No abstract

Background:Nontraumatic osteonecrosis of the femoral head (NONFH) is a debilitating disease that represents a significant financial burden for both individuals and healthcare systems. Despite its significance, however, its prevalence in the Chinese general population remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of NONFH and its associated risk factors in the Chinese population.Methods:A nationally representative survey of 30,030 respondents was undertaken from June 2012 to August 2013. All participants underwent a questionnaire investigation, physical examination of hip, and bilateral hip joint X-ray and/or magnetic resonance imaging examination. Blood samples were taken after overnight fasting to test serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels. We then used multivariate logistic regression analysis to investigate the associations between various metabolic, demographic, and lifestyle-related variables and NONFH.Results:NONFH was diagnosed in 218 subjects (0.725%) and the estimated NONFH cases were 8.12 million among Chinese people aged 15 years and over. The prevalence of NONFH was significantly higher in males than in females (1.02% vs. 0.51%, χ2 = 24.997, P < 0.001). Among NONFH patients, North residents were subjected to higher prevalence of NONFH than that of South residents (0.85% vs. 0.61%, χ2 = 5.847, P = 0.016). Our multivariate regression analysis showed that high blood levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and non-HDL-cholesterol, male, urban residence, family history of osteonecrosis of the femoral head, heavy smoking, alcohol abuse and glucocorticoid intake, overweight, and obesity were all significantly associated with an increased risk of NONFH.Conclusions:Our findings highlight that NONFH is a significant public health challenge in China and underscore the need for policy measures on the national level. Furthermore, NONFH shares a number of risk factors with atherosclerosis.

No abstract

Purpose To produce a clinical model for the prediction of myopia development based on the creation of percentile curves of axial length in school-aged children from Wuhan in central China. Methods Data of 12,554 children (6054 girls and 6500 boys) were collected and analyzed for the generation of the axial length growth curves. A second data set with 226 children and three yearly successive measurements was used to verify the predictive power of the axial length growth percentile curves. Percentile curves were calculated for both gender groups and four age groups (6, 9, 12, and 15 years). The second data set was used to verify the efficacy of identifying the refractive error of the children using the axial length curves, based on their spherical refractive error from the third visit. Results From 6 to 15 years of age, all percentiles showed a growth trend in axial length, except for the percentiles below the first quartile, which appear to stabilize after the age of 12 (− 0.10; 95%CI, − 0.36-0.16; P = 0.23 for girls; − 0.16; 95%CI, − 0.70-0.39; P = 0.34 for boys); however, the growth continued for the remaining 75% of cases. The second data set showed that the likelihood of suffering high myopia (spherical refractive error ≤− 5.00D) during adolescent years increased when axial length values were above the first quartile, for both genders. Conclusions The data from the current study provide a tool to observe the annual growth rates of axial length and can be considered as an approach to predict the refractive development at school ages.

BackgroundWe conducted this meta-analysis to address the open question of a possible association between maternal socioeconomic status and congenital heart defects (CHDs).MethodsWe searched MEDLINE and EMBASE from their inception to January 1, 2014 for case-control and cohort studies that assessed the association between maternal socioeconomic status and the risk of CHDs. Study-specific relative risk estimates were polled according to random-effect or fixed-effect models.ResultsFrom 3343 references, a total of 31 case-control studies and 2 cohort studies were enrolled in this meta-analysis, including more than 50,000 cases. We observed that maternal educational attainment, family income and maternal occupation were negatively associated with an 11% (pooled RR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.21), 5% (pooled RR = 1.05, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.09) and 51% (pooled RR = 1.51, 95% CI: 1.02, 2.24) increased risk of CHDs, respectively. In a subgroup analysis by geographic region, the results were inconsistent for the European region (RR = 1.29, 95% CI: 0.99–1.69) and USA/Canada region (RR = 1.06, 95% CI: 0.97, 1.16) in maternal educational attainment.ConclusionIn summary, this meta-analysis suggests that a lower degree of maternal socioeconomic status is modestly associated with an increased risk of CHDs. However, further investigations are needed to confirm the association.

This dose-response meta-analysis suggested a U-shaped relationship between maternal blood 25(OH)D levels and risk of childhood asthma. Further studies are needed to confirm the association.

The prognosis of children with congenital heart defects(CHDs) continues to improve with advancing surgical techniques; however, lack of information about modifiable risk factors for malformations in cardiovascular development impeded the prevention of CHDs. We investigated an association between maternal lifestyle factors and the risk of CHDs, because epidemiological studies have reported conflicting results regarding maternal lifestyle factors and the risk of CHDs recently. A review published on 2007 provided a summary of maternal exposures associated with an increased risk of CHDs. As part of noninherited risk factors, we conducted a brief overview of studies on the evidence linking common maternal lifestyle factors, specifically smoking, alcohol, illicit drugs, caffeine, body mass index and psychological factors to the development of CHDs in offspring. Women who smoke and have an excessive body mass index(BMI) during pregnancy are suspected to be associated with CHDs in offspring. Our findings could cause public health policy makers to pay more attention to women at risk and could be used in the development of population-based prevention strategies to reduce the incidence and burden of CHDs. However, more prospective studies are needed to investigate the association between maternal lifestyle factors and CHDs.

Background. The efficacy of acupuncture in dry eye syndrome patients remains controversial. Methods. Pubmed, Ovid, Cochrane libraries, CNKI, Wanfang, and CQVIP databases were electronically searched until October 1, 2014. Outcomes including tear break-up time (BUT), Schirmer I test (SIT), and cornea fluorescein staining (CFS) were analyzed. A meta-analysis was performed using both fixed- and random-effects models based on heterogeneity across studies. Results. Seven studies were included in this study; 198 and 185 patients were randomly treated with acupuncture and artificial tears, respectively. The overall BUT of patients in acupuncture group was significantly longer than that of the artificial tears group after treatment (P < 0.00001). The SIT was significantly higher in the acupuncture group than that in the artificial tears group after treatment (P = 0.001). The CFS of patients in acupuncture group was significantly improved compared to that in artificial group (P < 0.0001). Conclusions. Acupuncture therapy is effective for the dry eye patients, partly better than artificial tear treatment.