Publications by authors named "Julie E Buring"
Background: Dysglycemia and insulin resistance increase type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, yet associations with specific glucose-insulin homeostatic biomarkers have been inconsistent. Vitamin D and marine omega-3 fatty acids (n-3 FA) may improve insulin resistance. We sought to examine the association between baseline levels of insulin, C-peptide, HbA1c, and a novel insulin resistance score (IRS) with incident cardiometabolic diseases, and whether randomized vitamin D or n-3 FA modify these associations.
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- Physical activity (PA) both before and after a cancer diagnosis can lower the risk of mortality in cancer patients, as shown in studies involving large cohorts like the Women's Health Study and the Physicians' Health Study.
- Participants who remained active or became active after their diagnosis showed significantly lower risks for all-cause, cancer-specific, and non-cancer-related mortality compared to those who remained inactive.
- The findings suggest that encouraging physical activity in cancer patients might enhance survival, but further research is necessary to confirm these benefits across different types of cancers.
Background: Discrimination may contribute to sleep health disparities among women, yet limited research has investigated the association between discrimination and insomnia with short sleep.
Methods And Results: Among a racially and ethnically diverse sample of women (N=25 920; mean age, 72.2±6.
Background: High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and lipoprotein(a) levels contribute to 5-year and 10-year predictions of cardiovascular risk and represent distinct pathways for pharmacologic intervention. More information about the usefulness of these biomarkers for predicting cardiovascular risk over longer periods of time in women is needed because early-life intervention represents an important risk-reduction method.
Methods: We measured high-sensitivity CRP, LDL cholesterol, and lipoprotein(a) levels at baseline in 27,939 initially healthy U.
Background And Objectives: Migraine and Parkinson disease (PD) are common neurologic disorders, which are hypothesized to share some pathophysiologic mechanisms. However, data on the association between migraine and risk of developing PD are sparse. We estimate the effect of migraine, migraine subtypes, and migraine episode frequency on the risk of developing PD in middle-aged and older women.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Vitamin D may prevent the development of hypertension through down-regulation of renin-angiotensin system. However, epidemiologic studies assessing the interrelation of vitamin D-related biomarkers with hypertension are sparse.
Methods: We examined the prospective associations between vitamin D-related biomarkers and the risk of hypertension in a nested case-control study.
Article Synopsis
- Scientists looked at the timing of when girls start their periods (called menarche) and how it can affect their health later in life.
- They studied about 800,000 women and found over a thousand genetic signals that influence when menstruation starts.
- Some women have a much higher chance of starting their periods too early or too late based on their genetic makeup, suggesting that genes play a big role in this process!
Introduction: Beta-carotene (BC) protects the body against free radicals that may damage the kidney and lead to the development of acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Previous studies in animal models have demonstrated a potential protective effect of 30 mg/kg BC supplementation on renal ischemia or reperfusion injury and subsequently improved kidney function. The extension of these findings to humans, however, remains unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenome-Wide Analysis to Assess if Heavy Alcohol Consumption Modifies the Association between SNPs and Pancreatic Cancer Risk.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev
September 2024
Article Synopsis
- - The study investigates how genetic variants affect the relationship between heavy alcohol consumption and the risk of pancreatic cancer, utilizing data from a sizable European ancestry population.
- - Researchers identified a new relevant genomic region (10p11.22) linked to pancreatic cancer risk and a specific SNP (rs7898449) that suggests this association is influenced by heavy alcohol consumption.
- - The findings highlight the potential role of the neuropilin 1 gene in pancreatic cancer development, offering new insights into cancer risk factors, especially among heavy drinkers.
Importance: Higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet has been associated with reduced risk of all-cause mortality, but data on underlying molecular mechanisms over long follow-up are limited.
Objectives: To investigate Mediterranean diet adherence and risk of all-cause mortality and to examine the relative contribution of cardiometabolic factors to this risk reduction.
Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study included initially healthy women from the Women's Health Study, who had provided blood samples, biomarker measurements, and dietary information.
Importance: Current US physical activity (PA) guidelines prescribe moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) time of at least 150 minutes per week for health. An analogous step-based recommendation has not been issued due to insufficient evidence.
Objective: To examine the associations of MVPA time and step counts with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Article Synopsis
- The study explores the relationship between state-level taxes on cigarettes and beer and individual consumption behaviors related to smoking and drinking from 2009 to 2020.* -
- Findings indicate that higher beer taxes are linked to decreased drinking and smoking habits, while higher cigarette taxes correlate with reduced smoking but increased alcohol consumption.* -
- Overall, the research suggests that alcohol use might influence cigarette consumption patterns, highlighting the importance of taxation in shaping individual behaviors.*
Background: Describing correlates of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) among postmenopausal cancer survivors can help identify risk profiles and can be used to support development of targeted interventions to improve PA and reduce SB in this population.
