Suboptimal Health Status Research Articles

Telomere Length and Accelerated Biological Aging in the China Suboptimal Health Cohort: A Case-Control Study.

Suboptimal health status (SHS) has been linked to cardiovascular risk factors, psychosocial stress, and unhealthy lifestyle. These factors also contribute to the shortening of telomere length (TL). A case-control study was conducted to examine the association between subjective health measures of SHS from the behavior perspective and also objective measures of TL at molecular level. SHS (cases = 294) was matched by age, sex, and body mass index with ideal health (controls = 294) using a propensity score matching method. Suboptimal health status questionnaire-25 (SHSQ-25) was used in the community-based health survey. A quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to measure relative telomere length (RTL). Shorter RTL was found among the SHS group compared to the ideal health group (p < 0.05). SHS was almost four times likely to be in the first quartile (odds ratio [OR] = 3.81; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.21-6.56), almost thrice in second quartile (OR = 2.84; 95% CI 1.65-4.90), and almost twice likely to be in the third quartile (OR = 1.71; 95% CI 1.00-2.94) compared to the fourth quartile (the longest) of RTL after adjusting for socioeconomic, dietary intake, anthropometric, blood pressure, and biochemistry variables (p < 0.05). Notably, SHS score was negatively correlated with RTL (r = -0.218, p < 0.05). Our study confirms an association between SHS and short RTL. Combination of subjective (SHS) and objective (RTL) measures is a novel tool for health aging investigation. Therefore, SHSQ-25 could be used as a screening tool for measuring biological aging in low-income countries at community level where the expensive technique for RTL measurement is not applicable.

Do socio-cultural factors influence college students\u2019 self-rated health status and health-promoting lifestyles? A cross-sectional multicenter study in Dalian, China

BackgroundAn unhealthy lifestyle of college students is an important public health concern, but few studies have been undertaken to examine the role of socio-cultural differences.MethodsFor this cross-sectional comparative study, data on college students’ health-promoting lifestyles (HPL), as measured using the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP-II) scale, and self-rated health status (SRH) as measured by Sub-Optimal Health Measurement Scale (SHMS V1.0) were collected from 829 college students.ResultsThe sample of 829 college students included 504 (60.8%) Chinese and 325 (39.2%) international students. Chinese students had higher scores in overall health-promoting lifestyle (HPL) (P < 0.001, eta squared =0.113) and in all the six subclasses than their international counterparts. In relation to health status evaluation, the two groups varied in physiological health (P < 0.001, eta squared = 0.095) and social health (P = 0.020, eta squared = 0.007) but there was no significant difference in psychological health subscale (P = 0.156, eta squared = 0.002). HPL was predicted by financial status among the Chinese group and by student’s major, age and level of education in the international group. Body mass index (BMI) and financial status emerged as predictors of the three subscales of SHMS V1.0 in the Chinese group and also of physiological and psychological subscales in the international group. Gender was associated with psychological health in both groups. Smoking status was a predictor of psychological health in both groups and also of social health in the international group. The level of education emerged as a predictor of social health in the international group.Regression analyses revealed a significant association between health status and healthy lifestyle (P < 0.001). In reference to participants with “excellent” lifestyle, participants with moderate lifestyle were at a 4.5 times higher risk of developing suboptimal health status (SHS) (OR: 4.5,95% CI:2.2-9.99) and those with a ‘general’ lifestyle were at a 3.2 times higher risk SHS (OR: 3.2, 95% CI: 1.5-7.18). Good and moderate HPLP-II levels of nutrition are associated with low risk of suboptimal health status (OR: 0,41 and 0,25, respectively). Participants in good and moderate HPLP-II levels of interpersonal relations are associated with higher risk of suboptimal health (OR:2,7 and 3,01 respectively) than those in excellent levels of HPLP-II.ConclusionCollectively, these findings provide a convincing body of evidence to support the role of socio-cultural factors as key determinants of the HPL and SRH of college students.

The Role of Healthy Lifestyle in the Implementation of Regressing Suboptimal Health Status among College Students in China: A Nested Case-Control Study.

