78 results match your criteria: "Department of Epidemiology Boston University[Affiliation]"

Introduction: The aim of the study was to estimate the population-based dementia incidence in Germany over a period of two decades.

Methods: We analyzed data from 4814 participants of the population-based Heinz Nixdorf Recall study (49.8% men, 45-75 years at baseline period 2000-2003), who have been monitored for the occurrence of cognitive decline and dementia.

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Introduction: The impact of cholesterol on late-life cognition remains controversial. We investigated the association of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and non-HDL-C with memory in a nationally representative cohort.

Methods: Health and Retirement Study (HRS) participants ( = 13,258) aged 50+ (mean age: 67.

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Background: Postpartum hypertension is a risk factor for severe maternal morbidity; however, barriers exist for diagnosis and treatment. Remote blood pressure (BP) monitoring programs are an effective tool for monitoring BP and may mitigate maternal health disparities. We aimed to describe and evaluate engagement in a remote BP monitoring program on BP ascertainment during the first 6-weeks postpartum among a diverse patient population.

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Article Synopsis
  • Individuals with both atrial fibrillation (AF) and myocardial infarction (MI) experience higher mortality rates compared to those with only one of the conditions, and the study explores how the order in which these conditions occur may affect mortality.
  • The Framingham Heart Study data, spanning from 1960 onward, was analyzed with over 10,000 participants to determine the hazard ratios of developing AF and MI, revealing that having interim MI significantly increases the risk of new-onset AF, and vice versa.
  • The findings indicate a strong bidirectional relationship between AF and MI, with those suffering from both conditions facing substantially greater mortality risks, irrespective of which condition appeared first.
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Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) represents the most common inflammatory neurological disease causing disability in early adulthood. Childhood and adolescence factors might be of relevance in the development of MS. We aimed to investigate the association between various factors (e.

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Introduction: Factor Xa (FXa) inhibitors are superior to vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) in terms of avoiding hemorrhagic complications. However, no robust data are available to date as to whether this also applies to the early phase after stroke. In this prospective registry study, we aimed to investigate whether anticoagulation with FXa inhibitors in the early phase after acute ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) is associated with a lower risk of major bleeding events compared with VKAs.

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The relationship between sex-specific blood biomarkers and memory changes in middle-aged adults remains unclear. We aimed to investigate this relationship using the data from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS). We conducted association analysis, partial correlation analysis, and causal dose-response curves using blood biomarkers and other data from 793 middle-aged participants (≤ 60 years) from the FHS Offspring Cohort.

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Introduction: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a heterogeneous disorder characterized by complex underlying neuropathology that is not fully understood. This study aimed to identify cognitive progression subtypes and examine their correlation with clinical outcomes.

Methods: Participants of this study were recruited from the Framingham Heart Study.

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Aggregation of type-2 diabetes, prediabetes, and metabolic syndrome in German couples.

Sci Rep

February 2024

Institute for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, Medical Faculty, University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.

We aimed to examine the concordance of type-2 diabetes, prediabetes and the metabolic syndrome in couples. In cross-sectional analyses, we used data from 1173 couples with index persons from the Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study (2011-2015), a population-based cohort study in Western Germany, and partners from the associated Heinz Nixdorf Multigeneration Study (2013-2016). Mean age (standard deviation) was 67.

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Background: Smartphone-based cognitive assessments have emerged as promising tools, bridging gaps in accessibility and reducing bias in Alzheimer disease and related dementia research. However, their congruence with traditional neuropsychological tests and usefulness in diverse cohorts remain underexplored.

Methods And Results: A total of 406 FHS (Framingham Heart Study) and 59 BHS (Bogalusa Heart Study) participants with traditional neuropsychological tests and digital assessments using the Defense Automated Neurocognitive Assessment (DANA) smartphone protocol were included.

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Most research using digital technologies builds on existing methods for staff-administered evaluation, requiring a large investment of time, effort, and resources. Widespread use of personal mobile devices provides opportunities for continuous health monitoring without active participant engagement. Home-based sensors show promise in evaluating behavioral features in near real time.

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Article Synopsis
  • Smartphone-based technology is emerging as an effective method for gathering cognitive and behavioral data over time, with a focus on early detection of cognitive impairment through a 3-year study.
  • The study involved a smartphone app that collected data on digital voice and screen interactions from participants in two generations of the Framingham Heart Study, assessing their experience with the technology.
  • Results showed that a high percentage of participants felt confident in using the app, found it easy to navigate, and faced minimal challenges, indicating that it's feasible to collect digital data independently in a large, community setting.
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Background: The association of the American Heart Association's updated cardiovascular health score, the Life's Essential 8 (LE8), with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and death is not described in the FHS (Framingham Heart Study).

