Carotid Artery Stiffness Mechanisms Associated With Cardiovascular Disease Events and Incident Hypertension: the MESA

Author(s):  
Ryan J. Pewowaruk ◽  
Claudia Korcarz ◽  
Yacob Tedla ◽  
Gregory Burke ◽  
Philip Greenland ◽  
...  

Background: Elastic arteries stiffen via 2 main mechanisms: (1) load-dependent stiffening from higher blood pressure and (2) structural stiffening due to changes in the vessel wall. It is unknown how these different mechanisms contribute to incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. Methods: The MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis) is a longitudinal study of 6814 men and women without CVD at enrollment, from 6 communities in the United States. MESA participants with B-mode carotid ultrasound and brachial blood pressure at baseline Exam in (2000–2002) and CVD surveillance (mean follow-up 14.3 years through 2018) were included (n=5873). Peterson’s elastic modulus was calculated to represent total arterial stiffness. Structural stiffness was calculated by adjusting Peterson’s elastic modulus to a standard blood pressure of 120/80 mm Hg with participant-specific models. Load-dependent stiffness was the difference between total and structural stiffness. Results: In Cox models adjusted for traditional risk factors, load-dependent stiffness was significantly associated with higher incidence of CVD events (hazard ratio/100 mm Hg, 1.21 [95% CI, 1.09–1.34] P <0.001) events while higher structural stiffness was not (hazard ratio, 1.03 [95% CI, 0.99–1.07] P =0.10). Analysis of participants who were normotensive (blood pressure <130/80, no antihypertensives) at baseline exam (n=2122) found higher load-dependent stiffness was also associated with significantly higher incidence of hypertension (hazard ratio, 1.53 [95% CI, 1.35–1.75] P <0.001) while higher structural stiffness was not (hazard ratio, 1.03 [95% CI, 0.99–1.07] P =0.16). Conclusions: These results provide valuable new insights into mechanisms underlying the association between arterial stiffness and CVD. Load-dependent stiffness was significantly associated with CVD events but structural stiffness was not.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beza Merid ◽  
Maria Cielito Robles ◽  
Brahmajee K. Nallamothu ◽  
Mark K. Newman ◽  
Lesli E. Skolarus

BACKGROUND Heart disease is a leading cause of death in the United States (U.S.), killing roughly 655,000 Americans each year. It also represents a disproportionate harm to minoritized people, who often face structural barriers to health including poor access to emergency medical services and treatment, insurance coverage, healthy foods, and safe environments for physical activity. Researchers and providers studying racial health disparities in cardiovascular disease treatment and outcomes use SMS text messaging to facilitate communication between providers and patients, electronic home blood pressure monitors to enable the tracking of trends in blood pressure readings over time, and wearable devices like the Fitbit and Apple Watch to monitor health metrics like heart rate, exercise, and cardiac electrical activity. This viewpoint argues that access to these technologies does not guarantee the ability to afford or sustainably use them; it is merely one precondition of technology use that providers and researchers should consider when designing technological interventions to address patient needs. OBJECTIVE This paper provides a model that interventionist health services researchers can follow in order to think about facilitators of and barriers to technology use among patients whose resource constraints may shape their capacity to address the modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors that these technologies target. METHODS This Viewpoint offers reflections on an ongoing community-based participatory research design process in developing an mHealth intervention into hypertension management. RESULTS Results presented included a model that interventionist health services researchers can follow to improve research design. CONCLUSIONS Structural barriers to mHealth technology use must be addressed at every stage of the research process, and must guide decision-making about how providers and researchers can work with community partners to ensure that patients and community partners have the capability to use technological interventions as designed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 317 (3) ◽  
pp. F641-F647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uta Erdbrügger ◽  
Thu H. Le

Hypertension (HTN) affects one in three adults in the United States and is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and kidney failure. There is emerging evidence that more intense blood pressure lowering reduces mortality in patients with kidney disease who are at risk of cardiovascular disease and progression to end-stage renal disease. However, the ideal blood pressure threshold for patients with kidney disease remains a question of debate. Novel tools to more precisely diagnose HTN, tailor treatment, and predict the risk of end-organ damage such as kidney disease are needed. Analysis of circulating and urinary extracellular vesicles (EVs) and their cargo (protein and RNA) has the potential to identify novel noninvasive biomarkers that can also reflect a specific pathological mechanism of different HTN phenotypes. We will discuss the use of extracellular vesicles as markers of HTN severity and explain their profile change with antihypertensive medicine and potential to detect early end-organ damage. However, more studies with enhanced rigor in this field are needed to define the blood pressure threshold to prevent or delay kidney disease progression and decrease cardiovascular risk.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 147916412094567
Author(s):  
Nathan D Wong ◽  
Wenjun Fan ◽  
Jonathan Pak

