On the Concordance of Romantic and Sexual Feelings and Identity Among University Students in Taiwan.

The degree to which romantic and sexual feelings correspond to one's sexual identity may signify how a person comes to embrace a specific sexual identity. People who endorse an essentialist perspective may expect to see a high degree of concordance between feelings and identity, and a lack of concordance may be associated with negative consequences. People who endorse a social constructionist perspective may view sexual identity as constructed in situ; a lack of concordance is inevitable and may not be associated with negative consequences. This research tests the levels of concordance of feelings and identity by comparing those with and without romantic and sexual feelings using risk ratios and odds ratios. A representative sample of college students in Taiwan was recruited (N = 3882, with 2440 females and 2988 who identified as heterosexual). The findings suggest that (1) people's romantic and sexual feelings largely correspond to their sexual identity, with all risk ratios and odds ratios higher than 1; (2) the concordance was at its lowest level among those with different-sex feelings; (3) gender differences in concordance were trivial; (4) individuals who were questioning their identity were the least clear about what they expect and want in intimate relationships; and (5) no general negative consequences in intimate relationships were observed among discordant/branched individuals. Implications regarding romantic and sexual feelings, sexual identity, and intimate relationships are further discussed.

The impact of PM2.5 and its constituents on gestational diabetes mellitus: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence that exposure to PM2.5 and its constituents is associated with an increased risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), but studies on the relationship between exposure to PM2.5 constituents and the risk of GDM are still limited. METHODS: A total of 17,855 pregnant women in Guangzhou were recruited for this retrospective cohort study, and the time-varying average concentration method was used to estimate individual exposure to PM2.5 and its constituents during pregnancy. Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between exposure to PM2.5 and its constituents and the risk of GDM, and the expected inflection point between exposure to PM2.5 and its constituents and the risk of GDM was estimated using logistic regression combined with restricted cubic spline curves. Stratified analyses and interaction tests were performed. RESULTS: After adjustment for confounders, exposure to PM2.5 and its constituents (NO3-, NH4+, and OM) was positively associated with the risk of GDM during pregnancy, especially when exposure to NO3- and NH4+ occurred in the first to second trimester, with each interquartile range increase the risk of GDM by 20.2% (95% CI: 1.118-1.293) and 18.2% (95% CI. 1.107-1.263), respectively. The lowest inflection points between PM2.5, SO42-, NO3-, NH4+, OM, and BC concentrations and GDM risk throughout the gestation period were 18.96, 5.80, 3.22, 2.67, 4.77 and 0.97 µg/m3, respectively. In the first trimester, an age interaction effect between exposure to SO42-, OM, and BC and the risk of GDM was observed. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates a positive association between exposure to PM2.5 and its constituents and the risk of GDM. Specifically, exposure to NO3-, NH4+, and OM was particularly associated with an increased risk of GDM. The present study contributes to a better understanding of the effects of exposure to PM2.5 and its constituents on the risk of GDM.

Discrete-time survival analysis with survey weights: a case study of age at child death in Sierra Leone.