Background: Suboptimal health status (SHS) is the intermediate health state between health and disease, it is medically undiagnosed and is also termed functional somatic syndrome. Although its clinical manifestations are complicated and various, SHS has not reached the disease status. Unhealthy lifestyle is associated with many chronic diseases and mortality. In accordance with the impact of lifestyle on health, it is intriguing to determine the association between unhealthy lifestyle and SHS risk. Methods: We conducted a nested case-control study among healthy Chinese college students from March 2012 to September 2013, which was nested in a prospective cohort of 5676 students. We performed 1:1 incidence density sampling with matched controls for birth year, sex, grade, specialty and individual character. SHS was evaluated using the medical examination report and Sub-health Measurement Scale V1.0 (SHMS V1.0). Exposure was defined as an unhealthy lifestyle per the frequency of six behavioral dimensions from the Health-promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP-II). Results: We matched 543 cases of SHS (42.66%) in a cohort of 1273 students during the 1.5 years mean follow-up time with controls. A significant difference (t = 9.79, p < 0.001) and a reduction in HPLP-II total score was present at 1.5 years follow-up (135.93 ± 17.65) compared to baseline (144.48 ± 18.66). A level-response effect was recorded with an increase of the total HPLP-II (every dimension was correlated with a decreased SHS risk). Compared to respondents with the least exposure (excellent level), those reporting a general HPLP-II level were approximately 2.3 times more likely to develop SHS (odd ratio = 2.333, 95% CI = 1.471 to 3.700); and those with less HPLP-II level (good level) were approximately 1.6 times more likely (1.644, 1.119–2.414) to develop SHS (p < 0.05). Our data indicated that unhealthy lifestyle behavior with respect to behavioral dimensions significantly affected SHS likelihood. Further analyses revealed a marked increase (average increased 14.73 points) in lifestyle level among those SHS regression to health after 1.5 years, with respect to the HPLP-II behavioral dimensions, in addition to the total score (t = −15.34, p < 0.001). Conclusions: SHS is highly attributable to unhealthy lifestyles, and the mitigation of modifiable lifestyle risk factors may lead to SHS regression. Increased efforts to modify unhealthy lifestyles are necessary to prevent SHS.

Correlation between vascular endothelial function parameters with indicators of suboptimal health status and the factors of cardiovascular risk

The problem of prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases continues to be relevant. It is a promising non-invasive integration of new screening methods to assess the patient's health system. The goal was to establish the relationship of vascular endothelial function parameters with indicators of suboptimal health status and the factors of cardiovascular risk. Materials and methods. A total of 327 residents of Samara, who had no history of disease and did not receive treatment in the last 3 months. We used a questionnaire diagnostic screening suboptimal health status SHSQ-25, the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases, endothelin-1, human blood index of endothelial function was determined by computer photopletismography. Results and discussion. Suboptimal health status is associated with the prevalence and severity of cardiovascular risk factors, smoking, overweight, total cholesterol, glucose, blood endothelin, vascular endothelium reactivity, indicating that their dominant influence on the quality of life in a population of healthy individuals. Vascular reactivity non-invasively evaluated in terms of endothelial function in the sample with ischaemia of the upper limb by computer photopletismography reflects systemic vascular endothelial function as a negative associated with endothelin blood and the main factors of cardiovascular risk: age, male gender, body mass index, the nature of work activity, blood pressure value.

China suboptimal health cohort study: rationale, design and baseline characteristics.

BackgroundSuboptimal health status (SHS) is a physical state between health and disease, characterized by the perception of health complaints, general weakness, chronic fatigue and low energy levels. SHS is proposed by the ancient concept of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) from the perspective of preservative, predictive and personalized (precision) medicine. We previously created the suboptimal health status questionnaire 25 (SHSQ-25), a novel instrument to measure SHS, validated in various populations. SHSQ-25 thus affords a window of opportunity for early detection and intervention, contributing to the reduction of chronic disease burdens.Methods/designTo investigate the causative effect of SHS in non-communicable chronic diseases (NCD), we initiated the China suboptimal health cohort study (COACS), a longitudinal study starting from 2013. Phase I of the study involved a cross-sectional survey aimed at identifying the risk/protective factors associated with SHS; and Phase II: a longitudinal yearly follow-up study investigating how SHS contributes to the incidence and pattern of NCD.Results(1) Cross-sectional survey: in total, 4313 participants (53.8 % women) aged from 18 to 65 years were included in the cohort. The prevalence of SHS was 9.0 % using SHS score of 35 as threshold. Women showed a significantly higher prevalence of SHS (10.6 % in the female vs. 7.2 % in the male, P < 0.001). Risk factors for chronic diseases such as socioeconomic status, marital status, highest education completed, physical activity, salt intake, blood pressure and triglycerides differed significantly between subjects of SHS (SHS score ≥35) and those of ideal health (SHS score <35). (2) Follow up: the primary and secondary outcomes will be monitored from 2015 to 2024.ConclusionsThe sex-specific difference in prevalence of SHS might partly explain the gender difference of incidence of certain chronic diseases. The COACS will enable a thorough characterization of SHS and establish a cohort that will be used for longitudinal analyses of the interaction between the genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors that contribute to the onset and etiology of targeted chronic diseases. The study together with the designed prospective cohort provides a chance to characterize and evaluate the effect of SHS systemically, and it thus generates an unprecedented opportunity for the early detection and prevention of chronic disease.

Integration of suboptimal health status and endothelial dysfunction as a new aspect for risk evaluation of cardiovascular disease.

BackgroundSuboptimal health status (SHS) is recognized as a subclinical, reversible stage of chronic disease. Association has been confirmed between SHS and cardiovascular risk factors, indicating that SHS may contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease. This study explored integrated risk assessment of cardiovascular disease by combining SHS questionnaire-25 (SHSQ-25) and indicators of endothelial dysfunction.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in a sample of 459 residents of Samara, Russia, who had no history of clinical diagnosed disease and did not receive any treatment in the last 2 weeks. The SHS score was derived from the data collected in the SHSQ-25. Blood pressure, body mass index, and glucose and lipid levels (total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein, cholesterol and triglycerides) were measured by physical examination and laboratory performance. The relationship between SHS and endothelial dysfunction was examined using Pearson’s correlation linear regression analysis. Cluster analysis was performed to identify systemic patterns arising from exposure to a variety of risk factors.ResultsSignificant correlations were observed between index of endothelial function and the overall performance of SHS (r = −0.31, p < 0.05), and individual scales of the questionnaire SHSQ-25: fatigue (r = −0.36, p < 0.05), mental (r = −0.29, p < 0.05), and the cardiovascular system (r = −0.36). Based on cluster analysis, all subjects were grouped into five clusters: (1) optimal health status, (2) SHS at low risk of disease states, (3) SHS with a high risk of non-cardiac pathologies profile, (4) SHS of low risk of cardiovascular disease, and (5) SHS with high risk of cardiovascular disease.ConclusionsSHS is associated with endothelial dysfunction. Integration of suboptimal health status and endothelial dysfunction provides a novel tool to allow people to get a more holistic picture of both subjective and objective health measures, and also can be applied to routine screening for risks of cardiovascular diseases.

Episode-Based Approaches to Measuring Health Care Quality.

Most currently available quality measures reflect point-in-time provider tasks, providing a limited and fragmented assessment of care. The concept of episodes of care could be used to develop quality measurement approaches that reflect longer periods of care. With input from clinical experts, we constructed episode-of-care frameworks for six illustrative conditions and identified potential gaps and measure development priority areas. Episode-based measures could assess changes in health outcomes ("delta measures"), the amount of time during an episode in which a patient has suboptimal health status ("integral measures"), quality contingent upon events occurring previously ("contingent measures"), and composites of measures throughout the episode. This article identifies a number of challenges that will need to be addressed to advance operationalization of episode-based quality measurement.

Association of Psychosocial Work Hazards With Depression and Suboptimal Health in Executive Employees.

This study aims to investigate whether psychosocial work-related hazards, measured by workplace justice and employment insecurity, are associated with depression and suboptimal health status in Taiwan's executive-level employees. There were 365 executives who have received a series of cardiovascular health examinations, blood sampling, and self-reported questionnaires, which included the psychosocial work-related hazards and the CES-D scale. Suboptimal health status was defined as the presence of dyslipidemia or prediabetes. Executive-level employees perceived lower workplace justice and higher employment insecurity and had a significantly higher risk of depression (CES-D scores ≥16 or ≥23). However, workplace justice was identified as a significant determinant factor that was negative for dyslipidemia but protective for prediabetes. This study supports the fact that psychosocial work-related hazards can independently contribute to the risk of developing depression, prediabetes, and dyslipemia in executives.