Objective: To describe PA/SB and identify correlates of PA/SB among cancer and cancer-free post-menopausal women.
Methods: Women from the Women's Health Study (N = 16,629) and Women's Health Initiative/Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health Study (N = 6,079) were asked to wear an accelerometer on the hip for 7 days.
Context: Declining muscle strength and performance in older adults are associated with falls, fractures, and premature death.
Objective: This work aimed to determine whether supplementation with vitamin D3 or omega-3 fatty acids vs placebo for 2 years improves physical performance measures.
Methods: VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL (VITAL) was a double-blinded, placebo-controlled randomized trial of supplemental vitamin D3 and/or omega-3 fatty acids vs placebo in the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease in 25 871 US adults.
Background: Blueberries and anthocyanins, their key bioactive component, may improve eye health. However, few long-term studies have examined blueberries and anthocyanins with cataract and age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Objectives: To investigate the prospective association between blueberry and anthocyanin intake with incident cataract, total AMD, and visually significant AMD among middle-aged and older women.
Alcohol intake is associated with breast cancer (BC) risk, but estimates of greatest public health relevance have not been quantified in large studies with long duration. In this prospective cohort study of 39,811 women (median 25 years follow-up), we examined the association between alcohol consumption and BC incidence and mortality with adjusted hazard ratios (HRs), cubic splines, absolute risks, number needed to harm (NNH), and population-attributable fractions. We documented 2,830 cases of BC, including 237 BC deaths.
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- Higher prepandemic physical activity (PA) levels are linked to a lower risk and severity of COVID-19, highlighting the importance of regular exercise before the pandemic.
- The study examined the relationship between self-reported prepandemic PA and COVID-19 outcomes in older US adults, involving over 61,000 participants aged 45 and older, tracked through surveys from May 2020 to May 2022.
- Results indicated that insufficiently active individuals did not experience a significant reduction in COVID-19 infection or hospitalization risk compared to those who were inactive, suggesting that only higher levels of PA may confer benefits.
Background: Self-reported oral health questions (OHQs) are used commonly for epidemiologic surveillance of periodontal disease (PD). The authors' objective was to investigate how OHQs are associated with well-established systemic comorbidities of PD and their impact on all-cause mortality. The authors hypothesized that OHQs exhibit associations with systemic comorbidities similar to PD.
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- The study evaluated the impact of daily vitamin D supplementation on reducing the risk of upper respiratory infections (URI) in older adults with varying levels of vitamin D.
- It involved over 15,000 participants in a randomized trial comparing vitamin D3 (2000 IU/day) to a placebo, focusing on self-reported URI incidents over one year.
- Results showed no significant difference in URI risk overall, even among those with low initial vitamin D levels, indicating the need for further research to explore potential subgroup effects.*
Article Synopsis
- The study analyzed data from over 1 million women across various regions to explore the relationship between reproductive and hormonal factors and the risk of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC).
- Findings indicated that certain factors, such as younger age at menarche and menopause, use of hormone therapy, and previous surgeries like hysterectomy, were associated with an increased risk of DTC, while long-term oral contraceptive use and being post-menopausal were linked to a lower risk.
- The researchers caution that the associations identified are relatively weak and recommend further studies to clarify the effects of sex steroid hormones on DTC risk.
A diet supplemented with vitamin D and marine omega-3 fatty acids may prevent and treat painful disorders by promoting the resolution of inflammation. However, large, randomized placebo-controlled trials evaluating the effects of supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D on the presence and severity of pain are lacking. VITamin D and OmegA-3 triaL-Pain (VITAL-Pain) is an ancillary study to the VITAL trial, a large randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of vitamin D (2000 IU/day) and omega-3 supplementation (1 g/day) over 5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aimed to investigate whether n-3 fatty acid supplementation reduced cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in a novel analysis using hierarchical composite CVD outcomes based on win ratio in the VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL (VITAL). This was a secondary analysis of our VITAL randomized trial, which assessed the effects of marine n-3 fatty acids (1 g/day) and vitamin D3 on incident CVD and cancer among healthy older adults ( = 25,871). The primary analysis estimated win ratios of a composite of major CVD outcomes prioritized as fatal coronary heart disease, other fatal CVD including stroke, non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI), and non-fatal stroke, comparing n-3 fatty acids to placebo.
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