Waning light, waxing pain: The lunar cycle's association with migraine headache occurrence.

Objective: To examine circalunar rhythms in migraine headache occurrence in a prospective cohort of 98 adults with episodic migraine.

Background: Migraine is a prevalent neurological disorder characterized by paroxysmal attacks. While time-of-day and seasonal rhythmicity in migraine occurrence have been described, little is known about circalunar patterns.

Migraine and sleep apnea, insomnia, and sleep patterns in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL).

Objective: To quantify the prevalence of migraine and examine its association with sleep disorders, patterns, and symptoms in adults in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL). We hypothesized that migraine would be associated with insomnia but not sleep apnea.

Background: Sparse research has examined migraine prevalence and sleep comorbidities in underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in the United States.

Shifting Towards Teaching How to Communicate Statistics in Medical Education.

Despite the widespread inclusion of statistics in medical school curricula as per the Liaison Committee on Medical Education requirements, the statistical competency among medical students and clinicians remains low. A 2007 study of 277 medical residents revealed only 41.1% scored correctly on a statistical knowledge survey, with minimal understanding of key concepts such as confidence intervals and adjusted odds ratios.

Functional Status Trajectory and Survival for Adult Patients Undergoing Heart Transplantation.

Background: Transplantation is a critical treatment for end-stage heart disease and improves length and quality of life. We investigated predictors of functional status improvement following transplant and the association between functional status trajectory and survival.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients data on 34 009 US adults who underwent heart transplant 2006-2021.

Hypotensive Episodes on 24-Hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure and Cognitive Function: Insights From the SPRINT Study.

Background: Hypotensive episodes detected by 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring capture daily cumulative hypotensive stress and could be clinically relevant to cognitive impairment, but this relationship remains unclear.

Methods: We included participants from the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (receiving intensive or standard BP treatment) who had 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring measured near the 27-month visit and subsequent biannual cognitive assessments. We evaluated the associations of hypotensive episodes (defined as systolic BP drops of ≥20 mm Hg between 2 consecutive measurements that reached <100 mm Hg) and hypotensive duration (cumulative time of systolic BP <100 mm Hg) with subsequent cognitive function using adjusted linear mixed models.

Survival machine learning methods for mortality prediction after heart transplantation in the contemporary era.

Although prediction models for heart transplantation outcomes have been developed previously, a comprehensive benchmarking of survival machine learning methods for mortality prognosis in the most contemporary era of heart transplants following the 2018 donor heart allocation policy change is warranted. This study assessed seven statistical and machine learning algorithms-Lasso, Ridge, Elastic Net, Cox Gradient Boost, Extreme Gradient Boost Linear, Extreme Gradient Boost Tree, and Random Survival Forests in a post-policy cohort of 7,160 adult heart-only transplant recipients in the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) database who received their first transplant on or after October 18, 2018. A cross-validation framework was designed in mlr.

Short-term air pollution levels and sickle cell disease hospital encounters in South Carolina: A case-crossover analysis.

Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a genetic disorder and symptoms may be sensitive to environmental stressors. Although it has been hypothesized that exposure to outdoor air pollution could trigger acute SCD events, evidence is limited.

Methods: We obtained SCD administrative data on hospital encounters in South Carolina from 2002 to 2019.

Statin Twitter: Human and Automated Bot Contributions, 2010 to 2022.

Background: Many individuals eligible for statin therapy decline treatment, often due to fear of adverse effects. Misinformation about statins is common and drives statin reluctance, but its prevalence on social media platforms, such as Twitter (now X) remains unclear. Social media bots are known to proliferate medical misinformation, but their involvement in statin-related discourse is unknown.

Influenza vaccination and use of lipid lowering therapies in adults with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: An analysis of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).

Background: Influenza vaccination and lipid lowering therapy (LLT) are evidence-based interventions with substantial benefit for individuals with established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). However, levels of influenza immunization and LLT use are low, possibly due to pervasive fear-based misinformation uniquely targeting vaccines and LLT. Whether being unvaccinated for influenza predicts lower utilization of LLT is unknown.

Induction immunosuppression and post-transplant diabetes mellitus: a propensity-matched cohort study.

Introduction: Post-transplant diabetes mellitus (PTDM) is a common complication among cardiac transplant recipients, causing diabetes-related complications and death. While certain maintenance immunosuppressive drugs increase PTDM risk, it is unclear whether induction immunosuppression can do the same. Therefore, we evaluated whether induction immunosuppression with IL-2 receptor antagonists, polyclonal anti-lymphocyte antibodies, or Alemtuzumab given in the peri-transplant period is associated with PTDM.

Politically related stress and low-birth-weight infants among Arab, Asian, Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White women in Michigan.

Background: Despite the high cost of low birth weight and the persistent challenge of racial inequities affecting the Arab American community, there has been limited research to identify and examine risk factors for these inequities with validated data on Arab American ethnicity and recent population stressors.

Objectives: This study examined whether the 2016 presidential election is associated with low birth weight among non-Hispanic White, Arab American, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic Black women.

Design: This population-based study of singleton births in Michigan (2008-2017) used an algorithm to identify mothers who were of Arab descent.

Impact of simulated flight conditions on supraventricular and ventricular ectopy.

Though billions of passengers and crew travel by air each year and are exposed to altitude equivalents of 7000-8000 feet, the health impact of cabin oxygenation levels has not been well studied. The hypoxic environment may produce ectopic heartbeats that may increase the risk of acute in-flight cardiac events. We enrolled forty older and at-risk participants under a block-randomized crossover design in a hypobaric chamber study to examine associations between flight oxygenation and both ventricular (VE) and supraventricular ectopy (SVE).

Association of interpregnancy interval and gestational diabetes mellitus.

Objective: To evaluate the association between interpregnancy interval (IPI) and risk for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study among singleton, non-anomalous, live birth pregnancies of 5,705,812 pregnant individuals in the United States from 2016 to 2018. We examined IPI of 4-<6 months, 6-11 months, 12-17 months, 24-35 months, 36-47 months, 48-59 months, 60-71 months, and ≥72 months in comparison to the reference interval of 18-23 months in relation to risk for GDM.

Incidence and risk factors of metabolic syndrome among Royal Thai Army personnel.

Metabolic Syndrome is a clustering of obesity, hyperglycemia/insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. We aimed to determine the incidence of metabolic syndrome among Royal Thai Army (RTA) personnel and its risk factors. We conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from 2017 to 2021.

The Association of Cannabis Use Disorder with Acute Limb Ischemia and Critical Limb Ischemia.

Objectives: Heavy cannabis use has been associated with the development of acute myocardial infarction and stroke. The objective of this study was to determine if heavy, chronic cannabis use is associated with the development of acute limb ischemia (ALI) or critical limb ischemia (CLI).

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study within the National Inpatient Sample (2006-2015).

Effect of continuous positive airway pressure treatment on ambulatory blood pressures in high-risk sleep apnea patients: a randomized controlled trial.

Study Objectives: The long-term effect of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on 24-hour blood pressure (BP) in patients at high risk with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is uncertain. We aimed to determine the effect of CPAP treatment on ambulatory BP in individuals with moderate or severe OSA and cardiovascular disease or multiple cardiovascular disease risk factors without severe sleepiness.

Methods: In this randomized, controlled, parallel group study, 169 participants were randomly assigned to CPAP treatment or the control group.