Work-Recreation Balance, Health-Promoting Lifestyles and Suboptimal Health Status in Southern China: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Suboptimal health status (SHS)—an intermediate state between health and illness—refers to functional somatic symptoms that are medically undiagnosed. Although SHS has become a great challenge for global public health, very little about its etiology and mechanisms are known. Work-recreation balance is a part of work−life balance, and is related to stress which greatly influences health status. We therefore carried out a cross-sectional investigation between 2012 and 2013 within a clustered sample of 24,475 individuals aged 15−60 years from a population in southern China. In so doing, we hoped to illuminate the associations between work-recreation balance conditions, healthy lifestyles, and SHS. Work-recreation balance conditions were categorically defined by frequency (“rarely, sometimes, or always”). Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP-II) was used to evaluate the level of healthy lifestyles, and the medical examination report and Sub-Health Measurement Scale V1.0 (SHMS V1.0) were both used to evaluate health status. The ratio of SHS (46.3%) is higher than health status (18.4%) or disease status (35.3%). Overall, 4.9% of respondents reported the lowest level of work-recreation balance, and they scored lower on both the HPLP-II and SHMS V1.0 compared with those who frequently maintained a work-recreation balance. Significant association was found between work-recreation balance behaviors and healthy lifestyles (p < 0.001) after demographic adjustment. In comparison with those reporting a frequent work-recreation balance, individuals whose work-recreation balance was categorically “rare” were 1.69 times as likely to develop SHS (odds ratio (OR): 1.69, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.49–1.92), and those with infrequent work-recreation balance (“sometimes”) were 1.71 times more likely to develop SHS (OR: 1.71, 95% CI: 1.62–1.81). These findings suggest that work-recreation balance conditions are significantly associated with, and seem to be accurate behavioral indicia of a healthy lifestyle. Poor work-recreation balance is associated with increased risk for SHS; thus, a healthier lifestyle that maintains a work-recreation balance should be promoted in order to reduce the development of SHS or disease in southern China.

Physical and mental health conditions of young college students with different Traditional Chinese Medicine constitutions in Zhejiang Province of China

ObjectiveTo investigate Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) constitutions of youths in colleges, and their physical and mental health conditions of different TCM constitutions, so as to provide a theoretical basis for the TCM way to improve young people's physical and mental health. MethodsThe Standard TCM Constitutions' Classification and Determination Questionnaire was used to measure the body health condition, and the Symptom Checklist 90 Questionnaire and the Questionnaire of the National Student Physical Health Standards were used to determine mental and physical health conditions respectively in 1421 young participants validly answering the questionnaires in Zhejiang Province. ResultsThe participants had a mean age of 19.96 years (SD = 0.95 years) with the majority of females (55.10%). One fourth of the 1421 participants were the Ping-he constitution and others were the tendency constitutions. Participants with Ping-he module (which has characteristics of moderate posture, rosy, energetic and is a healthy condition in TCM) were healthier than those with tendency constitutions in physical and mental health, with 65.81 ± 7.83 (men) and 77.99 ± 7.24 (women) scores in the physical test and around 1.25 scores in the mental health test. College students with combined biased constitutions were more likely suffer force, sensitive, depression and anxiety. ConclusionMost of college students have a tendency or biased constitution which could be more likely to suffer suboptimal health status and diseases. Youths in college themselves and health providers should pay more attention to their potential health issues and make proper healthcare plan according to their own TCM constitution.

Effects of Anxiety and Depression on Arterial Elasticity of Subjects With Suboptimal Physical Health.

The authors investigated the effects of suboptimal health status (SHS; high-normal blood pressure, blood glucose, and blood lipids) on arterial elasticity in subjects with or without anxiety or depression. Suboptimal physical health status and anxiety or depression increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases. This was a cross-sectional, observational, multicenter study. Among 1520 subjects who underwent physical examination between May 2009 and December 2012 in Beijing and Chongqing, China, 955 were included. All subjects completed anxiety and depression questionnaires. Systemic vascular compliance (SVC), systemic vascular resistance, and brachial artery distensibility (BAD) were measured during arterial elasticity evaluation. Of 955 participants, 633 were classified as having SHS and 322 were classified as healthy. Systemic vascular compliance and BAD were worse in SHS subjects than in healthy subjects (SVC: 1.23 ± 0.22 vs 1.29 ± 0.25 mL/mm Hg; BAD: 6.26 ± 1.32 vs 6.61 ± 1.24%/mm Hg, respectively; both P < 0.05). Of 955 subjects, 37.7% and 43.9% had anxiety and depression, respectively. Systemic vascular compliance and BAD in SHS subjects with concomitant anxiety or depression were significantly lower than in SHS subjects without anxiety or depression (SVC: 1.22 ± 0.23 vs 1.23 ± 0.20 mL/mm Hg; BAD: 6.10 ± 1.36 vs 6.33 ± 1.20 %/mm Hg, respectively; both P < 0.05) and even lower than in healthy subjects. Though anxiety and depression had less impact on arterial elasticity in a healthy population, they may be involved in pathogenesis of vascular damage in the population with SHS.

