ObjectiveTo investigate the relationship between the red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and the severity of acute exacerbation of bronchiectasis in elderly patients.MethodsThe clinical data of 216 elderly patients with acute exacerbation of bronchiectasis admitted from January 2015 to October of 2018 were analyzed retrospectively. The severity of acute exacerbation of bronchiectasis in the elderly was evaluated by bronchiectasis severity index (BSI) score. Meanwhile, 50 elderly people receiving qualified medical examination were collected as a healthy control group in the same period. The distributions of BSI score, RDW, procalcitonin (PCT), neutrophil percentage (NEU%) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were described in the patients with different risk degree. The severity of acute exacerbation of bronchiectasis in the elderly was evaluated by BSI. The patients were divided into three groups by BSI score: a low risk group, a middle risk group, and a high risk group. The indexes were described including the distribution of stratified BSI score, RDW, PCT, NEU%, CRP at different risk levels. The correlation of each index was analyzed by Spearman correlation. The threshold value of RDW was calculated by general linear regression, and the influencing factors of BSI score were analyzed by multivariate linear regression analysis.ResultsThe higher the risk stratification, the higher the BSI score, RDW, PCT, NEU% and CRP were. RDW was positively correlated with PCT, NEU% and CRP (r values were 0.425, 0.311, 0.177, respectively, P<0.05). BSI score was positively correlated with RDW, PCT, NEU%, and CRP (r values were 0.425, 0.394, 0.650, 0.578, respectively, P<0.05). RDW was positively correlated with PSI score (r=0.425, P<0.05). The thresholds of RDW were 11.45% and 14.03%. Multiple linear regression showed that RDW, PCT, NEU% and CRP were all influential factors of BSI score and explained 52.3% of the total mutation rate.ConclusionRDW is related to the severity of acute exacerbation of bronchiectasis in the elderly, and can predict the severity of acute exacerbation of bronchiectasis in the elderly.
Objective To explore the correlation between metabolic syndrome and renal function in physical examination population. Methods The data of individual physical examination in West China Hospital from March to April 2015 was collected. Body mass index (BMI), glomerular filtration rate (GFR) were calculated, and the correlation between metabolic syndrome and renal function was analyzed by using SPSS 16.0 software. Results A total of 10?098 individuals were included, of which 1?110 were MS patients were included. The results of analysis showed that, the levels of uric acid, cholesterol, urea and creatinine in MS group were significantly higher than those in non-MS group, and the level of GFR was significantly lower than that in non-MS group (P < 0.05). Renal function in patients with abnormal systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose (FBG), low density lipoprotein, total cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid index were significantly higher than those in normal renal function group, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol was significantly lower than that of normal renal function group (P < 0.01). Conclusion Elevated levels of BMI, blood pressure, glucose, uric acid are correlated with the decrease of GFR, and metabolic syndrome is an important risk factor of renal dysfunction.
The correlation coefficient is a common used statistic index in the management science, sociology, psychology and nursing. The meta-analysis based on data of correlation coefficients has increased nowadays. The meta package and metafor package are the two major packages in R for performing meta-analysis and can implement many types of meta-analysis, including the meta-analysis of correlation coefficients. This article gives a brief introduction of the process to perform meta-analysis of correlation coefficients using these two packages, and compares their statistical results and functions (such as plot drawing).
ObjectiveTo investigate the correlation of retinal blood vessel density with blood pressure and retinal thickness in the macular region of glaucoma. MethodsA retrospective study. From March 2019 to March 2022, 100 glaucoma patients of 100 eyes (glaucoma group) and 100 healthy people of 100 eyes (control group) diagnosed in Department of Ophthalmology of Luoyang First People's Hospital were included in the study. The patients in the glaucoma group were subdivided into the early, intermediate, and late groups based on the average visual field defect value, which were 38, 32, and 30 cases, respectively. Optical coherence tomography angiography was used to scan the macular area of the examined eyes in a 3 mm×3 mm area. The software automatically divided the retina within 3 mm of the macular central concavity into 2 concentric circles centered on the macular central concavity, which were the central concave area with a diameter of 1 mm and the paracentral concave area with a diameter of 1-3 mm. The blood flow density and retinal thickness of the superficial retinal capillary plexus in the nasal, temporal, inferior, and superior quadrants of the retina within 3 mm of the macula were measured. Blood pressure was