scholarly journals Comparison of risk factor associations in UK Biobank against representative, general population based studies with conventional response rates: prospective cohort study and individual participant meta-analysis

BMJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. m131 ◽  
Author(s):  
G David Batty ◽  
Catharine R Gale ◽  
Mika Kivimäki ◽  
Ian J Deary ◽  
Steven Bell

AbstractObjectiveTo compare established associations between risk factors and mortality in UK Biobank, a study with an exceptionally low rate of response to its baseline survey, against those from representative studies that have conventional response rates.DesignProspective cohort study alongside individual participant meta-analysis of other cohort studies.SettingUnited Kingdom.ParticipantsAnalytical sample of 499 701 people (response rate 5.5%) in analyses in UK Biobank; pooled data from the Health Surveys for England (HSE) and the Scottish Health Surveys (SHS), including 18 studies and 89 895 people (mean response rate 68%). Both study populations were linked to the same nationwide mortality registries, and the baseline age range was aligned at 40-69 years.Main outcome measureDeath from cardiovascular disease, selected malignancies, and suicide. To quantify the difference between hazard ratios in the two studies, a ratio of the hazard ratios was used with HSE-SHS as the referent.ResultsRisk factor levels and mortality rates were typically more favourable in UK Biobank participants relative to the HSE-SHS consortium. For the associations between risk factors and mortality endpoints, however, close agreement was seen between studies. Based on 14 288 deaths during an average of 7.0 years of follow-up in UK Biobank and 7861 deaths over 10 years of mortality surveillance in HSE-SHS, for cardiovascular disease mortality, for instance, the age and sex adjusted hazard ratio for ever having smoked cigarettes (versus never) was 2.04 (95% confidence interval 1.87 to 2.24) in UK Biobank and 1.99 (1.78 to 2.23) in HSE-SHS, yielding a ratio of hazard ratios close to unity (1.02, 0.88 to 1.19). The overall pattern of agreement between studies was essentially unchanged when results were compared separately by sex and when baseline years and censoring dates were aligned.ConclusionDespite a very low response rate, risk factor associations in the UK Biobank seem to be generalisable.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. David Batty ◽  
Catharine R. Gale ◽  
Mika Kivimäki ◽  
Ian J. Deary ◽  
Steven Bell

AbstractBackgroundThe UK Biobank cohort study has become a much-utilised and influential scientific resource. With a primary goal of understanding disease aetiology, the low response to the original survey of 5.5% has, however, led to debate as to the generalisability of these findings. We therefore compared risk factor–disease estimations in UK Biobank with those from 18 nationally representative studies with conventional response rates.MethodsWe used individual-level baseline data from UK Biobank (N=502,655) and a pooling of data from the Health Surveys for England (HSE) and the Scottish Health Surveys (SHS), comprising 18 studies and 89,895 individuals (mean response rate 68%). Both study populations were aged 40-69 years at study induction and linked to national cause-specific mortality registries.FindingsDespite a typically more favourable risk factor profile and lower mortality rates in UK Biobank participants relative to the HSE-SHS consortium, risk factors–endpoints associations were directionally consistent between studies, albeit with some heterogeneity in magnitude. For instance, for cardiovascular disease mortality, the age- and sex-adjusted hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) for ever having smoked cigarettes (versus never) was 2.04 (1.87, 2.24) in UK Biobank and 1.99 (1.78, 2.23) in HSE-SHS, yielding a ratio of hazard ratios close to unity (1.02, 0.88, 1.19; p-value 0.76). For hypertension (versus none), corresponding results were again in same direction but with a lower effect size in UK Biobank (1.89; 1.69, 2.11) than in HSE-SHS (2.56; 2.20, 2.98), producing a ratio of hazard ratios below unity (0.74; 0.62, 0.89; p-value 0.001). A similar pattern of observations were made for risk factors (smoking, obesity, educational attainment, and physical stature) in relation to different cancer presentations and suicide whereby the ratios of hazard ratios ranged from 0.57 (0.40, 0.81) and 1.07 (0.42, 2.74).InterpretationDespite a low response rate, aetiological findings from UK Biobank appear to be generalisable to England and Scotland.


