This study aims to review China\'s national policies related to non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention and control at the primary health care (PHC) level since China\'s 2009 health system reform. Policy documents from official websites of China\'s State Council and 20 affiliated ministries were screened, where 151 out of 1,799 were included. Thematic content analysis was performed, and fourteen \'major policy initiatives\' were identified, including the basic health insurance schemes and essential public health services. Several areas showed to have strong policy support, including service delivery, health financing, and leadership/governance. Compared with WHO recommendations, several gaps remain, including lack of emphasis on multi-sectoral collaboration, underuse of non-health-professionals, and lack of quality-oriented PHC services evaluations. Over the past decade, China continues to demonstrate its policy commitment to strengthen the PHC system for NCD prevention and control. We recommend future policies to facilitate multi-sectoral collaboration, enhance community engagement, and improve performance evaluation mechanisms.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is an important contributor to the cardiovascular burden in cancer survivors. This review identifies features that could help guide decisions about the benefit of screening to assess the risk or presence of subclinical CAD. Screening may be appropriate in selected survivors based on risk factors and inflammatory burden. In cancer survivors who have undergone genetic testing, polygenic risk scores and clonal hematopoiesis markers may become useful CAD risk prediction tools in the future. The type of cancer (especially breast, hematological, gastrointestinal, and genitourinary) and the nature of treatment (radiotherapy, platinum agents, fluorouracil, hormonal therapy, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, endothelial growth factor inhibitors, and immune checkpoint inhibitors) are also important in determining risk. Therapeutic implications of positive screening include lifestyle and atherosclerosis interventions, and in specific instances, revascularization may be indicated.

Exposure to chronic stress increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Providing informal care is known to be a stressful activity, but it is not clear whether informal caregiving is associated with CVD risk. This systematic review aimed to summarise and assess the quantitative evidence examining the association between providing informal care to others and CVD incidence in comparison with non-carers. Eligible articles were detected by searching six electronic literature databases (CINAHL, Embase, Global Health, OVID Medline, Scopus, and Web of Science). Two reviewers appraised 1887 abstracts and 34 full-text articles against a set of a priori eligibility criteria to identify articles for inclusion. Quality assessment of included studies was performed using the ROBINS-E risk of bias tool. Nine studies were identified that quantitatively assessed the association between providing informal care and CVD incidence in comparison to not providing informal care. Overall, there was no difference in the incidence of CVD between carers and non-carers across these studies. However, within the subgroup of studies that examined care provision intensity (hours/week) higher CVD incidence was observed for the most intense caregiving group compared to non-carers. One study examined only CVD-related mortality outcomes, observing a reduction in mortality for carers compared to non-carers. More research is required to explore the relationship between informal care and CVD incidence.

UNASSIGNED: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is associated with increased mortality and a high clinical burden. NASH adversely impacts patients\' health-related quality of life (HRQoL), but published data on the humanistic burden of disease are limited. This review aimed to summarise and critically evaluate studies reporting HRQoL or patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in populations with NASH and identify key gaps for further research.
UNASSIGNED: Medline, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and PsycINFO were searched for English-language publications published from 2010 to 2021 that reported HRQoL/PRO outcomes of a population or subpopulation with NASH.
UNASSIGNED: Twenty-five publications covering 23 unique studies were identified. Overall, the data showed a substantial impact of NASH on HRQoL, particularly in terms of physical functioning and fatigue, with deterioration of physical and mental health as NASH progresses. Prevalent symptoms, including fatigue, abdominal pain, anxiety/depression, cognition problems, and poor sleep quality, adversely impact patients\' ability to work and perform activities of daily living and the quality of relationships. However, some patients fail to attribute symptoms to their disease because of a lack of patient awareness and education. NASH is associated with high rates of comorbidities such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, which contribute to reduced HRQoL. Studies were heterogeneous in terms of diagnostic methods, population, outcomes, follow-up time, and measures of HRQoL/utility. Most studies were rated \'moderate\' at quality assessment, and all evaluable studies had inadequate control of confounders.
UNASSIGNED: NASH is associated with a significant HRQoL burden that begins early in the disease course and increases with disease progression. More robust studies are needed to better understand the humanistic burden of NASH, with adequate adjustment for confounders that could influence outcomes.
UNASSIGNED: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) has a significant impact on quality of life, with individuals experiencing worse physical and mental health compared with the general population. NASH and its symptoms, which include tiredness, stomach pain, anxiety, depression, poor focus and memory, and impaired sleep, affect individuals\' relationships and ability to work and perform day-to-day tasks. However, not all patients are aware that their symptoms may be related to NASH. Patients would benefit from more education on their disease, and the importance of good social networks for patient health and well-being should be reinforced. More studies are needed to better understand the patient burden of NASH.