Methods And Results: We evaluated Framingham Offspring participants at examinations 2 and 6 (n=2888 and 1667; and mean age, 44 and 57 years, respectively), free of CVD with information on LE8 components. Using age-sex-adjusted Cox models, we related LE8 and its change (examination 2 to examination 6) with CVD and death risk and compared associations with those of the Life's Simple 7 score.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study investigated the effectiveness of plasma glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) as a biomarker for cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's disease (AD) compared to other biomarkers like neurofilament light chain (NfL) and phosphorylated tau (p-tau).
  • The research analyzed plasma samples from 567 participants and correlated GFAP levels with cognitive functions and dementia severity, finding that GFAP was significantly more effective in differentiating between normal cognition and AD dementia or mild cognitive impairment.
  • While higher GFAP levels were linked to worse cognitive performance and dementia symptoms, it specifically predicted memory decline over time but did not indicate progression to mild cognitive impairment or dementia.
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Long-term exposure to air pollution and prevalent nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Environ Epidemiol

October 2023

Institute of Occupational, Social, and Environmental Medicine, Centre for Health and Society, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany.

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a disease characterized by lipid accumulation within hepatocytes, ranging from simple steatosis to steatohepatitis, in the absence of secondary causes of hepatic fat accumulation. Although air pollution (AP) has been associated with several conditions related to NAFLD (e.g.

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Background: Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) is a rare but serious side effect associated with the use of oral anticoagulants, such as dabigatran. The specific reversal agent for dabigatran, idarucizumab, is available for the management of individuals with ICH. The aim of this study was to provide real-world evidence on patients with ICH and effective treatment with dabigatran and reversal with idarucizumab in clinical routine compared to those under effective treatment with vitamin-K-antagonist (VKA).

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Background Systolic blood pressure increases with age after midlife, particularly in women, and contributes to development of wide pulse pressure hypertension in middle-aged and older adults. Relative contributions of aortic stiffness and premature wave reflection to increases in pulse pressure remain controversial. Methods and Results We evaluated visit-specific values and change in key correlates of pulse pressure, aortic characteristic impedance, forward and backward wave amplitude, and global reflection coefficient, at 3 sequential examinations of the Framingham Generation 3 (N=4082), Omni-2 (N=410), and New Offspring Spouse (N=103) cohorts (53% women).

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Article Synopsis
  • The American Heart Association's "ideal cardiovascular health" (CVH) framework identifies modifiable risk factors to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), and metabolomics can reveal connections between these factors and CVD development.
  • A study involving 3,056 adults showed that CVH scores were linked to various metabolites that were also associated with the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure (HF), emphasizing that certain metabolites mediate this connection.
  • Specifically, three metabolites significantly mediated the link between CVH scores and AF, while seven metabolites partially mediated the association with HF, highlighting important metabolic pathways involved in cardiovascular health.
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Background A parental history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) confers greater risk of future CVD among offspring. Whether the presence of parental modifiable risk factors contribute to or modify CVD risk in offspring is unclear. Methods and Results We studied 6278 parent-child trios in the multigenerational longitudinal Framingham Heart Study.

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Background: Sex differences in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are not well understood.

Methods: We performed sex-specific analyses of AD and annualized cognitive decline with clinical and blood biomarker data in participants 60+ years old in the community-based longitudinal Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort ( = 1398, mean age 68 years, 55% women).

Results: During 11 years of follow-up, women were 96% more likely than men to be diagnosed with clinical AD dementia after adjusting for age and education in the younger age group 60 to 70 years ( = 946; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.

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Systematic dissection, preservation, and multiomics in whole human and bovine hearts.

Cardiovasc Pathol

February 2023

Evans Department of Medicine and The Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; Cardiovascular Medicine Section, Department of Medicine, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to create a systematic protocol for dissecting and preserving human hearts to improve biobanking for cardiovascular research, expanding on previous transcriptomics work.
  • Current cardiac biobanks are limited, mostly housing biopsy tissues, which makes it hard to link full organ conditions with clinical data.
  • Findings showed that RNA and metabolite stability were maintained for up to 12 hours after death, indicating the potential for high-quality multiomics data essential for understanding human cardiovascular disease (CVD).
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Background Premature onset of cardiovascular disease (CVD) imposes a significant societal burden and challenges prevention efforts. Methods and Results Trends in the incidence of premature CVD (before age 55, 60, or 65 years, separate analysis for each threshold) were evaluated in 14 464 Framingham Heart Study participants over 7 decades of observation (1950-2019). The change in the incidence of premature CVD (per decade) in men and women was assessed using overdispersed Poisson regression (accounting for cohort effects), adjusting for age at entry and age at onset of premature CVD within each decade.

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Background Cardiorespiratory fitness is a powerful predictor of health outcomes that is currently underused in primary prevention, especially in young adults. We sought to develop a blood-based biomarker of cardiorespiratory fitness that is easily translatable across populations. Methods and Results Maximal effort cardiopulmonary exercise testing for quantification of cardiorespiratory fitness (by peak oxygen uptake) and profiling of >200 metabolites at rest were performed in the FHS (Framingham Heart Study; 2016-2019).

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