Pregnancy-associated plasma protein A as a predictor of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events in patients with chronic kidney disease: a meta-analysis of prospective studies

Polygenic Risk Score-Based Association Analysis Identifies Genetic Comorbidities Associated with Age-Related Hearing Difficulty in Two Independent Samples

PURPOSE

Age-related hearing loss is the most common form of permanent hearing loss that is associated with various health traits, including Alzheimer's disease, cognitive decline, and depression. The present study aims to identify genetic comorbidities of age-related hearing loss. Past genome-wide association studies identified multiple genomic loci involved in common adult-onset health traits. Polygenic risk scores (PRS) could summarize the polygenic inheritance and quantify the genetic susceptibility of complex traits independent of trait expression. The present study conducted a PRS-based association analysis of age-related hearing difficulty in the UK Biobank sample (N = 425,240), followed by a replication analysis using hearing thresholds (HTs) and distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) in 242 young adults with self-reported normal hearing. We hypothesized that young adults with genetic comorbidities associated with age-related hearing difficulty would exhibit subclinical decline in HTs and DPOAEs in both ears.

METHODS

A total of 111,243 participants reported age-related hearing difficulty in the UK Biobank sample (> 40 years). The PRS models were derived from the polygenic risk score catalog to obtain 2627 PRS predictors across the health spectrum. HTs (0.25-16 kHz) and DPOAEs (1-16 kHz, L1/L2 = 65/55 dB SPL, F2/F1 = 1.22) were measured on 242 young adults. Saliva-derived DNA samples were subjected to low-pass whole genome sequencing, followed by genome-wide imputation and PRS calculation. The logistic regression analyses were performed to identify PRS predictors of age-related hearing difficulty in the UK Biobank cohort. The linear mixed model analyses were performed to identify PRS predictors of HTs and DPOAEs.

RESULTS

The PRS-based association analysis identified 977 PRS predictors across the health spectrum associated with age-related hearing difficulty. Hearing difficulty and hearing aid use PRS predictors revealed the strongest association with the age-related hearing difficulty phenotype. Youth with a higher genetic predisposition to hearing difficulty revealed a subclinical elevation in HTs and a decline in DPOAEs in both ears. PRS predictors associated with age-related hearing difficulty were enriched for mental health, lifestyle, metabolic, sleep, reproductive, digestive, respiratory, hematopoietic, and immune traits. Fifty PRS predictors belonging to various trait categories were replicated for HTs and DPOAEs in both ears.

CONCLUSION

The study identified genetic comorbidities associated with age-related hearing loss across the health spectrum. Youth with a high genetic predisposition to age-related hearing difficulty and other related complex traits could exhibit sub-clinical decline in HTs and DPOAEs decades before clinically meaningful age-related hearing loss is observed. We posit that effective communication of genetic risk, promoting a healthy lifestyle, and reducing exposure to environmental risk factors at younger ages could help prevent or delay the onset of age-related hearing difficulty at older ages.

Placenta Accreta has a Low Association with Hypertensive Disease During Pregnancy: A Systematic Review Incorporating a Network Meta-analysis

A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the potential relationship between hypertensive disease during pregnancy and placenta accreta. A systematic literature search in OVID, Embase, Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Google scholar up to May 2021 was done, and 4 studies were found including 47,353 pregnant women at the start of the study; 4283 of them had hypertensive disease during pregnancy and 493 had placenta accreta. They were reporting relationships between hypertensive disease during pregnancy and placenta accreta. The odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) was calculated to assess the potential relationship between hypertensive disease during pregnancy and placenta accreta using the dichotomous with a random or fixed-effect model. Hypertensive disease during pregnancy was significantly related to lower prevalence of placenta accreta (OR, 0.60; 95% CI, .38-.94, p = 0.03) compared with control (no hypertensive disease during pregnancy). When looking at the result comparing the prevalence of hypertensive disease during pregnancy in women with placenta accreta compared with control (no placenta accreta), we found that the placenta accreta was significantly related to lower prevalence of hypertensive disease during pregnancy (OR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.38-0.94, p = 0.03) compared with control. Hypertensive disease during pregnancy may have a lower prevalence of placenta accreta. Further studies are required to validate these findings.

Hypertension in pregnancy as a risk factor for placenta accreta spectrum: a systematic review incorporating a network meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the potential effects of hypertension in pregnancy on the placenta accreta spectrum.

METHODS

A systematic literature search in OVID, Embase, Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Google Scholar up to May 2021 was done, and six studies were found including 126,224 pregnant women; 7164 of them had hypertension in pregnancy and 816 had placenta accreta spectrum. They were reporting relationships between the potential effects of hypertension in pregnancy on the placenta accreta spectrum. The odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) was calculated to assess the potential effects of hypertension in pregnancy on the placenta accreta spectrum using the dichotomous with a random- or fixed-effect model.

RESULTS

Pregnancy-induced hypertension was significantly related to lower prevalence of placenta accreta spectrum (OR 0.56; 95% CI 0.37-0.84, p = 0.005) with no heterogeneity (I² = 0%) compared to control (no hypertension in pregnancy). When looking at the result comparing the prevalence of hypertension in pregnancy in women with placenta accrete compared to control (no placenta accrete), we found that the placenta accreta spectrum was significantly related to lower prevalence of hypertension in pregnancy (OR 0.65; 95% CI 0.43-0.98, p = 0.04) compared to control.

CONCLUSIONS

Hypertension in pregnancy may have a lower prevalence of placenta accrete. Further studies are required to validate these findings.

Serum vitamin D deficiency and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus: a meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION

This meta-analysis was performed to confirm the relationship of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and vitamin D.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

PubMed and CNKI databases were searched for relevant articles. Standard mean difference (SMD) along with 95% CI was used to compare vitamin D level between women with GDM and healthy subjects. The correlation coefficient between the vitamin D and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR) was analyzed.

RESULTS

The vitamin D level of GDM subjects was much lower than healthy subjects (SMD = -0.71, 95% CI: -0.91, -0.50). Vitamin D deficiency was associated with high risk of GDM (OR = 1.15, 95% CI: 1.07-1.23). Vitamin D was negatively correlated with HOMA-IR (r = -0.62, 95% CI: -0.85, -0.39). The analysis showed no publication bias (Egger's: p = 0.197; Begg's: p = 0.786).

CONCLUSIONS

Vitamin D is closely associated with the onset of GDM.