BACKGROUND: Child death rates are often regarded as reliable indicators for overall welfare of a country since they give insight of health accessibility and development. For planning and controlling purposes, it is important to understand which ages are at higher risks of experiencing child death as well as determinants thereof. METHODS: We used the Sierra Leone DHS 2019 data which was collected using two stage sampling methods. Data collection involved interviewing women aged from 15-49 to obtain information about children they had in the past up to 2019. Age at death of child was modelled using discrete-time survival analysis with a logit link at the same time applying survey weights. The analysis also sought to estimate the determinants of child death (under-five mortality). The baseline hazard was modelled with a polynomial function. RESULTS: Results showed that children from rural areas had significantly lower odds of dying compared with those from urban areas (odds ratio (OR) = 0.861, p-value = 0.0003). Children of mothers who were currently using contraceptives, and those whose mothers had been using since their last birth were at higher odds of child death compared to children whose mothers had never used contraceptives before (currently using: OR = 1.118, p-value = < .0001; used since last birth: OR = 1.372, p-value = < .0001). Children with no health insurance had significantly higher odds of death than those with health insurance (OR = 1.036, p-value = < .0001). Children of women who were married, and of women who were formerly married were at significantly higher odds of experiencing child death than children of women who had never been in union (married: OR = 1.207, p-value = 0.0003; formerly married: OR = 1.308, p-value = 0.0009 compared to those that have never been married). Increase in the age group of mothers increases the odds of their children experiencing child death compared to mothers in their teenage years (20-29: OR = 1.943, p-value = < .0001, 30-39: OR = 2.397, p-value = < .0001 and > = 40: OR = 2.895, p-value = < .0001 compared to mothers in their 15-19 years). CONCLUSION: The study provides evidence that residing in urban areas, marital union of the mother, children having no health insurance, use of contraceptives by mother, older ages of the mother and no health insurance significantly increase the odds of child death. This points out to a possible need for improved health infrastructure to be made available to citizens in all places of delivery and more awareness on pregnancy related complications.

Is the Effect Larger in Group A or B? It Depends: Understanding Results From Nonlinear Probability Models.

Demographers and other social scientists often study effect heterogeneity (defined here as differences in outcome-predictor associations across groups defined by the values of a third variable) to understand how inequalities evolve between groups or how groups differentially benefit from treatments. Yet answering the question "Is the effect larger in group A or group B?" is surprisingly difficult. In fact, the answer sometimes reverses across scales. For example, researchers might conclude that the effect of education on mortality is larger among women than among men if they quantify education's effect on an odds-ratio scale, but their conclusion might flip (to indicate a larger effect among men) if they instead quantify education's effect on a percentage-point scale. We illuminate this flipped-signs phenomenon in the context of nonlinear probability models, which were used in about one third of articles published in Demography in 2018-2019. Although methodologists are aware that flipped signs can occur, applied researchers have not integrated this insight into their work. We provide formal inequalities that researchers can use to easily determine if flipped signs are a problem in their own applications. We also share practical tips to help researchers handle flipped signs and, thus, generate clear and substantively correct descriptions of effect heterogeneity. Our findings advance researchers' ability to accurately characterize population variation.

Excess deaths by sex and Age Group in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

The COVID-19 pandemic hastened hundreds of thousands of deaths in the United States. Many of these excess deaths are directly attributed to COVID-19, but others stem from the pandemic's social, economic, and health care system disruptions. This study compares provisional mortality data for age and sex subgroups across different time windows, with and without COVID-19 deaths, and assesses whether mortality risks are returning to pre-pandemic levels. Using provisional mortality reports from the CDC, we compute mortality risks for 22 age and sex subgroups in 2021 and compare against 2015-2019 using odds ratios. We repeat this comparison for the first twelve full months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States (April 2020-March 2021) against the next twelve full months (April 2021-March 2022). Mortality risks for most subgroups were significantly higher in 2021 than in 2015-2019, both with and without deaths involving COVID-19. For ages 25-54, Year 2 (April 2021-March 2022) was more fatal than Year 1 (April 2020-March 2021), whereas total mortality risks for the 65 + age groups declined. Given so many displaced deaths in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, mortality risks in the next few years may fall below pre-pandemic levels. Provisional mortality data suggest this is already happening for the 75 + age groups when excluding COVID-19 deaths.

Shared component modelling of early childhood anaemia and malaria in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Malaria and anaemia contribute substantially to child morbidity and mortality. In this study, we sought to jointly model the residual spatial variation in the likelihood of these two correlated diseases, while controlling for individual-level, household-level and environmental characteristics. METHODS: A child-level shared component model was utilised to partition shared and disease-specific district-level spatial effects. RESULTS: The results indicated that the spatial variation in the likelihood of malaria was more prominent compared to that of anaemia, for both the shared and specific spatial components. In addition, approximately 30% of the districts were associated with an increased likelihood of anaemia but a decreased likelihood of malaria. This suggests that there are other drivers of anaemia in children in these districts, which warrants further investigation. CONCLUSIONS: The maps of the shared and disease-specific spatial patterns provide a tool to allow for more targeted action in malaria and anaemia control and prevention, as well as for the targeted allocation of limited district health system resources.

Gene-gene and gene-environment interaction: An important predictor of oral cancer among smokeless tobacco users in Karachi.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the risk for oral cancer caused by simultaneous occurrence of more than one of the tested cytochrome P450 CYP1A1 MspI, glutathione S-transferase M1 null gnd Glutathione S-transferases T1 null gene polymorphisms. METHODS: The cross-sectional case-control study was conducted from December 2011 to October 2016 at the Ziauddin University, Karachi, in collaboration with Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, and comprised oral squamous cell carcinoma cases in group A and healthy tobacco habit-matched controls in group B. All investigations were done using standardised laboratory protocols. The outcomes were determined in terms of association of various combinations of cytochrome P450 1A1MspI, glutathione S-transferasesM1 null and glutathione S-transferases T1 null polymorphisms with oral cancer. Data was analysed using SPSS 20. RESULTS: Of the 238 subjects, 140(58.8%) were in group A and 98(41.2%) were in group B. Mean ages in group A and B were 47.1±12.22 and 41.6±14.58 years, respectively. Male/Female ratio in group A was 1.88:1 while 83.4% were using tobacco. When cytochrome P450 1A1MspI homozygous (m2/m2) and glutathione S-transferases M1 null variants occured simultaneously in an individual, an odds ratio of 12.8 (95% confidence interval: 1.20-135.5; p=0.03) among overall tobacco chewers was observed. For glutathione S-transferases M1 not null and glutathione S-transferases T1 null variant combination among overall tobacco users, the conferred odds ratio was 4.58 (95% confidence interval: 0.99-21.2; p=0.05). The other studied gene combinations did not reveal significant associations (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: A higher risk of oral squamous cell carcinoma was found to be associated with combined-gene polymorphisms of phase I and phase II enzymes than that attributed to a single-gene polymorphism.

Beyond COVID-19 deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

COVID-19 has disrupted society and health care systems, creating a fertile environment for deaths beyond the virus. The year 2020 will prove to be the most deadly year on record in the United States. Direct deaths due to COVID-19 have been well documented and reported. Older people (those over 65) have been hardest hit, with over 80% of the COVID-19 deaths in this age group. What has been less clear is the impact on those under 65 years old, particularly those under 44 years old. This study considers both COVID-19 deaths and non-COVID-19 deaths during a 39 weeks period beginning 1 March in both 2020 and averaged over the five years from 2015 to 2019. Across 22 age and gender cohorts, death risks are compared using odds ratios. The results indicate that younger people (those under 15 years old) have experienced the same or a reduction in death risk between 2020 and the average from 2015 to 2019, suggesting that societal changes were protective for some of them. With all COVID-19 deaths removed from the 2020 death counts, 15-64 year olds experienced increased death risk between 2020 and the 2015 to 2019 average. For example, 15-44 year old males experienced a significant increase in their death risk, even though the absolute number of COVID-19 deaths for this cohort is small. The key take away from this study is that COVID-19 resulted in a large number of additional deaths in 2020 compared to the average from 2015 to 2019, both directly from the virus and indirectly due to societal responses to the virus.

Risk factors for complications and revision surgery after anatomic and reverse total shoulder arthroplasty.