There are nearly 17 million cancer survivors in the United States, including those who are currently receiving cancer therapy with curative intent and expected to be long-term survivors, as well as those with chronic cancers such as metastatic disease or chronic lymphocytic leukemia, who will receive cancer therapy for many years. Current clinical practice guidelines focus on lifestyle interventions, such as exercise and healthy eating habits, but generally do not address management strategies for clinicians or strategies to increase adherence to medications. We discuss 3 cardiometabolic comorbidities among cancer survivors and present the prevalence of comorbidities prior to a cancer diagnosis, treatment of comorbidities during cancer therapy, and management considerations of comorbidities in long-term cancer survivors or those on chronic cancer therapy. Approaches to support medication adherence and potential methods to enhance a team approach to optimize care of the individual with cancer across the continuum of disease are discussed.

UNASSIGNED: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is endorsed to improve cardiovascular outcomes in cancer survivors. The quality of CR-based research in oncology has not been assessed.
UNASSIGNED: The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of reporting and evidence from CR-based intervention studies in oncology and to explore associations between intervention participation and outcomes.
UNASSIGNED: Systematic searches of 5 databases were conducted (January 2020) and updated (September 2021). Randomized and nonrandomized studies evaluating CR-based interventions in adult cancer survivors during and after treatment were eligible. Independent reviewers extracted data using 2 reporting guidelines (Template for Intervention Description and Replication and Consolidated Standards for Reporting Trials Harms extension), risk of bias (ROB) assessment tools (Cochrane ROB 2.0 and Cochrane Risk of Bias in Non-Randomized Studies of Interventions), and a combined inventory (Tool for the Assessment of Study Quality and reporting in Exercise). A meta-analysis was used to explore pre-intervention/post-intervention differences for commonly assessed outcomes.
UNASSIGNED: Ten studies involving data from 685 survivors were included. The mean quality scores for intervention reporting (Template for Intervention Description and Replication) and harms (Consolidated Standards for Reporting Trials Harms extension) were 62% and 17%, respectively. There was moderate-to-high ROB across nonrandomized (Cochrane Risk of Bias in Non-Randomized Studies of Interventions score: 25%) and randomized (ROB 2.0 score: 50%) studies. The mean standardized cardiorespiratory fitness was higher (0.42; 95% CI: 0.27-0.57), fatigue was lower (-0.45; 95% CI: -0.55 to -0.34), and percent body fat (0.07; 95% CI: -0.23 to 0.38) was not different in survivors completing CR compared with those not completing CR.
UNASSIGNED: CR-based studies in oncology have low-to-moderate reporting quality and moderate-to-high ROB limiting interpretation, reproducibility, and translation of this evidence into practice.

UNASSIGNED: To clarify the role of mediators of ectopic mineralization as biomarkers for arterial calcifications.
UNASSIGNED: MEDLINE and Embase were searched for relevant literature, until January 4th 2022. The investigated biomarkers were: calcium, phosphate, parathyroid hormone, vitamin D, pyrophosphate, osteoprotegerin, receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappa B ligand (RANKL), fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF-23), Klotho, osteopontin, osteocalcin, Matrix Gla protein (MGP) and its inactive forms and vitamin K. Studies solely performed in patients with kidney insufficiency or diabetes mellitus were excluded.
UNASSIGNED: After screening of 8985 articles, a total of 129 articles were included in this systematic review. For all biomarkers included in this review, the results were variable and more than half of the studies for each specific biomarker had a non-significant result. Also, the overall quality of the included studies was low, partly as a result of the mostly cross-sectional study designs. The largest body of evidence is available for phosphate, osteopontin and FGF-23, as a little over half of the studies showed a significant, positive association. Firm statements for these biomarkers cannot be drawn, as the number of studies was limited and hampered by residual confounding or had non-significant results. The associations of the other mediators of ectopic mineralization with arterial calcifications were not clear.
UNASSIGNED: Associations between biomarkers of ectopic mineralization and arterial calcification are variable in the published literature. Future longitudinal studies differentiating medial and intimal calcification could add to the knowledge of biomarkers and mechanisms of arterial calcifications.

