We conducted a prospective study investigating the relationship between blood pressure values and the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with end-stage renal diseases. Five hundred fifty-three patients on chronic hemodialysis were followed for 5 years, and the relationship between systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean blood ...

Prehypertension, defined as blood pressure between 120-139/80-89 mmHg, is a major public health concern. The condition is very prevalent (30% of the adult population), is often associated with other cardiovascular risk factors and independently increases the risk of hypertension and subsequent cardiovascular events. The mechanism of elevated risk for cardiovascular ...

Because hypertension is common and many tests are available, an uncritical approach to laboratory and radiologic evaluation leads to unnecessary expenses. However, in most patients, accurate blood pressure measurement, a focused history and physical examination, and a handful of basic tests are enough. In this review we address the key ...

BACKGROUND: Blood pressure variability (BPV) is one putative risk factor for cardiovascular disease and mortality in hemodialysis patients. The purposes of this study are to identify a suitable metric of long-term BPV in this population and determine whether an association between BPV and all-cause mortality exists. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort ...

Recent epidemiologic studies show that increased levels of air pollutants are positively associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Inhalation of air pollutants affects heart rate, heart rate variability, blood pressure, vascular tone, blood coagulability, and the progression of atherosclerosis. Several categories within the general population (i.e., people with pre-existing cardiovascular ...

Few prospective studies have examined the association between high-normal blood pressure and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Asia. We examined the impact of high-normal blood pressure on the incidence of CVD in a general urban population cohort in Japan. We studied 5494 Japanese individuals (ages 30 to 79 years without CVD ...

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: In Southern Europe Olea europaea leafs are known as a folk remedy for hypertension. Cardiovascular diseases are still the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in industrialized countries with hypertension being one of the main risk factors. AIM OF THE STUDY: We investigated effects of a commercial Olea ...

BACKGROUND: An ankle-brachial index (ABI; ratio of ankle and brachial systolic blood pressure) <0.9 indicates peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and is a strong predictor of cardiovascular events. The aim of the present study was to address the prognostic value of different methods of ABI calculation. METHODS AND RESULTS: In 831 ...

BACKGROUND: The presence of silent brain infarction (SBI) increases the risk of symptomatic stroke and dementia. The association between SBI and chronic kidney disease (CKD) has not been clarified. Moreover, little is known about what factors are related to SBI in CKD patients and whether the prevalence of SBI differs ...

Risk factors for new-onset diabetes after transplantation (NODAT) need to be assessed in large cohorts. We retrospectively evaluated the impact of early (3 and 6 months after transplantation) proteinuria, urinary albumin excretion (UAE) and arterial pressure on NODAT in 828 Caucasian renal transplant recipients (median follow-up: 5.3 years; 5832 patient-years). ...

OBJECTIVE: We conducted a retrospective cohort study to determine whether laparoscopic adrenalectomy (LA) is a safe and effective therapy for the management of pheochromocytoma, as compared with open adrenalectomy (OA). METHODS: We collected pertinent data on 47 pheochromocytoma resections from 44 patient charts. Perioperative outcomes of 30 LAs were compared ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Central obesity is a key component in the definition of the metabolic syndrome, but the cut-off values proposed to define abnormal values vary among different guidelines and are mostly based on cross-sectional studies. In this study, we identify the best cut-off values for waist circumference (WC) associated ...

BACKGROUND: Although higher blood pressures are generally recognised to be an adverse prognostic marker in risk assessment of cardiology patients, its relationship to risk in chronic heart failure (CHF) may be different. OBJECTIVE: To examine systematically published reports on the relationship between blood pressure and mortality in CHF. METHODS: Medline ...

This study investigated the efficacy of isotonic bioflavonoid supplementation, OPC-3 on 61 individuals presenting with risk factors meeting the criteria for metabolic syndrome. Subjects were supplemented with a proprietary isotonic bioflavonoid OPC-3 or placebo over 2 months. Plasma oxidative stress status was significantly lowered by 10.1% with OPC-3. All major ...

Previous studies have suggested a possible association between meteorological factors and the onset of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). We aimed to investigate the relationship between the onset of SAH and meteorological factors based on an hourly time-series analysis. We collected hourly data on transportation of patients with SAH using the ambulance ...

BACKGROUND: The 24-h ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) is a stronger predictor of cardiovascular disease than conventional blood pressure (CBP), but it remains unclear how it compares with "usual" blood pressure (UBP), estimated after CBP has been corrected for regression dilution bias (RDB). METHODS: We compared the associations of cardiovascular mortality ...

Elevated cardiac troponin (cTn) levels are relatively common in acute heart failure (AHF). To evaluate the prevalence and prognostic significance of elevated cTnI and cTnT in AHF. FINN-AKVA is a prospective, multicenter study in AHF. In this analysis, 364 non-ACS patients with measurements of cTnI and cTnT taken on admission ...

