Feng Sha

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology

Background The potential modifiable factors influencing irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have not been thoroughly documented. We aimed to systematically investigate the modifiable factors associated with IBS, while accounting for the impact of unobserved confounders and coexisting disorders. Methods Genetic correlation and Mendelian randomisation (M...

Objective: Observational studies have found associations between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and the risk of dementia, including Alzheimer's dementia (AD) and vascular dementia (VD); however, these findings are inconsistent. It remains unclear whether these associations are causal. Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis by systematically sea...

Background Previous conventional epidemiological studies found a J-shape relationship between alcohol consumption and dementia, but this result was subject to confounding biases and reverse causation. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the potential linear or non-linear causal association between alcohol consumption and the incident risk of dementi...

Background How often hypertensive patients could achieve remission to normal blood pressure (BP) (i.e., <140/90 mmHg) in the absence of antihypertensive drugs, which is important for the management of hypertension, remains largely unknown. This observational study aimed to investigate the change of BP in older adults with hypertension who did not t...

The classification of fetuses as Small for Gestational Age (SGA) and Large for Gestational Age (LGA) is a critical aspect of neonatal health assessment. SGA and LGA, terms used to describe fetal weights that fall below or above the expected weights for Appropriate for Gestational Age (AGA) fetuses, indicate intrauterine growth restriction and exces...

Importance Overweight and obesity affect 340 million adolescents worldwide and constitute a risk factor for poor mental health. Understanding the association between body mass index (BMI) and mental health in adolescents may help to address rising mental health issues; however, existing studies lack comprehensive evaluations spanning diverse countr...

Background: Hip and knee replacement surgeries have been linked to a transient increase in venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk in the short term. However, there is limited evidence regarding the extended impact of these surgeries on VTE risk beyond the first year. Objective: This prospective matched cohort study aimed to investigate the associations...

Background Constipation is generally considered a common physical symptom of depression or a side effect of antidepressant treatments. However, according to the gut-brain axis hypothesis, the association between depression and constipation might be bi-directional. This study investigated the association between premorbid constipation and depression...

Background Use of OTC laxatives is common in the general population. The microbiome‐gut‐brain axis hypothesis suggests use of laxatives be associated with dementia. We aim to examine the association between regular use of laxatives and incidence of dementia. Method This prospective cohort study is based on 476,219 participants aged 40 to 69 years...

Importance Assessment of additional protection of a booster dose with an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is key to developing vaccination strategies for billions of people worldwide who have received the primary 2-dose regimen. Objective To estimate the relative effectiveness of a booster dose of an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine against Omicron in...

The colorectal cancer (CRC) and polyps incidentally found in autopsies represent the lesions that have not actually caused problems throughout the lifetime and thus may not need to be removed during screening. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of incidental CRC (iCRC) and polyps in autopsies of different populations. A systematic searc...

In the biomedical field, the time interval from infection to medical diagnosis is a random variable that obeys the log-normal distribution in general. Inspired by this biological law, we propose a novel back-projection infected–susceptible–infected-based long short-term memory (BPISI-LSTM) neural network for pandemic prediction. The multimodal data...

Background and Objectives Use of OTC laxatives is common in the general population. The microbiome-gut-brain axis hypothesis suggests use of laxatives is associated with dementia. We aimed to examine the association between regular use of laxatives and incidence of dementia in UK Biobank participants. Methods This prospective cohort study was base...

Background: The efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in preventing severe COVID-19 illness and death is uncertain due to the rarity of data in individual trials. How well the antibody concentrations can predict the efficacy is also uncertain. We aimed to assess the efficacy of these vaccines in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infections of different severities a...

Background: Previous studies indicated that glucosamine supplements may have a general anti-cancer effect. This study aimed to assess whether the potential effect differs across different types of cancers in a large prospective cohort study. Methods: All participants from the UK Biobank who were free of cancers and had complete information on gl...

What is already known about this topic?: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, tremendous efforts have been made in countries to suppress epidemic peaks and strengthen hospital services to avoid hospital strain and ultimately reduce the risk of death from COVID-19. However, there is limited empirical evidence that hospital strai...

What is already known about this topic?: After the initial coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Wuhan, China, the outbreaks during the dynamic-zero policy period in the mainland of China have not been systematically documented. What is added by this report?: We summarized the characteristics of 74 imported COVID-19 outbreaks between M...

Objectives: To examine whether and to what extent hospital strain will increase the risk of death from Covid-19. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: England. Participants: Data on all the 147,276 Covid-19 deaths and 601,084 hospitalized Covid-19 patients in England during the period between 9 April 2020 and 11 March 2022 were extracted on...

Background Previous studies found that about 24% of the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients reverse to cognitive normal (CN) status. However, it is unclear which modifiable factors are associated with this reversion. Objective To identify potential modifiable factors associated with the reversion of MCI to CN status. Methods We conducted a p...

Background Given the projected trends in population ageing and population growth, the number of people with dementia is expected to increase. In addition, strong evidence has emerged supporting the importance of potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia. Characterising the distribution and magnitude of anticipated growth is crucial for publi...

Background In estimating the global burden of cancer, adolescents and young adults with cancer are often overlooked, despite being a distinct subgroup with unique epidemiology, clinical care needs, and societal impact. Comprehensive estimates of the global cancer burden in adolescents and young adults (aged 15–39 years) are lacking. To address this...

More timely, accurate, and relevant data and methodological innovation could exploit the full power of modelling, argue Feng Chen and colleagues

Background This is the first study examining the association between alcohol consumption and risk of cognitive impairment (CI) among Chinese older adults (65‐79 years). Method The study included 5,894 participants between 65 and 79 years from 2002‐2008 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Study (CLHLS). The CI was assessed by Chinese version of...

Background The negative effect of alcohol consumption on cognitive function is found to be J‐shaped. We analyzed the association between alcohol consumption and the risk of dementia and examined the effect modification by APOE genotypes. Method 157,172 Participants with nearly equal alcohol consumption compared with ten years previously were inclu...

Background It is unclear which modifiable factors are associated with reversion from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to cognitively normal (CN) status. Method The study included 7,422 participants above 65 years old with MCI from Chinese Longitudinal Health Longevity Survey (CLHLS). Multivariable Cox regression with elastic net penalty was adopted...

Background Predicting the probability of the reversion from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to cognitively normal (CN) status can inform preventive treatments at individual, institutional and social level. This study aims to build a prediction model using a machine learning approach for reversion from MCI to CN status. Method The study included 7,...

Background Regularly updated data on stroke and its pathological types, including data on their incidence, prevalence, mortality, disability, risk factors, and epidemiological trends, are important for evidence-based stroke care planning and resource allocation. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) aims to provide a...

Anemia is a globally widespread condition in women and is associated with reduced economic productivity and increased mortality worldwide. Here we map annual 2000–2018 geospatial estimates of anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age (15–49 years) across 82 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), stratify anemia by severity and aggregate res...

Background Documentation of patterns and long-term trends in mortality in young people, which reflect huge changes in demographic and social determinants of adolescent health, enables identification of global investment priorities for this age group. We aimed to analyse data on the number of deaths, years of life lost, and mortality rates by sex an...

Background Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 has targeted elimination of preventable child mortality, reduction of neonatal death to less than 12 per 1000 livebirths, and reduction of death of children younger than 5 years to less than 25 per 1000 livebirths, for each country by 2030. To understand current rates, recent trends, and potential traject...

We used data from the UK and the US to compare the case fatality of the Delta variant of concern (VOC) with previous ones and found a 10-fold difference between Delta VOC and previous SARS-Cov-2 trains, which cannot be explained by vaccination. The weakened pathogenicity in predominant strains in an epidemic is highly anticipated over time accordin...

Background Data sparsity is a major limitation to estimating national and global dementia burden. Surveys with full diagnostic evaluations of dementia prevalence are prohibitively resource-intensive in many settings. However, validation samples from nationally representative surveys allow for the development of algorithms for the prediction of deme...

Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF)—giving infants only breast milk for the first 6 months of life—is a component of optimal breastfeeding practices effective in preventing child morbidity and mortality. EBF practices are known to vary by population and comparable subnational estimates of prevalence and progress across low- and middle-income countries (L...

Background Prevention, control, and treatment of respiratory tract cancers are important steps towards achieving target 3.4 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—a one-third reduction in premature mortality due to non-communicable diseases by 2030. We aimed to provide global, regional, and national estimates of the burden of tracheal, bron...

To evaluate the national effect of CDD on reducing road traffic mortality, we analyzed crude road traffic mortality rates data collected between 2006 and 2016 through China’s National Disease Surveillance System. Linear regression models were fit with the pre-CDD data (2006-2011) and used to predict mortality rates in the post-CDD years (2012-2016)...

Background High-resolution estimates of HIV burden across space and time provide an important tool for tracking and monitoring the progress of prevention and control efforts and assist with improving the precision and efficiency of targeting efforts. We aimed to assess HIV incidence and HIV mortality for all second-level administrative units across...

This is a supplementary material for the article entitled "Measuring universal health coverage based on an index of effective coverage of health services in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019"

Background How specific activities influence cognitive decline among different age groups, especially the late middle-aged and the early old, remains inadequately studied. Objective To examine the association between specific activities with trajectories of cognitive functions in different age groups in China. Methods A longitudinal cohort study...

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a public health priority in Latin America. While the burden of HIV is historically concentrated in urban areas and high-risk groups, subnational estimates that cover multiple countries and years are missing. This paucity is partially due to incomplete vital registration (VR) systems and statis...

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), principally ischemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke, are the leading cause of global mortality and a major contributor to disability. This paper reviews the magnitude of total CVD burden, including 13 underlying causes of cardiovascular death and 9 related risk factors, using estimates from the Global Burden of Disea...