Contraceptive Needs and Preferences in a Cohort of Women With Cystic Fibrosis [209

INTRODUCTION: As the median age of survival of women with cystic fibrosis rises, reproductive health has become increasingly important in this population. We sought to characterize contraceptive preferences and use among adult females with cystic fibrosis (CF). METHODS: We used questions from previously validated surveys to build an instrument that assessed reproductive health and contraceptive variables. Female participants ages 17–45 years were recruited through the electronic mailing list of the Penn Adult CF Program. RESULTS: Fifty-three of 100 adult female patients with CF have responded to date. Eighty-three percent are sexually active and 31% have been pregnant. Twenty-two percent of reported pregnancies resulted in abortion, secondary to either unplanned pregnancy or suboptimal health status. Forty-nine percent of participants use contraception. Condoms (35%) and oral contraceptive pills (27%) are most commonly used. Respondents prioritize effectiveness and ease of use in their contraceptive method; they want to avoid side effects, medication interactions, and diminished sexual enjoyment. CONCLUSION: Our CF population is sexually active, but contraceptive use is low and unplanned and mistimed pregnancies are common. Uptake of contraceptive methods that fit these women's preferences is low. There is significant unmet need for contraception in this population.

Making the social determinants of health a routine part of medical care.

people live: where they are born, grow up, work, and age. These conditions affect a person's health and vulnerability to disease, and very often vary by wealth, social status and gender. While all health practitioners have the potential to address socioeconomic status as a contributor to suboptimal health status, providers working in underserved communities are keenly familiar with the imperative to address the social determinants of health for their patients. Though the ethical and clinical imperatives to address these issues is appreciated by many, screening for conditions takes time, and the reality of limited time often competes with the urgency of a clinic visit or other evidence- based interventions delivered by the health care team at the time of an encounter. Therefore, screening for socioeconomic determinants of health, like many other routine clinical care tasks, must be as brief and evidence- based as possible, and shared by all members of the health care team. 3 The use of technology via clinical decision support systems (CDSS) to help the team remember to perform routine tasks has been shown to improve screening for many conditions, 4 and their use can also assist with screening for socioeconomic determinants of health. Finally, as is the case for any condition that is screened, a bona fide interven- tion should be available to address a positive screen. Using these overarching principles of thorough and efficient team- based care, a comprehensive system to screen for several socioeconomic determinants was implemented for an entire health center population. This ACU Column focuses on Norwalk Community Health Center's (NCHC's) adoption of diagnostic screening tools to detect relevant information in the fields of housing, intimate partner violence, alcohol misuse, illicit substance misuse, tobacco use, sexual activity, and mental health/ depression. By screening every patient with evidence- based, validated screening tools, NCHC reaffirms the importance of detecting social factors that determine risk for illnesses and can have profound influence on treatment.

Effects of TCMC on Transformation of Good Health Status to Suboptimal Health Status: A Nested Case-Control Study.

To explore the effects of traditional Chinese medicine constitution (TCMC) on transformation of good health status to suboptimal health status (SHS), we conducted a nested case-control study among college students in China. During the 18-month mean follow-up time, 543 cases of SHS (42.7%) occurred in 1273 healthy students. There was a significant (P = 0.000) and marked reduction in SHMS V1.0 total score in the case group at the 18-month follow-up (69.32 ± 5.45) compared with baseline (78.60 ± 4.70), but there was no significant change in the control group. Conditional logistic regression analysis showed that respondents reporting Yin-deficiency and Qi-deficiency were, respectively, 2.247 and 2.198 times more likely to develop SHS, while tendency to Yin-deficiency and tendency to Damp-heat were, respectively, 1.642 and 1.506 times more likely to develop SHS. However, the Balanced Constitution was a significant protective factor (OR 0.649; P < 0.05). Altogether, these findings demonstrate that Yin-deficiency, Qi-deficiency, tendency to Yin-deficiency, and tendency to Damp-heat appeared to induce a change in health status to SHS, while the Balanced Constitution seemed to restrain this change. We conclude that regulating the unbalanced TCMC (such as Yin-deficiency and Qi-deficiency) may prevent a healthy status developing into SHS or lead to the regression of SHS.

