Nathalie Marchand

ObjectiveTo examine the association of long-term weight change with RA risk in a large prospective cohort study.MethodsThe Nurses’ Health Study II started in 1989 (baseline); after exclusions, we studied 108 505 women 25–42 years old without RA. Incident RA was reported by participants and confirmed by medical record review. Body weight was reported biennially through 2015. We investigated two time-varying exposures: weight changes from baseline and from age 18; change was divided into five categories. We used a marginal structural model approach to account for time-varying weight change and covariates.ResultsOver 2 583 266 person-years, with a median follow-up time of 25.3 years, 541 women developed RA. Compared with women with stable weight from baseline, weight change was significantly associated with increased RA risk [weight gain 2–<10 kg: RR = 1.98 (95% CI 1.38, 2.85); 10–<20 kg: RR = 3.28 (95% CI 2.20, 4.89); ≥20 kg: RR = 3.81 (95% CI 2.39, 6.07); and weight loss >2 kg: RR = 2.05 (95% CI 1.28, 3.28)]. Weight gain of 10 kg or more from age 18 compared with stable weight was also associated with increased RA risk [10–< 20 kg: RR = 2.12 (95% CI 1.37, 3.27), ≥20 kg: RR = 2.31 (95% CI 1.50, 3.56)]. Consistent findings were observed for seropositive and seronegative RA.ConclusionLong-term weight gain was strongly associated with increased RA risk in women, with weight gain of ≥20 kg associated with more than a three-fold increased RA risk. Maintenance of healthy weight may be a strategy to prevent or delay RA.

Neurodegenerative Diseases – Rostock/Greifswald, Rostock, Germany; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Goettingen, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center G€ottingen, G€ottingen, Germany; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Magdeburg, Germany; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Cologne, Germany. Contact e-mail: Alexandra.Polcher@dzne.de

Concern over loss of cognitive function, including descent into Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, grips a growing percentage of men and women worldwide as the global population ages. Many studies, though not all, suggest that maintaining cognitive health, as well as slowing and even preventing cognitive decline, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease, can be achieved by consuming healthy diets over a long enough period of time. This appears to be the case even for those who initiated dietary changes later in life, as evidenced by an intervention study assessing consumption of a healthy diet among those who were &gt;50 years of age. All such diets share the common traits of being rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fish or seafood, while also being low in red meat and sweets. A Mediterranean-style diet shares these characteristics and has been associated with an estimated 40% lower risk of cognitive impairment, including mild cognitive impairment, dementia, and Alzheimer’s diseas...

ObjectiveThis study was undertaken to examine the relationship between alcohol consumption and hip osteoarthritis in women. Alcohol has been associated with both adverse and beneficial health effects generally; however, the relationship between alcohol consumption and hip osteoarthritis has been minimally studied.MethodsAmong women in the Nurses’ Health Study cohort in the US, alcohol consumption was assessed every 4 years, starting in 1980. Intake was computed as cumulative averages and simple updates with latency periods of 0–4 through 20–24 years. We followed 83,383 women without diagnosed osteoarthritis in 1988 to June 2012. We identified 1,796 cases of total hip replacement due to hip osteoarthritis defined by self‐report of osteoarthritis with hip replacement.ResultsAlcohol consumption was positively associated with hip osteoarthritis risk. Compared with nondrinkers, multivariable hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were HR 1.04 (95% CI 0.90, 1.19) for d...

ObjectiveTo investigate passive smoking throughout the life course and the risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), while accounting for personal smoking.MethodsWe analyzed the Nurses’ Health Study II prospective cohort, using information collected via biennial questionnaires. We assessed the influence of 1) maternal smoking during pregnancy (in utero exposure), 2) childhood parental smoking, and 3) years lived with smokers since age 18. Incident RA and serostatus were determined by medical record review. Using the marginal structural model framework, we estimated the controlled direct effect of each passive smoking exposure on adult incident RA risk by serologic phenotype, controlling for early‐life factors and time‐updated adulthood factors including personal smoking.ResultsAmong 90,923 women, we identified 532 incident RA cases (66% seropositive) during a median of 27.7 years of follow‐up. Maternal smoking during pregnancy was associated with RA after adjustment for confounders, with a...

Evidence suggests that egg intake may be implicated in the aetiology of sex hormone-related cancers. However, dose-response relationships between egg intake and such cancers are unclear. Thus, we conducted a dose-response meta-analysis to summarise the dose-response relationships between egg consumption and the risk of breast, prostate and gynaecological cancers. A literature search was performed using PubMed and Embase up to April 2015 to identify relevant prospective observational studies. Summary relative risk (RR) and 95 % CI were estimated using a random-effects model. For breast cancer, the linear dose-response meta-analysis found a non-significantly increased risk (RR for an increase of 5 eggs consumed/week: 1·05, 95 % CI 0·99, 1·11, n 16 023 cases). Evidence for non-linearity was not statistically significant (P non-linearity= 0·50, n 15 415 cases) but consuming ≥ 5 eggs/week was significantly associated with an increased risk of breast cancer compared with no egg consumptio...

Clinical isolates of primate immunodeficiency viruses, including human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), enter target cells by sequential binding to CD4 and the chemokine receptor CCR5, a member of the seven-transmembrane receptor family. HIV-1 variants which use additional chemokine receptors are present in the central nervous system or emerge during the course of infection. Simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIV) have been shown to use CCR5 as a coreceptor, but no other receptors for these viruses have been identified. Here we show that two orphan seven-transmembrane segment receptors, gpr1 and gpr15, serve as coreceptors for SIV, and are expressed in human alveolar macrophages. The more efficient of these, gpr15, is also expressed in human CD4+ T lymphocytes and activated rhesus macaque peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The gpr15 and gpr1 proteins lack several hallmarks of chemokine receptors, but share with CCR5 an amino-terminal motif rich in tyrosine residues. These resul...

Objective.Being overweight or obese increases rheumatoid arthritis (RA) risk among women, particularly among those diagnosed at a younger age. Abdominal obesity may contribute to systemic inflammation more than general obesity; thus, we investigated whether abdominal obesity, compared to general obesity, predicted RA risk in 2 prospective cohorts: the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and NHS II.Methods.We followed 50,682 women (1986–2014) in NHS and 47,597 women (1993–2015) in NHS II, without RA at baseline. Waist circumference (WC), BMI, health outcomes, and covariate data were collected through biennial questionnaires. Incident RA cases and serologic status were identified by chart review. We examined the associations of WC and BMI with RA risk using time-varying Cox proportional hazards models. We repeated analyses restricted to age ≤ 55 years.Results.During 28 years of follow-up, we identified 844 incident RA cases (527 NHS, 317 NHS II). Women with WC &gt; 88 cm (35 in) had increased ...