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
S Ben-Aicha ◽  
J Buchanan ◽  
M Moscarelli ◽  
P Punjabi ◽  
C Emanueli

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has spread globally, infecting and killing millions. Those subjects with cardiovascular disease (CVD) are at higher risk of severe COVID-19 morbidity and mortality following SARS-CoV-2 infection. Purpose To investigate the response to different treatments against COVID-19 in patients with a pre-existing CVD. Methods We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis following Cochrane, PRISMA and MOOSE guidelines (PROSPERO ref:CRD42020183057). Eligible articles reported in-hospital mortality rate in COVID-19 patients with CVD after testing specific treatments. Statistical concordance was performed by Cohen's kappa coefficient. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality rate, secondary outcome was the length of hospital stay (LOS). The analysis utilised a random-effects model. Categorical variables were expressed as risk ratio (RR) and continuous variable with weighted mean difference (WMD) and standard deviation with 95% confidence interval (CI). I2 and Chi-tests were used to assess studies' heterogeneity. Publication bias was visualised by L'Abbe' plot and funnel plot with Egger's test. Subgroup analysis (pooling analysis) was also performed to compare the three groups' mortality differences: 'CVD treated' vs.'CVD untreated' vs.'no-CVD (treated and untreated)'. Meta-regression models were used to determine the effects of specific treatments and risk factors on the primary outcomes. R-studio used for analysis. Results Of 1,673 articles retrieved, 46 studies included CVD patients from which 11 included control group, finally five were comparative studies and were included in the quantitative analysis. From those studies, the sample size was 130 (mean age 63.9±2.7 years; 55.3% male). There was 100% concordance between reviewers equating to a Cohen's kappa coefficient of κ=1. The most frequent CV risk factor (CVRF) was hypertension (60%) followed by diabetes (28.5%). The most frequent CVD seen in patients was coronary artery disease at 9.09% and peripheral arterial disease at 5.4%. Mortality rate was significant higher in the CVD treated group (RR:1.52; 95% CI [1.05,2.21], CVD treated vs overall population p=0.03). Meta-regression showed that no treatment was significant associated to mortality and systemic hypertension, but an independent risk factor for mortality. Pooled single analysis showed no difference between treated vs untreated CVD patients. There was certain degree of heterogeneity (I2 50%) across the studies. L'Abbe and funnel plot visualized not significant dispersion (Egger test, p=0.71). There was no difference in terms of LOS [0,79, 95% CI (−0.48, 2,05); p-value 0.22]. Conclusions This quantitative analysis showed that CVD patients despite specific treatments were exposed to significant higher mortality when compared to the overall population. These results remark the clinical relevance to reduce CVD risk factors and ameliorate specific COVID-19 treatments to lower the risk of mortality in this group FUNDunding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None.


Author(s):  
Daein Choi ◽  
Sungjun Choi ◽  
Seulggie Choi ◽  
Sang Min Park ◽  
Hyun‐Sun Yoon

Background There is emerging evidence that rosacea, a chronic cutaneous inflammatory disease, is associated with various systemic diseases. However, its association with cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains controversial. We aimed to investigate whether patients with rosacea are at increased risk of developing CVD. Methods and Results This retrospective cohort study from the Korean National Health Insurance Service‐Health Screening Cohort included patients with newly diagnosed rosacea (n=2681) and age‐, sex‐, and index year–matched reference populations without rosacea (n=26 810) between 2003 and 2014. The primary outcome was subsequent CVD including coronary heart disease and stroke. Multivariable Cox regression analyses were used to evaluate adjusted hazard ratios for subsequent CVD adjusted for major risk factors of CVD. Compared with the reference population (13 410 women; mean [SD] age, 57.7 [9.2] years), patients with rosacea (1341 women; mean [SD] age, 57.7 [9.2] years) displayed an increased risk for CVD (adjusted hazard ratios, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.03–1.40) and coronary heart disease (adjusted hazard ratios, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.05–1.60). The risk for stroke was not significantly elevated (adjusted hazard ratios, 1.12; 95% CI, 0.91–1.37). Conclusions This study suggests that patients with rosacea are more likely to develop subsequent CVD. Proper education for patients with rosacea to manage other modifiable risk factors of CVD along with rosacea is needed.


Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 4283
Author(s):  
Katherine M. Livingstone ◽  
Gavin Abbott ◽  
Joey Ward ◽  
Steven J. Bowe

To examine associations of unhealthy lifestyle and genetics with risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality, myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke. We used data on 76,958 adults from the UK Biobank prospective cohort study. Favourable lifestyle included no overweight/obesity, not smoking, physical activity, not sedentary, healthy diet and adequate sleep. A Polygenic Risk Score (PRS) was derived using 300 CVD-related single nucleotide polymorphisms. Cox proportional hazard ratios (HR) were used to model effects of lifestyle and PRS on risk of CVD and all-cause mortality, stroke and MI. New CVD (n = 364) and all-cause (n = 2408) deaths, and stroke (n = 748) and MI (n = 1140) events were observed during a 7.8 year mean follow-up. An unfavourable lifestyle (0–1 healthy behaviours) was associated with higher risk of all-cause mortality (HR: 2.06; 95% CI: 1.73, 2.45), CVD mortality (HR: 2.48; 95% CI: 1.64, 3.76), MI (HR: 2.12; 95% CI: 1.65, 2.72) and stroke (HR:1.74; 95% CI: 1.25, 2.43) compared to a favourable lifestyle (≥4 healthy behaviours). PRS was associated with MI (HR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.27, 1.43). There was evidence of a lifestyle-genetics interaction for stroke (p = 0.017). Unfavourable lifestyle behaviours predicted higher risk of all-cause mortality, CVD mortality, MI and stroke, independent of genetic risk.


BMJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. l2323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Mok ◽  
Kay-Tee Khaw ◽  
Robert Luben ◽  
Nick Wareham ◽  
Soren Brage

AbstractObjectiveTo assess the prospective associations of baseline and long term trajectories of physical activity on mortality from all causes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.DesignPopulation based cohort study.SettingAdults from the general population in the UK.Participants14 599 men and women (aged 40 to 79) from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Norfolk cohort, assessed at baseline (1993 to 1997) up to 2004 for lifestyle and other risk factors; then followed to 2016 for mortality (median of 12.5 years of follow-up, after the last exposure assessment).Main exposurePhysical activity energy expenditure (PAEE) derived from questionnaires, calibrated against combined movement and heart rate monitoring.Main outcome measuresMortality from all causes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Multivariable proportional hazards regression models were adjusted for age, sex, sociodemographics, and changes in medical history, overall diet quality, body mass index, blood pressure, triglycerides, and cholesterol levels.ResultsDuring 171 277 person years of follow-up, 3148 deaths occurred. Long term increases in PAEE were inversely associated with mortality, independent of baseline PAEE. For each 1 kJ/kg/day per year increase in PAEE (equivalent to a trajectory of being inactive at baseline and gradually, over five years, meeting the World Health Organization minimum physical activity guidelines of 150 minutes/week of moderate-intensity physical activity), hazard ratios were: 0.76 (95% confidence interval 0.71 to 0.82) for all cause mortality, 0.71 (0.62 to 0.82) for cardiovascular disease mortality, and 0.89 (0.79 to 0.99) for cancer mortality, adjusted for baseline PAEE, and established risk factors. Similar results were observed when analyses were stratified by medical history of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Joint analyses with baseline and trajectories of physical activity show that, compared with consistently inactive individuals, those with increasing physical activity trajectories over time experienced lower risks of mortality from all causes, with hazard ratios of 0.76 (0.65 to 0.88), 0.62 (0.53 to 0.72), and 0.58 (0.43 to 0.78) at low, medium, and high baseline physical activity, respectively. At the population level, meeting and maintaining at least the minimum physical activity recommendations would potentially prevent 46% of deaths associated with physical inactivity.ConclusionsMiddle aged and older adults, including those with cardiovascular disease and cancer, can gain substantial longevity benefits by becoming more physically active, irrespective of past physical activity levels and established risk factors. Considerable population health impacts can be attained with consistent engagement in physical activity during mid to late life.


