Explore the vast range of titles available.

Apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 is the single most important genetic risk factor for cognitive impairment and Alzheimer disease (AD), while lifestyle factors such as smoking, drinking, diet, and physical activity also have impact on cognition. The goal of the study is to investigate whether the association between lifestyle and cognition varies by APOE genotype among the oldest old. We used the cross-sectional data including 6,160 oldest old (aged 80 years old or older) from the genetic substudy of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) which is a national wide cohort study that began in 1998 with follow-up surveys every 2-3 years. Cognitive impairment was defined as a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score less than 18. Healthy lifestyle profile was classified into 3 groups by a composite measure including smoking, alcohol consumption, dietary pattern, physical activity, and body weight. APOE genotype was categorized as APOE ε4 carriers versus noncarriers. We examined the associations of cognitive impairment with lifestyle profile and APOE genotype using multivariable logistic regressions, controlling for age, sex, education, marital status, residence, disability, and numbers of chronic conditions. The mean age of our study sample was 90.1 (standard deviation [SD], 7.2) years (range 80-113); 57.6% were women, and 17.5% were APOE ε4 carriers. The mean MMSE score was 21.4 (SD: 9.2), and 25.0% had cognitive impairment. Compared with those with an unhealthy lifestyle, participants with intermediate and healthy lifestyle profiles were associated with 28% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 16%-38%, P < 0.001) and 55% (95% CI: 44%-64%, P < 0.001) lower adjusted odds of cognitive impairment. Carrying the APOE ε4 allele was associated with 17% higher odds (95% CI: 1%-31%, P = 0.042) of being cognitively impaired in the adjusted model. The association between lifestyle profiles and cognitive function did not vary significantly by APOE ε4 genotype (noncarriers: 0.47 [0.37-0.60] healthy versus unhealthy; carriers: 0.33 [0.18-0.58], P for interaction = 0.30). The main limitation was the lifestyle measurements were self-reported and were nonspecific. Generalizability of the findings is another limitation because the study sample was from the oldest old in China, with unique characteristics such as low body weight compared to populations in high-income countries. In this study, we observed that healthier lifestyle was associated with better cognitive function among the oldest old regardless of APOE genotype. Our findings may inform the cognitive outlook for those oldest old with high genetic risk of cognitive impairment.

As part of a cluster of articles critically reflecting on the theme of \"no health without research,\" Richard Smith and colleagues lay out what is currently known about research misconduct in low- and middle-income countries, summarizing some high profile cases and making suggestions on ways forward.

Hypertension is a leading risk factor of cardiovascular disease and it is becoming increasingly prevalent globally. Correspondingly, the Chinese government and public health institutions have issued a series of policy documents and guidelines for hypertension. However, no comprehensive review of such documents has been conducted. Hence, this review aims to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive assessment of not only the disease burden, but also hypertension management policies and guidelines in China. A total of 15 epidemiological studies based on national population surveys, 15 Chinese Hypertension Guidelines, and seven policy documents were identified. We found a larger burden of hypertension in men, while the awareness, treatment, and control rates have remained low in both sexes. The ranges of hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control rate among hypertensive patients were 18.0–44.7%, 23.6–56.2%, 14.2–48.5%, and 4.2–30.1% respectively. Chinese hypertension guidelines provide evidence-based instructions to healthcare practitioners over hypertension management in which primary healthcare is increasingly emphasized. Finally, the policy documents set national goals for hypertension management and standardized the services provided in primary healthcare. The findings highlight the importance of integrating new guidelines into hypertension management provided by primary healthcare practitioners and the need to evaluate the implementation of guidelines and policies.

