Background
Chronic arsenic exposure is a public health concern in many parts of the world, with elevated concentrations in groundwater posing a threat to millions of people. Arsenic is associated with various cancers and an array of chronic diseases; however, the relationship with adverse pregnancy outcomes and child mortality is less established.
Objectives
We evaluated associations between individual-level prenatal arsenic exposure with adverse pregnancy outcomes and child mortality in a pregnancy study among 498 women nested in a larger population-based cohort in rural Bangladesh.
Methods
Creatinine-adjusted urinary total arsenic concentration, a comprehensive measure of exposure from water, food, and air sources, reflective of the prenatal period was available for participants. Self-reported pregnancy outcomes (livebirth, stillbirth, spontaneous/elective abortion) were ascertained. Generalized estimating equations, accounting for multiple pregnancies of participants, were used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals in relation to adverse pregnancy outcomes. Vital status of livebirths was subsequently ascertained through November 2015. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals in relation to child mortality.
Results
We observed a significant association between prenatal arsenic exposure and the risk of stillbirth (greater than median; adjusted OR=2.50; 95% CI=1.04, 6.01). We also observed elevated risk of child mortality (greater than median; adjusted HR=1.92; 95% CI=0.78, 4.68) in relation to prenatal arsenic exposure.
Conclusions
Prospective studies should continue to evaluate prenatal and early life health effects of arsenic exposure and arsenic remediation strategies for women of child-bearing age.
Aims: Previous epidemiological studies have shown that autoimmune diseases increase the risk of lymphoma development. However, whether autoimmune diseases deteriorate the outcomes for lymphoma patients remains unclear. This study aimed to identify the clinical features of lymphoma patients with pre-existing autoimmune diseases. Whether pre-existing autoimmune diseases impacted progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in lymphoma patients was further investigated.
Methods:We retrospectively reviewed medical records of 913 newly diagnosed lymphoma patients from January 2008 to November 2016. Thirty-four lymphoma patients with pre-existing autoimmune disorders were identified. Six of these 34 patients were lost to follow-up; their data was used to examine baseline clinical characteristics but not survival. Therefore, 28 lymphoma patients with autoimmune diseases were included in the autoimmune disease group for comparing the remission rate, PFS and OS to lymphoma patients without autoimmune diseases (control group; n = 56).Results: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma was the most common histological subtype (18/34; 52.94%). Complete remission rates in the autoimmune disease and control groups were 72.0% and 83.3%, respectively (P = 0.178). Patients with and without autoimmune diseases had similar PFS (45.4 AE 59.9 months vs. 51.5 AE 42.8 months; P = 0.398) and OS (46.4 AE 52.6 months vs. 50.1 AE 47.3 months; P = 0.352). By univariate analysis, pre-existing autoimmune diseases were not associated with inferior PFS (P = 0.326) or OS (P = 0.627).Conclusions: Lymphoma patients with and without autoimmune disorders had comparable outcomes. Autoimmune diseases are not an obstacle to lymphoma treatment.
To investigate the potential treatment evolution and outcome improvement, we retrospectively compared clinical characteristics, therapeutic strategies, treatment responses, and overall survival (OS) in patients diagnosed and treated with lymphoma-associated HLH between 2004–2012 (n = 30) and 2013–2021 (n = 26). Our study showed that the clinical characteristics of lymphoma-associated HLH did not substantially change over the past two decades. However, more patients diagnosed in 2013–2021 were tested for Epstein–Barr virus than those diagnosed in 2004–2012 (69.3% vs. 33.3%; p = 0.021). In addition, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 3–4 (hazard ratio (HR): 5.38; 95% confidence intervals (CI): 2.49–11.61; p < 0.001) and jaundice (HR: 2.91; 95% CI: 1.37–6.18; p = 0.006) were poor prognostic factors for lymphoma-associated HLH. With a comparable response rate of lymphoma treatment, patients treated in 2013–2021 had a numerically greater median OS than those treated in 2004–2012 (23.6 ± 19.8 vs. 9.7 ± 4.5 months). However, the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.334). In conclusion, early diagnosis and tailored treatments that balance efficacy and adverse events remain the key to obtaining a better outcome in lymphoma-associated HLH.
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