Recent genetic association studies have identified 55 genetic loci associated with obesity or body mass index (BMI). The vast majority, 51 loci, however, were identified in European-ancestry populations. We conducted a meta-analysis of associations between BMI and ∼2.5 million genotyped or imputed single nucleotide polymorphisms among 86 757 individuals of Asian ancestry, followed by in silico and de novo replication among 7488–47 352 additional Asian-ancestry individuals. We identified four novel BMI-associated loci near the KCNQ1 (rs2237892, P = 9.29 × 10⁻¹³), ALDH2/MYL2 (rs671, P = 3.40 × 10⁻¹¹; rs12229654, P = 4.56 × 10⁻⁹), ITIH4 (rs2535633, P = 1.77 × 10⁻¹⁰) and NT5C2 (rs11191580, P = 3.83 × 10⁻⁸) genes. The association of BMI with rs2237892, rs671 and rs12229654 was significantly stronger among men than among women. Of the 51 BMI-associated loci initially identified in European-ancestry populations, we confirmed eight loci at the genome-wide significance level (P < 5.0 × 10⁻⁸) and an additional 14 at P < 1.0 × 10⁻³ with the same direction of effect as reported previously. Findings from this analysis expand our knowledge of the genetic basis of obesity.

A chronic disease in older adults usually runs a course that is less predictable than in younger individuals. Unexplained variations in disease incidence, prognosis, therapeutic responses, and toxicity are frequently observed among older adults. This heterogeneity poses huge challenges to the current one-size-fits-all health care systems, and calls for more personalized managements of chronic diseases in older adults. Aging is characterized by progressive deterioration of bodily functions with increasing risk of failure over time. The entire process is hierarchically organized, and progresses from intracellular events to changes at systemic and ultimately organism levels at different rates among different individuals. Aging biology exerts great influences on the development and progression of most age-related chronic diseases. Thus, aging biology could contribute to the complexity of illnesses that increase with age, and aging biomarkers possess a great potential to enable personalized health risk assessment and health care. We review evidences supporting the roles of aging biomarkers in risk assessment of prevalent age-related diseases. Frailty phenotype is an objectively measured indicator of advanced-stage aging that is characterized by organism-level dysfunction. In contrast, altered inflammation markers level signifies an earlier stage between cellular abnormalities and systems dysfunction. Results of human observational studies and randomized controlled trials indicate that these measures, albeit simple, greatly facilitate classification of older patients with cancer, chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes mellitus into groups that vary in disease incidence, prognosis and therapeutic response/toxicity. As the detailed mechanisms underlying the complex biologic process of aging are unraveled in the future, a larger array of biomarkers that correlate with biologic aging at different stages will be discovered. Following the translational research framework described in this article, these research efforts would result in innovations in disease prevention and management that address the huge unmet health needs of aging populations.

This study examined the effect of daily life reading activity on the risk of cognitive decline and whether the effect differs regarding education levels. A longitudinal study with 6-, 10-, and 14-year follow-up. Face-to-face interviews with structured questionnaires at home. A representative sample of 1,962 Taiwanese community-dwelling older persons aged 64 and above, followed up in four waves of surveys over 14 years. Baseline reading frequencies were measured based on a scale of leisure activity. The Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire was used to measure cognitive performance. We performed logistic regression to assess associations between baseline reading and later cognitive decline. Interaction terms between reading and education were to compare the reading effects on cognitive decline at different education levels. After adjusting for covariates, those with higher reading frequencies (≥1 time a week) were less likely to have cognitive decline at 6-year (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 0.54; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.34–0.86), 10-year (AOR: 0.58, 95% CI: 0.37–0.92), and 14-year (AOR: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.34–0.86); in a 14-year follow-up, a reduced risk of cognitive decline was observed among older people with higher reading frequencies versus lower ones at all educational levels. Reading was protective of cognitive function in later life. Frequent reading activities were associated with a reduced risk of cognitive decline for older adults at all levels of education in the long term.

During the past century, there have been dramatic improvements in life expectancy in Taiwan, with the average life span increasing from 30.0 and 32.1 years for men and women in 1908 to 77 and 83.5 years in 2016, respectively. ¹ As a consequence of this demographic transition, the population in Taiwan has rapidly been ageing. Currently, persons aged 65 and older comprise about 12.5% of the Taiwanese population; this proportion is projected to reach 14% in 2018 and 20% in 2025. ² With the ageing of a population comes an increase in prevalence of chronic diseases and geriatric syndromes, and an expansion in healthcare costs that impose a huge burden on the whole society. ³ For example, cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, hypertension and chronic kidney disease have been listed among the 10 leading causes of death among the elderly in Taiwan for the past decade. ⁴ The high prevalence of chronic kidney disease in the elderly (estimated to be over 37% ⁵) is another example indicating that an ageing population is one of the most important factors behind the high incidence and prevalence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in Taiwan. ⁶