Association of cardiovascular diseases with cognitive performance in older adults.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive function and cardiovascular disease (CVD) have a bidirectional relationship, but studies on the impact of CVD subtypes and aging spectrum have been scarce. METHODS: We assessed older adults aged ≥60 years from the 2011 to 2012 and 2013 to 2014 cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey who had coronary heart disease, angina, prior myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, or prior stroke. We compared CERAD-IR, CERAD-DR, Animal Fluency test, and DSST scores to assess cognitive performance in older adults with and without CVD. RESULTS: We included 3,131 older adults, representing 55,479,673 older adults at the national level. Older adults with CVD had lower CERAD-IR (mean difference 1.8, 95% CI 1.4-2.1, P < .001), CERAD-DR (mean difference 0.8, 95% CI 0.6-1.0, P < .001), Animal Fluency test (mean difference 2.1, 95% CI 1.6-2.6, P < .001), and DSST (mean difference 9.5, 95% CI 8.0-10.9, P < .001) scores compared with those without CVD. After adjustment, no difference in CERAD-IR, CERAD-DR, and Animal Fluency test scores was observed, but DSST scores were lower in older adults with CVD (adjusted mean difference 2.9, 95% CI 1.1-4.7, P = .001). Across CVD subtypes, individuals with congestive heart failure had lower performance on the DSST score. The oldest-old cohort of patients ≥80 years old with CVD had lower performance than those without CVD on both the DSST and Animal Fluency test. CONCLUSION: Older adults with CVD had lower cognitive performance as measured than those free of CVD, driven by pronounced differences among those with CHF and those ≥80 years old with CVD.

Sarcopenia, an overlooked diagnosis in kidney transplant recipients.

Most studies of sarcopenia in renal transplant recipients (RTRs) have been hampered by a lack of standardization in the definitions of sarcopenia. In this study, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of sarcopenia and the associated factors in RTRs using the recently proposed criteria of the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People 2018 (EWGSOP2), which included a standardized definition of sarcopenia. We examined 93 consecutive adult RTRs, 46 chronic kidney disease patients, and 46 healthy controls. We assessed the muscle strength with a hand grip test using a dynamometer and with a chair stand test. We used bioimpedance analysis to estimate appendicular skeletal mass using the Sergi formula. Finally, we conducted a 2-minute walking test to assess endurance. Sarcopenia and probable sarcopenia were determined according to the revised criteria of the EWGSOP2. Probable sarcopenia was found in 29 RTR patients (31.2%), of them 14 (15.1%) were diagnosed with sarcopenia. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that presence of diabetes mellitus, increased uric acid level, and statin use were risk factors for probable sarcopenia. On the other hand, longer dialysis vintage was a risk factor for sarcopenia in RTRs. We found that probable sarcopenia and sarcopenia were highly prevalent in our relatively young RTRs. We recommend active screening for the presence of sarcopenia in RTRs, especially in the cadaveric ones. Furthermore, caution seems warranted regarding the myopathic side effects in RTRs who use statins.

Extrafollicular IgD-CD27-CXCR5-CD11c- DN3 B cells infiltrate inflamed tissues in autoimmune fibrosis and in severe COVID-19.

Although therapeutic B cell depletion dramatically resolves inflammation in many diseases in which antibodies appear not to play a central role, distinct extrafollicular pathogenic B cell subsets that accumulate in disease lesions have hitherto not been identified. The circulating immunoglobulin D (IgD)-CD27-CXCR5-CD11c+ DN2 B cell subset has been previously studied in some autoimmune diseases. A distinct IgD-CD27-CXCR5-CD11c- DN3 B cell subset accumulates in the blood both in IgG4-related disease, an autoimmune disease in which inflammation and fibrosis can be reversed by B cell depletion, and in severe COVID-19. These DN3 B cells prominently accumulate in the end organs of IgG4-related disease and in lung lesions in COVID-19, and double-negative B cells prominently cluster with CD4+ T cells in these lesions. Extrafollicular DN3 B cells may participate in tissue inflammation and fibrosis in autoimmune fibrotic diseases, as well as in COVID-19.