Aortic Dissection Research in China:Analysis of Studies Funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China

Objective The National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)has made great progress in promoting the development of aortic dissection research in recent years.This study aimed to examine the development and research status of aortic dissection research in China so as to provide references for future research.Methods The NSFC projects data from 2008 to 2019 were collected from the Internet-based Science Information System and other websites utilized as search engines.The publications and citations were retrieved by Google Scholar,and the impact factors were checked by the InCite Journal Citation Reports database.The investigator’s degree and department were identified from the institutional faculty profiles.Results A total of 250 grant funds totaling 124.3 million Yuan and resulting in 747 publications were analyzed.The funds in economically developed and densely populated areas were more than those in underdeveloped and sparsely populated areas.There was no significant difference in the amount of funding per grant between different departments’investigators.However,the funding output ratios of the grants for cardiologists were higher than those for basic science investigators.The amount of funding for clinical researchers and basic scientific researchers in aortic dissection was also similar.Clinical researchers were better in terms of the funding output ratio.Conclusion These results suggest that the medical and scientific research level of aortic dissection in China has been greatly improved.However,there are still some problems that urgently need to be solved,such as the unreasonable regional allocation of medical and scientific research resources,and the slow transition from basic science to clinical practice.

Clinical risk score for postoperative pneumonia following heart valve surgery

Background:Postoperative pneumonia(POP)is one of the most common infections following heart valve surgery(HVS)and is associated with a significant increase in morbidity,mortality,and health care costs.This study aimed to identify the major risk factors associated with the occurrence of POP following HVS and to derive and validate a clinical risk score.Methods:Adults undergoing open HVS between January 2016 and December 2019 at a single institution were enrolled in this study.Patients were randomly assigned to the derivation and validation sets at 1:1 ratio.A prediction model was developed with multivariable logistic regression analysis in the derivation set.Points were assigned to independent risk factors based on their regression coefficients.Results:POP occurred in 316 of the 3853 patients(8.2%).Multivariable analysis identified ten significant predictors for POP in the derivation set,including older age,smoking history,chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,diabetes mellitus,renal insufficiency,poor cardiac function,heart surgery history,longer cardiopulmonary bypass,blood transfusion,and concomitant coronary and/or aortic surgery.A 22-point risk score based on the multivariable model was then generated,demonstrating good discrimination(C-statistic:0.81),and calibration(Hosmer-Lemeshowχ^(2)=8.234,P=0.312).The prediction rule also showed adequate discriminative power(C-statistic:0.83)and calibration(Hosmer-Lemeshowχ^(2)=5.606,P=0.691)in the validation set.Three risk intervals were defined as low-,medium-,and high-risk groups.Conclusion:We derived and validated a 22-point risk score for POP following HVS,which may be useful in preventive interventions and risk management.Trial Registration:Chictr.org,ChiCTR1900028127;http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=46932.