AIMS: The prognostic value of baroreflex sensitivity in hypertensive patients has not much been studied. METHOD: A cohort of 451 hypertensive patients without cardiovascular history was studied for an average of 6.2 +/- 2.8 years follow-up. Each patient had a baroreflex sensitivity measurement by the sequence method, which is represented ...

OBJECTIVE: We systematically assessed the evidence regarding the association between noninvasive 24-h systolic blood pressure and incident cardiovascular events. METHODS: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library through April 2007. Studies that prospectively followed at least 100 individuals for at least 1 year, and that reported at least one ...

BACKGROUND: Metabolic syndrome and its risk factors are predictors of cardiovascular events. Metabolic syndrome is also directly associated with echocardiographic phenotypes. METHODS: The current study is the first to investigate the factors associated with both metabolic syndrome risk factors and echocardiographic phenotypes and assess their heritability. Multivariate factor analysis was ...

INTRODUCTION: The risk factors for CKD include diabetes, hypertension, smoking, systemic inflammation, obesity, proteinuria, dislipidaemia and anaemia, as well as gender, age, ethnic minority status and positive family history. By screening and adequate treatment of modifiable risk factors we are able to prevent or delay the progression of the disease. ...

OBJECTIVES: ADVANCE was planned to investigate the effects of routine blood pressure lowering with the fixed combination perindopril-indapamide on major vascular events in people with type 2 diabetes, irrespective of initial blood pressures or the use of other blood pressure-lowering drugs, including angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. METHODS: A total of 11 ...

OBJECTIVES: A controlled intervention study was conducted to evaluate the effects of two changes in shift characteristics on alertness and cardiovascular risk factors: a change in shift rotation (direction and speed) and a change in the flexibility of the shift system. METHODS: Altogether 84 male workers currently working in a ...

OBJECTIVES: This study determines the predictive value of brachial pulse pressure for cardiovascular stroke and coronary mortality in a large population categorized by blood pressure level. METHODS: The population was composed of 69,989 subjects aged more than 50 years and divided into 'optimal', 'normal' and 'normal high' normotensive subjects, and ...

OBJECTIVE: To provide updated, evidence-based recommendations for the diagnosis and assessment of adults with hypertension. OPTIONS AND OUTCOMES: The diagnosis of hypertension is dependent on appropriate blood pressure measurement, the timely assessment of serially elevated readings, degree of blood pressure elevation, method of measurement (office, ambulatory, home) and associated comorbidities. ...

The prognostic significance of morning surge in blood pressure (BP) remains obscure because the findings of the four prospective studies available [ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) substudy of the Syst-Eur trial, the Jichii Medical School ABPM-wave1 study, the Bordeaux hypertensive cohort study, and the Ohasama study] have generated conflicting results partly ...

OBJECTIVES: Few data are available on the impact of the metabolic syndrome on all-cause mortality risk according to the presence of hypertension. Our aim was to evaluate the 5-year impact of the metabolic syndrome, according to blood pressure status, on all-cause mortality risk in a large French population. METHODS: The ...

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and correlative risk factors of isolated untreated systolic hypertension and other hypertension subtypes among Mongolians and Han rural adults of China. METHODS AND RESULTS: The study was conducted in 2004-2006 and used a multistage cluster sampling method to select ...

Early vascular ageing is common in patients with hypertension and increased burden of cardiovascular risk factors, often influenced by chronic inflammation. One aspect of this vascular ageing is arterial stiffening, as measured by increased pulse wave velocity or augmentation index and central pressure. Several studies have indicated that this process ...

The authors assessed associations between retinal vascular signs and incident severe hypertension in an older population-based cohort. At baseline (1992-1994), 3,654 residents aged 49-97 years living in the Blue Mountains area west of Sydney, Australia, were examined; respectively, 2,335 (75.1%) and 1,952 (76%) survivors were reexamined 5 and 10 years ...

RA associates with an increased burden of cardiovascular disease, which is at least partially attributed to classical risk factors such as hypertension (HT) and dyslipidaemia. HT is highly prevalent, and seems to be under-diagnosed and under-treated among patients with RA. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms that may lead ...

BACKGROUND: Renal dysfunction predicts mortality in patients with cardiovascular disease. How renal dysfunction relates to hemodynamics and mortality in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) remains unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS: We performed a cohort study of 500 patients with World Health Organization group I PAH from 1982 to 2006 with data on ...

BACKGROUND: Few studies have assessed the extent and distribution of the blood-pressure burden worldwide. The aim of this study was to quantify the global burden of disease related to high blood pressure. METHODS: Worldwide burden of disease attributable to high blood pressure (> or =115 mm Hg systolic) was estimated ...

