Five Chinese medical studies you should know about in January 2014

Soy bad for men's heart health
A high intake of soy may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in men, contrary to the well known protective effect seen in women, a study from Shanghai has found.
Habitual high soy food intake over 10g per day was associated with up to a 20% higher risk of incident coronary heart disease in middle-aged and older Chinese men. The researchers said elevated plasma IL-8 and PAI-1 might be potential contributing factors.
International Journal of Cardiology

Chronic kidney disease and metabolic syndrome
In China the prevalence of chronic kidney disease s 4.6% in people with metabolic syndrome and 3.3% in people without metabolic syndrome, a study has found. The risk of chronic kidney disease was 50% higher with metabolic syndrome and the findings suggest an increasing prevalence of chronic kidney disease among Chinese adults with metabolic syndrome, according to researchers from the Department of Endocrinology, The First Affiliated Hospital of the Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an.
Clinica Chimica Acta

Asthma rarely well controlled in China
Asthma tends to be poorly controlled in China compared to other countries in the region. A study has found that only 2% of asthma patients in China had their condition well controlled compared to 14% in Singapore. Patients whose asthma was not well-controlled tended to use more asthma medications, had more emergency hospital visits and hospitalisations for their asthma, and were more likely to miss days off work or school.
Respiratory Medicine

One in five have mild cognitive impairment
A survey of 10,276 Chinese people aged 65 years or older has found that 21% had mild cognitive impairment, and 6% had cognitive decline that was likely early Alzheimer's disease. Cognitive impairment was more common in rural areas 23% compared to urban areas (17%).Vascular-related mild cognitive impairment was the most common type, according to researchers from the Department of Neurology, Xuan Wu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing.
Alzheimers and Dementia

HIV screening needed
HIV screening and early identification is badly needed among high risk populations in China such as those with TB, according to researchers from the Shandong Provincial Chest Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan. They found a HIV prevalence of 0.28% among TB-referral patients in Shandong, but noted that HIV/TB co-infection rates are high in regions such as Xinjiang ( 4.5%) and Guangxi (4.3%) due to to high rates of injecting drug use and HIV infection, and most cases presented late as AIDS.
Journal of Infection

Dementia drugs shown to be effective in Chinese clinical trial

Donepezil and galantamine improved cognitive function

 by Michael Woodhead
Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors such as galantine and donepezil are effective in improving cognitive function in Chinese patients, a new study has shown.
The drugs are already considered standard of care for Alzheimer’s disease in western countries. Galantamine is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor that may also act via allosteric modulation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Therefore, it may provide benefits compared with other acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. Therefore, researchers at the Department of Neurology of Peking Union Medical College Hospital compared galantamine with donepezil in a double-blind trial involving 233 patients at nine hospitals in China.
The patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease were treated with either galantamine or donepezil for 16 weeks.
 Alzheimer’s cognitive symptoms  scores improved significantly from baseline in both groups of patients, with a significant difference in favour of galantamine in the “language”  area. Significantly more galantamine-treated patients responded to treatment and showed better cognitive scores. Both treatments were well tolerated, although fewer galantamine-treated patients experienced gastrointestinal adverse events compared with donepezil (30% versus 48%).
The researchers conclude that cognitive function improved significantly in subjects with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease treated with galantamine or donepezil, and both treatments were generally well tolerated. Significant benefits for galantamine over donepezil were observed for language and response to treatment."
Source:  Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment