Category: Statistics

Clin Exp Allergy. 2022 Feb 7. doi: 10.1111/cea.14106. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is the most common non-allergic comorbidity in adults with asthma, however comorbidity with other atopic diseases such as eczema and hayfever is unclear. The objective was to assess the comorbidity of GERD with asthma and atopic diseases, and to investigate possible mechanisms, including genetic and/or affective factors.

METHODS: A co-twin control study harnessing 46 583 adult twins. Questionnaires on health status were linked to national patient and prescribed drug register data. Analyses tested associations of comorbidity between multiple definitions of atopic diseases (self-report and register-based) with GERD. Comparisons were made between unpaired, monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins to assess genetic liability. Affective traits (depression, anxiety and neuroticism) were added to models as possible explanatory factors.

RESULTS: The risk of GERD in those with: asthma was OR (odds ratio) 1.52 (95% CI 1.38, 1.68), hayfever OR 1.22 (95%CI 1.12, 1.34), and eczema OR 1.23 (95%CI 1.10, 1.38). Adjusting for affective traits completely attenuated the comorbidity associations for hayfever and eczema with GERD, and partly for asthma with GERD. Co-twin control associations attenuated suggesting a shared cause for both GERD and atopic diseases. For example, all twins adjOR 1.32 (95%CI 1.00, 1.74), 0.97 (95% CI 0.76-1.23), 1.11 (95%CI 0.85-1.45) for self-report asthma, hayfever and eczema with GERD respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: GERD is a common comorbidity in adults with asthma, hayfever and/or eczema. We found evidence for shared mechanisms suggesting common underlying causes that may involve affective traits requiring further investigation.

PMID:35132702 | DOI:10.1111/cea.14106

Int J Eat Disord. 2022 Feb 7. doi: 10.1002/eat.23688. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Research indicates that difficulties across multiple socioemotional functioning domains (e.g., social emotion expression/regulation, response to social elicitors of emotion) and negatively biased interpretations of ambiguous social situations may affect eating disorder symptoms. The impact of inflexible interpretations of social situations on eating disorder symptoms is less clear. The present study therefore examined relations between inflexible and biased social interpretations, socioemotional functioning, and eating disorder symptoms.

METHOD: A total of 310 participants from the general population, recruited from an online crowdsourcing platform, completed measures of socioemotional functioning (e.g., rejection sensitivity, negative social exchange), eating disorder symptoms, and positive and negative interpretation bias and inflexibility on a single measurement occasion.

RESULTS: Socioemotional functioning impairments (Pillai’s trace = 0.11, p < .001), but not negative (β = .07, p = .162) or positive (β = -.01, p = .804) interpretation bias or inflexible interpretations (β = .04, p = .446), were associated with eating disorder symptoms in multiple regression models. In network analyses controlling statistically for multiple markers of socioemotional functioning, eating disorder symptoms were directly associated with negative (but not positive) interpretation bias. Inflexible interpretations were indirectly linked to symptoms via co-dampening of positive emotions. Exploratory causal discovery analyses suggested that several socioemotional functioning variables (social anxiety, depression, negative social exchange) may cause eating disorder symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with cognitive-interpersonal models of disordered eating, our results suggest that less accurate (biased, inflexible) interpretations of social information contribute to patterns of cognition (anxious anticipation of rejection) and emotion regulation (down-regulation of positive social emotion) thought to encourage disordered eating.

PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE: This study suggests that less accurate interpretations of ambiguous social information encourage anxious anticipation of rejection and downregulation of positive social emotions, both of which are thought to promote eating disorder symptoms. Knowledge provided by this study about the likely relations between interpretive processes, social/emotional functioning, and eating disorder symptoms may help inform treatments for eating disorders, particularly those that attempt to modify patterns of interpretation.

PMID:35132668 | DOI:10.1002/eat.23688

J Cell Biochem. 2022 Feb 7. doi: 10.1002/jcb.30225. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Here, we present a peptide-based linear mixed models tool-PBLMM, a standalone desktop application for differential expression analysis of proteomics data. We also provide a Python package that allows streamlined data analysis workflows implementing the PBLMM algorithm. PBLMM is easy to use without scripting experience and calculates differential expression by peptide-based linear mixed regression models. We show that peptide-based models outperform classical methods of statistical inference of differentially expressed proteins. In addition, PBLMM exhibits superior statistical power in situations of low effect size and/or low sample size. Taken together our tool provides an easy-to-use, high-statistical-power method to infer differentially expressed proteins from proteomics data.

PMID:35132673 | DOI:10.1002/jcb.30225

Clin Cardiol. 2022 Feb 7. doi: 10.1002/clc.23776. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: A significant proportion of patients (pts) with peripheral artery disease (PAD) have concomitant coronary artery disease and polyvascular involvement contributes to increased risk of death and unfavorable cardiovascular events.

HYPOTHESIS: Cardiac troponins are associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes in PAD pts.

METHODS: We systematically searched Medline and Scopus to identify all observational cohort studies published before June 2021 (combining terms “troponin,” “peripheral artery disease,” “peripheral arterial disease,” “intermittent claudication,” and “critical limb ischemia”) that evaluated the prognostic impact of troponin rise on admission on all-cause mortality and/or major cardiovascular events (MACEs; composite of myocardial infarction, stroke, and cardiovascular death) in PAD pts followed up at least 6 months. A meta-analysis was conducted using the generic inverse variance method. Heterogeneity between studies was investigated using Cochrane’s Q test and I² statistic.

RESULTS: Eight studies were included in the final analysis (5313 pts) with a median follow-up of 27 months (interquartile range: 12-59 months). The prevalence of troponin positivity was 5.3% (range: 4.4%-8.7%) in pts with intermittent claudication, and 62.6% (range: 33.6%-85%) in critical limb ischemia. Elevated troponins were significantly associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.85, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.28-3.57; I² = 50.97%), and MACE (HR: 2.58, 95% CI: 2.04-3.26; I² = 4.00%) without publication bias (p = .24 and p = .10, respectively).

CONCLUSION: Troponin rise on admission is associated with adverse long-term cardiovascular outcomes in symptomatic PAD.

PMID:35132665 | DOI:10.1002/clc.23776

J Clin Periodontol. 2022 Feb 7. doi: 10.1111/jcpe.13600. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Acute infection/inflammation increases the risk of acute vascular events. Invasive dental treatments (IDT) trigger short-term acute inflammation.

PURPOSE: To critically appraise the evidence linking IDT and acute vascular events.

DATA SOURCES: Six bibliographical databases were searched up to 31^st August 2021. A systematic review following PRISMA guidelines was performed.

STUDY SELECTION: Intervention and observational studies reporting any acute vascular events following IDT.

DATA EXTRACTION: Two reviewers independently extracted data and rated the quality of studies. Data was pooled using fixed effect, inverse variance weights analysis.

RISK OF BIAS: Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale for observational studies and the Cochrane Handbook -Rob 2.0 for randomised controlled trials.

DATA SYNTHESIS: Three out of 16 clinical studies, a total of 533,175 participants, 124,344 myocardial infarctions and of 327,804 ischemic strokes were reported. Meta-analysis confirmed that IDT did not increase incidence ratios (IR) for combined vascular events either at 1-4 weeks (IR of 1.02, 95% CIs: 0.92, 1.13) and at 5-8 weeks (IR of 1.04, 95% CIs-0.97;1.10) after treatment.

LIMITATIONS: High level of heterogeneity (study designs and timepoint assessments).

CONCLUSIONS: Patients who received IDT exhibited no substantial increase in vascular risk over 8 weeks post treatment.

PMID:35132650 | DOI:10.1111/jcpe.13600

Electrophoresis. 2022 Feb 7. doi: 10.1002/elps.202100290. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Cardiac glycosides digoxin and digitoxin are used in therapy for the treatment of congestive heart failure. Moreover, these compounds can be responsible of intoxication cases caused by fortuitous ingestion of leaves of Digitalis. Due to the narrow therapeutic range of these drugs, therapeutic drug monitoring is recommended in the clinical practice. In this context, immunoassays-based methods are generally employed but digoxin- and digitoxin-like compounds can interfere with the analysis. The aim of this study was to develop and validate an original UPLC-MS/MS method for the determination of digoxin and digitoxin in plasma. The method shows adequate sensitivity and selectivity with acceptable matrix effects and very good linearity, accuracy, precision and recovery. A simple liquid-liquid extraction procedure was used for sample clean-up. The method was applied for the analysis of n = 220 plasma samples collected in two different clinical chemistry laboratories and previously tested by the same immunoassay. The statistical comparison showed a relevant negative bias of the UPLC-MS/MS method vs. the immunoassay. These results are consistent with an immunoassay overestimation of digoxin plasmatic levels due to cross-reaction events with endogenous digoxin-like substances. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

PMID:35132652 | DOI:10.1002/elps.202100290

Artif Organs. 2022 Feb 7. doi: 10.1111/aor.14186. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Development in device technology and the scarcity of donor’s hearts have increased the number of patients with advanced heart failure receiving durable left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) as a bridge to transplantation and destination therapy, with improved prognosis compared with guideline-directed medical therapy. We sought to examine the impact of modern durable LVADs on the quality of life (QoL) of the recipients.

METHODS: We carried out a systematic review of articles on QoL following the implantation of third-generation LVADs published between January 2010 and February 2021. Included studies were critically analyzed and evidence synthesis was carried out into a meta-analysis.

RESULTS: The systematic search yielded 269 articles, 11 of which met the search predefined criteria. Three of them reported results of randomized trials and eight were retrospective and registry studies. Statistically significant QoL improvement from baseline was observed in all published reports. When using the EuroQol 5L questionnaire (scale 0-100) as a QoL tool 6 months post-LVAD implantation, a meta-analysis of four included studies demonstrated a mean difference increase of 28.9 points (95% confidence interval: 26.71-31.14).

CONCLUSIONS: Third-generation LVADs confer a significant improvement in QoL and their use can be supported not only for prognosis but also for symptom control. Although methodological limitations should be considered, the available QoL outcomes can be a useful tool in patient selection and the decision-making process.

PMID:35132647 | DOI:10.1111/aor.14186

Cancer. 2022 Feb 8. doi: 10.1002/cncr.34121. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Brain tumors are the leading cause of death from disease in children. Racial/ethnic minority children have poorer outcomes than White children; however, it is not clear whether this association is mediated by treatment received.

METHODS: Children (aged 0-19 years) diagnosed with brain tumors in the National Cancer Database (2004-2016) were identified. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) between race/ethnicity (Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, or White [reference]) and death. An inverse odds weighted mediation analysis was performed with treatment received as the mediator.

RESULTS: Among 22,469 cases, White children (69% of the sample) had significantly better overall 12.5-year survival (P < .01). Black children (13% of the sample) and Hispanic children (14% of the sample) had an increased risk of death overall and for glioblastoma and oligodendroglioma. Compared with Whites, Asian/Pacific Islander children had a higher risk of death from choroid plexus tumors and a lower risk of death from medulloblastoma. There were no statistically significant meditating effects by treatment received, although the estimate was borderline in Hispanic children (indirect HR, 1.08; 95% CI, 0.99-1.18). A treatment-independent association between race/ethnicity and death remained for Hispanic children (direct HR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.04-1.33) and Black children (direct HR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.13-1.45). If deaths in minorities had equaled those in White children, 5% fewer total deaths and 15% fewer minority deaths would have occurred.

CONCLUSIONS: Survival disparities exist in pediatric brain tumors and are largely independent of treatment received, but other mechanisms linked to race/ethnicity remain important.

PMID:35132615 | DOI:10.1002/cncr.34121

Health Serv Res. 2022 Feb 7. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.13948. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To discuss and develop difference-in-difference estimators for categorical outcomes and apply them to estimate the effect of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion on insurance coverage.

DATA SOURCES: Secondary analysis of Survey on Income and Program Participation (SIPP) data on health insurance coverage types before (Jan 2013) and after (Dec 2015) Medicaid expansion in 39 US states (19 expansion and 20 non-expansion).

STUDY DESIGN: We develop difference-in-difference methods for repeated measures (panel data) of categorical outcomes. We discuss scale dependence of DID assumptions for marginal and transition effect estimates, and specify a new target estimand: the difference between outcome category transitions under treatment versus no treatment. We establish causal assumptions about transitions that are sufficient to identify this and a marginal target estimand. We contrast the marginal estimands identified by the transition approach versus an additive assumption only about marginal evolution. We apply both the marginal and transition approaches to estimate the effects of Medicaid expansion on health insurance coverage types (employer-sponsored; other private, non-group; public; and uninsured).

DATA EXTRACTION: We analyze 16,027 individual survey responses from people aged 18 to 62 years in the 2014 SIPP panel.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We show that the two identifying assumptions are equivalent (on the scale of the marginals) if either the baseline marginal distributions are identical or the marginals are constant in both grousp. Applying our transitions approach to the SIPP data, we estimate a differencial increase in transitions from uninsured to public coverage and differential decreases in transitions from uninsured to private, non-group coverage and in remaining uninsured.

CONCLUSIONS: By comparing the assumption that marginals are evolving in parallel to an assumption about transitions across outcome values, we illustrate the scale-dependence of difference-in-differences. Our application shows that studying transitions can illuminate nuances obscured by changes in the marginals.

PMID:35132619 | DOI:10.1111/1475-6773.13948

Zhonghua Liu Xing Bing Xue Za Zhi. 2022 Jan 10;43(1):134-138. doi: 10.3760/cma.j.cn112338-20210221-00132.

ABSTRACT

With the increasing demand to study the cause of complex diseases, mega cohort has gradually replaced the traditional small sample cohort and become the hotspot of epidemiological research. Follow-up is the essential step in a cohort study to obtain the information about the onset and death of diseases, migration or loss of follow-up of the cases. Its quality has a direct impact on the conclusions of cohort study. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a reasonable follow-up monitoring program for a mega cohort.In this paper, we summarized the contents and methods of the follow-up monitoring program in the mega cohorts at home and abroad, which aimed to provide suggestions for the new cohort and improve the follow-up program for the existing cohort.

PMID:35130665 | DOI:10.3760/cma.j.cn112338-20210221-00132