Evaluating the impact of repeated community-wide health surveys on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in the Busselton population

Background: Left ventricular Hypertrophy (LVH) has been associated with higher cardiovascular morbidity and mortality but most of these studies were conducted in majority (white) populations. LVH is known to be more common in African Americans (AA) who also have a higher prevalence of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The prognostic significance of LVH in AA with Heart Failure (HF) has not been well studied. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of a predominantly minority HF cohort (69.3% AA); after obtaining approval from our institutional review board. Our primary goal was to compare the HF outcomes [All-cause hospitalizations (ACH), hospitalizations primarily due to HF and ER visits] in patients with EKG evidence of LVH versus those without LVH. We also examined the racial (Blacks vs Whites), gender (males vs females) and age-based (≥60 Vs <60 years) differential impact of LVH on HF outcomes and determined the prevalence of LVH in the cohort. Levene’s Test and t-test were used to analyze the data for equality of variances and means respectively. Result: Our HF cohort consisted of 599 patients (415 AA, 142 Caucasian, 22 others, 20 unknown). The prevalence of LVH in overall cohort was 26.7%. We noted that black had higher prevalence of LVH ( 31%) vs Whites (15.5%) while prevalence of LVH was not very different in males ( 27.9%) vs females( 25.7%) and ≥60 years of age( 27.5%) vs <60 (27.3%). The analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences in the number of ACH (p-value = 0.014), HF hospitalizations (p-value = 0.019) and ER visits (p-value = 0.001) in the LVH group compared with the non-LVH group. . There were no racial, gender or age-based statistically significant differences in the impact of LVH on HF outcomes. Conclusion: Electrocardiographically determined LVH in a minority - predominant HF cohort is associated with worse outcomes. This needs to be prospectively validated in a larger cohort of HF and could serve as a prognostic marker to guide the care of HF patients.

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Physical inactivity as a risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality

Systemic Hypertension ◽

10.26442/2075-082x_2018.3.14-20 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (3) ◽

pp. 14-20

Author(s):

K E Krivoshapova ◽

D P Tsygankova ◽

O L Barbarash

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Physical Inactivity ◽

Socioeconomic Development ◽

Significant Risk ◽

Cardiovascular Morbidity ◽

Morbidity And Mortality ◽

Excessive Alcohol Consumption ◽

Cardiovascular Morbidity And Mortality ◽

And Gender ◽

The Impact

The review discusses the results of various clinical studies assessing the impact of physical activity on the cardiovascular system and provides the evidence suggesting that physical inactivity along with psychosocial factors, i.e. smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet, obesity, arterial hypertension, diabetes, is one of the most significant risk factors leading to the development of cardiovascular disease. The comparative assessment of the indicators of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality adjusted to the level of physical activity and gender in the countries with different socioeconomic development is presented. Thus, there is a need to increase adherence to the recommended levels of physical activity in order to reduce cardiovascular morbidity, overall and cardiovascular mortality in the countries with different income levels.

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