Author(s):  
Anurag Sethi ◽  
Leland Taylor ◽  
J Graham Ruby ◽  
Jagadish Venkataraman ◽  
Madeleine Cule ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundCalcification of the abdominal artery is an important contributor to cardiovascular disease in diabetic and chronic kidney disease (CKD) populations. However, prevalence of the pathology, risk factors, and long term disease outcomes in a general population have not been systematically analyzed.MethodWe developed machine learning models to quantify levels of abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) in 29,957 whole body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans from the UK Biobank cohort. Using regression techniques we associated severity of calcification across a wide range of physiological parameters, clinical biomarkers, and environmental risk factors (406 in total). We performed a common variant genetic association study spanning 9,572,557 single-nucleotide polymorphisms to identify genetic loci relevant to AAC. We evaluated the prognostic value of AAC across 151 disease classes using Cox proportional hazard models. We further examined an epidemiological model of calcification on cardiovascular morbidity with and without LDL interactions.FindingsWe find evidence for AAC in >10.4% of the cohort despite low prevalence of diabetes (2.5%) and CKD (0.5%). Increased level of AAC is a strong prognostic indicator of cardiovascular outcomes for stenosis of precerebral arteries (HR~1.5), Myocardial Infarction (HR~1.5), & Ischemic Heart Disease (HR~1.33). We find that AAC is genetically correlated with cardiovascular-related traits and that the genetic signals are enriched in vascular and adipose tissue. We report three loci associated with AAC, with the strongest association occuring at the TWIST1/HDAC9 locus (beta=0.078, p-value=1.4e-11) in a region also associated with coronary artery disease. Surprisingly, we find that elevated but still within clinically normal levels of serum phosphate and glycated hemoglobin are linked to increased vascular calcification. Furthermore, we show AAC arises in the absence of hypercholesterolemia. By our estimate, AAC is an LDL-independent risk factor for cardiovascular outcomes, with risk similar to elevated LDL.DataThis research has been conducted using the UK Biobank Resource.


2018 ◽  
Vol 103 (10) ◽  
pp. 968-973 ◽  
Author(s):  
Young-Gyun Seo ◽  
Min-Kyu Choi ◽  
Jae-Heon Kang ◽  
Hye-Ja Lee ◽  
Han Byul Jang ◽  
...  

ObjectiveThe early identification of predictors related to cardiovascular disease risk factor clustering (CVD-RFC) can help prevent chronic disease. We aimed to identify the risk factors for CVD-RFC in adolescents.MethodsA prospective longitudinal cohort study design was used to obtain data included in these analyses from school-aged children who participated in the Korean Child-Adolescent Study 2008–2014. A total of 1309 children aged 6–15 years were enrolled. We compared the participants based on the presence or absence of CVD-RFC and examined the cumulative incidence of CVD-RFC.ResultsOf the total 1309 children, 410 (31.32%) had CVD-RFC in adolescence. A higher average household income ≥3 million Korean Republic won (KRW)/month (3–5 million KRW/month: HR 0.75 (95% CI 0.58 to 0.97); ≥5 million KRW/month: HR 0.58 (95% CI 0.44 to 0.77)) was associated with a lower CVD-RFC incidence, while the presence of parental CVD history (HR 1.28 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.57)), overweight or obesity (HR 3.83 (95% CI 3.05 to 4.80)) and shorter sleep duration of 8–9 hour/day (HR 1.80 (95% CI 1.05 to 3.07)) and <8 hour/day (HR 1.93 (95% CI 1.11 to 3.34)) had higher CVD-RFC incidences.ConclusionsObesity in childhood, short sleep duration and parental factors such as low socioeconomic status and parental history of CVD are significant risk factors for the development of CVD-RFC in adolescents. Efforts to create awareness regarding sufficient sleep duration in children via intervention programmes targeting cardiometabolic health in children and special attention to lifestyle modifications and socioeconomic components of the family should be considered.


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