Publications by authors named "Yuan-Teh Lee"
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) remain a leading cause of global mortality, with atherosclerosis and inflammation playing pivotal roles in their development. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and neutrophil-to-HDL cholesterol ratio (NHR) have emerged as potential biomarkers for assessing CVD risk. In this community-based cohort study conducted in Taiwan, involving 3278 participants, we investigated the associations between NHR, NLR, and the risks of CVD and all-cause mortality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEvidence for the role of electrocardiography or echocardiography in determining left ventricular hypertrophy for the risk of diabetes is still controversial. We aimed to explore whether left ventricular mass, as measured by these methods, is associated with the risk of diabetes in a community population. We recruited 2696 participants aged 35 years or older without diabetes who had undergone screening with electrocardiography and echocardiography.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- The study investigated the link between fibrinogen levels and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, particularly in a Taiwanese community, focusing on a cohort of 2222 participants over 22 years.
- Higher fibrinogen levels correlated with an increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) but not stroke, with those in the highest quartile showing a significantly greater risk.
- The findings suggest that fibrinogen could be a potential risk factor for CAD, especially in younger individuals, while its role in stroke remains unclear, indicating the need for further research.
Article Synopsis
- Urinary sodium (Na) excretion is linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), but the biological reasons and impact of salt sensitivity are not fully understood.
- This study involved 2112 participants and utilized urine and blood samples to assess the relationship between urinary Na excretion, salt sensitivity (defined by factors like hypertension and metabolic syndrome), and CVD risk over an average follow-up period of 14.1 years.
- The findings revealed that those with high urinary Na excretion (>4.2 g/24 h) faced a 43% higher risk of CVD, primarily mediated by factors such as carotid intima-media thickness and systolic blood pressure.
Statins inhibit cholesterol biogenesis and modulate atheroma inflammation to reduce cardiovascular risks. Promoted by immune and non-immune cells, serum C-reactive protein (CRP) might be a biomarker suboptimal to assess inflammation status. Although it has been reported that statins modulated inflammation via microRNAs (miRNAs), evidence remains lacking on comprehensive profiling of statin-induced miRNAome alterations in immune cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHeart rate trajectory patterns integrate information regarding multiple heart rate measurements and their changes with time. Different heart rate patterns may exist in one population, and these are associated with different outcomes. Our study investigated the association of adverse outcomes with heart rate trajectory patterns.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMost studies support that saturated fatty acid replacement with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) may reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and put emphasis on the effects of N-3 PUFAs. The reported relationships between N-6 PUFAs and CVD risks vary. We aimed to examine the associations between N-6 PUFA concentrations and CVD risks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We investigated the association between plasma saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and the risk of metabolic syndrome among ethnic Chinese adults in Taiwan who attended a health check-up center.
Methods: A case-control study based on 1000 cases of metabolic syndrome and 1:1 matched control participants (mean age, 54.9 ± 10.
Hyperhomocysteinemia (HHCYS) has been associated with systolic heart failure. However, it is still unknown that serum homocycsteine level was useful in predicting the outcome in patients with diastolic dysfunction. We conducted a cohort study to determine if HHCYS was associated with poor prognosis in diastolic dysfunction patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- This study aimed to investigate the link between type 2 diabetes and cancer risk in ethnic Chinese populations in Taiwan, as previous evidence was limited.
- A total of 3,602 adults aged 35 and older were followed for an average of 10.5 years, with findings showing 275 cases of cancer, including specific types like digestive and urinary cancers.
- Results indicated that younger participants with diabetes had significantly higher risks for all cancers and certain subtypes, highlighting a concerning link between diabetes and increased cancer risk in this demographic.
Article Synopsis
- - The study explored the link between carotid atherosclerosis progression and cardiovascular disease in a cohort from Taiwan, addressing a gap in data for Asian populations.
- - Among 1,398 participants tracked over a median of 13 years, the presence of new carotid plaques was associated with an increased risk of strokes and coronary events, particularly in those who initially had no plaque.
- - However, the connection diminished after accounting for other cardiovascular risk factors, suggesting that while carotid plaque formation is a risk indicator, these other factors play a significant role in cardiovascular disease development.
Background: Combination therapy with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB) has been stressed for its comprehensive blocking of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, but the evidence for their respective safety and efficacy, in particular with stroke prevention, is still insufficient in population-based follow-up studies in the real world.
Methods: Using Taiwan's National Health Insurance claims data, we identified 5445 subjects aged 18years and older who had newly diagnosed hypertension in 1997-2010, from them diagnosed type 2 diabetes later. Among them, 2161 patients took ACEI, 1703 patients took ARB, 165 patients took both ACEI and ARB, and 1416 patients had neither.
Background: Evidence of an inverse association between serum 25-hydoroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and the risk of all-cause death and cardiovascular disease from prospective studies is inconsistent. We tested the relationship between 25(OH)D and the risk among adult ethnic Chinese in Taiwan.
