METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for Protocols statement was used as a template for this protocol. A systematic search of Medline, Embase and Global Health from database inception to present will be conducted to identify prospective studies reporting on the associations between major measures of body composition (body mass index, waist circumference, waist-hip ratio, total body fat, visceral adiposity tissue and lean mass) and risk of heart failure. Article screening and selection will be performed by two reviewers independently, and disagreements will be adjudicated by consensus or by a third reviewer. Data from eligible articles will be extracted, and article quality will be assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Relative risks (and 95% CIs) will be pooled in a fixed effect meta-analysis, if there is no prohibitive heterogeneity of studies as assessed using the Cochrane Q statistic and I2 statistic. Subgroup analyses will be by age, sex, ethnicity and heart failure subtypes. Publication bias in the meta-analysis will be assessed using Egger's test and funnel plots.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This work is secondary analyses on published data and ethical approval is not required. We plan to publish results in an open-access peer-reviewed journal, present it at international and national conferences, and share the findings on social media.

MATERIALS AND METHOD: 180 SNPs, shown to be previously associated with prostate cancer, were used to develop a PHS model in men with European ancestry. A machine-learning approach, LASSO-regularized Cox regression, was used to select SNPs and to estimate their coefficients in the training set (75,596 men). Performance of the resulting model was evaluated in the testing/validation set (6,411 men) with two metrics: (1) hazard ratios (HRs) and (2) positive predictive value (PPV) of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing. HRs were estimated between individuals with PHS in the top 5% to those in the middle 40% (HR95/50), top 20% to bottom 20% (HR80/20), and bottom 20% to middle 40% (HR20/50). PPV was calculated for the top 20% (PPV80) and top 5% (PPV95) of PHS as the fraction of individuals with elevated PSA that were diagnosed with clinically significant prostate cancer on biopsy.

RESULTS: 166 SNPs had non-zero coefficients in the Cox model (PHS166). All HR metrics showed significant improvements for PHS166 compared to PHS46: HR95/50 increased from 3.72 to 5.09, HR80/20 increased from 6.12 to 9.45, and HR20/50 decreased from 0.41 to 0.34. By contrast, no significant differences were observed in PPV of PSA testing for clinically significant prostate cancer.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Baseline ECGs were collected in 153 152 middle-aged participants (ages 35-70 years) to document AF in two community-based studies, spanning 20 countries. Medication use and clinical outcome data (mean follow-up of 7.4 years) were available in one cohort. Cross-sectional analyses were performed to document the prevalence of AF and medication use, and associations between AF and clinical events were examined prospectively. Mean age of participants was 52.1 years, and 57.7% were female. Age and sex-standardized prevalence of AF varied 12-fold between regions; with the highest in North America, Europe, China, and Southeast Asia (270-360 cases per 100 000 persons); and lowest in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia (30-60 cases per 100 000 persons) (P risk factors. In LICs/MICs, 24% of participants with AF and a CHADS2 score ≥1 received antithrombotic therapy, compared with 85% in HICs. AF was associated with an increased risk of stroke [hazard ratio (HR) 2.29; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.49-3.52] and death (HR 2.97; 95% CI 2.25-3.93); with similar rates in different countries grouped by income level.

METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of a single-center prospective observational study that enrolled mechanically ventilated adults with expected ≥96 hours ICU stay. SARC-F and CFS questionnaires were administered to patient's next-of-kin and mNUTRIC were calculated. Calf-circumference was measured at the right calf. Nutrition data was collected from nursing record. The high-risk scores (mNUTRIC ≥5, SARC-CALF >10 or CFS ≥4) of these variables were combined to become the NUTRIC-SF score (range: 0-3).

RESULTS: Eighty-eight patients were analyzed. Multiple logistic model demonstrated increasing mNUTRIC score was independently associated with 60-day mortality while increasing SARC-CALF and CFS showed a strong trend towards higher 60-day mortality. Discriminative ability of NUTRIC-SF for 60-day mortality is better than it's component (AUROC 0.722, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.677-0.868). Every increment of 300 kcal/day and 30 g/day is associated with a trend towards higher rate of discharge alive for high [≥2; Adjusted Hazard Ratio 1.453 (95% CI 0.991-2.130) for energy, 1.503 (95% CI 0.936-2.413) for protein] but not low (<2) NUTRIC-SF score.

METHODS: A total of 299 patients who had undergone CACS and CCTA, and had scored zero for coronary artery calcium. Patients included had clinically appropriate indications, mainly chest pain with variable severity with no history of CAD. The presence of CAD risk factors, such as diabetes, hypertension, and smoking, was obtained from reviewing patient charts. The CCTA analysis was performed to evaluate for coronary artery stenosis and the presence of NCP. The severity of stenosis was quantified by visual estimation and divided into 0% stenosis, 1-25% stenosis, 26-50% stenosis, and more than 50% stenosis.

RESULTS: The prevalence of NCP was 6.4% (19 of the 299). Among the 19 patients with NCP, 52.6% had no identified coronary artery stenosis, 26.3% had less than 25%, and 21% had stenosis between 25 and 50%. None had stenosis greater than 50%. There was a strong association between male sex (P = 0.001), smoking (P = 0.0.004), hypertension, and NCP (P = 0.042), but no association was found between NCP and age or diabetes.