BACKGROUND: Complications and revisions following anatomic (aTSA) and reverse (rTSA) total shoulder arthroplasty have deleterious effects on patient function and satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to evaluate patient-specific, implant-specific and technique-specific risk factors for intraoperative complications, postoperative complications, and the occurrence of revisions after aTSA and rTSA. METHODS: A total of 2964 aTSA and 5616 rTSA patients were enrolled in an international database of primary shoulder arthroplasty. Intra- and postoperative complications, as well as revisions, were reported and evaluated. Multivariate analyses were performed to quantify the risk factors associated with complications and revisions. RESULTS: aTSA patients had a significantly higher complication rate (P = .0026) and a significantly higher revision rate (P < .0001) than rTSA patients, but aTSA patients also had a significantly longer average follow-up (P < .0001) than rTSA patients. No difference (P = .2712) in the intraoperative complication rate was observed between aTSA and rTSA patients. Regarding intraoperative complications, female sex (odds ratio [OR] 2.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.17-3.68) and previous shoulder surgery (OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.73-4.90) were identified as significant risk factors. In regard to postoperative complications, younger age (OR 0.987, 95% CI 0.977-0.996), diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (OR 1.76, 95% 1.12-2.65), and previous shoulder surgery (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.16-1.72) were noted to be risks factors. Finally, in regard to revision surgery, younger age (OR 0.964, 95% CI 0.933-0.998), more glenoid retroversion (OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.001-1.058), larger humeral stem size (OR 1.09, 95% CI 1.01-1.19), larger humeral liner thickness or offset (OR 1.50, 95% CI 1.18-1.96), larger glenosphere diameter (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.07-1.26), and more intraoperative blood loss (OR 1.002, 95% CI 1.001-1.004) were noted to be risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: Studying the impact of numerous patient- and implant-specific risk factors and determining their impact on complications and revision shoulder arthroplasty can assist surgeons in counseling patients and guide patient expectations following aTSA or rTSA. Care should be taken in patients with a history of previous shoulder surgery, who are at increased risk of both intra- and postoperative complications.

Linking Altered Flow Regimes to Biological Condition: an Example Using Benthic Macroinvertebrates in Small Streams of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

Regionally scaled assessments of hydrologic alteration for small streams and its effects on freshwater taxa are often inhibited by a low number of stream gages. To overcome this limitation, we paired modeled estimates of hydrologic alteration to a benthic macroinvertebrate index of biotic integrity data for 4522 stream reaches across the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Using separate random-forest models, we predicted flow status (inflated, diminished, or indeterminant) for 12 published hydrologic metrics (HMs) that characterize the main components of flow regimes. We used these models to predict each HM status for each stream reach in the watershed, and linked predictions to macroinvertebrate condition samples collected from streams with drainage areas less than 200 km2. Flow alteration was calculated as the number of HMs with inflated or diminished status and ranged from 0 (no HM inflated or diminished) to 12 (all 12 HMs inflated or diminished). When focused solely on the stream condition and flow-alteration relationship, degraded macroinvertebrate condition was, depending on the number of HMs used, 3.8-4.7 times more likely in a flow-altered site; this likelihood was over twofold higher in the urban-focused dataset (8.7-10.8), and was never significant in the agriculture-focused dataset. Logistic regression analysis using the entire dataset showed for every unit increase in flow-alteration intensity, the odds of a degraded condition increased 3.7%. Our results provide an indication of whether altered streamflow is a possible driver of degraded biological conditions, information that could help managers prioritize management actions and lead to more effective restoration efforts.

Dynamic Multistate Models With Constant Cross-Product Ratios: Applications to Poverty Status.