Body condition score at calving affects systemic and hepatic transcriptome indicators of inflammation and nutrient metabolism in grazing dairy cows

Calving body condition score (BCS) is an important determinant of early-lactation dry matter intake, milk yield, and disease incidence. The current study investigated the metabolic and molecular changes induced by the change in BCS. A group of cows of mixed age and breed were managed from the second half of the previous lactation to achieve mean group BCS (10-point scale) that were high (HBCS, 5.5; n=20), medium (MBCS, 4.5; n=18), or low (LBCS, 3.5; n=19). Blood was sampled at wk −4, −3, −2, 1, 3, 5, and 6 relative to parturition to measure biomarkers of energy balance, inflammation, and liver function. Liver was biopsied on wk 1, 3, and 5 relative to parturition, and 10 cows per BCS group were used for transcript profiling via quantitative PCR. Cows in HBCS and MBCS produced more milk and had greater concentrations of nonesterified fatty acids and β-hydroxybutyrate postpartum than LBCS. Peak concentrations of nonesterified fatty acids and β-hydroxybutyrate and greater hepatic triacylglycerol concentrations were recorded in HBCS at wk 3. Consistent with blood biomarkers, HBCS and MBCS had greater expression of genes associated with fatty acid oxidation (CPT1A, ACOX1), ketogenesis (HMGCS2), and hepatokines (FGF21, ANGPTL4), whereas HBCS had the lowest expression of APOB (lipoprotein transport). Greater expression during early lactation of BBOX1 in MBCS and LBCS suggested greater de novo carnitine synthesis. The greater BCS was associated with lower expression of growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor-1 signaling axis genes (GHR1A, IGF1, and IGFALS) and greater expression of gluconeogenic genes. These likely contributed to the higher milk production and greater gluconeogenesis. Despite greater serum haptoglobin around calving, cows in HBCS and MBCS had greater blood albumin. Cows in MBCS, however, had a higher albumin:globulin ratio, probably indicating a less pronounced inflammatory status and better liver function. The marked decrease in expression of NFKB1, STAT3, HP, and SAA3 coupled with the increase in ALB on wk 3 in MBCS cows were consistent with blood measures. Overall, results suggest that the greater milk production of cows with higher calving BCS is associated with a proinflammatory response without negatively affecting expression of genes related to metabolism and the growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor-1 axis. Results highlight the sensitivity of indicators of metabolic health and inflammatory state to subtle changes in calving BCS and, collectively, indicate a suboptimal health status in cows calving at either BCS 3.5 or 5.5 relative to BCS 4.5.

Associations between breakfast eating habits and health-promoting lifestyle, suboptimal health status in Southern China: a population based, cross sectional study.

BackgroundSuboptimal health status (SHS) is the intermediate health state between health and disease, refers to medically undiagnosed or functional somatic syndromes, and has been a major global public health challenge. However, both the etiology and mechanisms associated with SHS are still unclear. Breakfast eating behavior is a dietary pattern marker and previous studies have presented evidence of associations between failure to consume breakfast and increased diseases. Accordingly, in view of the significance of breakfast eating behaviors with respect to health status, the associations between breakfast eating habits and healthy lifestyle, SHS require further elucidation.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted within a clustered sample of 24,159 individuals aged 12–80 years in 2012–13 within the population of Southern China. Breakfast eating habits were categorically defined by consumption frequency (‘scarcely, sometimes or always’). Health-promoting lifestyle was assessed via the health-promoting lifestyle profile (HPLP-II). SHS was evaluated using the medical examination report and Sub-health Measurement Scale V1.0 (SHMS V1.0).ResultsOf the 24,159 participants, the prevalence rates for the ‘health’ , ‘SHS’ , and ‘disease’ were 18.8%, 46.0%, and 35.2%, respectively. Overall, 19.6% of participants reported ‘scarce’ breakfast eating habits, with frequent breakfast eaters scoring higher on both HPLP-II and SHMS V1.0. After demographic adjustment, regression analyses revealed a significant association between breakfast eating habits and healthy lifestyle (p <0.001). There were lower levels of breakfast consumption regularity amongst individuals with SHS than those with disease. Categorically ‘scarce’ breakfast eaters were approximately three times more likely to be assigned SHS (OR: 2.745, 95% CI: 2.468-3.053), while infrequent breakfast eaters (‘sometimes’) were just less than twice as likely to be assessed as being of SHS (OR: 1.731, 95% CI: 1.595-1.879).ConclusionsBreakfast eating habits are significantly associated with a healthy lifestyle, and appear to be a useful predictor of a healthy lifestyle. Irregular breakfast eating habits are related to an increased risk of SHS; increased breakfast eating frequency may contribute to lowering the prevalence of SHS in Southern China.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12967-014-0348-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

4Ps medicine of the fatty liver: the research model of predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory medicine-recommendations for facing obesity, fatty liver and fibrosis epidemics.

