of 1,713 patients met our eligibility criteria and were included into the meta-analysis. We found a significantly higher risk of both mild and overt hepatic encephalopathy among cirrhotic patients with sarcopenia when compared with cirrhotic patients without sarcopenia with the pooled OR of 3.34 (95% CI: 1.68-6.67; I2=37%) and 2.05 (95% CI: 1.28-3.29; I2=61%), respectively. This systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrated a significant association between sarcopenia and hepatic encephalopathy among patients with cirrhosis.

Non-Transfemoral Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Approach is Associated with a Higher Risk of New-Onset Atrial Fibrillation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: New-onset atrial fibrillation (NOAF) is a frequent arrhythmic complication following transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Choice of access routes for TAVR could be a factor that determines the risk of NOAF although the data is still not well-characterised. We aimed to assess the association between different access routes for TAVR (transfemoral versus non-transfemoral) and the risk of NOAF. METHODS: A comprehensive literature review was performed through September 2018 using EMBASE and Medline. Eligible studies must compare the incidence of NOAF in patients without pre-existing atrial fibrillation who underwent TAVR. Relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were extracted from each study and combined together using the random-effects model, generic inverse variance method of DerSimonian and Laird. RESULTS: Seven (7) retrospective studies with 18,425 patients who underwent TAVR (12,744 with the transfemoral approach and 5,681 with the non-transfemoral approach) met the eligibility criteria. After the procedures, 2,205 (12.0%) patients developed NOAF (656 [5.1%] patients in the transfemoral group and 1,549 [27.3%] patients in the non-transfemoral group). There was a significant association between the non-transfemoral approach and an increased risk of NOAF with the pooled RR of 2.94 (95%CI, 2.53-3.41; p < 0.00001). Subgroup analysis showed the highest risk of NOAF in the transapical subgroup with the pooled RR of 3.20 (95% CI, 2.69-3.80; I2 33%). CONCLUSIONS: A significantly increased risk of NOAF following TAVR among those who underwent a non-transfemoral approach compared with transfemoral approach was observed in this meta-analysis.

Vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency are associated with a higher level of serum uric acid: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction/objectives: Several epidemiological studies have suggested that patients with vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency tend to have a higher level of serum uric acid compared with those with adequate vitamin D level although the results were inconsistent across the studies. The current systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted with the aim to summarize all the available data.Methods: A systematic review was conducted using MEDLINE and EMBASE database from inception to May 2018 to identify all studies that compared the level of serum uric acid between individuals with normal vitamin D level and patients with vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency. Eligible studies must be cohort or cross-sectional studies that consisted of two groups of adult participants, one with normal level of vitamin D (vitamin D level >30 ng/ml) and one with vitamin D insufficiency (vitamin D level 20-30 ng/ml) or vitamin D deficiency (vitamin D level of <20 ng/ml). Mean serum uric acid level and standard deviation of participants were extracted from each study to calculate mean difference (MD). Pooled MD was then calculated by combining MDs of each study using random-effects model.Results: A total of seven cross-sectional studies were eligible for the meta-analyses. Individuals with normal vitamin D level had a significantly lower serum uric acid level than patients with vitamin D insufficiency with the pooled MD of -0.33 mg/dl (95%CI, -0.61, -0.04), and also had a significantly lower serum uric acid level than patients with vitamin D deficiency with the pooled MD of -0.45 mg/dl (95%CI, -0.82, -0.08). The statistical heterogeneity of these meta-analyses was high with the I2 of 78% and 89%, respectively. Funnel plots of both meta-analyses were fairly symmetric and did not provide a suggestive evidence for the presence of publication bias.Conclusion: Both patients with vitamin D insufficiency and patients with vitamin D deficiency had a significantly higher level of serum uric acid compared with individuals with normal vitamin D level.

Impact of ANCA-Associated Vasculitis on Outcomes of Hospitalizations for Goodpasture's Syndrome in the United States: Nationwide Inpatient Sample 2003-2014.

Background and objectives: Goodpasture's syndrome (GS) is a rare, life-threatening autoimmune disease. Although the coexistence of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) with Goodpasture's syndrome has been recognized, the impacts of ANCA vasculitis on mortality and resource utilization among patients with GS are unclear. Materials and Methods: We used the National Inpatient Sample to identify hospitalized patients with a principal diagnosis of GS from 2003 to 2014 in the database. The predictor of interest was the presence of ANCA-associated vasculitis. We tested the differences concerning in-hospital treatment and outcomes between GS patients with and without ANCA-associated vasculitis using logistic regression analysis with adjustment for other clinical characteristics. Results: A total of 964 patients were primarily admitted to hospital for GS. Of these, 84 (8.7%) had a concurrent diagnosis of ANCA-associated vasculitis. Hemoptysis was more prevalent in GS patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis. During hospitalization, GS patients with ANCA-associated required non-significantly more mechanical ventilation and non-invasive ventilation support, but non-significantly less renal replacement therapy and plasmapheresis than those with GS alone. There was no significant difference in in-hospital outcomes, including organ failure and mortality, between GS patients with and without ANCA-associated vasculitis. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated no significant differences between resource utilization and in-hospital mortality among hospitalized patients with coexistence of ANCA vasculitis and GS, compared to those with GS alone.