Cross-product ratios (αs), which are structurally analogous to odds ratios, are statistically sound and demographically meaningful measures. Assuming constant cross-product ratios in the elements of a matrix of multistate transition probabilities provides a new basis both for calculating probabilities from minimal data and for modeling populations with changing demographic rates. Constant-α estimation parallels log linear modeling, in which the αs are the fixed interactions, and the main effects are calculated from relevant data. Procedures are presented showing how an N state model's matrix of transition probabilities can be found from the constant αs and (1) the state composition of adjacent populations, (2) (N - 1) known probabilities, (3) (N - 1) known transfer rates, or (4) (2N - 1) known numbers of transfers. The scope and flexibility of constant-α models makes them applicable to a broad range of demographic subjects, including marital/union status, political affiliation, residential status, and labor force status. Here, an application is provided to the important but understudied topic of poverty status. Census data, separately for men and women, provide age-specific numbers of persons in three poverty statuses for the years 2009 and 2014. Using an estimated transition matrix that furnishes a set of cross-product ratios, the constant-α approach allows the calculation of male and female poverty status life tables for the 2009-2014 period. The results describe the time spent in each poverty state and the transitions between states over the entire life course.

Counterpoint: Mediation Formulas With Binary Mediators and Outcomes and the "Rare Outcome Assumption".

In their accompanying article, Samoilenko and Lefebvre (Am J Epidemiol. 2019;188(7):1203-1205) correctly note 2 typographical errors in the formulas presented in a 2011 paper on placental abruption by Ananth and VanderWeele (Am J Epidemiol. 2011;174(1):99-108). Fortunately, to the best of our knowledge, researchers are using our methods papers and Dr. VanderWeele's 2015 book on mediation analysis (Explanation in Causal Inference; Oxford University Press, New York, New York), rather than the paper on placental abruption, to carry out their direct and indirect effect analyses; and in our methods papers and the book, the formulas are correct. The formulas discussed by Samoilenko and Lefebvre and in our work make reference to a "rare outcome assumption." In evaluating this assumption, it is important to note that the outcome is to be relatively rare across all strata defined by the exposure and the mediator-a point that is often neglected.

Self-rated health among multiracial young adults in the United States: findings from the add health study.

OBJECTIVE: The multiracial adult population is one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population, yet much remains to be learned about multiracial health. Considerable research finds racial/ethnic disparities in self-rated health, however subgroups within the multiracial population have not been consistently described. DESIGN: We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and multivariate logistic regression analyses to compare self-rated health of multiracial and monoracial young adults (n = 7880). RESULTS: Overall, there were no significant differences in poor self-rated health status of multiracial adults as a single group odds ratio 0.84 (95% CI: 0.52-1.36) compared to monoracial White adults. Analyses further revealed important variations in health-status by specific subgroups and show that some multiracial subgroups may not fit existing patterns of health disparities. For instance, Asian-White multiracial adults do not fit documented patterns of health disparities and report better health than monoracial Asian and monoracial White adults. CONCLUSION: This study illustrates that the inclusion of specific multiracial categories provides evidence to enhance understanding of the pathways that are linked to health outcomes and the implications for health disparities.

Mixture model-based association analysis with case-control data in genome wide association studies.

Multilocus haplotype analysis of candidate variants with genome wide association studies (GWAS) data may provide evidence of association with disease, even when the individual loci themselves do not. Unfortunately, when a large number of candidate variants are investigated, identifying risk haplotypes can be very difficult. To meet the challenge, a number of approaches have been put forward in recent years. However, most of them are not directly linked to the disease-penetrances of haplotypes and thus may not be efficient. To fill this gap, we propose a mixture model-based approach for detecting risk haplotypes. Under the mixture model, haplotypes are clustered directly according to their estimated disease penetrances. A theoretical justification of the above model is provided. Furthermore, we introduce a hypothesis test for haplotype inheritance patterns which underpin this model. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated by simulations and real data analysis. The results show that the proposed approach outperforms an existing multiple testing method.

Epidemiology of gastrointestinal symptoms in young and middle-aged Swiss adults: prevalences and comorbidities in a longitudinal population cohort over 28 years.

