Background: Nonpharmacologic interventions that modify lifestyle can lower blood pressure (BP) and have been assessed in numerous randomized controlled trials and pairwise meta‐analyses. It is still unclear which intervention would be most efficacious.Methods and Results: Bayesian network meta‐analyses were performed to estimate the comparative effectiveness of different interventions for lowering BP. From 60 166 potentially relevant articles, 120 eligible articles (14 923 participants) with a median follow‐up of 12 weeks, assessing 22 nonpharmacologic interventions, were included. According to the surface under the cumulative ranking probabilities and Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) quality of evidence, for adults with prehypertension to established hypertension, high‐quality evidence indicated that the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) was superior to usual care and all other nonpharmacologic interventions in lowering systolic BP (weighted mean difference, 6.97 mm Hg; 95% credible interval, 4.50–9.47) and diastolic BP (weighted mean difference, 3.54 mm Hg; 95% credible interval, 1.80–5.28). Compared with usual care, moderate‐ to high‐quality evidence indicated that aerobic exercise, isometric training, low‐sodium and high‐potassium salt, comprehensive lifestyle modification, breathing‐control, and meditation could lower systolic BP and diastolic BP. For patients with hypertension, moderate‐ to high‐quality evidence suggested that the interventions listed (except comprehensive lifestyle modification) were associated with greater systolic BP and diastolic BP reduction than usual care; salt restriction was also effective in lowering both systolic BP and diastolic BP. Among overweight and obese participants, low‐calorie diet and low‐calorie diet plus exercise could lower more BP than exercise.Conclusions: DASH might be the most effective intervention in lowering BP for adults with prehypertension to established hypertension. Aerobic exercise, isometric training, low‐sodium and high‐potassium salt, comprehensive lifestyle modification, salt restriction, breathing‐control, meditation and low‐calorie diet also have obvious effects on BP reduction.

Dairy products have been suggested to be related to the prevention of overweight or obesity, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). These associations are currently controversial, however, and a systematic quantitative meta-analysis is lacking. In this study, we examined the associations between dairy products and the risk of overweight or obesity, hypertension, and T2DM and tested for dose–response relations. We comprehensively searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science up to April 2021. Cohort studies were included if dairy food consumption was reported at a minimum of 3 levels or as continuous variables, and the associations were assessed with overweight or obesity, hypertension, and T2DM. Summary RRs and 95% CIs were estimated for the dose–response association. Restricted cubic splines were used to evaluate the linear or nonlinear relations. Among the 9887 articles retrieved, 42 articles were included. For overweight or obesity, a linear association was observed for total dairy, milk, and yogurt. The risk decreased by 25%, 7%, and 12% per 200-g/d increase for total dairy, high-fat dairy, and milk, respectively, and by 13% per 50-g/d increment of yogurt. For hypertension, a nonlinear association was observed with total dairy, whereas significant inverse associations were found for low-fat dairy (RR: 0.94; 95% CI: 0.90, 0.98) and milk (RR: 0.94; 95% CI: 0.92, 0.97) per 200-g/d intake increase. For T2DM, all types of dairy food consumption except for milk and low-fat dairy products showed nonlinear associations, with total dairy and yogurt intake associated with 3% and 7% lower risk per 200-g/d and 50-g/d intake increase, respectively. In conclusion, our study suggests that total dairy is associated with a low risk of overweight or obesity, hypertension, and T2DM, especially milk and yogurt for overweight or obesity, low-fat dairy and milk for hypertension, and yogurt for T2DM.

