No abstract

Outcome-driven recommendations about time intervals during which ambulatory blood pressure should be measured to diagnose white-coat or masked hypertension are lacking. We cross-classified 8237 untreated participants (mean age, 50.7 years; 48.4% women) enrolled in 12 population studies, using ≥140/≥90, ≥130/≥80, ≥135/≥85, and ≥120/≥70 mm Hg as hypertension thresholds for conventional, 24-hour, daytime, and nighttime blood pressure. White-coat hypertension was hypertension on conventional measurement with ambulatory normotension, the opposite condition being masked hypertension. Intervals used for classification of participants were daytime, nighttime, and 24 hours, first considered separately, and next combined as 24 hours plus daytime or plus nighttime, or plus both. Depending on time intervals chosen, white-coat and masked hypertension frequencies ranged from 6.3% to 12.5% and from 9.7% to 19.6%, respectively. During 91 046 person-years, 729 participants experienced a cardiovascular event. In multivariable analyses with normotension during all intervals of the day as reference, hazard ratios associated with white-coat hypertension progressively weakened considering daytime only (1.38; P=0.033), nighttime only (1.43; P=0.0074), 24 hours only (1.21; P=0.20), 24 hours plus daytime (1.24; P=0.18), 24 hours plus nighttime (1.15; P=0.39), and 24 hours plus daytime and nighttime (1.16; P=0.41). The hazard ratios comparing masked hypertension with normotension were all significant (P<0.0001), ranging from 1.76 to 2.03. In conclusion, identification of truly low-risk white-coat hypertension requires setting thresholds simultaneously to 24 hours, daytime, and nighttime blood pressure. Although any time interval suffices to diagnose masked hypertension, as proposed in current guidelines, full 24-hour recordings remain standard in clinical practice.

Matrix Gla-protein is a vitamin K–dependent protein that strongly inhibits arterial calcification. Vitamin K deficiency leads to production of inactive nonphosphorylated and uncarboxylated matrix Gla protein (dp–ucMGP). The risk associated with dp–ucMGP in the population is unknown. In a Flemish population study, we measured circulating dp–ucMGP at baseline (1996–2011), genotyped MGP , recorded adverse health outcomes until December 31, 2012, and assessed the multivariable-adjusted associations of adverse health outcomes with dp–ucMGP. We applied a Mendelian randomization analysis using MGP genotypes as instrumental variables. Among 2318 participants, baseline dp–ucMGP averaged 3.61 μg/L. Over 14.1 years (median), 197 deaths occurred, 58 from cancer and 70 from cardiovascular disease; 85 participants experienced a coronary event. The risk of death and non-cancer mortality curvilinearly increased ( P ≤0.008) by 15.0% (95% confidence interval, 6.9–25.3) and by 21.5% (11.1–32.9) for a doubling of the nadir (1.43 and 0.97 μg/L, respectively). With higher dp–ucMGP, cardiovascular mortality log-linearly increased (hazard ratio for dp–ucMGP doubling, 1.14 [1.01–1.28]; P =0.027), but coronary events log-linearly decreased (0.93 [0.88–0.99]; P =0.021). dp–ucMGP levels were associated ( P ≤0.001) with MGP variants rs2098435 , rs4236 , and rs2430692. For non-cancer mortality and coronary events ( P ≤0.022), but not for total and cardiovascular mortality ( P ≥0.13), the Mendelian randomization analysis suggested causality. Higher dp–ucMGP predicts total, non-cancer and cardiovascular mortality, but lower coronary risk. For non-cancer mortality and coronary events, these associations are likely causal.

Background: Osteoarthritis is a common joint disease, with the acceleration of the aging process in China, it has troubled the middle-aged and elderly. There have been some epidemiological studies of osteoarthritis conducted in one single site, and most of them were on knee osteoarthritis. The results varied greatly between different surveys. There was still a lack of large-scale and multicenter epidemiological studies of osteoarthritis. This paper aimed to estimate the overall prevalence of lumbar osteoarthritis, cervical osteoarthritis, hand osteoarthritis, knee osteoarthritis, and hip osteoarthritis in the middle-aged and elderly in China by summarizing the existing publications. Methods: We comprehensively searched publications on 1 January 2019 in PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, CBM, CNNI, VIP, and Wan Fang. Epidemiological publications on osteoarthritis in the middle-aged and elderly Chinese published from 2000 to 2018 were summarized and analyzed by means of systematic review and meta-analysis. Data of prevalence of osteoarthritis in five joints were extracted from the included publications. The Hoy 2012 tool was used to assess the risk of bias of included studies. Results: After performing a systematic search in eight databases and manually searching, 3058 articles were obtained, and 21 articles were included in the meta-analysis. Lumbar osteoarthritis was the most prevalent with a prevalence of 25.03% (95% CI: 0.1444–0.3562). The prevalence of knee osteoarthritis followed, which was 21.51% (95% CI: 0.1873–0.2429). The prevalence of cervical osteoarthritis was 20.46% (95% CI: 0.1244–0.2849). The prevalence of hand osteoarthritis was 8.99% (95% CI: 0.0435–0.1364). The prevalence of hip osteoarthritis was not pooled due to its lack of data. Higher prevalence of knee, hand, lumbar, and cervical osteoarthritis was seen in the female group and southern regions. The prevalence of knee and hand osteoarthritis increased with age. The prevalence of lumbar and cervical osteoarthritis increased with age. There was also a trend that the prevalence increased with age before 70 years old and slightly decreased in the oldest ages. Conclusions: The lumbar joint was the joint most prevalently affected by osteoarthritis, followed by the prevalence of knee, cervical, hand, and hip joint osteoarthritis. Women, the southern population, and the older population are more susceptible to osteoarthritis. The paucity of epidemiology data of osteoarthritis in China appeals for more population-based surveys being conducted in the future. Based on the relatively high prevalence of osteoarthritis obtained from this review, self-management and community-based management should be considered, which can provide experience from the management of hypertensions and diabetes.