Refining the CHA2DS2VASc risk stratification scheme: shall we drop the sex category criterion?

Aims: The CHA2DS2VASc score is recommended for stroke risk stratification in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). This score assigns one extra point to female sex based on evidence from the early 2000s, suggesting higher thromboembolic risk in women. This incremental risk of thromboembolism in women has decreased over time between 2007 and 2018, becoming non-significant in recent years.

Cancer incidence and mortality among patients with new-onset atrial fibrillation: A population-based matched cohort study.

Background: Understanding the risk of cancer after the diagnosis of another condition can present opportunities for earlier diagnosis. We examined the risk of cancer diagnosis conditional on prior diagnosis of atrial fibrillation (AF).

Methods: Linked electronic health records were used to identify patients aged ≥18 with new-onset AF and age-sex-matched controls.

Prospective Association of the Mediterranean Diet with the Onset of Cardiometabolic Multimorbidity in a UK-Based Cohort: The EPIC-Norfolk Study.

Background: Cardiometabolic multimorbidity (CMM), defined as the co-occurrence of 2 or more cardiometabolic diseases, including myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, and type 2 diabetes (T2D), is an increasing public health challenge. Although poor diet is a known risk factor for a first cardiometabolic disease (FCMD), the relationship with subsequent occurrence of CMM is less studied.

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the prospective association between baseline adherence to the Mediterranean diet and the onset of CMM across various follow-up durations.

Advancing drug development for atrial fibrillation by prioritising findings from human genetic association studies.

Background: Drug development for atrial fibrillation (AF) has failed to yield new approved compounds. We sought to identify and prioritise potential druggable targets with support from human genetics, by integrating the available evidence with bioinformatics sources relevant for AF drug development.

Methods: Genetic hits for AF and related traits were identified through structured search of MEDLINE.

Association of Life's Simple 7 lifestyle metric with cardiometabolic disease-free life expectancy in older British men.

Background: Cardiometabolic diseases (CMD), including myocardial infarction, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, are leading causes of disability and mortality globally, particularly for people at an older age. The impact of adhering to the Life's Simple 7 (LS7) on the number of years an individual will live without CMD in older adults remains less studied.

Methods: This study included a cohort of 2662 British men aged 60-79 years free of CMD at baseline from the British Regional Heart Study (BRHS).

NMR metabolomic modeling of age and lifespan: A multicohort analysis.

Metabolomic age models have been proposed for the study of biological aging, however, they have not been widely validated. We aimed to assess the performance of newly developed and existing nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) metabolomic age models for prediction of chronological age (CA), mortality, and age-related disease. Ninety-eight metabolic variables were measured in blood from nine UK and Finnish cohort studies (N ≈31,000 individuals, age range 24-86 years).

Prospective associations between diet quality, dietary components, and risk of cardiometabolic multimorbidity in older British men.

Purpose: Cardiometabolic multimorbidity (CMM) is a major public health challenge. This study investigated the prospective relationships between diet quality, dietary components, and risk of CMM in older British men.

Methods: We used data from the British Regional Heart Study of 2873 men aged 60-79 free of myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, and type 2 diabetes (T2D) at baseline.

Dementia in the older population is associated with neocortex content of serum amyloid P component.

Despite many reported associations, the direct cause of neurodegeneration responsible for cognitive loss in Alzheimer's disease and some other common dementias is not known. The normal human plasma protein, serum amyloid P component, a constituent of all human fibrillar amyloid deposits and present on most neurofibrillary tangles, is cytotoxic for cerebral neurones and in experimental animals . The neocortical content of serum amyloid P component was immunoassayed in 157 subjects aged 65 or more with known dementia status at death, in the large scale, population-representative, brain donor cohort of the Cognitive Function and Ageing Study, which avoids the biases inherent in studies of predefined clinico-pathological groups.

Risk Factors and Prevalence of Dilated Cardiomyopathy in Sub-Saharan Africa: Protocol for a Systematic Review.

Background: Cardiomyopathies, defined as diseases involving mainly the heart muscles, are linked to an estimated 5.9 of 100,000 deaths globally. In sub-Saharan Africa, cardiomyopathies constitute 21.

Circulating Fatty Acids and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke: Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis in Up to 16 126 Participants.

Background We aimed at investigating the association of circulating fatty acids with coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke risk. Methods and Results We conducted an individual-participant data meta-analysis of 5 UK-based cohorts and 1 matched case-control study. Fatty acids (ie, omega-3 docosahexaenoic acid, omega-6 linoleic acid, monounsaturated and saturated fatty acids) were measured at baseline using an automated high-throughput serum nuclear magnetic resonance metabolomics platform.

Long-term incidence and risk factors of cardiovascular events in Asian populations: systematic review and meta-analysis of population-based cohort studies.

Background: Scientific studies on cardiovascular disease (CVD) burden and risk factors are predominantly based on short-term risk in Westerner populations, and such information may not be applicable to Asian populations, especially over the longer term. This review aims to estimate the long-term (>10 years) CVD burden, including coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke, as well as associated risk factors in Asian populations.

Methods: PubMed, Embase and Web of Science were systematically searched, and hits screened on: Asian adults, free of CVD at baseline; cohort study design (follow-up >10 years).