measured at the brachial artery using an electronic sphygmomanometer. Comparisons between two groups were made by independent samples t test, and comparisons between multiple groups were made by one-way analysis of variance. Correlations between retinal blood flow density and blood pressure and retinal thickness were analyzed by Spearman's correlation analysis. ResultsThe retinal blood vessel density in the central fovea, parafoveal, inferior, and superior macular areas in the glaucoma group were lower than that in the control group, and with the aggravation of the disease, the retinal blood vessel density in the central fovea, parafoveal, inferior and superior macular areas gradually decreased; the retinal thicknesses in the foveal, parafoveal, inferior, and superior macular areas in the glaucoma group were lower than those in the control group, and with the aggravation of the disease, the retinal thicknesses in the foveal, parafoveal, inferior, and superior macular areas gradually decreased, the differences were statistically significant (P＜0.05). Systolic and diastolic blood pressure were higher in the glaucoma group than in the control group, and they increased gradually as the disease worsened (P＜0.05). Spearman's correlation analyses showed that in glaucoma patients, the density of retinal blood vessels in the macular central plexus, paracentral plexus, and inferior and superior retinas was positively correlated with retinal thickness in the corresponding areas and negatively correlated with blood pressure (P＜0.05). ConclusionThe density of retinal blood vessels in the macular central plexus, paracentral plexus, and inferior and superior retinas are positively correlated with retinal thickness in the corresponding areas and negatively correlated with blood pressure.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the relationship between subclinical thyroid dysfunction and the risk of atrial fibrillation.MethodsDatabases including PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, CBM, VIP and WanFang Data were electronically searched to collect cohort studies on associations between subclinical thyroid dysfunction and atrial fibrillation from inception to June 2020. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and evaluated risk of bias of included studies. Meta-analysis was then performed using RevMan 5.3 software.ResultsA total of 11 studies involving 620 874 subjects and 19 781 cases were included. Meta-analysis showed that subclinical hypothyroidism was not associated with atrial fibrillation (adjusted RR=1.20, 95%CI 0.92 to 1.57, P=0.18) and subclinical hyperthyroidism could increase the risk of atrial fibrillation (adjusted RR=1.65, 95%CI 1.12 to 2.43, P=0.01). Subgroup analysis showed that for the community population, subclinical hypothyroidism was not associated with atrial fibrillation (adjusted RR=1.03, 95%CI 0.84 to 1.26, P=0.81); for cardiac surgery, subclinical hypothyroidism could increase the risk of atrial fibrillation (adjusted RR=2.80, 95%CI 1.51 to 5.19, P=0.001); subclinical hyperthyroidism could increase the risk of atrial fibrillation among patients with TSH≤0.1 mlU/L (adjusted RR=2.06, 95%CI 1.07 to 3.99, P=0.03) and TSH=0.1～0.44 mlU/L (adjusted RR=1.29, 95%CI 1.01 to 1.64, P=0.04). ConclusionsSubclinical hypothyroidism is not associated with atrial fibrillation and subclinical hyperthyroidism can increase the risk of atrial fibrillation. Due to limited quantity and quality of included studies, more high quality studies are needed to verify above conclusions.
ObjectiveThrough neuropsychological assessment, explore the factors that may cause cognitive impairment in patients with focal epilepsy.MethodsCollected 53 epilepsy patients in outpatients and inpatients of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from March 2016 to January 2020, including 25 males and 28 females, with an average age of (23.58±13.24) years old, and the course of disease (6.49±7.39), all met the 2017 ILEA diagnostic criteria for focal epilepsy, and there was no history of progressive brain disease or brain surgery. Carry out relevant cognitive assessments for the enrolled patients, use SPSS statistical software to conduct Spearman correlation analysis on the cognitive functions of the study subjects, and further analyze the related factors of cognition through Logistic regression analysis to clarify the factors related to cognition whether it may be a risk factor for cognitive impairment in patients with focal epilepsy.Results Spearman correlation analysis showed that the FIQ of patients with focal epilepsy was related to education level, age of onset, seizure pattern, total number of seizures, AEDs and EEG interval discharge side (P<0.05). Binary Logistic regression analysis shows that among all cognitive-related factors, only the number of AEDs (P=0.003) and EEG interval discharge (P=0.013) are the risk of cognitive impairment in patients with focal epilepsy factor.ConclusionIn the clinical treatment of epilepsy, seizures should be actively controlled, but the types of drugs should be minimized. When there are more than 3 kinds of drugs, surgical treatment or other non-surgical treatments can be considered. At the same time, the EEG should be reviewed regularly to understand the changes in epileptiform discharges between episodes.
