Janet W. Maynard

Vitamin D Treatment for the Prevention of Falls in Older Adults: Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

OBJECTIVES: To systematically review and quantitatively synthesize the effect of vitamin D therapy on fall prevention in older adults.

Reliability and Sensitivity of the Self-report of Physician-diagnosed Gout in the Campaign Against Cancer and Heart Disease and the Atherosclerosis Risk in the Community Cohorts

Objective. Gout is often defined by self-report in epidemiologic studies. Yet the validity of self-reported gout is uncertain. We evaluated the reliability and sensitivity of the self-report of physician-diagnosed gout in the Campaign Against Cancer and Heart Disease (CLUE II) and the Atherosclerosis Risk in the Community (ARIC) cohorts. Methods. The CLUE II cohort comprises 12,912 individuals who self-reported gout status on either the 2000, 2003, or 2007 questionnaires. We calculated reliability as the percentage of participants reporting having gout on more than 1 questionnaire using Cohen’s κ statistic. The ARIC cohort comprises 11,506 individuals who self-reported gout status at visit 4. We considered a hospital discharge diagnosis of gout or use of a gout-specific medication as the standard against which to calculate the sensitivity of self-reported, physician-diagnosed gout. Results. Of the 437 CLUE II participants who self-reported physician-diagnosed gout in 2000, and subsequently answered the 2003 questionnaire, 75% reported gout in 2003 (κ = 0.73). Of the 271 participants who reported gout in 2000, 73% again reported gout at the 2007 followup questionnaire (κ = 0.63). In ARIC, 196 participants met the definition for gout prior to visit 4 and self-reported their gout status at visit 4. The sensitivity of a self-report of physician-diagnosed gout was 84%. Accuracy was similar across sex and race subgroups, but differed across hyperuricemia and education strata. Conclusion. These 2 population-based US cohorts suggest that self-report of physician-diagnosed gout has good reliability and sensitivity. Thus, self-report of a physician diagnosis of gout is appropriate for epidemiologic studies.

Secondary Sjogren's syndrome in systemic lupus erythematosus defines a distinct disease subset.

Objective. Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) may occur in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We sought to determine whether the presence of SS in a large cohort of patients with SLE defines a subset with distinctive sociodemographic, clinical, and laboratory features. Methods. The Johns Hopkins Lupus Cohort was divided into 2 groups, based on the presence or absence of SS, defined by the presence of an objective measure of sicca or an abnormal minor salivary gland biopsy in a patient with sicca symptoms. These groups were compared with regard to sociodemographic, clinical, and laboratory features. Multivariable logistic regression was then performed to adjust the findings for potential sociodemographic, clinical, and laboratory confounders. Results. The 259 patients with SS (14% of the cohort), when compared with the 1531 patients without SS, were older at the time of SLE diagnosis and were more commonly women and white. Photosensitivity, oral ulcers, Raynaud’s phenomenon, anti-Ro antibodies, and anti-La antibodies had a significant positive association while renal disease, anti-ribonucleoprotein (RNP) antibodies, and anti-dsDNA antibodies had a negative association with the presence of SS after adjustment for age (at last cohort visit), gender, ethnicity, and anti-Ro antibodies. The older age at diagnosis of SLE among the patients with SS did not remain a significant finding after adjustment for the age of the patient at last cohort visit. Conclusion. The subset of patients with SLE and SS has a distinct clinical and laboratory phenotype, with a higher frequency of older white women with photosensitivity, oral ulcers, Raynaud’s phenomenon, anti-Ro antibodies, and anti-La antibodies and a lower frequency of renal disease, anti-dsDNA antibodies, and anti-RNP antibodies.

A urate gene-by-diuretic interaction and gout risk in participants with hypertension: results from the ARIC study

Objective To test for a urate gene-by-diuretic interaction on incident gout. Methods The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study is a prospective population-based cohort of 15 792 participants recruited from four US communities (1987–1989). Participants with hypertension and available single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotype data were included. A genetic urate score (GUS) was created from common urate-associated SNPs for eight genes. Gout incidence was self-reported. Using logistic regression, the authors estimated the adjusted OR of incident gout by diuretic use, stratified by GUS median. Results Of 3524 participants with hypertension, 33% used a diuretic and 3.1% developed gout. The highest 9-year cumulative incidence of gout was in those with GUS above the median and taking a thiazide or loop diuretic (6.3%). Compared with no thiazide or loop diuretic use, their use was associated with an OR of 0.40 (95% CI 0.14 to 1.15) among those with a GUS below the median and 2.13 (95% CI 1.23 to 3.67) for those with GUS above the median; interaction p=0.006. When investigating the genes separately, SLC22A11 and SLC2A9 showed a significant interaction, consistent with the former encoding an organic anion/dicarboxylate exchanger, which mediates diuretic transport in the kidney. Conclusions Participants who were genetically predisposed to hyperuricaemia were susceptible to developing gout when taking thiazide or loop diuretics, an effect not evident among those without a genetic predisposition. These findings argue for a potential benefit of genotyping individuals with hypertension to assess gout risk, relative in part to diuretic use.

Hypertension and the Risk of Incident Gout in a Population‐Based Study: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Cohort

J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich). 2012; 14:675–679. ©2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Racial Differences in Gout Incidence in a Population-Based Cohort: Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study

We examined racial differences in gout incidence among black and white participants in a longitudinal, population-based cohort and tested whether racial differences were explained by higher levels of serum urate. The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study is a prospective, US population-based cohort study of middle-aged adults enrolled between 1987 and 1989 with ongoing annual follow-up through 2012. We estimated the adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals of incident gout by race among 11,963 men and women using adjusted Cox proportional hazards models. The cohort was 23.6% black. The incidence rate of gout was 8.4 per 10,000 person-years (15.5/10,000 person-years for black men, 12.0/10,000 person-years for black women, 9.4/10,000 person-years for white men, and 5.0/10,000 person-years for white women; P < 0.001). Black participants had an increased risk of incident gout (for women, adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 1.69, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.29, 2.22; for men, adjusted HR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.44, 2.56). Upon further adjustment for uric acid levels, there was modest attenuation of the association of race with incident gout (for women, adjusted HR = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.24, 2.22; for men, adjusted HR = 1.49, 95% CI: 1.11, 2.00) compared with white participants. In this US population-based cohort, black women and black men were at increased risk of developing gout during middle and older ages compared with whites, which appears, particularly in men, to be partly related to higher urate levels in middle-aged blacks.

Obesity and younger age at gout onset in a community‐based cohort

Obesity is associated with gout risk. It is unclear whether obesity is associated with a younger age at gout onset. We examined whether obesity is related to age at gout onset and quantified the risk of incident gout by obesity status in the Campaign Against Cancer and Heart Disease (CLUE II) study, a longitudinal community‐based cohort.

Low Socioeconomic Status Is Associated with Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Outcomes in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Objective. Accelerated atherosclerosis is a major cause of death in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), yet little is known about the effect of socioeconomic status. We investigated whether education or income levels are associated with cardiovascular risk factors and outcomes in SLE. Methods. Our study involved a longitudinal cohort of all patients with SLE enrolled in the Hopkins Lupus Cohort from 1987 through September 2011. Socioeconomic status was measured by education level (≥ 12 years or < 12) and income tertiles (>

Testicular pain followed by microscopic hematuria, a renal mass, palpable purpura, polyarthritis, and hematochezia

60,000,

The Radiographic Scars of Glucocorticoid Treatment in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

25,000–