Alcohol consumption and all-cause mortality

Based on a large US representative cohort with detailed baseline interview and examination data, the relationship between alcohol consumption and all-cause mortality is examined over a period of 15 years follow-up. Results show a significant linear relationship for females and males under 60 years of age at baseline, and a non-significant U-shape for the older ones. Both results remain stable for different kinds of adjustment including adjustment for nutritional variables and smoking. Excluding people with heart disease history at baseline leads to an even more pronounced linear relationship for both males and females under 60 years of age. Furthermore, it is shown that the curvilinear relationship for men found in previous research is partly due to the age groups examined.     

Alcohol consumption, alcohol dependence, and all-cause mortality

BACKGROUND: This study examined the effects of alcohol consumption and DSM-IV alcohol dependence on the risk of mortality. METHODS: Data from the 1988 National Health Interview Survey Alcohol Supplement were matched to the National Death Index for the years 1988 to 1995 (baseline n = 37,682 U.S. adults age > or =25 linked to 3,586 deaths). All mortality analyses were based on proportional hazards models that adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, marital status, education, income, labor force status, body mass index, smoking status, and poor health indicators at baseline. RESULTS: When dependence was not considered and all past-year abstainers were used as the reference group, both light and moderate drinkers exhibited a reduced risk of mortality, with hazards ratios of 0.76 (0.68-0.84) and 0.84 (0.74-0.96). Heavy drinkers had about the same risk of dying as did past-year abstainers, and very heavy drinkers had an increased risk that was not significant (OR = 1.17, CI = 0.93-1.47). When lifetime abstainers were used as the reference category, the protective effect of moderate drinking fell short of significance, and there were nearly significant increased risks among former drinkers and very heavy drinkers. When dependence was considered, light and moderate drinkers without dependence had a reduced mortality risk regardless of reference group, and there was no significant effect among heavy or very heavy drinkers without dependence. Among dependent drinkers, there was no protective effect of light or moderate drinking, and very heavy drinkers had a significantly increased risk (OR = 1.56 relative to past-year abstainers and 1.65 relative to lifetime abstainers). CONCLUSIONS: Because alcohol dependence nullifies the protective effect of light and moderate drinking, it is important to understand its role as an independent risk factor for mortality. Differences between dependent and nondependent drinkers who drank comparable amounts suggest that this risk may result from longer and heavier drinking histories before baseline, more severe health problems at baseline, more heavy episodic drinking, and, possibly, differences in beverage preference.     

微量白蛋白尿对心血管疾病死亡及全因死亡风险的预测价值

目的 对2181名中老年人在现况调查基础上进行为期4年的随访,以期对微量白蛋白尿预测心血管疾病死亡及全因死亡风险方面提供流行病学证据.方法 选取2004年6月北京中老年人群流行病学调查资料作为研究对象,记录该人群中截至2008年5月的4年期间因各种原因死亡的受检者资料.将基线人群按照尿白蛋白/肌酐（ACR）分为正常白蛋白尿组（NAU组）、微量白蛋白尿组（MIAU组）和大量白蛋白尿组（MAAU组）,比较死亡组与生存组基线时临床特征及代谢指标,在随访研究中引入Cox回归模型,调整年龄、糖尿病史、高血压史及血脂紊乱等潜在危险因素,研究不同ACR水平与心血管疾病死亡及全因死亡的关系,计算归因危险度百分比.计量资料用均数±标准差或中位数（四分位数间距）表示,组间比较用独立样本的t检验或方差分析,组间率的比较用X2检验.结果 4年期间共有77例死亡,全因死亡率为8.7/1000人年,其中心血管疾病死亡和恶性肿瘤死亡占总死亡人数的74%.与生存组相比,死亡组合并MIAU、MAAU及糖尿病的比例显著高于生存组（分别为18.2%vs 8.7%,9.1%vs 1.6%,50.6%vs 25.8%,P＜0.01）.NAU、MIAU和MAAU人群全因死亡率分别为6.8‰、20.6‰和58.8‰.在NAU人群中,恶性肿瘤是该人群的首要死亡原因,其次是心血管疾病.而在MIAU人群和MAAU人群中,心血管疾病为该人群的首要死亡原因.校正年龄、血糖、高血压、血脂异常等因素后,与NAU组相比,MIAU组的心血管疾病死亡风险增加了1.72倍,全因死亡风险增加1.01倍,MAAU组心血管疾病死亡风险增加了3.87倍,全因死亡风险增加2.76倍.以NAU组为对照,经Cox回归调整年龄、血糖、血压、血脂紊乱后,分析不同尿白蛋白排泄率（UAER）组心血管疾病死亡及全因死亡人群归因危险度百分比,18.32%的心血管疾病死亡及11.96%的全因死亡见于ACR≥30 mg/g.结论恶性肿瘤是NAU人群的首要死亡原因,其次是心血管疾病.在MIAU人群和MAAU人群中,心血管疾病为首要死亡原因.与NAU组相比,MIAU组与MAAU组的心血管疾病死亡风险及全因死亡风险显著增加.     