Hypertension is an important risk factor for cardiovascular and kidney disease. High blood pressure is a growing public health problem that is expected to affect 1.6 billion people worldwide by the year 2025. In light of emerging evidence of a widespread global problem of vitamin D deficiency, there has been ...

Perindopril, a prodrug ester of perindoprilat, is an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor that lowers angiotensin II and potentiates bradykinin. This agent has proven efficacy in a wide range of cardiovascular diseases. Its efficacy, safety and tolerability are well established in the treatment of hypertension. Beyond pharmacodynamic effects shown in lowering blood ...

BACKGROUND: Previous reviews have shown increases in blood pressure and hypertension associated with increases in lead levels in blood. We performed a meta-analysis of the association of bone lead levels with systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and hypertension using published data. METHODS: We searched Medline, Embase, and Toxline for ...

OBJECTIVE: Hypertension may result from changes in dietary quality and nutrient intake. We therefore sought to determine the epidemiological association between tooth loss and hypertension in South African adults. METHODS: This is a secondary data analysis of a cross-sectional survey of a nationally representative sample of adults aged 25 - ...

Sub-clinical organ damage is a strong independent predictor of cardiovascular mortality in primary hypertension, and its changes over time parallel those in risk of cardiovascular events. A better understanding of the pathogenetic mechanisms underlying the development of target organ damage may help us devise more effective therapeutic strategies. We therefore ...

Hypertension is a leading cause of death because of cardiovascular disease and predominantly affects total mortality. To reduce avoidable deaths from hypertension, we need to collect blood pressure data and assess their impact on total mortality. To examine this issue, a meta-analysis of 13 cohort studies was conducted in Japan. ...

In hypertension, the presence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is associated with increased risk of both cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. To date, the electrocardiogram (ECG) remains the cornerstone of LVH diagnosis in clinical practice because it is universally available, technically easy to perform and highly specific. In the most recent ...

Metabolic phenotypes are the products of interactions among a variety of factors-dietary, other lifestyle/environmental, gut microbial and genetic. We use a large-scale exploratory analytical approach to investigate metabolic phenotype variation across and within four human populations, based on 1H NMR spectroscopy. Metabolites discriminating across populations are then linked to data ...

BACKGROUND: The scientific evidence on whether long-term use of snuff is associated with high blood pressure is limited, inconsistent and based only on cross-sectional data. OBJECTIVE: We aimed at studying the risk of hypertension in relation to long-term use of snuff based on longitudinal data. DESIGN: Repeated health check-ups were ...

Cardiovascular disease and death are major life-threatening problems in patients with atheromatous peripheral arterial disease (PAD). This review focuses on management of hypertension in the context of cardiovascular risk in patients with PAD. PAD is underdiagnosed and hypertension in PAD is often poorly managed. Current evidence supports a low threshold ...

1. The epidemic of diabetes is accelerating and the World Health Organization estimates that the number of people affected worldwide will grow from 171 million in 2000 to 366 million by 2030. 2. The main causes of death and disability in individuals with type 2 diabetes are macrovascular and microvascular ...

OBJECTIVE: To express the increased risk from smoking in terms of 'blood pressure' so that hypertensive smokers are motivated into quitting. METHODS: Mortality risks of smokers were compared with nonsmokers in a large worker cohort in Taiwan (n = 23755 with a 17-year follow-up) for all-cause and for cardiovascular diseases. ...

Some of the symptoms reported by people with CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) are associated with various cardiovascular phenomena. Markers of cardiovascular risk, including inflammation and oxidative stress, have been demonstrated in some patients with CFS, but little is known about the relationship between these and prognostic indicators of cardiovascular risk ...

1. The morning period has been recognized as the highest risk period of the day for cardiovascular events, particularly stroke and is also associated with a rapid surge in blood pressure. 2. Evidence now exists to show that the morning surge in blood pressure is an independent risk factor in ...

OBJECTIVE: The prognostic significance of the pulmonary venous flow in essential hypertensive patients was investigated. METHODS AND RESULTS: Doppler transthoracic echocardiograms were analyzed in 705 essential hypertensive subjects with no prior cardiovascular disease. At baseline, most subjects had 'normal diastolic function' or 'mild diastolic dysfunction'. During follow-up (mean, 32 months), ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether patients with hypertensive urgency have a higher risk for subsequent cardiovascular events compared with hypertensive patients without this event. METHODS: Overall, 384 patients with hypertensive urgency and 295 control patients were followed up for at least 2 years. Hypertensive urgency was defined as a systolic blood ...

Hypertension should be regarded not as a simple elevation of blood pressure, but as a constellation of functional and structural abnormalities that create a phenotypic portrait of hypertensive disease. Recent research has expanded our knowledge related to hypertensive heart disease. Future assessment of hypertensive patients' global risk should probably incorporate ...