Managing noncommunicable diseases through primary healthcare has been identified as the key strategy to achieve universal health coverage but is challenging in most low- and middle-income countries. Stroke is the leading cause of death and disability in rural China. This study aims to determine whether a primary care-based integrated mobile health intervention (SINEMA intervention) could improve stroke management in rural China. Based on extensive barrier analyses, contextual research, and feasibility studies, we conducted a community-based, two-arm cluster-randomized controlled trial with blinded outcome assessment in Hebei Province, rural Northern China including 1,299 stroke patients (mean age: 65.7 [SD:8.2], 42.6% females, 71.2% received education below primary school) recruited from 50 villages between June 23 and July 21, 2017. Villages were randomly assigned (1:1) to either the intervention or control arm (usual care). In the intervention arm, village doctors who were government-sponsored primary healthcare providers received training, conducted monthly follow-up visits supported by an Android-based mobile application, and received performance-based payments. Participants received monthly doctor visits and automatically dispatched daily voice messages. The primary outcome was the 12-month change in systolic blood pressure (BP). Secondary outcomes were predefined, including diastolic BP, health-related quality of life, physical activity level, self-reported medication adherence (antiplatelet, statin, and antihypertensive), and performance in \"timed up and go\" test. Analyses were conducted in the intention-to-treat framework at the individual level with clusters and stratified design accounted for by following the prepublished statistical analysis plan. All villages completed the 12-month follow-up, and 611 (intervention) and 615 (control) patients were successfully followed (3.4% lost to follow-up among survivors). The program was implemented with high fidelity, and the annual program delivery cost per capita was US$24.3. There was a significant reduction in systolic BP in the intervention as compared with the control group with an adjusted mean difference: -2.8 mm Hg (95% CI -4.8, -0.9; p = 0.005). The intervention was significantly associated with improvements in 6 out of 7 secondary outcomes in diastolic BP reduction (p < 0.001), health-related quality of life (p = 0.008), physical activity level (p < 0.001), adherence in statin (p = 0.003) and antihypertensive medicines (p = 0.039), and performance in \"timed up and go\" test (p = 0.022). We observed reductions in all exploratory outcomes, including stroke recurrence (4.4% versus 9.3%; risk ratio [RR] = 0.46, 95% CI 0.32, 0.66; risk difference [RD] = 4.9 percentage points [pp]), hospitalization (4.4% versus 9.3%; RR = 0.45, 95% CI 0.32, 0.62; RD = 4.9 pp), disability (20.9% versus 30.2%; RR = 0.65, 95% CI 0.53, 0.79; RD = 9.3 pp), and death (1.8% versus 3.1%; RR = 0.52, 95% CI 0.28, 0.96; RD = 1.3 pp). Limitations include the relatively short study duration of only 1 year and the generalizability of our findings beyond the study setting. In this study, a primary care-based mobile health intervention integrating provider-centered and patient-facing technology was effective in reducing BP and improving stroke secondary prevention in a resource-limited rural setting in China. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03185858.

Inappropriate, misleading, missing, and inaccurate citations pervade the biomedical literature. Nicholas Peoples and colleagues argue that new strategies can better enable scientific references to function as an accurate web of knowledge

Ruitai Shao and colleagues argue that the digital divide may exacerbate global disparities in prevention and control of non-communicable diseases and enlarge health inequity when effective digital health solutions are unevenly distributed

The treatment of many chronic illnesses involves long-term pharmaceutical therapy, but it is an ongoing challenge to find effective ways to improve medication adherence to promote good health outcomes. Cardioprotective medications can prevent the enlargement of harmful clots, cardiovascular symptoms, and poor therapeutic outcomes, such as uncontrolled high blood pressure and hyperlipidemia, for patients with coronary heart disease. Poor adherence to cardioprotective medications, however, has been reported as a global health concern among patients with coronary heart disease, and it is particularly a concern in China. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a mobile health (mHealth) intervention using 2 mobile apps to improve medication adherence and health outcomes. A randomized, placebo-controlled, 2-arm parallel study was conducted in a major university-affiliated medical center located in Chengdu, China. Participants were recruited by flyers and health care provider referrals. Each participant was observed for 90 days, including a 60-day period of mHealth intervention and a 30-day period of nonintervention follow-up. The study coordinator used WeChat and Message Express to send educational materials and reminders to take medication, respectively. Participants used WeChat to receive both the educational materials and reminders. Participants in the control group only received educational materials. This study received ethics approval from the Duke Health Institutional Review Board (Pro00073395) on May 5, 2018, and was approved by West China Hospital (20170331180037). Recruitment began on May 20, 2018. The pilot phase of this study was registered on June 8, 2016, and the current, larger-scale study was retrospectively registered on January 11, 2021 (ClinicalTrials.gov). We recruited 230 patients with coronary heart disease. Of these patients, 196 completed the baseline survey and received the intervention. The majority of participants were married (181/196, 92.4%), male (157/196, 80.1%), and lived in urban China (161/196, 82.1%). Participants' average age was 61 years, and half were retired (103/191, 53.9%). More than half the participants (121/196, 61.7%) were prescribed at least 5 medications. The mean decrease in medication nonadherence score was statistically significant at both 60 days (t =2.04, P=.04) and 90 days (t =3.48, P<.001). Systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure decreased in the experimental group but increased in the control group. The mean decrease in diastolic blood pressure was statistically significant at both 60 days (t =2.07, P=.04) and 90 days (t =2.21, P=.03). The mean decrease in systolic blood pressure was significantly different in the groups at 90 days (t =3.12, P=.002). The proposed mHealth intervention can improve medication adherence and health outcomes, including systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02793830; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02793830 and ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04703439; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04703439.