Gender difference in all-cause and cardiovascular mortality related to hyperglycaemia and newly-diagnosed diabetes

AIM/HYPOTHESIS: Diabetic women generally have a greater relative risk of cardiovascular diseases than diabetic men in comparison with non-diabetic women and men. Reasons for this excess risk in diabetic women is still unclear. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether the association between different degrees of hyperglycaemia and the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality is different in women and men. METHODS: We analysed baseline glucose concentrations from 14 prospective European cohorts including 8172 men and 9407 women aged 30 to 89 years without history of diabetes, with a median follow-up of 8.3 years. Hazards ratios for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality were estimated adjusting for other risk factors. RESULTS: The mortality rates for all-cause and cardiovascular diseases were higher in men than in women in normoglycaemia, impaired glucose regulation and newly-diagnosed diabetes; the largest sex differential for cardiovascular mortality was in normoglycaemic people. The hazards ratios for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality were higher in newly-diagnosed diabetic women than men compared with normoglycaemic women and men, respectively; however, this sex difference was only significant for cardiovascular mortality. For smokers and for subjects with hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia or who where overweight, the hazards ratios for cardiovascular mortality in diabetic patients compared with normoglycaemic people were also higher in women than in men. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Newly diagnosed diabetic women showed higher relative risks for death from cardiovascular disease than diabetic men. Thus a more aggressive control of hyperglycaemia as well as of other cardiovascular risk factors might be appropriate in women with asymptomatic hyperglycaemia.     

Self-reported habitual snoring and risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality

Objective

Inconsistent findings have reported the association between self-reported habitual snoring and risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality. We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate whether self-reported habitual snoring was an independent predictor for CVD and all-cause mortality using prospective observational studies.

Methods

Electronic literature databases (PubMed, Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, Wanfang database, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure) were searched for publications prior to September 2013. Only prospective studies evaluating baseline habitual snoring and subsequent risk of CVD and all-cause mortality were selected. Pooled adjust hazard risk (HR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for categorical risk estimates.

Results

Eight studies with 65,037 subjects were analyzed. Pooled adjust HR was 1.26 (95% CI 0.98–1.62) for CVD, 1.15 (95% CI 1.05–1.27) for coronary heart disease (CHD), and 1.26 (95% CI 1.11–1.43) for stroke comparing habitual snoring to non-snorers. Pooled adjust HR was 0.98 (95% CI 0.78–1.23) for all-cause mortality in a random effect model comparing habitual snoring to non-snorers. Habitual snoring appeared to increase greater stroke risk among men (HR 1.54; 95% CI: 1.09–2.17) than those in women (HR 1.22; 95% CI: 1.05–1.41).

Conclusions

Self-reported habitual snoring is a mild but statistically significant risk factor for stroke and CHD, but not for CVD and all-cause mortality. However, whether the risk is attributable to obstructive sleep apnea syndrome or snoring alone remains controversial.     

