Is Height Appropriate for Indexation of Left Ventricular Mass in Healthy Adolescents? The Importance of Sex Differences.

Background: Left ventricular mass (LVM) is an important predictor of cardiovascular risk. In adolescence, LVM is commonly indexed to height, although some evidence suggests that this may not fully account for sex differences.

Methods: We investigated appropriate allometric scaling of LVM to height, total lean mass, and body surface area, in a UK birth cohort of 2039 healthy adolescents (17±1 years).

Impact of lung function on cardiovascular diseases and cardiovascular risk factors: a two sample bidirectional Mendelian randomisation study.

Introduction: Observational studies suggested lung function is inversely associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) although these studies could be confounded. We conducted a two sample Mendelian randomisation study using summary statistics from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to clarify the role of lung function in CVD and its risk factors, and conversely the role of CVD in lung function.

Methods: We obtained genetic instruments for forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV: 260) and forced vital capacity (FVC: 320) from publicly available UK Biobank summary statistics (n=421 986) and applied to GWAS summary statistics for coronary artery disease (CAD) (n=184 305), stroke (n=446 696), atrial fibrillation (n=1 030 836) and heart failure (n=977 320) and cardiovascular risk factors.

Blood pressure variability and night-time dipping assessed by 24-hour ambulatory monitoring: Cross-sectional association with cardiac structure in adolescents.

Greater blood pressure (BP) is associated with greater left ventricular mass indexed to height2.7 (LVMi2.7) in adolescents.

Genome-Wide Association Study Identifies Two Novel Loci Associated with Female Stress and Urgency Urinary Incontinence.

Purpose: Genome-wide association studies have not identified replicable genetic risk loci for stress or urgency urinary incontinence.

Materials And Methods: We carried out a discovery stage, case control, genome-wide association study in 3 independent discovery cohorts of European women (8,979) for stress incontinence, urgency incontinence, and any incontinence phenotypes. We conducted replication in 6 additional studies of European ancestry (4,069).

Associations of cord leptin and cord insulin with adiposity and blood pressure in White British and Pakistani children aged 4/5 years.

Cord leptin and cord insulin concentrations may be important biomarkers of child adiposity and cardiovascular health, especially in populations with an increased long-term risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. We aimed to determine whether cord leptin and insulin are associated with adiposity and early cardiovascular health at age 4/5, and whether any associations differ between White British and Pakistani children. Using bi-ethnic cohort data from 6060 mother-offspring pairs (2717 (44.

GLU: a software package for analysing continuously measured glucose levels in epidemiology.

Continuous glucose monitors (CGM) record interstitial glucose levels 'continuously', producing a sequence of measurements for each participant (e.g. the average glucose level every 5 min over several days, both day and night).

Common variation at 16p11.2 is associated with glycosuria in pregnancy: findings from a genome-wide association study in European women.

Glycosuria is a condition where glucose is detected in urine at higher concentrations than normal (i.e. not detectable).

Identifying potential causal effects of age at menarche: a Mendelian randomization phenome-wide association study.

Background: Age at menarche has been associated with various health outcomes. We aimed to identify potential causal effects of age at menarche on health-related traits in a hypothesis-free manner.

Methods: We conducted a Mendelian randomization phenome-wide association study (MR-pheWAS) of age at menarche with 17,893 health-related traits in UK Biobank (n = 181,318) using PHESANT.

A maternal serum metabolite ratio predicts fetal growth restriction at term.

Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is the major single cause of stillbirth and is also associated with neonatal morbidity and mortality, impaired health and educational achievement in childhood and with a range of diseases in later life. Effective screening and intervention for FGR is an unmet clinical need. Here, we performed ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy (UPLC-MS/MS) metabolomics on maternal serum at 12, 20 and 28 weeks of gestational age (wkGA) using 175 cases of term FGR and 299 controls from the Pregnancy Outcome Prediction (POP) study, conducted in Cambridge, UK, to identify predictive metabolites.

Publisher Correction: Population reference and healthy standard blood pressure range charts in pregnancy: findings from the Born in Bradford cohort study.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Epigenome-wide meta-analysis of blood DNA methylation in newborns and children identifies numerous loci related to gestational age.