Background Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) involves all people receiving the health services they need, of high quality, without experiencing financial hardship. Making progress towards UHC is a policy priority for both countries and global institutions, as highlighted by the agenda of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and WHO's...

The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 provides a rules-based synthesis of the available evidence on levels and trends in health outcomes, a diverse set of risk factors, and health system responses. GBD 2019 covered 204 countries and territories, as well as first administrative level disaggregations for 22 countr...

Background: Emerging evidence indicates that leisure activities are associated with higher risk of cognitive impairment and dementia among the older adults, but how specific activities influence cognitive decline among different age groups, especially the late middle-aged and the early old, remains inadequately studied. This study aims to examine a...

BACKGROUND: While there is a long history of measuring death and disability from injuries, modern research methods must account for the wide spectrum of disability that can occur in an injury, and must provide estimates with sufficient demographic, geographical and temporal detail to be useful for policy makers. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2...

PurposeSuicide rates in South Korea have been one of the highest in the world. The aim of this study is to quantify the contributions of age, sex, method, and place of residence to the trends of the suicide rates between 2001 and 2016 in South Korea.Methods Using the suicide data obtained from the South Korean National Death Registration data set f...

Background While there is a long history of measuring death and disability from injuries, modern research methods must account for the wide spectrum of disability that can occur in an injury, and must provide estimates with sufficient demographic, geographical and temporal detail to be useful for policy makers. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 20...

This study predicts the maximum hospital demand and number of infections for the LMICs in the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic. The epidemic is estimated to impose health care burden excessively exceeding the current capacity of hospitals in many LMICs, especially in Honduras, Central African Republic and Colombia.

Summary Background Past research in population health trends has shown that injuries form a substantial burden of population health loss. Regular updates to injury burden assessments are critical. We report Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 Study estimates on morbidity and mortality for all injuries. Methods We reviewed results for injuries from...

Background Past research in population health trends has shown that injuries form a substantial burden of population health loss. Regular updates to injury burden assessments are critical. We report Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 Study estimates on morbidity and mortality for all injuries. Methods We reviewed results for injuries from the GBD...

BACKGROUND: Past research in population health trends has shown that injuries form a substantial burden of population health loss. Regular updates to injury burden assessments are critical. We report Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 Study estimates on morbidity and mortality for all injuries. METHODS: We reviewed results for injuries from the GB...

Background Oesophageal cancer is a common and often fatal cancer that has two main histological subtypes: oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma and oesophageal adenocarcinoma. Updated statistics on the incidence and mortality of oesophageal cancer, and on the disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) caused by the disease, can assist policy makers in al...

Since 1973, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“HKSAR”) government has succeeded in decentralizing its population from the overcrowded urban area to the satellite towns. During this time, many low-income people had also relocated to the new satellite towns for affordable public rental housing (“PRH”) where originally the government expect...

Introduction Understanding the mechanism between commuting time and subjective well-being is of great importance in formulating policies. In previous research, the negative impact of long commuting time on subjective well-being was mainly explained by the Resource Drain Theory which claims that the main reason for the impact was inadequate health-r...

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translate...

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translate...

Introduction Negative impacts of long commuting time on people's well-being have been found in many suburbanized private car-dominant cities. However, there is a dearth of evidence regarding this association in a compact city with a well-developed public transport system. Taking Hong Kong as an example, the current study aims to explore the associa...

Objective This present study aims to estimate the structural validity, internal consistency reliability of the LSNS-6 and examine the associations between the LSNS-6 and suicidal outcomes among mainland Chinese older adults. Methods This validation study used a big representative sample (N = 2819) of older adults in Beijing from the Sample Survey...

2ndHighest Scoring Abstract: Doctoral Background Hong Kong is a prototype of compact city with well-developed public transport system. The city is among the most densely-populated regions in the world and is also known as a transit-based city with high transport accessibility and mobility. Only 15.1% of households have private vehicles available f...

Previous investigations of geographic concentration of urban poverty indicate the contribution of a variety of factors, such as economic restructuring and class-based segregation, racial segregation, demographic structure, and public policy. However, the models used by most past research do not consider the possibility that poverty concentration ma...

Background: The decreasing suicide rate in China has been regarded as a major contributor to the decline of global suicide rate in the past decade. However, previous estimations on China ’ s suicide rates might not be accurate, since often they were based on the data from the Ministry of Health ’ s Vital Registration ( “ MOH-VR ” ) System, which is...

Background Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure is deleterious to pregnant women and their unborn children. The prevalence of SHS exposure among pregnant women is particularly high in many Asian countries where approximately half of the male population smokes. We aim to investigate the efficacy of an intervention based on an expanded Health Belief Model...

Objective The study empirically quantifies the contributions of age composition and urbanisation to changes in the suicide rate in China over the periods 1990–2000 and 2000–2010. Methods A decompositional method was used to quantify the absolute and relative contributions of the age structure; the age-specific proportion of the urban population and...