Aim: We examined eligibility and preventable cardiovascular disease events in US adults with diabetes mellitus from the Empagliflozin Cardiovascular Outcome Event Trial in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients (EMPA-REG OUTCOME). Methods: We identified adults with diabetes mellitus eligible for EMPA-REG OUTCOME based on trial eligibility criteria available from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 2007–2016. We estimated composite cardiovascular disease endpoints, as well as all-cause deaths, death from cardiovascular disease and hospitalizations for heart failure from trial treatment and placebo event rates, the difference indicating the preventable events. Results: Among 29,629 US adults aged ⩾18 years (representing 231.9 million), 4672 (27.3 million) had diabetes mellitus, with 342 (1.86 million) meeting eligibility criteria of EMPA-REG OUTCOME. We estimated from trial primary endpoint event rates of 10.5% and 12.1% in the empagliflozin and placebo groups, respectively, that based on the ‘treatment’ of our 1.86 million estimated EMPA-REG OUTCOME eligible subjects, 12,066 (95% confidence interval: 10,352–13,780) cardiovascular disease events could be prevented annually. Estimated annual preventable deaths from any cause, cardiovascular causes and hospitalizations from heart failure were 17,078 (95% confidence interval: 14,652–19,504), 14,479 (95% confidence interval: 12,422–16,536) and 9467 (95% confidence interval: 8122–10,812), respectively. Conclusion: Empagliflozin, if provided to EMPA-REG OUTCOME eligible US adults, may prevent many cardiovascular disease events, cardiovascular and total deaths, as well as heart failure hospitalizations.


Author(s):  
Shannen B. Kizilski ◽  
Omid Amili ◽  
Filippo Coletti ◽  
Rumi Faizer ◽  
Victor H. Barocas

In 2017, the American Heart Association reported that one third of deaths in the United States, and 31% of deaths worldwide, are attributed to cardiovascular disease (CVD) [1]. A risk factor pervasive across most types of CVD is chronic high blood pressure, or hypertension [2].


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
L Mos ◽  
L Mos ◽  
F Saladini ◽  
A Mazzer ◽  
O Vriz ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Blood pressure variability (BPV) has emerged as an important predictor of future cardiovascular events among hypertensive patients. However, it is not known whether BPV measured with ambulatory monitoring (short-term BPV) or computed from office visits (visit-to-visit BPV) are related to each other and carry similar prognostic significance. Purpose To investigate the association of short-term BPV and visit-to-visit BPVs with cardiovascular and renal events in a young hypertensive cohort untreated at baseline. Methods Short-term BPV was measured from 24-hour blood pressure (BP) monitoring at baseline in 1167 participants with stage 1 hypertension from the HARVEST study, aged 33.1±8.5 years. Visit-to-visit BPV was calculated from office BP measured in triplicate at each visit. Visits were made two weeks apart at baseline, and then after 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year. Only untreated subjects were taken into account for the analysis. Hazard ratios for short-term (weighted 24-hour BP Standard Deviation) and visit-to-visit Standard Deviation were computed, adjusting for the corresponding average BP, age, sex, body mass index, 24h heart rate, smoking, alcohol and coffee consumption, physical activity, parental cardiovascular disease, glucose, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, and nocturnal BP dipping. Results Short-term systolic BPV showed a weak correlation with visit-to-visit BPV (p=0.018). No correlation was found for diastolic BPVs. Independent predictors of short-term BPV were average 24h BP, smoking, and nocturnal dipping. Predictors of visit-to-visit BPV were average office BP, parental cardiovascular disease, female gender, and nocturnal dipping. During a 15.4-year follow-up, 95 end-points were observed. In a parsimonious multivariable Cox model, short-term systolic BPV (p=0.03) was an independent predictor of the endpoints with a 7% increase in risk for each 1 mmHg increment in systolic BPV. The hazard ratio for a short-term systolic BPV ≥12.8 mmHg was 2.03 (95% CI, 1.34–3.05, p=0.0007). This threshold value was identified by ROC curve analysis. The association was particularly strong for coronary events (N=41) with a hazard ratio of 3.45 (95% CI, 1.73–6.89, p=0.0004). No independent association with outcome was found for visit-to-visit systolic or diastolic BPV (p>0.66). Similar results were obtained when average real variability was used instead of standard deviation as a metric of visit-to-visit BPV (p>0.15). Conclusions These data show that in untreated young hypertensive people short-term BPV and visit-to-visit BPV have a weak relationship and a different clinical significance. Only short-term BPV measured with ambulatory monitoring improved traditional risk prediction models in this setting. Acknowledgement/Funding Associazione 18 maggio 1370


Author(s):  
Christopher E. Clark ◽  
Fiona C. Warren ◽  
Kate Boddy ◽  
Sinead T.J. McDonagh ◽  
Sarah F. Moore ◽  
...  