UNASSIGNED: COVID-19 has had a profound impact on the health systems of the 11 countries of the WHO South East Asia Region. We conducted a systematic review of studies that used quantitative and comparative approaches to assess the impact of the pandemic on the service provision of four noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) (cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes) in the region.
UNASSIGNED: A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, MedRxiv, and WHO COVID-19 databases in December 2021. The quality of studies was evaluated using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist and the ROBINS-I risk of bias tool. A narrative synthesis was conducted following the \'synthesis without meta-analysis\' reporting guidelines.
UNASSIGNED: Two review authors independently screened 5,397 records with 31 studies included, 26 which were cross-sectional studies. Most studies (n=24, 77%) were conducted in India and 19 (61%) were single-site studies. Compared to a pre-pandemic period, 10/17 cancer studies found a >40% reduction in outpatient services, 9/14 cardiovascular disease found a reduction of 30% or greater in inpatient admissions and 2 studies found diagnoses and interventions for respiratory diseases reduced up to 78.9% and 83.0%, respectively. No eligible studies on the impact of COVID-19 on diabetes services were found.
UNASSIGNED: COVID-19 has substantially disrupted the provision of essential health services for NCDs in the WHO South East Asia Region, particularly cancer and cardiovascular disease. This is likely to have serious and potentially long-term downstream impacts on health and mortality of those living with or at risk of NCDs in the region.
UNASSIGNED: This work was supported by the WHO Sri Lanka Country Office.

The existence of a close association between disease of the biliary tract and disease of the heart is known from the mists of time. Acute acalculous cholecystitis (AAC) can be defined as an acute necro inflammatory disease of the gallbladder in the absence of cholelithiasis. AAC is a challenging diagnosis. The atypical clinical onset associated to a paucity and similarity of symptoms and to laboratory data mimicking cardiovascular disease (CVD) often results in under and misdiagnosed cases. Moreover, AAC has commonly a fulminant course compared to calculous cholecystitis and it is often associated with gangrene, perforation and empyema as well as considerable morbidity and mortality (up 50%). Early diagnosis is crucial to a prompt treatment in order to avoid complications and to increase survivability. Even today, although scientific evidence dating two hundred years has shown a close association between AAC and CVD, due to the lack of RCT, there is still a lot of confusion regarding the relationship and consequently the clinical management AAC and CVD. In addition, emergency physicians are not always familiar with transient ECG changes with AAC. The aim of this review was to provide evidence regarding epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical presentation and treatment of the complex association between AAC and CVD. Our main findings indicate that AAC should be suspected after each general disease leading to hypoperfusion such as cardiovascular diseases or cerebrovascular diseases or major heart or aortic surgery. ECG changes in absence of significant laboratory data for IMA (Acute myocardial infarction) could be related to a misdiagnosed AAC. US - Ultrasonography-plays a key role in the early diagnosis and also in the follow up of AAC. Cholecystostomy and cholecystectomy as unique or sequential represent the two prevailing treatment options for AAC.

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDPs) are a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Unfortunately, accurate early clinical screening methods for the development of these disorders are lacking. Arterial stiffness (AS) is an important hemodynamic indicator of vascular health that has shown promising results for the prediction of HDP onset. Past systematic reviews in the field have reported an increase in AS indices in women who develop HDPs and have highlighted the potential of AS measurements as a predictive tool early in pregnancy. The most recent systematic review, including papers up to 2015, assessed the differences in AS parameters between women with and without pregnancy complications. Since then, there has been a substantial influx of published research on the topic and a growing interest in the incorporation of AS measurements into clinical practice. Thus, we propose a systematic review and meta-analysis that is more inclusive to all HDP subsets and various hemodynamic indices of vascular health to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of evidence. Specifically, we aim to evaluate these measures in women who develop HDPs compared to normotensive pregnancies to determine which measures are most associated with and/or can predict the development of HDPs. Major databases (Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PubMed, and CINAHL), grey literature (Google Scholar) and clinical trials (clinicaltrials.gov) will be searched to identify studies that report AS and hemodynamic measurements in pregnant women with and without HDPs. No restrictions will be made on study type or year. Articles will be independently evaluated by three authors to determine eligibility based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Methodological quality of included studies will be assessed. Pooled analyses will be conducted using a random-effects model. Publication bias and between-study heterogeneity will also be assessed. Sources of heterogeneity will be explored by sensitivity, subgroup, and/or meta-regression analyses. Results from this study will be shared through scientific conferences and publications in scientific journals. The analysis of potential AS and hemodynamic markers for HDP onset will help inform the development of screening guidelines and clinically relevant cut-off values of AS and hemodynamic markers for HDP risk, guiding future research. There are no applicable ethical considerations to the writing of this protocol.