Comparing lycopene's impact on mortality in adults with or without obesity.

Objective: Given lycopene's anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, we investigated its mortality impact in individuals with and without obesity, confirming distinct effects. Methods: This study analyzes the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data from 2003-2006 and 2017-2018, linking lycopene levels to all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Using various statistical methods, three models are sequentially adjusted for confounders, investigating the lycopene-outcome relationship. Results: We studied 11 737 adults for 162 months and found 1537 all-cause deaths (13.1%) and 443 cardiovascular deaths (3.8%). For those without obesity, serum lycopene had an "L" shape relationship with all-cause mortality, being harmful at very low levels but protective above a certain threshold. It consistently protects against cardiovascular mortality. In individuals with obesity, the relationship with all-cause mortality formed a "U" shape, with increased risk at very low and very high lycopene levels and protection in the middle range. Cardiovascular mortality showed a similar pattern in individuals with obesity. Interestingly, dietary lycopene intake had protective effects in both groups. Conclusion: This study reveals that lycopene exhibits distinct associations with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in populations with or without obesity, emphasizing the importance of considering individual health profiles when assessing its benefits.

Obesity, birth weight, and lifestyle factors for frailty: a Mendelian randomization study.

Obesity, birth weight and lifestyle factors have been found associated with the risk of frailty in observational studies, but whether these associations are causal is uncertain. We conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization study to investigate the associations. Genetic instruments associated with the exposures at the genome-wide significance level (p < 5 × 10-8) were selected from corresponding genome-wide association studies (n = 143,677 to 703,901 individuals). Summary-level data for the frailty index were obtained from the UK Biobank (n = 164,610) and Swedish TwinGene (n = 10,616). The ß of the frailty index was 0.15 (p = 3.88 × 10-9) for 1 standard deviation increase in the prevalence of smoking initiation, 0.19 (p = 3.54 × 10-15) for leisure screen time, 0.13 (p = 5.26 × 10-7) for body mass index and 0.13 (p = 1.80 × 10-4) for waist circumference. There was a suggestive association between genetically predicted higher birth weight and moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity with the decreased risk of the frailty index. We observed no causal association between genetically predicted age of smoking initiation and alcoholic drinks per week with the frailty index. This study supports the causal roles of smoking initiation, leisure screen time, overall obesity, and abdominal obesity in frailty. The possible association between higher birth weight, proper physical activity and a decreased risk of frailty needs further confirmation.

Lipoprotein (a) is associated with poor long-term prognosis in patients aged 80 years and older with acute coronary syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Lipoprotein(a) has been suggested as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular events in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the association of lipoprotein(a) with long-term poor prognosis following acute coronary syndromes (ACS) in advanced-age patients. METHODS: We enrolled 536 patients aged ≥80 years hospitalized for ACS and plasma lipoprotein(a) concentrations were measured at admission. The primary outcomes were hard CHD events (a composite of fatal or non-fatal myocardial infarction, and CHD death). The secondary outcomes included major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs), all-cause death and cardiac death. RESULTS: During a median 66-month follow-up, 89 hard CHD events occurred. The optimal cutoff points of lipoprotein(a) levels were obtained from ROC curve analyses. Kaplan-Meier curves showed a significantly higher cumulative incidence of hard CHD events, MACEs, all-cause death and cardiac death in high lipoprotein(a) group than that in low lipoprotein(a) group. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analyses revealed that elevated lipoprotein(a) levels were independently associated with an increased risk of hard CHD events [hazard ratio (HR): 1.714, 95% confidence interval (95%CI): 1.114-2.638], MACEs (HR 1.354, 95%CI: 1.024-1.790), all-cause death (HR 1.804, 95%CI: 1.286-2.532) and cardiac death (HR 1.891, 95%CI: 1.112-3.217). Furthermore, adding lipoprotein(a) to the prognostic model for hard CHD events improved the C-statistic value (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Elevated lipoprotein(a) levels were associated with an increased risk of hard CHD events, MACEs, all-cause death and cardiac death in the advanced-age patients with ACS, which indicated that routine screening for lipoprotein(a) might aid prognosis and risk assessment.