Average sodium intake and stroke mortality in northern China are both among the highest in the world. An effective, low-cost strategy to reduce sodium intake in this population is urgently needed. We sought to determine the effects of a community-based sodium reduction program on salt consumption in rural northern China. This study was a cluster-randomized trial done over 18 months in 120 townships (one village from each township) from five provinces. Sixty control villages were compared to 60 intervention villages that were given access to a reduced-sodium, added-potassium salt substitute in conjunction with a community-based health education program focusing on sodium reduction. The primary outcome was the difference in 24-hour urinary sodium excretion between randomized groups. Among 1,903 people with valid 24-hour urine collections, mean urinary sodium excretion in intervention compared with control villages was reduced by 5.5% (-14mmol/day, 95% confidence interval -26 to -1; p = 0.03), potassium excretion was increased by 16% (+7mmol/day, +4 to +10; p<0.001), and sodium to potassium ratio declined by 15% (-0.9, -1.2 to -0.5; p<0.001). Mean blood pressure differences were -1.1 mm Hg systolic (-3.3 to +1.1; p = 0.33) and -0.7 mm Hg diastolic (-2.2 to +0.8, p = 0.35) and the difference in the proportion with hypertension was -1.3% (-5.1 to 2.5, p = 0.56). There were clear differences in population sodium and potassium intake between villages that were most likely a consequence of increased use of salt substitute. The absence of effects on blood pressure reflects the moderate changes in sodium and potassium intake achieved. Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT01259700.

Background: Recent epidemiologic studies have found that self-reported duration of sleep is associated with obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and mortality. The extent to which self reports of sleep duration are similar to objective measures and whether individual characteristics influence the degree of similarity are not known. Methods: Eligible participants at the Chicago site of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study were invited to participate in a 2003–2005 ancillary sleep study; 82% (n = 669) agreed. Sleep measurements collected in 2 waves included 3 days each of wrist actigraphy, a sleep log, and questions about usual sleep duration. We estimate the average difference and correlation between subjectively and objectively measured sleep by using errors-in-variables regression models. Results: Average measured sleep was 6 hours, whereas the average from subjective reports was 6.8 hours. Subjective reports increased on average by 34 minutes for each additional hour of measured sleep. Overall, the correlation between reported and measured sleep duration was 0.47. Our model suggests that persons sleeping 5 hours over-reported their sleep duration by 1.2 hours, and those sleeping 7 hours over-reported by 0.4 hours. The correlations and average differences between self-reports and measured sleep varied by health, sociodemographic, and sleep characteristics. Conclusion: In a population-based sample of middle-aged adults, subjective reports of habitual sleep are moderately correlated with actigraph-measured sleep, but are biased by systematic over-reporting. The true associations between sleep duration and health may differ from previously reported associations between self-reported sleep and health.

Rapid advancements in eHealth and mobile health (mHealth) technologies have driven researchers to design and evaluate numerous technology-based interventions to promote smoking cessation. The evolving nature of cessation interventions emphasizes a strong need for knowledge synthesis. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to summarize recent evidence from randomized controlled trials regarding the effectiveness of eHealth-based smoking cessation interventions in promoting abstinence and assess nonabstinence outcome indicators, such as cigarette consumption and user satisfaction, via narrative synthesis. We searched for studies published in English between 2017 and June 30, 2022, in 4 databases: PubMed (including MEDLINE), PsycINFO, Embase, and Cochrane Library. Two independent reviewers performed study screening, data extraction, and quality assessment based on the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations) framework. We pooled comparable studies based on the population, follow-up time, intervention, and control characteristics. Two researchers performed an independent meta-analysis on smoking abstinence using the Sidik-Jonkman random-effects model and log risk ratio (RR) as the effect measurement. For studies not included in the meta-analysis, the outcomes were narratively synthesized. A total of 464 studies were identified through an initial database search after removing duplicates. Following screening and full-text assessments, we deemed 39 studies (n=37,341 participants) eligible for this review. Of these, 28 studies were shortlisted for meta-analysis. According to the meta-analysis, SMS or app text messaging can significantly increase both short-term (3 months) abstinence (log RR=0.50, 95% CI 0.25-0.75; I =0.72%) and long-term (6 months) abstinence (log RR=0.77, 95% CI 0.49-1.04; I =8.65%), relative to minimal cessation support. The frequency of texting did not significantly influence treatment outcomes. mHealth apps may significantly increase abstinence in the short term (log RR=0.76, 95% CI 0.09-1.42; I =88.02%) but not in the long term (log RR=0.15, 95% CI -0.18 to 0.48; I =80.06%), in contrast to less intensive cessation support. In addition, personalized or interactive interventions showed a moderate increase in cessation for both the short term (log RR=0.62, 95% CI 0.30-0.94; I =66.50%) and long term (log RR=0.28, 95% CI 0.04-0.53; I =73.42%). In contrast, studies without any personalized or interactive features had no significant impact. Finally, the treatment effect was similar between trials that used biochemically verified or self-reported abstinence. Among studies reporting outcomes besides abstinence (n=20), a total of 11 studies reported significantly improved nonabstinence outcomes in cigarette consumption (3/14, 21%) or user satisfaction (8/19, 42%). Our review of 39 randomized controlled trials found that recent eHealth interventions might promote smoking cessation, with mHealth being the dominant approach. Despite their success, the effectiveness of such interventions may diminish with time. The design of more personalized interventions could potentially benefit future studies. PROSPERO CRD42022347104; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=347104.