Arterial stiffness is highly relevant to cardiovascular disease. Arterial stiffness is central to the pathogenesis of isolated systolic hypertension and directly impacts left ventricular afterload, ...pressure pulsatility in the arterial tree, and its penetration into the microvasculature of target organs such as the brain and kidney. Arterial stiffness is affected by various risk factors and biologic processes. Measurements of arterial stiffness may therefore not only provide information about prevalent processes, but also valuable information regarding the cumulative history of risk factor exposure. Available studies consistently demonstrate that large artery stiffness, measured via carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, independently predicts the risk of incident cardiovascular events in clinical and community-based cohorts. Understanding the basic principles and definitions related to arterial stiffness is therefore desirable for cardiovascular clinicians and researchers. This introductory paper reviews basic physical principles and definitions regarding arterial stiffness and the most important non-invasive methods for its quantification in vivo.
Acute pneumonia and the cardiovascular system Corrales-Medina, Vicente F, Dr; Musher, Daniel M, Prof; Shachkina, Svetlana, MD ...
The Lancet (British edition),
02/2013, Letnik:
381, Številka:
9865
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Although traditionally regarded as a disease confined to the lungs, acute pneumonia has important effects on the cardiovascular system at all severities of infection. Pneumonia tends to affect ...individuals who are also at high cardiovascular risk. Results of recent studies show that about a quarter of adults admitted to hospital with pneumonia develop a major acute cardiac complication during their hospital stay, which is associated with a 60% increase in short-term mortality. These findings suggest that outcomes of patients with pneumonia can be improved by prevention of the development and progression of associated cardiac complications. Before this hypothesis can be tested, however, an adequate mechanistic understanding of the cardiovascular changes that occur during pneumonia, and their role in the trigger of various cardiac complications, is needed. In this Review, we summarise knowledge about the burden of cardiac complications in adults with acute pneumonia, the cardiovascular response to this infection, the potential effects of commonly used cardiovascular and anti-infective drugs on these associations, and possible directions for future research.
CPAP, weight loss, or both for obstructive sleep apnea Chirinos, Julio A; Gurubhagavatula, Indira; Teff, Karen ...
New England journal of medicine/The New England journal of medicine,
06/2014, Letnik:
370, Številka:
24
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Obesity and obstructive sleep apnea tend to coexist and are associated with inflammation, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and high blood pressure, but their causal relation to these abnormalities ...is unclear.
We randomly assigned 181 patients with obesity, moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea, and serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) greater than 1.0 mg per liter to receive treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), a weight-loss intervention, or CPAP plus a weight-loss intervention for 24 weeks. We assessed the incremental effect of the combined interventions over each one alone on the CRP level (the primary end point), insulin sensitivity, lipid levels, and blood pressure.
Among the 146 participants for whom there were follow-up data, those assigned to weight loss only and those assigned to the combined interventions had reductions in CRP levels, insulin resistance, and serum triglyceride levels. None of these changes were observed in the group receiving CPAP alone. Blood pressure was reduced in all three groups. No significant incremental effect on CRP levels was found for the combined interventions as compared with either weight loss or CPAP alone. Reductions in insulin resistance and serum triglyceride levels were greater in the combined-intervention group than in the group receiving CPAP only, but there were no significant differences in these values between the combined-intervention group and the weight-loss group. In per-protocol analyses, which included 90 participants who met prespecified criteria for adherence, the combined interventions resulted in a larger reduction in systolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure than did either CPAP or weight loss alone.
In adults with obesity and obstructive sleep apnea, CPAP combined with a weight-loss intervention did not reduce CRP levels more than either intervention alone. In secondary analyses, weight loss provided an incremental reduction in insulin resistance and serum triglyceride levels when combined with CPAP. In addition, adherence to a regimen of weight loss and CPAP may result in incremental reductions in blood pressure as compared with either intervention alone. (Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT0371293 .).
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. CAP can trigger acute cardiac events. We sought to determine the incidence of major cardiac complications in CAP ...patients to characterize the magnitude of this problem.