BACKGROUND: Although subacute and chronic gastrointestinal symptoms are very common in primary care, epidemiological date are sparse. The aim of the study was to examine and quantify the prevalence of subacute and chronic gastrointestinal symptoms and their associations with somatic and mental disorders in the general population. METHODS: Data were collected prospectively between 1981 (age m = 22, f = 23) and 2008 (age 49/50) from the Zurich Cohort Study (n = 292 men, 299 women), a representative general population survey. The participants were assessed using a semi-structured interview, the "Structured Psychopathological Interview and Rating of the Social Consequences of Psychological Disturbances for Epidemiology" (SPIKE). Prevalence rates were computed to be representative of the general population aged 22-50. Associations were quantified by odds ratios (ORs) and their 99% confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: The prevalences of intestinal and of gastric symptoms were significantly higher among women in all categories examined. For example, any gastric symptoms: f. 26.4% vs m.15.2%; any intestinal symptoms: 27.6% vs 14.6%; nausea/vomitus: 19.1% vs 4.5%; constipation: 15.8% vs 6.5% (all p < 0.001). Strong associations (all p < 0.0001) were found between fatigue (1 month) and chronic stomach (OR = 9.96, 99%-CI: 5.53-17.94) and chronic intestinal symptoms (OR = 9.02, 99%-CI: 4.92-16.54). Panic attacks were associated with subacute intestinal symptoms (OR = 4.00, 99%-CI: 2.43-6.59). Anxiety was more strongly associated with subacute intestinal symptoms (OR = 3.37, 99%-CI: 2.23-5.08) than with subacute stomach symptoms (OR = 1.85, 1.20-2.86). Bipolar disorders were associated with subacute stomach symptoms (OR = 1.83, 1.18-2.17) and unipolar depression with subacute intestinal symptoms (OR = 2.05, 1.34-3.15). CONCLUSIONS: Remarkably high prevalence rates of gastric and intestinal complaints were observed in women (over 1/4; men 1/7). Fatigue/neurasthenia was the strongest co-factor in both conditions. Various syndromes related to anxiety, phobia, and panic disorders showed further significant associations. The integration of psychiatric and/or psychological treatment could help address the functional part of gastric and intestinal syndromes.

Depression and anxiety among war-widows of Nepal: a post-civil war cross-sectional study.

Thousands of Nepalese women were widowed as a consequence of a decade (1996-2006) long civil war in Nepal. These women are at grave risk of mental health problems due to both traumatic experiences and violation of natural order of widowhood. The present study explores the depression and anxiety among war-widows. In 2012, a cross-sectional study was designed to interview 358 war-widows using validitated Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory in four districts of Nepal - Bardiya, Surkhet, Sindhupalchowk and Kavrepalanchowk with history of high conflict intensity. The prevalence of depression and anxiety was 53% and 63% respectively. Financial stress was significantly associated with depression (2.67, 95% CI: 1.40-5.07) and anxiety (2.37, 95% CI: 1.19-4.72). High autonomy of women as compared to low autonomy, high social support as compared to low social support and literacy as opposed to illiteracy was associated with less likelihood of depression and anxiety. Our results suggest high magnitude of depression and anxiety among war-widows in Nepal. Future policy efforts should be directed at providing mental health services to identify mental health issues among conflict affected individuals with focus on education, employment and activities to promote social support and autonomy at community.

High fatigue and its associations with health and work related factors among female medical personnel at 54 hospitals in Zhuhai, China.

The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of fatigue and determine factors associated with fatigue in female medical personnel. Based on a cross-sectional study, a total of 1608 female medical personnel at 54 hospitals in Zhuhai, China were recruited by a multistage stratified cluster sampling method. The Symptoms Checklist-90-Revised and Chalder Fatigue Scale were used to assess psychiatric symptoms and fatigue, respectively. Data regarding demographic, health, and work related variables were also collected. Multivariate logistic regression model was constructed to determine the influencing factors of fatigue. Approximately 83% of participants had experienced fatigue in the past week. The risk of fatigue was higher in aged 30-39 years old than older or younger participants; Longer sleeping time predicted a lower prevalence of fatigue (OR = .35), while tense physician-patient relationship predicted a higher prevalence of fatigue (OR = 1.77). Depression (OR = 1.76) and anxiety (OR = 1.96) were found related to fatigue. Additionally, fatigue was associated with marital status, occupation, health related factors (exercise, regular diet, and health status), and work related factors (hospital rank and turnover intention). These study findings might facilitate development and implementation of targeted interventions and preventive measures.

