Hypertriglyceridaemic-waist phenotype and risk of diabetes in people with impaired fasting glucose in primary care: a cohort study.

AIM: We aimed to determine the prospective association between baseline triglyceridaemic-waist phenotypes and diabetic mellitus incidence in individuals with impaired fasting glucose seen in primary care. METHODS: A cohort of 1101 participants (84.4% of the recruited individuals) with impaired fasting glucose were recruited from three primary care clinics during regular follow-ups to monitor their chronic conditions. Baseline triglyceridaemic-waist phenotypes were divided into four groups: (1) normal waistline and triglyceride level (n = 252); (2) isolated central obesity (n = 518); (3) isolated high triglyceride level (n = 80); and (4) central obesity with high triglyceride level (i.e. hypertriglyceridaemic-waist phenotype) (n = 251). The presence of diabetes at follow-up was determined by fasting plasma glucose (≥ 7.0 mmol/l) and/or 2-h 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (≥ 11.1 mmol/l) and/or HbA1c (47.5 mmol/mol; ≥ 6.5%) according to American Diabetes Association diagnostic criteria. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regressions were established to assess the impact of different triglyceridaemic-waist phenotypes on time to diabetes onset. RESULTS: After a mean follow-up period of 6.5 months (sd 4.7 months), the number of diabetes cases was significantly higher in the group with hypertriglyceridaemic-waist phenotype (52.2%) compared with the other three phenotype groups (group 1: 28.2%; group 2: 34.6%; group 3: 30.0%). Only the hypertriglyceridaemic-waist phenotype showed an increased risk of developing diabetes (hazard ratio 1.581, 95% CI 1.172-2.134; P = 0.003) compared with the group with normal waistline and triglyceride level after controlling for confounders. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of central obesity and hypertriglyceridaemia is associated with > 50% risk of progression to diabetes within 6 months among individuals with impaired fasting glucose seen in primary care.

Frameless stereotactic radiosurgery for brain metastases: a review of outcomes and prognostic scores evaluation.

INTRODUCTION: Stereotactic brain radiosurgery provides good local control in patients with limited brain metastases. A newly developed frameless system allows pain-free treatment. We reviewed the effectiveness of this frameless stereotactic brain radiosurgery and identified prognostic factors that may aid better patient selection. METHODS: Medical records of patients with brain metastases treated with linear accelerator-based frameless stereotactic brain radiosurgery between January 2010 and July 2015 in a university affiliated hospital in Hong Kong were reviewed. Outcomes including local and distant brain control rate, progression-free survival, and overall survival were analysed. Prognostic factors were identified by univariable and multivariable analyses. Association of outcomes with four common prognostic scores was performed. RESULTS: In this study, 64 patients with 94 lesions were treated with a median dose of 18 Gy (range, 12-22 Gy) in a single fraction. The median follow-up was 11.5 months. One-year actuarial local and distant brain control rates were 72% and 71%, respectively. The median overall survival was 13.0 months. On multivariable analysis, Karnofsky performance status score (>50 vs ≤50) and number of lesions (1-2 vs ≥3) were found to associate significantly with distinct brain progression-free survival (P=0.022, hazard ratio=0.20, 95% confidence interval 0.05-0.80 and P=0.003, hazard ratio=0.31, 95% confidence interval 0.14-0.68, respectively). Overall survival was associated significantly with Basic Score for Brain Metastases (P=0.031), Score Index for Radiosurgery in Brain Metastases (P=0.007), and Graded Prognostic Assessment (P=0.003). Improvement in overall survival was observed in all groups of different prognostic scores. CONCLUSION: Frameless stereotactic brain radiosurgery is effective in patients with oligo-metastases of brain and should be increasingly considered in patients with favourable prognostic scoring.