Background: Preterm birth and shorter duration of pregnancy are associated with increased morbidity in neonatal and later life. As the epigenome is known to have an important role during fetal development, we investigated associations between gestational age and blood DNA methylation in children.

Methods: We performed meta-analysis of Illumina's HumanMethylation450-array associations between gestational age and cord blood DNA methylation in 3648 newborns from 17 cohorts without common pregnancy complications, induced delivery or caesarean section.

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.

Age at period cessation and trajectories of cardiovascular risk factors across mid and later life.

Objective: To examine the association between age at period cessation and trajectories of anthropometry, blood pressure, lipids and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) from midlife to age 69 years.

Methods: We used data from the UK Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development to examine the association between age at period cessation and trajectories of systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) from 36 to 69 years and trajectories of triglyceride, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and HbA1c from 53 to 69 years.

Results: We found no evidence that age at period cessation was associated with trajectories of log triglyceride, LDL-C and HDL-C from 53 to 69 years and trajectories of SBP or DBP from 36 to 69 years, regardless of whether period cessation occurred naturally or due to hysterectomy.

Population reference and healthy standard blood pressure range charts in pregnancy: findings from the Born in Bradford cohort study.

Women who develop gestational hypertension are at increased risk of adverse perinatal and longer-term outcomes. Reference charts may aid early detection of raised blood pressure (BP) and in doing so reduce adverse outcome risk. We used repeated BP measurements to produce 'reference' (whole population) and 'standard' (healthy pregnancies only) gestational-age-specific BP charts for all pregnant women (irrespective of ethnicity) and for White British (WB) and Pakistani (P) women.

Metabolomics analysis in adults with high bone mass identifies a relationship between bone resorption and circulating citrate which replicates in the general population.

Objective: Bone turnover, which regulates bone mass, may exert metabolic consequences, particularly on markers of glucose metabolism and adiposity. To better understand these relationships, we examined cross-sectional associations between bone turnover markers (BTMs) and metabolic traits in a population with high bone mass (HBM, BMD Z-score ≥+3.2).

The Parkinson's Disease Mendelian Randomization Research Portal.

Background: Mendelian randomization is a method for exploring observational associations to find evidence of causality.

Objective: To apply Mendelian randomization between risk factors/phenotypic traits (exposures) and PD in a large, unbiased manner, and to create a public resource for research.

Methods: We used two-sample Mendelian randomization in which the summary statistics relating to single-nucleotide polymorphisms from 5,839 genome-wide association studies of exposures were used to assess causal relationships with PD.

Determinants of Intima-Media Thickness in the Young: The ALSPAC Study.

Objectives: This study characterized the determinants of carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in a large (n > 4,000) longitudinal cohort of healthy young people age 9 to 21 years.

Background: Greater cIMT is commonly used in the young as a marker of subclinical atherosclerosis, but its evolution at this age is still poorly understood.

Methods: Associations between cardiovascular risk factors and cIMT were investigated in both longitudinal (ages 9 to 17 years) and cross-sectional (ages 17 and 21 years) analyses, with the latter also related to other measures of carotid structure and stress.

Metabolic profiling of adolescent non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Adolescent non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with cardiometabolic risk factors. The association between adolescent NAFLD and a wide range of metabolic biomarkers is unclear. We have attempted to determine the differences in metabolic profile of adolescents with and without markers of NAFLD.

Sex and area differences in the association between adiposity and lipid profile in Malawi.

Background: Evidence from high-income countries shows that higher adiposity results in an adverse lipid profile, but it is unclear whether this association is similar in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) populations. This study aimed to assess the association between total and central adiposity measures and lipid profile in Malawi, exploring differences by sex and area of residence (rural/urban).

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data from 12 096 rural and 12 847 urban Malawian residents were used.

Blood pressure change across pregnancy in white British and Pakistani women: analysis of data from the Born in Bradford cohort.

The incidence of gestational hypertension (GH) and pre-eclampsia (PE) is increasing. Use of blood pressure (BP) change patterns may improve early detection of BP abnormalities. We used Linear spline random-effects models to estimate BP patterns across pregnancy for white British and Pakistani women.