Redefining Disease Severity with Special Area Involvement and Reflecting on Treatment Patterns in a Real-World Psoriasis Population.

Background: The International Psoriasis Council (IPC) recommends an approach that considers body surface area (BSA), involvement in special areas, and treatment history for classifying patients as candidates for topical or systemic treatment. This study aimed to quantify the burden of psoriasis by describing BSA distribution, special area involvement, and treatments in a real-world population.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients with psoriasis from the Optum deidentified Electronic Health Records database with a BSA value (< 3%, 3-10%, and > 10%) recorded between 1 March 2014 and 1 September 2020.

Obesity, physical activity and the development of metabolic syndrome: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study.

Background: The objective of this study is to determine the impact of body weight and physical activity on the development of metabolic syndrome (MetS).

Design And Methods: We used the public use data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. From the baseline cohort, we identified, as the study population, 9359 individuals who did not have MetS and who completed the second follow-up examination in 1993-1995.

Interaction of ambient air pollution with asthma medication on exhaled nitric oxide among asthmatics.

The interaction between ambient air pollution and asthma medication remains unclear. The authors compared airway inflammation response to air pollution among asthmatics. Increases of 10 ppb of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and of 10 microg/m3 of particulate matter < 10 micron in diameter (PM10) daily concentrations were associated with an increase in exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) of 0.

Associations between air pollution and peak expiratory flow among patients with persistent asthma.

Responses of patients with persistent asthma to ambient air pollution may be different from those of general populations. For example, asthma medications may modify the effects of ambient air pollutants on peak expiratory flow (PEF). Few studies examined the association between air pollution and PEF in patients with persistent asthma on well-defined medication regimens using asthma clinical trial data.

Ambient particulate air pollution and ectopy--the environmental epidemiology of arrhythmogenesis in Women's Health Initiative Study, 1999-2004.

The relationships between ambient PM(2.5) and PM(10) and arrhythmia and the effect modification by cigarette smoking were investigated. Data from U.

Metabolic syndrome clusters and the risk of incident stroke: the atherosclerosis risk in communities (ARIC) study.

Background And Purpose: Little is known about the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and the risk of incident stroke. This study is designed to identify particular clusters of MetS components that carry the highest risk of incident stroke.

Methods: We analyzed the public use data from the population-based Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study.

Is age-related macular degeneration associated with stroke among elderly americans?

Objective: To investigate whether age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is associated with the development of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke among elderly Americans.

Design: Population-based cohort study.

Participants: The five percent random sample of 2000-2003 Medicare enrollees was obtained.

Age-related macular degeneration is associated with incident myocardial infarction among elderly Americans.

Objective: To investigate whether age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is associated with the development of myocardial infarction (MI) among elderly Americans.

Design: Population-based cross-sectional and cohort study.

Participants: Five percent random sample of 2000 to 2003 Medicare enrollees.

Lung function and long-term exposure to air pollutants in middle-aged American adults.

The authors examined the association of long-term exposure to ozone (03) and ambient particulate matter <10 microm in diameter (PM10) with pulmonary function by using cross-sectional data of 10,240 middle-aged adults who participated in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. Air-pollution data came from the US Environmental Protection Agency's Aerometric Information Retrieval System. After an adjustment for important covariates, the inverse associations with forced vital capacity or forced expiratory volume in 1 second were observed separately for 03 and PM10).

GIS approaches for the estimation of residential-level ambient PM concentrations.

Spatial estimations are increasingly used to estimate geocoded ambient particulate matter (PM) concentrations in epidemiologic studies because measures of daily PM concentrations are unavailable in most U.S. locations.

Association of criteria pollutants with plasma hemostatic/inflammatory markers: a population-based study.

To elucidate the health effects of air pollution, the short-term association of criteria pollutants (particles <10 microm in diameter [PM(10)], O(3), CO, NO(2), and SO(2)) with hemostatic and inflammatory markers were examined using a population-based sample of 10,208 middle-age males and females of the biracial cohort of Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. For each participant, we calculated the following pollutant exposures 1-3 days prior to the randomly allocated cohort examination date: PM(10), CO, NO(2), and SO(2) as 24-h averages, and O(3) as an 8-h average of the hourly measures. The hemostatic/inflammatory factors included fibrinogen, factor VIII-C, von Willebrand factor (vWF), albumin, and white blood cell count (WBC).

Association of higher levels of ambient criteria pollutants with impaired cardiac autonomic control: a population-based study.

An association between air pollution and increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality has been reported, but underlying mechanisms are unknown. The authors examined short-term associations between ambient pollutants (particulate matter less than 10 microm in aerodynamic diameter (PM10), ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide) and cardiac autonomic control using data from the fourth cohort examination (1996-1998) of the population-based Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. For each participant, the authors calculated PM10 and gaseous pollutant exposures as 24-hour averages and ozone exposure as an 8-hour average 1 day prior to the randomly allocated examination date.