A method for data-driven exploration to pinpoint key features in medical data and facilitate expert review.

PURPOSE: To develop a method for data-driven exploration in pharmacovigilance and illustrate its use by identifying the key features of individual case safety reports related to medication errors. METHODS: We propose vigiPoint, a method that contrasts the relative frequency of covariate values in a data subset of interest to those within one or more comparators, utilizing odds ratios with adaptive statistical shrinkage. Nested analyses identify higher order patterns, and permutation analysis is employed to protect against chance findings. For illustration, a total of 164 000 adverse event reports related to medication errors were characterized and contrasted to the other 7 833 000 reports in VigiBase, the WHO global database of individual case safety reports, as of May 2013. The initial scope included 2000 features, such as patient age groups, reporter qualifications, and countries of origin. RESULTS: vigiPoint highlighted 109 key features of medication error reports. The most prominent were that the vast majority of medication error reports were from the United States (89% compared with 49% for other reports in VigiBase); that the majority of reports were sent by consumers (53% vs 17% for other reports); that pharmacists (12% vs 5.3%) and lawyers (2.9% vs 1.5%) were overrepresented; and that there were more medication error reports than expected for patients aged 2-11 years (10% vs 5.7%), particularly in Germany (16%). CONCLUSIONS: vigiPoint effectively identified key features of medication error reports in VigiBase. More generally, it reduces lead times for analysis and ensures reproducibility and transparency. An important next step is to evaluate its use in other data.

How Can We Explain Very Low Odds Ratios in GWAS? I. Polygenic Models.

Genome-wide association studies of common diseases often identify a number of disease-related SNPs that reach highly significant p values but at the same time show very low disease odds ratios (ORs), most <1.5 and many <1.2. Despite their statistical significance, associations involving very low ORs explain little about the genetic contribution to the disease and nothing about disease inheritance. A commonly accepted explanation for very low ORs involves a model of polygenic inheritance, i.e., where the disease being studied is caused by a large number of interacting genes, each gene contributing only a small increment to disease risk. Here we demonstrate the perhaps counterintuitive result that, within a reasonable range of disease population prevalences (≤10%), a pure polygenic model is incompatible with very low ORs, unless very large numbers (hundreds or even thousands) of polygenic loci are involved.

Prevalence of hypertriglyceridemic waist and association with risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus: a meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: A meta-analysis of studies assessing the prevalence of hypertriglyceridemic waist and an association with risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, CNKI, CQVIP and Wanfang databases were searched for studies of the prevalence of hypertriglyceridemic waist or association with risk of T2DM. Reference lists of each original article were also searched. A random-effects model was used to synthesize the combined prevalence and odds ratios. Publication bias and substantial heterogeneity were examined. RESULTS: Twenty-five eligible studies involving 93 194 participants (93 194 for prevalence and 34 199 for odds ratios): 17 articles of prevalence, and 8 of both prevalence and risk of T2DM. Prevalence of hypertriglyceridemic waist ranged from 4% to 47%, with pooled prevalence of 18% (95% CI 13-23%), overall: 18% (95% CI 13-23%) for men and 19% (95% CI 13-24%) for women. Odds ratios ranged from 2.8 to 9.6 for T2MD in overall, with pooled odds ratios of 4.18 (95% CI 3.55-4.92), overall: 3.55 (95% CI 2.93-4.31) for men and 4.18 (95% CI 3.43-5.09) for women. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: The prevalence of hypertriglyceridemic waist has reached an alarming level and is closely associated with increased risk of T2DM in the general population, particularly among women and among brown-skinned men and women.