Systolic interarm differences in blood pressure have been associated with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease. We undertook individual participant data meta-analyses to (1) quantify independent associations of systolic interarm difference with mortality and cardiovascular events; (2) develop and validate prognostic models incorporating interarm difference, and (3) determine whether interarm difference remains associated with risk after adjustment for common cardiovascular risk scores. We searched for studies recording bilateral blood pressure and outcomes, established agreements with collaborating authors, and created a single international dataset: the Inter-arm Blood Pressure Difference - Individual Participant Data (INTERPRESS-IPD) Collaboration. Data were merged from 24 studies (53 827 participants). Systolic interarm difference was associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality: continuous hazard ratios 1.05 (95% CI, 1.02–1.08) and 1.06 (95% CI, 1.02–1.11), respectively, per 5 mm Hg systolic interarm difference. Hazard ratios for all-cause mortality increased with interarm difference magnitude from a ≥5 mm Hg threshold (hazard ratio, 1.07 [95% CI, 1.01–1.14]). Systolic interarm differences per 5 mm Hg were associated with cardiovascular events in people without preexisting disease, after adjustment for Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (hazard ratio, 1.04 [95% CI, 1.00–1.08]), Framingham (hazard ratio, 1.04 [95% CI, 1.01–1.08]), or QRISK cardiovascular disease risk algorithm version 2 (QRISK2) (hazard ratio, 1.12 [95% CI, 1.06–1.18]) cardiovascular risk scores. Our findings confirm that systolic interarm difference is associated with increased all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and cardiovascular events. Blood pressure should be measured in both arms during cardiovascular assessment. A systolic interarm difference of 10 mm Hg is proposed as the upper limit of normal. REGISTRATION: URL: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42015031227


Stroke ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo J. Aparicio ◽  
Laura M. Tarko ◽  
David Gagnon ◽  
Lauren Costa ◽  
Ashley Galloway ◽  
...  

Background and Purpose: Low blood pressure (BP) is associated with higher stroke mortality, although the factors underlying this association have not been fully explored. We investigated prestroke BP and long-term mortality after ischemic stroke in a national sample of US veterans. Methods: Using a retrospective cohort study design of veterans hospitalized between 2002 and 2007 with a first ischemic stroke and with ≥1 outpatient BP measurements 1 to 18 months before admission, we defined 6 categories each of average prestroke systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP, and 7 categories of pulse pressure. Patients were followed-up to 12 years for primary outcomes of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. We used Cox models to relate prestroke BP indices to mortality and stratified analyses by the presence of preexisting comorbidities (smoking, myocardial infarction, heart failure, atrial fibrillation/flutter, cancer, and dementia), race and ethnicity. Results: Of 29 690 eligible veterans with stroke (mean±SD age 67±12 years, 98% men, 67% White), 2989 (10%) had average prestroke SBP<120 mm Hg. During a follow-up of 4.1±3.3 years, patients with SBP<120 mm Hg experienced 61% all-cause and 27% cardiovascular mortality. In multivariable analyses, patients with the lowest SBP, lowest diastolic BP, and highest pulse pressure had the highest mortality risk: SBP<120 versus 130 to 139 mm Hg (hazard ratio=1.26 [95% CI, 1.19–1.34]); diastolic BP <60 versus 70 to 79 mm Hg (hazard ratio=1.35 [95% CI, 1.23–1.49]); and pulse pressure ≥90 versus 60 to 69 mm Hg (hazard ratio=1.24 [95% CI, 1.15–1.35]). Patients with average SBP<120 mm Hg and at least one comorbidity (smoking, heart disease, cancer, or dementia) had the highest mortality risk (hazard ratio=1.45 [95% CI, 1.37–1.53]). Conclusions: Compared with normotension, low prestroke BP was associated with mortality after stroke, particularly among patients with at least one comorbidity.


Hypertension ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vesna D. Garovic ◽  
Ralf Dechend ◽  
Thomas Easterling ◽  
S. Ananth Karumanchi ◽  
Suzanne McMurtry Baird ◽  
...  

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) remain one of the major causes of pregnancy-related maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Affected women are also at increased risk for cardiovascular disease later in life, independently of traditional cardiovascular disease risks. Despite the immediate and long-term cardiovascular disease risks, recommendations for diagnosis and treatment of HDP in the United States have changed little, if at all, over past decades, unlike hypertension guidelines for the general population. The reasons for this approach include the question of benefit from normalization of blood pressure treatment for pregnant women, coupled with theoretical concerns for fetal well-being from a reduction in utero-placental perfusion and in utero exposure to antihypertensive medication. This report is based on a review of current literature and includes normal physiological changes in pregnancy that may affect clinical presentation of HDP; HDP epidemiology and the immediate and long-term sequelae of HDP; the pathophysiology of preeclampsia, an HDP commonly associated with proteinuria and increasingly recognized as a heterogeneous disease with different clinical phenotypes and likely distinct pathological mechanisms; a critical overview of current national and international HDP guidelines; emerging evidence that reducing blood pressure treatment goals in pregnancy may reduce maternal severe hypertension without increasing the risk of pregnancy loss, high-level neonatal care, or overall maternal complications; and the increasingly recognized morbidity associated with postpartum hypertension/preeclampsia. Finally, we discuss the future of research in the field and the pressing need to study socioeconomic and biological factors that may contribute to racial and ethnic maternal health care disparities.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document