Associations of symptomatic or asymptomatic peripheral arterial disease with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality

BackgroundTo investigate the rate of all cause and cardiovascular mortality in patients with symptomatic or asymptomatic peripheral arterial disease (PAD) compared to those without PAD.Methods and resultsAll the subjects were inpatients at high risk of atherosclerosis and enrolled from February to November, 2006. A total of 320 were followed up until an end-point (death) was reached or until February 2010. The mean follow-up time was 37.7 ± 1.5 months. Compared with non-PAD, PAD patients had significantly higher rates of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and smoking (P < 0.01). Those with symptomatic and asymptomatic PAD had a much higher all cause (37.5% and 23.0% vs. 12.1%) and cardiovascular mortality (18.8% and 13.8% vs. 6.7%) compared to those without PAD (P < 0.001). The symptomatic PAD patients were 1.831 times (95% CI: 1.222–2.741) as likely to die as those without PAD, and 1.646 times (95% CI: 1.301–2.083) in asymptomatic PAD patients after adjusting for other factors. Those with symptomatic or asymptomatic PAD were more than twice as likely to die of CVD as those without PAD (RR: 2.248, 95% CI: 1.366–3.698 and RR: 2.105, 95% CI: 1.566–2.831, respectively).ConclusionsPAD was associated with a higher all cause and cardiovascular mortality whether or not PAD is symptomatic.     

Lower all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality in centenarians' offspring

OBJECTIVES: To assess the cause of death for centenarians' offspring and controls. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Community-based, nationwide sample. PARTICIPANTS: Family pedigree information was collected on 295 offspring of centenarians (from 106 families with a parent already enrolled in the nationwide New England Centenarian Study) and on 276 controls (from 82 control families) from 1997 to 2000. Controls were individuals whose parents were born in the same year as the centenarians but at least one of whom died at the average life expectancy. MEASUREMENTS: Age at death and cause of death. RESULTS: Centenarians' offspring had a 62% lower risk of all-cause mortality (P<.001), a 71% lower risk of cancer-specific mortality (P=.002), and an 85% lower risk of coronary heart disease-specific mortality (P<.001). Significant differences were not found for other causes of death. However of those who died centenarian offsprings dead at a significantly younger age than controls. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that centenarians' offspring have lower all-cause mortality rates and cause-specific mortality rates for cancer and coronary heart disease. These results suggest that mechanisms for survival to exceptional old age may go beyond the avoidance or delay of cardiovascular disease and also include the avoidance or delay of cancer. Moreover survival advantage of centenarian offsprings may not be due to factors related to childhood mortality. Ultimately, survival to exceptional old age may involve lower susceptibility to a broad range of age-related diseases, perhaps secondary to inhibition of basic mechanisms of aging.     

Diabetes mellitus: subclinical cardiovascular disease and risk of incident cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality

Previously diagnosed diabetes mellitus, newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus, and impaired glucose tolerance are important determinants of the risk of clinical cardiovascular disease (CVD). We have evaluated the relation of patients with subclinical CVD, diabetes, and impaired glucose tolerance and "normal" subjects and the risk of clinical CVD in the Cardiovascular Health Study. Diabetes (1343), impaired glucose tolerance (1433), and normal (2421) were defined by World Health Organization criteria at baseline in 1989 to 1990. The average follow-up was 6.4 years (mean age 73 years). Diabetics had a higher prevalence of clinical and subclinical CVD at baseline. Compared with diabetes in the absence of subclinical disease, the presence of subclinical CVD and diabetes was associated with significant increased adjusted relative risk of death (1.5, CI 0.93 to 2.41), relative risk of incident coronary heart disease (1.99, CI 1.25 to 3.19), and incident myocardial infarction (1.93, CI 0.96 to 3.91). The risk of clinical events was greater for participants with a history of diabetes compared with newly diagnosed diabetics at baseline. Compared with nondiabetic nonhypertensive subjects without subclinical disease, patients with a combination of diabetes, hypertension, and subclinical disease had a 12-fold increased risk of stroke. Fasting blood glucose levels were a weak predictor of incident coronary heart disease as were most other risk factors. Subclinical CVD was the primary determinant of clinical CVD among diabetics in the Cardiovascular Health Study.