@article {10507, title = {Long-term Functional Decline After High-Risk Elective Colorectal Surgery in Older Adults}, journal = {Diseases of the colon and rectum}, volume = {63}, year = {2020}, month = {2020}, pages = {75 - 83}, abstract = {BACKGROUND: Although most surgical outcomes research focuses on clinical end points and complications, older adult patients may value functional outcomes more. However, little is known about the risk of long-term functional disability after colorectal procedures. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to understand the incidence and likelihood of functional decline after high-risk (ie, >=1\% inpatient mortality) colorectal operations both without and with complications. DESIGN: This was a retrospective matched cohort study. SETTINGS: The Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative, longitudinal survey of adults >50 years of age, collects data on functional status, cognition, and demographics, among other topics. The survey was linked with Medicare claims and National Death Index data from 1992 to 2012. PATIENTS: Patients >=65 years of age who underwent elective high-risk colorectal surgery with functional status measured before and after surgery were included. These patients were matched 1:3 to survey respondents who did not undergo major surgery, based on propensity scores. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Functional decline, the primary outcome, was defined as an increase in the number of activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living requiring assistance before and after surgery. Using logistic regression, we examined whether surgery without or with complications was associated with functional decline. RESULTS: We identified 289 patients who underwent high-risk colorectal surgery and 867 matched control subjects. Of the surgery patients, 90 (31\%) experienced a complication. Compared with the control subjects, surgery patients experienced greater likelihood of functional decline (without complications: OR = 1.82 (95\% CI, 1.22-2.71), and with complications: OR = 2.96 (95\% CI, 1.70-5.14)). Increasing age also predicted greater odds of functional decline (OR = 2.09, per decade (95\% CI, 1.57-2.80)). LIMITATIONS: The functional measures were self-reported by survey participants. CONCLUSIONS: High-risk colorectal surgery, without or with complications, is associated with increased likelihood of functional decline in older adults. Patient-centered decision-making should include discussion of expected functional outcomes and long-term disability. }, keywords = {Colon, Postoperative Complications, Surgery}, isbn = {15300358 (ISSN)}, doi = {10.1097/DCR.0000000000001541}, author = {De Roo, A.C. and Yun Li and Abrahamse, P.H. and Regenbogen, S.E. and Suwanabol, P.A.} } @article {8805, title = {Associations between community-level disaster exposure and individual-level changes in disability and risk of death for older Americans.}, journal = {Soc Sci Med}, volume = {173}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 01}, pages = {118-125}, abstract = {

Disasters occur frequently in the United States (US) and their impact on acute morbidity, mortality and short-term increased health needs has been well described. However, barring mental health, little is known about the medium or longer-term health impacts of disasters. This study sought to determine if there is an association between community-level disaster exposure and individual-level changes in disability and/or the risk of death for older Americans. Using the US Federal Emergency Management Agency{\textquoteright}s database of disaster declarations, 602 disasters occurred between August 1998 and December 2010 and were characterized by their presence, intensity, duration and type. Repeated measurements of a disability score (based on activities of daily living) and dates of death were observed between January 2000 and November 2010 for 18,102 American individuals aged 50-89 years, who were participating in the national longitudinal Health and Retirement Study. Longitudinal (disability) and time-to-event (death) data were modelled simultaneously using a {\textquoteright}joint modelling{\textquoteright} approach. There was no evidence of an association between community-level disaster exposure and individual-level changes in disability or the risk of death. Our results suggest that future research should focus on individual-level disaster exposures, moderate to severe disaster events, or higher-risk groups of individuals.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cohort Studies, Community Participation, Continental Population Groups, Disabled Persons, Disaster Planning, Disasters, Female, Humans, Income, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Mortality, United States}, issn = {1873-5347}, doi = {10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.12.007}, url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953616306785?via\%3Dihub}, author = {Samuel L. Brilleman and Wolfe, Rory and Moreno-Betancur, Margarita and Anne E Sales and Kenneth M. Langa and Yun Li and Elizabeth L. Daugher Biddison and Rubinson, Lewis and Theodore J Iwashyna} } @article {8580, title = {Genetic variation associated with differential educational attainment in adults has anticipated associations with school performance in children.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {9}, year = {2014}, month = {2014}, pages = {e100248}, abstract = {