Two investigators searched MEDLINE, Scopus, and EMBASE for observational studies of immunocompetent adults with clinical and radiological evidence of CAP that reported any of the following: overall cardiac complications, incident heart failure, acute coronary syndromes (ACS), or incident cardiac arrhythmias occurring within 30 days of CAP diagnosis. At a minimum, studies had to establish enrolment procedures and inclusion and exclusion criteria, enroll their patients sequentially, and report the incidence of cardiac complications as a function of their entire cohorts. Studies with focus on nosocomial or health care-associated pneumonia were not included. Review of 2,176 citations yielded 25 articles that met eligibility and minimum quality criteria. Seventeen articles (68%) reported cohorts of CAP inpatients. In this group, the pooled incidence rates for overall cardiac complications (six cohorts, 2,119 patients), incident heart failure (eight cohorts, 4,215 patients), acute coronary syndromes (six cohorts, 2,657 patients), and incident cardiac arrhythmias (six cohorts, 2,596 patients), were 17.7% (confidence interval CI 13.9-22.2), 14.1% (9.3-20.6), 5.3% (3.2-8.6), and 4.7% (2.4-8.9), respectively. One article reported cardiac complications in CAP outpatients, four in low-risk (not severely ill) inpatients, and three in high-risk inpatients. The incidences for all outcomes except overall cardiac complications were lower in the two former groups and higher in the latter. One additional study reported on CAP outpatients and low-risk inpatients without discriminating between these groups. Twelve studies (48%) asserted the evaluation of cardiac complications in their methods but only six (24%) provided a definition for them. Only three studies, all examining ACS, carried out risk factor analysis for these events. No study analyzed the association between cardiac complications and other medical complications or their impact on other CAP outcomes.
Major cardiac complications occur in a substantial proportion of patients with CAP. Physicians and patients need to appreciate the significance of this association for timely recognition and management of these events. Strategies aimed at preventing pneumonia (i.e., influenza and pneumococcal vaccination) in high-risk populations need to be optimized. Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying this association, measure the impact of cardiac complications on other CAP outcomes, identify those patients with CAP at high risk of developing cardiac complications, and design strategies to prevent their occurrence in this population.
Biomarkers of Calcific Aortic Valve Disease Small, Aeron; Kiss, Daniel; Giri, Jay ...
Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology,
2017-April, Letnik:
37, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) is a highly prevalent cardiovascular disorder accounting for a rising economic and social burden on aging populations. In spite of continuing study on the ...pathophysiology of disease, there remain no medical therapies to prevent the progression of CAVD. The discovery of biomarkers represents a potentially complementary approach in stratifying risk and timing of intervention in CAVD and has the advantage of providing insight into causal factors for the disease. Biomarkers have been studied extensively in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with success as additive for clinical and scientific purposes. Similar research in CAVD is less robust; however, the available studies of biomarkers in CAVD show promise for enhanced clinical decision making and identification of causal factors for the disease. This comprehensive review summarizes available established and novel biomarkers in CAVD, their contributions toward an understanding of pathophysiology, their potential clinical utility, and provides an outline to direct future research in the field.
The mechanical load imposed by the systemic circulation to the left ventricle is an important determinant of normal and abnormal cardiovascular function. Left ventricular afterload is determined by ...complex time-varying phenomena, which affect pressure and flow patterns generated by the pumping ventricle and cannot be expressed as a single numeric measure or described in terms of pressure alone. Left ventricular afterload is best described in terms of pressure-flow relations. High-fidelity arterial applanation tonometry can be used to record time-resolved central pressure noninvasively, whereas contemporary noninvasive imaging techniques, such as Doppler echocardiography and phase-contrast MRI, allow for accurate assessments of aortic flow. Central pressure and flow can be analyzed using simplified biomechanical models to characterize various components of afterload, with great potential for mechanistic understanding of the role of central hemodynamics in cardiovascular disease and the effects of therapeutic interventions. In the first part of this tutorial, we review noninvasive techniques for central pressure and flow measurements and basic concepts of wave conduction and reflection as they relate to the interpretation of central pressure-flow relations. Conceptual descriptions of various models and methods are emphasized over mathematical ones. Our review is aimed at helping researchers and clinicians apply and interpret results obtained from analyses of left ventricular afterload in clinical and epidemiological settings.
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