Objective To evaluate the correlation between hyperuricemia (HUA) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Methods A total of 666 elderly male patients, who had been admitted to the West China Hospital for routine physical examination in May, 2010, were included in this study. All the following indexes were collected: blood pressure, waistline, medical history, international prostatic symptom score (IPSS), serum uric acid (UA), triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), fasting blood glucose (FBG), 2-hour postprandial blood glucose (PBG-2), prostate-specific antigen (PSA), and prostate volume (PV) measured by ultrasound. Patients with higher level of UA more than 420 μmol/L were included into the HUA group (n=151) while the other patients with normal UA (NUA) were in the NUA group (n=515). Both the metabolic and prostate related indexes in the two groups were compared, and the correlation between HUA and each indexes were analyzed using logistic regression model. Results HUA was significantly associated with abdominal obesity (OR=1.575, 95%CI 1.059 to 2.340), hypertriglyceridemia (OR=2.78, 95%CI 1.877 to 4.118), metabolic syndrome (CDS2007) (OR=1.912, 95%CI 1.267 to 2.885), BPH (OR=1.464, 95%CI 1.465 to 1.635) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) rating (OR=1.782, 95%CI 1.173 to 1.522). Conclusion HUA is correlated with BPH, meanwhile it is highly accompanied with other risk factors of cardioascular diseases. Hereby, comprehensive medical screening should be considered when treating such patients.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the correlation of pSTAT3 overexpression and prognosis in lung cancer patients.MethodsWe searched from PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data databases to collect relevant studies about the correlation of pSTAT3 overexpression and prognosis in lung cancer patients from inception to November 2016. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed by using RevMan 5.2 software.Results A total of thirteen studies were enrolled. The results of the meta-analysis showed that the overall survival (HR=1.23, 95%CI 1.04 to 1.46, P=0.02) of pSTAT3 overexpression group was shorter than that of low expression group. In terms of clinical prognostic characteristics, pSTAT3 overexpression rate in stage Ⅲ to Ⅳ group was significantly higher than stage Ⅰ to Ⅱ (OR=1.92, 95%CI 1.13 to 3.27, P=0.02). pSTAT3 overexpression rate of lung cancer patients with lymphatic node metastasis was also significantly higher than lung cancer patients without lymphatic node metastasis (OR=1.81, 95%CI 1.20 to 2.72, P=0.004). However, there was no statistical difference of pSTAT3 overexpression between well-moderately differentiation and poorly differentiation group (OR=0.82, 95%CI 0.44 to 1.53, P=0.54).ConclusionpSTAT3 overexpression is associated with poorer overall survival of lung cancer patients, as well as with more and advanced TNM grade and lymph node metastasis. It may be an indicator poor biomarker in lung cancer patients. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high quality studies are needed to verify above conclusion.
Objective To systematically review the association between prothrombin gene G20210A mutation and the risk of cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT). Methods Databases including PubMed, Springer, Google Scholar, The Cochrane Library (Issue 1, 2016), CNKI, WanFang Data and CBM were searched for case-control studies concerning the association between prothrombin gene G20210A mutation and cerebral venous thrombosis risk from inception to January 2016. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software and Stata 12.0 software. Results A total of 26 case-control studies were included, involving 1 361 CVT cases and 6 323 controls. The results of meta-analysis showed that: there was a significant association between prothrombin gene G20210A mutation and CVT risk (OR=4.56, 95% CI 3.51 to 5.93,P<0.000 01). Sensitivity analysis showed no significant publication bias was detected confirmed the stability of results. Subgroup analysis showed that G20210A mutation increased CVT risk in adults (OR=5.02, 95% CI 3.81 to 6.60,P<0.000 01), but not in children (OR=1.99, 95% CI 0.83 to 4.79,P=0.12). Conclusion Prothrombin gene G20210A mutation can significantly increase the CVT risk. Due to the limited quality and quantity of included studies, the above results are needed to be validated by more high quality studies.
Objective To investigate the relationship between the red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and the severity of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Methods The clinical data of 285 adult patients with CAP admitted from November 2014 to August of 2017 were analyzed retrospectively. The severity of CAP was evaluated by pneumonia severity index (PSI) score. Meanwhile, 60 cases with qualified medical examination were collected as a healthy control group. The distributions of PSI score, RDW, procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP) and neutrophil percentage (NEU%) were described in the patients with different risk degree. The correlation analysis of various indicators were analyzed by Spearman correlation. The threshold of RDW(%) was calculated through the construction of the general linear regression equation. The risk factors of PSI score were analyzed with multiple linear regression. Results The higher the risk stratification, the higher the distribution of PSI scores, RDW, PCT, CRP and NEU% were. RDW was positively correlated with PCT, CRP, and NEU% (r values were 0.417, 0.252, 0.318, respectively, P<0.05). PSI score was positively correlated with RDW, PCT, CRP, and NEU% (r values were 0.537,0.598, 0.557, 0.482, respectively, P<0.05). RDW was positively correlated with PSI score (r=0.537, P<0.05). The thresholds of RDW(%) were 14.514 and 19.041. Multiple linear regression showed that RDW, PCT, CRP and NEU% were all influential factors of PSI scores and explained 46.9% of the total mutation rate. Conclusion RDW is correlated with the severity of CAP, and can predict the severity of CAP.