Platelet and blood coagulation abnormalities frequently occur in cancer patients. Fibrinogen is an important hemostatic factor that regulates the hemostatic pathway. Hyperfibrinogenemia is increasing recognized as an important risk factor influencing cancer development and outcome. However, few reports have investigated the prognostic potential of fibrinogen for predicting the survival of gastric cancer (GC) patients. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of preoperative serum fibrinogen as a biomarker for predicating tumor progression and survival of patients with GC. This retrospective study was conducted in GC patients who underwent gastrectomy from 2005 to 2007. Patient demographics, clinicopathological characteristics, preoperative plasma fibrinogen levels and median survival time (MST) were analyzed. Univariate and multivariate proportional hazard analysis of risk factors were used. This study included 1196 patients (885 males and 311 females) with GC, more than half of whom had advanced GCs. Radical lymph node dissection was performed in 71.6 % of these patients. MST was 41.9 ± 32.4 months. Patient survival was significantly affected by family GC history (p <0.05), lymph node dissection mode (p <0.001), tumor size (≥5 cm; p <0.001), tumor location (p < 0.001), poor tumor differentiation (p <0.001), tumor histologic classification (p <0.001), extent of tumor invasion (p <0.001), number of metastatic lymph nodes (p <0.001), advanced stage of disease (p 150 min; p 200 ml; p <0.001), postoperative transfusion, preoperative serum fibrinogen levels, CEA levels and CA 19-9 levels (p <0.001). Multivariate analysis indicated that the independent prognostic factors significantly associated with poor survival included non-radical lymph node dissection, palliative lymph node dissection, multi-organ involvement, advanced TNM stages, poor tumor differentiation, higher preoperative serum fibrinogen levelsand higher CA19-9 levels. Serum fibrinogen levels are positively correlated with advanced tumor stages and poor survival in GC patients undergoing gastrectomy. Preoperative plasma fibrinogen levels are an independent risk factor for survival in these patients. Serum fibrinogen is a useful biomarker for patients with clinically advanced GC.

Recent studies have reported conflicting associations of fried-food consumption and risk of overweight/obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and hypertension, and a meta-analysis is not available. We aimed to explore the association between fried-food consumption and risk of overweight/obesity, T2DM and hypertension in adults through a meta-analysis. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science for studies published up to 17 June 2020. Pooled relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by random-effects models. In comparing the highest to lowest fried-food intake, the pooled RRs (95% CIs) were 1.16 (1.07-1.25; I² = 71.0%, P_{heterogeneity} < 0.001) for overweight/obesity (cohort: 1.19 [0.97-1.47], n = 2; cross-sectional: 1.14 [1.03-1.27], n = 9), 1.07 (0.90-1.27; 84.7%) for T2DM (cohort: 1.01 [0.89-1.15], n = 9; case-control: 2.33 [1.80-3.01], n = 1), and 1.20 (1.05-1.38; I²=91.8%) for hypertension (cohort: 1.06 [0.98-1.15], n = 8; cross-sectional: 2.16 [0.59-7.87], n = 3). Our meta-analysis indicates fried-food consumption is associated with increased risk of overweight/obesity and hypertension but not T2DM in adults, but the findings should be interpreted with caution due to high heterogeneity and unstable subgroup analyses of this meta-analysis. More studies are warranted to investigate the total fried-food consumption and these health outcomes.

Background: We aimed to evaluate the association between the Chinese visceral adiposity index (CVAI) and its dynamic change and risk of carotid plaque based on a large Chinese cohort. Methods and Results: This cohort included 23 522 participants aged 20 to 80 years without elevated carotid intima‐media thickness and carotid plaque at baseline and who received at least 2 health checkups. CVAI was calculated at baseline and at every checkup. The dynamic change in CVAI was calculated by subtracting CVAI at baseline from that at the last follow‐up. Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs. The restricted cubic spline was applied to model the dose‐response association between CVAI and carotid plaque risk. During the 82 621 person‐years of follow‐up, 5987 cases of carotid plaque developed (7.25/100 person‐years). We observed a significant positive correlation between CVAI and carotid plaque risk (HR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.48–1.59 [ P <0.001]) in a nonlinear dose‐response pattern ( P _nonlinearity <0.001). The sensitivity analyses further confirmed the robustness of the results. The association was significant in all subgroup analyses stratified by sex, hypertension, and fatty liver disease except for the diabetes subgroup. The association between CVAI and carotid plaque risk was much higher in men than in women. No significant association was identified between change in CVAI and carotid plaque risk. Conclusions: CVAI was positively associated with carotid plaque risk in a nonlinear dose‐response pattern in this study. Individuals should keep their CVAI within a normal level to prevent the development of carotid plaque.