Objectives: Previous studies had reported that insulin resistance (assessed by estimated glucose disposal rate; eGDR) was associated with higher risk of cardiovascular events (CVD) in diabetes patients. The aim of present study was to investigate the potential association between eGDR and CVD in general population. Methods: The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study with 8,267 individuals were included in analysis. Participants were divided into four subgroups according to eGDR quartile. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to examine the associations of eGDR with CVD (stroke or cardiac events). Results: During 6 years of follow-up, a total of 1,476 respondents experienced a CVD (494 stroke and 1,110 cardiac events). In multivariable-adjusted analyses, the corresponding hazard ratio (95% confidence intervals) for the highest eGDR versus lowest quartile of eGDR was 0.58(0.49–0.67) for CVD. Each 1-SD increase of eGDR was associated with 16% (HRs = 0.84; 0.79–0.88) decreased risk of CVD. There was also a significant linear association between eGDR and CVD (P for linearity < 0.001). Similar associations were also found between eGDR and stroke and cardiac events. Conclusion: A higher eGDR (a measure of insulin resistance) was associated with a decreased risk of CVD, stroke and cardiac events in general Chinese population, suggesting that eGDR could be considered as a preferential predictor and treatment target of CVD. Future well-designed prospective clinical studies are needed to verify our findings and to assess the effect of eGDR interventions in CVD prevention and therapy.

Background and Purpose: Choline metabolism was suggested to play pathophysiological roles in nervous system and atherosclerosis development. However, little is known about the impacts of choline pathway nutrients and metabolites on poststroke cognitive impairment. We aimed to prospectively investigate the relationships between circulating choline, betaine, and trimethylamine N-oxide with cognitive impairment among acute ischemic stroke patients. Methods: We derived data from CATIS (China Antihypertensive Trial in Acute Ischemic Stroke). Plasma choline, betaine, and trimethylamine N-oxide concentrations at baseline were measured in 617 participants. Cognitive impairment was evaluated using the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. Reclassification and calibration of models with choline-related biomarkers were evaluated. Results: Plasma choline and betaine were inversely associated with cognitive impairment. Compared with the lowest tertile, adjusted odds ratios of Mini-Mental State Examination–defined cognitive impairment for participants in the highest tertiles of choline and betaine were 0.59 (95% CI, 0.39–0.90) and 0.60 (95% CI, 0.39–0.92), respectively. In addition, both choline and betaine offered incremental predictive ability over the basic model with established risk factors, shown by increase in net reclassification improvement and integrated discrimination improvement. There were similar significant relationships between choline and betaine with cognitive impairment as defined by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. However, plasma trimethylamine N-oxide was only associated with cognitive impairment evaluated using the Mini-Mental State Examination; the adjusted odds ratio was 1.33 (95% CI, 1.04–1.72) for each 1-SD increment of trimethylamine N-oxide. Conclusions: Patients with higher choline and betaine levels had lower risk of cognitive impairment after ischemic stroke, supporting promising prognostic roles of choline pathway nutrients for poststroke cognitive impairment.

Background and Purpose: Complement C3 has been implicated in inflammation and ischemia/reperfusion injury, but its impact on the prognosis of ischemic stroke remains unclear. Aim of this study was to prospectively investigate the association between serum complement C3 and adverse clinical outcomes after ischemic stroke. Methods: We measured serum complement C3 levels for 3474 patients with ischemic stroke in 26 participating hospitals and collected data of clinical outcomes at 3 months after ischemic stroke. The primary outcome was composite outcome of death and major disability (modified Rankin Scale score ≥3) at 3 months after stroke onset and secondary outcomes included major disability, death, and vascular events. Results: During 3 months of follow-up, 866 participants (25.4%) developed primary outcome. After multivariate adjustment, elevated serum complement C3 levels were associated with increased risk of primary outcome (odds ratio, 1.30 [95% CI, 1.02–1.65]; P _trend =0.038) when 2 extreme tertiles were compared. Each SD increase of log-transformed complement C3 was associated with 13% (95% CI, 2%–25%) increased risk of primary outcome. Multivariable-adjusted spline regression model showed a linear relationship between serum complement C3 and the risk of primary outcome ( P _linearity =0.022). Addition of serum complement C3 to conventional risk factors significantly improved the risk prediction of primary outcome (net reclassification index: 8.87%, P =0.028; integrated discrimination index: 0.19%, P =0.029). Conclusions: High serum complement C3 levels at baseline were associated with increased risks of adverse clinical outcomes at 3 months after ischemic stroke, suggesting that serum complement C3 may be a valuable prognostic biomarker for ischemic stroke.

Objective: Previous studies had reported the significant association between hypertension, remnant cholesterol (RC) and risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The aim of present study was to evaluate the combined effect of hypertension and RC on the risk of CVD. Methods: A total of 9456 participants from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study were included. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to explore the associations between hypertension, RC and new-onset CVD, stroke and cardiac events. Results: During the follow-up period, 1702 CVD events (including 563 stroke and 1282 cardiac events) were recorded. Compared to those without hypertension and low RC level, the adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) were 1.09 (0.95–1.24) for individuals with high RC alone, 1.27 (1.10–1.46) for individuals with hypertension alone and 1.32 (1.15–1.51) for individuals with comorbid hypertension and high RC. Individuals with co-existence of hypertension and high RC also had the highest risks of stroke and cardiac events. Conclusion: Our study indicated that there was a combined effect of hypertension and RC on the risk of CVD, stroke and cardiac events. Larger-sample prospective cohort studies are still required to test the potential application of combination of hypertension and RC as a screening method to identify individuals at risk of CVD.