Relationship between adipose tissue and fatty liver, and its possible evolution in fibrosis, is supported by clinical and research experience. Given the multifactorial pathogenesis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), treatments for various contributory risk factors have been proposed; however, there is no single validated therapy or drug association recommended for all cases which can stand alone. Mechanisms, diagnostics, prevention and treatment of obesity, fatty liver and insulin resistance are displayed along with recommendations and position points. Evidences and practice can get sustainable and cost-benefit valuable outcomes by participatory interventions. These recommendations can be enhanced by comprehensive research projects, addressed to societal issues and innovation, market appeal and industry development, cultural acceptance and sustainability. The basis of participatory medicine is a greater widespread awareness of a condition which is both a disease and an easy documented and inclusive clue for associated diseases and unhealthy lifestyle. This model is suitable for addressing prevention and useful for monitoring improvement, worsening and adherence with non-invasive imaging tools which allow targeted approaches. The latter include health psychology and nutritional and physical exercise prescription expertise disseminated by continuous medical education but, more important, by concrete curricula for training undergraduate and postgraduate students. It is possible and recommended to do it by early formal teaching of ultrasound imaging procedures and of practical lifestyle intervention strategies, including approaches aimed to healthier fashion suggestions. Guidelines and requirements of research project funding calls should be addressed also to NAFLD and allied conditions and should encompass the goal of training by research and the inclusion of participatory medicine topics. A deeper awareness of ethics of competences in health professionals and the articulation of knowledge, expertise and skills of medical doctors, dieticians, health psychologists and sport and physical exercise graduates are the necessary strategy for detectin a suboptimal health status and achieving realistically beneficial lifestyle changes. “The devil has put a penalty on all things we enjoy in life. Either we suffer in health or we suffer in soul or we get fat” (Albert Einstein); the task of medical research and intervention is to make possible to enjoy life also without things that make sufferance in health and souls and which excessively increase body fat.

Association of lifestyle factors and suboptimal health status: a cross-sectional study of Chinese students

ObjectivesSuboptimal health status (SHS) is considered to be an intermediate status between disease and health, and is characterised by a decline in vitality, in physiological function and in the capacity...

Traditional Chinese medicine and new concepts of predictive, preventive and personalized medicine in diagnosis and treatment of suboptimal health

BackgroundThe premise of disease-related phenotypes is the definition of the counterpart normality in medical sciences. Contrary to clinical practices that can be carefully planned according to clinical needs, heterogeneity and uncontrollability is the essence of humans in carrying out health studies. Full characterization of consistent phenotypes that define the general population is the basis to individual difference normalization in personalized medicine. Self-claimed normal status may not represent health because asymptomatic subjects may carry chronic diseases at their early stage, such as cancer, diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis. Currently, treatments for non-communicable chronic diseases (NCD) are implemented after disease onset, which is a very much delayed approach from the perspective of predictive, preventive and personalized medicine (PPPM). A NCD pandemic will develop and be accompanied by increased global economic burden for healthcare systems throughout both developed and developing countries. This paper examples the characterization of the suboptimal health status (SHS) which represents a new PPPM challenge in a population with ambiguous health complaints such as general weakness, unexplained medical syndrome (UMS), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), post-viral fatigue syndrome (PVFS) and chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS).MethodsWe applied clinical informatic approaches and developed a questionnaire—suboptimal health status questionnaire-25 (SHSQ-25) for measuring SHS. The validity and reliability of this approach were evaluated in a small pilot study and then in a cross-sectional study of 3,405 participants in China.ResultsWe found a correlation between SHS and systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, plasma glucose, total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol among men, and a correlation between SHS and systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL cholesterol among women.ConclusionsThe SHSQ-25 is a self-rated questionnaire of perceived health complaints, which can be used as a new instrument for PPPM. An ongoing longitudinal SHS cohort survey (China Sub-optimal Health Cohort Study, COACS) consisting of 50,000 participants will provide a powerful health trial to use SHSQ-25 for its application to PPPM through patient stratification and therapy monitoring using innovative technologies of predictive diagnostics and prognosis: an effort of paradigm shift from reactive to predictive medicine.