Genome-wide association study results have yielded evidence for the association of common genetic variants with crude measures of completed educational attainment in adults. Whilst informative, these results do not inform as to the mechanism of these effects or their presence at earlier ages and where educational performance is more routinely and more precisely assessed. Single nucleotide polymorphisms exhibiting genome-wide significant associations with adult educational attainment were combined to derive an unweighted allele score in 5,979 and 6,145 young participants from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children with key stage 3 national curriculum test results (SATS results) available at age 13 to 14 years in English and mathematics respectively. Standardised (z-scored) results for English and mathematics showed an expected relationship with sex, with girls exhibiting an advantage over boys in English (0.433 SD (95\%CI 0.395, 0.470), p<10(-10)) with more similar results (though in the opposite direction) in mathematics (0.042 SD (95\%CI 0.004, 0.080), p = 0.030). Each additional adult educational attainment increasing allele was associated with 0.041 SD (95\%CI 0.020, 0.063), p = 1.79{\texttimes}10(-04) and 0.028 SD (95\%CI 0.007, 0.050), p = 0.01 increases in standardised SATS score for English and mathematics respectively. Educational attainment is a complex multifactorial behavioural trait which has not had heritable contributions to it fully characterised. We were able to apply the results from a large study of adult educational attainment to a study of child exam performance marking events in the process of learning rather than realised adult end product. Our results support evidence for common, small genetic contributions to educational attainment, but also emphasise the likely lifecourse nature of this genetic effect. Results here also, by an alternative route, suggest that existing methods for child examination are able to recognise early life variation likely to be related to ultimate educational attainment.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Child, Child, Preschool, Educational Status, Female, Genetic Association Studies, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Intelligence, Intelligence Tests, Learning, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Mathematics, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0100248}, url = {http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0100248}, author = {Mary E Ward and McMahon, George and St Pourcain, Beate and Cornelius A Rietveld and Daniel J. Benjamin and Philipp D Koellinger and Cesarini, David and Nicholas J Timpson}, editor = {Yun Li} } @article {8608, title = {Genome-wide association analysis of blood-pressure traits in African-ancestry individuals reveals common associated genes in African and non-African populations.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {93}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Sep 05}, pages = {545-54}, abstract = {

High blood pressure (BP) is more prevalent and contributes to more severe manifestations of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in African Americans than in any other United States ethnic group. Several small African-ancestry (AA) BP genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have been published, but their findings have failed to replicate to date. We report on a large AA BP GWAS meta-analysis that includes 29,378 individuals from 19 discovery cohorts and subsequent replication in additional samples of AA (n = 10,386), European ancestry (EA) (n = 69,395), and East Asian ancestry (n = 19,601). Five loci (EVX1-HOXA, ULK4, RSPO3, PLEKHG1, and SOX6) reached genome-wide significance (p < 1.0~{\texttimes} 10(-8)) for either systolic or diastolic BP in a transethnic meta-analysis after correction for multiple testing. Three of these BP loci (EVX1-HOXA, RSPO3, and PLEKHG1) lack previous associations with BP. We also identified one independent signal in a known BP locus (SOX6) and provide evidence for fine mapping in four additional validated BP loci. We also demonstrate that validated EA BP GWAS loci, considered jointly, show significant effects in AA samples. Consequently, these findings suggest that BP loci might have universal effects across studied populations, demonstrating that multiethnic samples are an essential component in identifying, fine mapping, and understanding their trait variability.

}, keywords = {Africa, African Continental Ancestry Group, Blood pressure, Cohort Studies, Databases, Genetic, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Quantitative Trait, Heritable, Reproducibility of Results}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2013.07.010}, author = {Franceschini, Nora and Fox, Ervin and Zhang, Zhaogong and Edwards, Todd L and Michael A Nalls and Yun Ju Sung and Bamidele O Tayo and Yan V Sun and Gottesman, Omri and Adebawole Adeyemo and Andrew D Johnson and Young, J Hunter and Kenneth Rice and Duan, Qing and Chen, Fang and Yun Li and Tang, Hua and Myriam Fornage and Keene, Keith L and Andrews, Jeanette S and Jennifer A Smith and Jessica Faul and Guangfa, Zhang and Guo, Wei and Liu, Yu and Murray, Sarah S and Musani, Solomon K and Srinivasan, Sathanur and Digna R Velez Edwards and Wang, Heming and Becker, Lewis C and Bovet, Pascal and Bochud, Murielle and Broeckel, Ulrich and Burnier, Michel and Carty, Cara and Daniel I Chasman and Georg B Ehret and Chen, Wei-Min and Chen, Guanjie and Wei Chen and Ding, Jingzhong and Dreisbach, Albert W and Michele K Evans and Guo, Xiuqing and Melissa E Garcia and Jensen, Rich and Keller, Margaux F and Lettre, Guillaume and Lotay, Vaneet and Martin, Lisa W and Moore, Jason H and Alanna C Morrison and Thomas H Mosley and Ogunniyi, Adesola and Walter R Palmas and George J Papanicolaou and Alan Penman and Polak, Joseph F and Ridker, Paul M and Babatunde Salako and Andrew B Singleton and Daniel Shriner and Kent D Taylor and Ramachandran S Vasan and Kerri Wiggins and Williams, Scott M and Yanek, Lisa R and Wei Zhao and Alan B Zonderman and Becker, Diane M and Berenson, Gerald and Boerwinkle, Eric and Erwin P Bottinger and Cushman, Mary and Charles B Eaton and Nyberg, Fredrik and Gerardo Heiss and Joel N Hirschhron and Howard, Virginia J and Karczewsk, Konrad J and Lanktree, Matthew B and Liu, Kiang and Yongmei Liu and Ruth J F Loos and Margolis, Karen and Snyder, Michael and Psaty, Bruce M and Schork, Nicholas J and David R Weir and Charles N Rotimi and Sale, Michele M and Tamara B Harris and Sharon L R Kardia and Hunt, Steven C and Donna K Arnett and Redline, Susan and Cooper, Richard S and Neil Risch and Rao, D C and Rotter, Jerome I and Chakravarti, Aravinda and Reiner, Alex P and Levy, Daniel and Keating, Brendan J and Zhu, Xiaofeng} }