Methods: We conducted a community-based cohort study of 1816 participants (age 60.
Background: Oxidative and nitrosative stress has suggested to be involved in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular diseases, but has unclear relationship with the risk for incident stroke.
Methods: In this nested case-control study, cases consisted of 131 participants who were free of stroke at screening and experienced incident stroke during the follow-up period. Controls were 1:1 frequency-matched for age and sex.
The association between herpes zoster and cardiovascular complications remains vague with limited study on the association between these two disorders. This study evaluated the risk of cardiovascular diseases in patients with herpes zoster. From insurance claims data of Taiwan, 19,483 patients with herpes zoster diagnosed in 1998-2008 and 77,932 subjects without herpes zoster were identified in this study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPupose: We aimed to ascertain whether increased rosuvastatin dose is non-inferior to concomitant fenofibrate and rosuvastatin therapy in patients with diabetes or atherosclerosis with metabolic syndrome.
Methods: After treatment with rosuvastatin 5 mg/day for 12 weeks, 112 patients were randomly assigned to receive either 10 mg/day rosuvastatin (group A) or 80 mg/day supra-film coated fenofibrate plus 5 mg/day rosuvastatin (group B). The therapy effects were evaluated by measuring the serum lipid profile, liver and muscle enzymes, and renal function after the treatment period.
Background: The issue of whether saturated fats and trans fats are superior predictors of all-cause death and cardiovascular disease than n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), remains a matter of contention. Furthermore, few studies have examined the relationship between fatty acids and the outcomes of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Asian populations. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of various plasma fatty acids as predictors for all-cause death and CVD events in an ethnic Chinese population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: L5 is the most negatively charged subfraction of human low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and is the only subfraction of LDL capable of inducing apoptosis in cultured vascular endothelial cells (ECs) by inhibiting fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF2) transcription. We examined whether plasma L5 levels are elevated in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and whether aspirin provides epigenetic protection of human coronary artery ECs (HCAECs) exposed to L5.
Methods And Results: Plasma L5 levels were compared between patients with STEMI (n = 10) and control subjects with chest pain syndrome but a normal coronary arteriogram (n = 5).
Article Synopsis
- The HAS-BLED score is a bleeding risk assessment tool primarily used for patients with atrial fibrillation, but its effectiveness for non-AF individuals at risk for intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) was evaluated.
- In a study involving over 3,500 individuals followed for nearly 16 years, the modified HAS-BLED score demonstrated a significant association with increased ICH risk, particularly in those with uncontrolled hypertension and older age.
- The findings suggest that the HAS-BLED score may be useful in clinical settings to identify non-AF patients at risk for ICH, boasting the highest predictive accuracy compared to other bleeding risk models.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to investigate whether total white blood cell (WBC) counts and its subtypes could serve as effective biomarkers for predicting long-term ischemic stroke events in a Taiwanese population.* -
- Conducted over nearly 16 years, the research tracked 3,416 participants free from ischemic strokes at the study's start, documenting 187 new cases during the study period.* -
- Results showed that both total WBC and neutrophil counts had comparable predictive abilities for stroke events, indicating similar effectiveness in risk assessment for both measures.*
Article Synopsis
- * Results indicated that while CAD patients had higher ApoB and lower HDL cholesterol and ApoAI levels, the only consistent predictive marker across different lipid profiles was the ratio of HDL-ApoCIII to VLDL-ApoCIII.
- * The high HDL-ApoCIII/VLDL-ApoCIII ratio was a strong predictor of CAD, suggesting its usefulness in assessing coronary artery disease risk, even in individuals with normal lipid levels.
Article Synopsis
- In patients at high risk of stroke, such as those with atrial fibrillation (AF), there is a push to create effective stroke risk prediction tools that are straightforward enough to use in both AF and non-AF populations.
- The study evaluated various stroke risk models, including CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc, on a large community cohort without AF to see if they could predict stroke risk effectively in this group.
- Results showed that prediction models varied in how they classified risk levels and that the predictive ability of these models was similar for both AF and non-AF subjects, suggesting that simple scoring systems could be beneficial for rapid stroke risk assessments in broader populations.
Article Synopsis
- The study examines risk factors and gender differences in intima-media thickness (IMT) of the common carotid artery (CCA) among ethnic Chinese individuals in Taiwan, focusing on participants aged 35 and older.
- Over a two-year period, researchers measured CCA-IMT in 1203 men and 1487 women and found that IMT increases with age and is generally higher in men.
- Additionally, women aged 55 and older exhibited a quicker rise in systolic blood pressure and LDL cholesterol, diminishing the initial gender advantage in IMT as they aged, especially after 75 years.*
Background: The effects of baseline and changes in blood pressure and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol on the carotid intima media thickness (IMT) have not been well documented.
Methods: A total of 2572 adults (mean age 53.8 years, 54.