Evidence‐Based ZHENG: A Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndrome 2013

The traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) ZHENG, also known as TCM syndrome or TCM pattern, is an integral and essential part of TCM theory. A TCM ZHENG is in essence a characteristic profile of all clinical manifestations that can be identified by a TCM practitioner. Clinical treatments of a patient rely on the successful differentiation of a specific ZHENG. Recent advances in systems biology have allowed the application of new phenotyping technologies in the study of the ZHENG differentiation with plausible biological interpretations. Understanding of the characteristic changes in biochemistry associated with a specific TCM ZHENG will facilitate the development of ZHENG identification and a novel disease diagnostic and stratification approach that will potentially lead to personalized healthcare strategies for a range of diseases that lack therapeutic solutions. Here, we have grouped together 28 excellent papers in this field and put forward for publication in this special issue on TCM ZHENG. Firstly, there are 3 review or research papers in this special issue addressed the concept, origin, and development of ZHENG, the recent advances in ZHENG identification and its clinical applications, and latest technologies and methods such as omics methods and data mining for ZHENG identification and outcome measurement. Two papers reviewed the clinical characterization and molecular basis of TCM ZHENG in cancer and TCM management in hepatic encephalopathy, respectively. Moreover, a review paper reviewed systematically the classification of TCM ZHENGs associated with insomnia. In TCM, the clinical diagnosis of ZHENG relies on the gathering of clinical information through inspection, auscultation and olfaction, inquiry, and palpation. For the acquisition of ZHENG-related clinical information, 2 research articles presented the established ZHENG questionnaire in the posthepatic cirrhosis and advanced cancer patients with constipation, respectively. Moreover, the patient stratification and personalized treatment by means of the ZHENG identification and approaches in patients with allergic rhinitis and subhealthy people with fatigue were presented. Additionally, the correlation between Blood-stasis syndrome score and cardio-ankle vascular index in stroke patients was also discussed. ZHENG is not merely an assembly of many disease symptoms but an organization of interrelated clinical manifestations following the TCM theories. The interrelated symptoms and signs of diseases in the ZHENG measurement should be analyzed using appropriate statistical tools to better understand the ZHENG classification. Six research articles of this special issue presented the data mining of ZHENG differentiation using the combination of wavelet packet transform and sample entropy, the clinical phenotypic network in angina pectoris of coronary heart disease, a multilabel learning using the relevant feature for each label algorithm in chronic gastritis, and a structural equation modeling approach in suboptimal health status. To objectively differentiate ZHENGs, 7 research articles in this issue presented the ZHENG classification using genes, proteins, metabolites, and/or their profiles. These are system strategies in investigating ZHENG classification and treatment evaluation by means of gene polymorphism, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabonomics, bioinformatics, and network pharmacology. The methods include IL-10genotypes in ZHENG, the metabonomic evaluation of ZHENG classification and treatment by Chinese herbal formula, and a combined ZHENG theory and high-throughout gene chip data to predict new effects of the formula in hepatitis B-caused cirrhosis. Additionally, the molecular mechanisms of “Same ZHENG for Different Diseases” and “Different ZHENGs for Same Disease” in chronic hepatitis B and liver cirrhosis and the ZHENG classification in chronic hepatitis B patients by SELDI-based protein chip analysis were also discussed in these papers. To experimentally evaluate ZHENG, various pharmacological models of ZHENG are to be established. In this special issue, 4 papers discussed the establishment and/or the application of ZHENG animal models, encompassing the preparation of blood-deficient syndrome model in chicken, the castration-induced kidney deficiency syndrome model in arthritic rats, the kidney-yang deficiency syndrome model in Alzheimer's disease rats, and their applications. Moreover, it was also presented that Chinese herbal medicines were used to treat the established mouse xenograft pancreatic cancer models with dampness-heat, spleen-deficiency and Blood-stasis syndromes. In summary, the concept of TCM ZHENG, as a diagnostic approach in TCM, would provide invaluable guidance about the therapeutic choices and personalized disease management, not only in traditional medical practices but in modern healthcare systems as well. We look forward to an increasing number and sizes of clinical trials utilizing TCM ZHENG that will be conducted in the future to further promote the development of evidence-based personalized medicine. Shi-Bing Su Aiping Lu Shao Li Wei Jia