Faecal immunochemical test for patients with ‘high-risk’ bowel symptoms: a large prospective cohort study and updated literature review

Background We evaluated whether faecal immunochemical testing (FIT) can rule out colorectal cancer (CRC) among patients presenting with ‘high-risk’ symptoms requiring definitive investigation. Methods Three thousand five hundred and ninety-six symptomatic patients referred to the standard urgent CRC pathway were recruited in a multi-centre observational study. They completed FIT in addition to standard investigations. CRC miss rate (percentage of CRC cases with low quantitative faecal haemoglobin [f-Hb] measurement) and specificity (percentage of patients without cancer with low f-Hb) were calculated. We also provided an updated literature review. Results Ninety patients had CRC. At f-Hb < 10 µg/g, the miss rate was 16.7% (specificity 80.1%). At f-Hb < 4 µg/g, the miss rate was 12.2% (specificity 73%), which became 3.3% if low FIT plus the absence of anaemia and abdominal pain were considered (specificity 51%). Within meta-analyses of 9 UK studies, the pooled miss rate was 7.2% (specificity 74%) for f-Hb < 4 µg/g. Discussion FIT alone as a triage tool would miss an estimated 1 in 8 cases in our study (1 in 14 from meta-analysis), while many people without CRC could avoid investigations. FIT can focus secondary care diagnostic capacity on patients most at risk of CRC, but more work on safety netting is required before incorporating FIT triage into the urgent diagnostic pathway.

Glucosamine use, smoking and risk of incident chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A large prospective cohort study

Chronic inflammation exerts pleiotropic effects in the etiology and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Glucosamine is widely used in many countries and may have anti-inflammatory properties. We aimed to prospectively evaluate the association of regular glucosamine use with incident COPD risk and explore whether such association could be modified by smoking in the UK Biobank cohort, which recruited more than half a million participants aged 40–69 years from across the UK between 2006 and 2010. Cox proportional hazards models with adjustment for potential confounding factors were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) as well as 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for the risk of incident COPD. During a median follow-up of 8.96 years (interquartile range 8.29 to 9.53 years), 9016 new-onset events of COPD were documented. We found that regular use of glucosamine was associated with a significantly lower risk of incident COPD with multivariable adjusted HR of 0.80 (95% CI, 0.75 to 0.85; P<0.001). When subgroup analyses were performed by smoking status, the adjusted HRs for the association of regular glucosamine use with incident COPD were 0.84 (0.73 to 0.96), 0.84 (0.77 to 0.92), and 0.71 (0.62 to 0.80) among never smokers, former smokers and current smokers, respectively. No significant interaction was observed between glucosamine use and smoking status (P for interaction=0.078). Incident COPD could be reduced by 14% to 84% through a combination of regular glucosamine use and smoking cessation

Cross-sectional analysis of educational inequalities in primary prevention statin use in UK Biobank

ObjectiveIdentify whether participants with lower education are less likely to report taking statins for primary cardiovascular prevention than those with higher education, but an equivalent increase in underlying cardiovascular risk.MethodsUsing data from a large prospective cohort study, UK Biobank, we calculated a QRISK3 cardiovascular risk score for 472 097 eligible participants with complete data on self-reported educational attainment and statin use (55% female participants; mean age 56 years). We used logistic regression to explore the association between (i) QRISK3 score and (ii) educational attainment on self-reported statin use. We then stratified the association between QRISK3 score and statin use, by educational attainment to test for interactions.ResultsThere was evidence of an interaction between QRISK3 score and educational attainment. Per unit increase in QRISK3 score, more educated individuals were more likely to report taking statins. In women with ≤7 years of schooling, a one unit increase in QRISK3 score was associated with a 7% higher odds of statin use (OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.07). In women with ≥20 years of schooling, a one unit increase in QRISK3 score was associated with an 14% higher odds of statin use (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.14 to 1.15). Comparable ORs in men were 1.04 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.05) for ≤7 years of schooling and 1.08 (95% CI 1.08, 1.08) for ≥20 years of schooling.ConclusionPer unit increase in QRISK3 score, individuals with lower educational attainment were less likely to report using statins, likely contributing to health inequalities.