Pulmonary Hypertension in Chronic Kidney Disease

Network Analysis on Family Resilience, Fear of Progression, and Quality of Life in Chinese Patients with Pulmonary Hypertension

BACKGROUND

The long-term quality of life of Chinese patients with pulmonary hypertension has been seriously compromised. Interventions to enhance patient quality of life of are urgently required.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the relationship between quality of life and its influencing factors in patients through network analysis.

METHOD

247 patients with pulmonary hypertension in 3 hospitals in Jinan, Shandong Province, self-reported their immediate family resilience, fear of progression, and quality of life via questionnaires. A mixed graphical model was constructed to investigate the relationship among multidimensional structures of variables.

RESULTS

A total of 247 patients (173 female and 74 male) were included (age 18-34, n=115; age 35-49, n=99; age 50-64, n=23; age > 65 years, n=10). "Family communication and problem solving" was at the center of the network, with serving as a bridge node. Within communities, the strongest edge was "Family communication and problem solving-maintaining a positive outlook." Across communities, the strongest edge between family resilience and quality of life was "Family communication and problem solving-environmental domain quality of life," and the strongest edge across the fear of progression and quality of life was "physiological health fear-psychological domain quality of life."

CONCLUSIONS

Family resilience and fear of progression may affect the quality of life in patients with pulmonary hypertension. Developing a program with "family communication and problem solving" as a primary target may reduce patient fear of progression, enhance family resilience, and improve patient quality of life.

Severity of functional tricuspid regurgitation is associated with mortality in patients with pulmonary hypertension in long-term follow-up

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a hemodynamic and pathophysiologic state present in many cardiovascular, respiratory, and systemic diseases. PH is considered to have a higher risk of cardiovascular events and mortality. The most common type of functional tricuspid regurgitation (FTR) is associated with PH. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between FTR severity and mortality in PH in western China. This is a retrospective analysis in PH patients and all patients underwent right-heart catheterization (RHC) for hemodynamic measurements. The FTR severity was determined according to the guidelines. Uni- and multivariate analyses were used to identify risk factors for mortality. From 2015 to 2021, 136 patients with PH with a median age of 50 years (interquartile range [IQR]: 35-64 years). During 26-month median follow-up (mean 27.7 ± 15.1 months), 40 (29.2%) patients died (mean after 21.7 ± 14.1 months). In the univariate Cox regression analysis, World Health Organization functional class (WHO FC) III/IV, elevated B-type natriuretic peptide, pulmonary vascular resistance (≥16.2 Wood units), pulmonary artery oxygen saturation, severe FTR and right ventricular diameter/left ventricular diameter (≥0.62) were significantly associated with mortality. In the multivariate Cox regression analysis, severe FTR, WHO FC III/IV, and right ventricular end-diastolic pressure (RVEDP) were risk factors for mortality. Severe FTR at baseline was strongly associated with mortality in both precapillary and postcapillary PH patients, independent of the other risk factors as RVEDP, HO FC III/IV, optimal pulmonary arterial hypertension targeted therapy.

The efficacy and safety of Sacubitril/Valsartan on pulmonary hypertension in hemodialysis patients

BACKGROUND

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a common complication of end-stage renal disease which is associated with adverse outcomes including all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events. Recent studies have demonstrated that Sacubitril/Valsartan (Sac/Val) as an enkephalinase inhibitor and angiotensin II receptor blocker could reduce pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) and improve the prognosis of patients with heart failure. However, whether Sac/Val is effective in hemodialysis (HD) patients with PH is essentially unknown. In this retrospective study, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Sac/Val in the treatment of PH in HD patients.

METHODS

A total of 122 HD patients with PH were divided into Sac/Val group (n = 71) and ARBs group (n = 51) based on the treatment regimen. The PASP, other cardiac parameters measured by echocardiography, and cardiac biomarkers including N-terminal fragment of BNP (NT-proBNP) and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) were observed at baseline and 3 months after treatment.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences in the baseline characteristics between the two groups. PASP decreased significantly from 45(38, 54) to 28(21, 40) mmHg in Sac/Val group (p < 0.001). PASP reduced from 41(37, 51) to 34(27, 44) mmHg in ARBs group (p < 0.001), and the decrease was more pronounced in the Sac/Val group (p < 0.001). In addition, improvements in the right atrial diameter (RAD), left ventricular diameter (LVD), left ventricular posterior wall thickness (LVPWT), left atrial diameter (LAD), pulmonary artery diameter (PAD), left ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV), left ventricular end-systolic volume (LVESV), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and fractional shortening (FS) were found in Sac/Val group (ps < 0.05). After 3 months, LVD, LAD, LVEDV, LVESV, LVEF, SV, and PASP were significantly improved in Sac/Val group compared with ARBs group (ps <0.05). Significant reduction in NT-proBNP [35,000 (15,000, 70,000) pg/ml vs. 7,042 (3,126, 29,060) pg/ml, p < 0.001] and cTnI [0.056(0.031, 0.085) ng/ml vs. 0.036 (0.012, 0.056) ng/ml, p < 0.001) were observed in Sac/Val group. No significant differences were observed in adverse events between the two groups (ps > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Sac/Val seems to be an efficacious regimen in PH with favorable safety and has huge prospects for treating PH in HD patients.

The potential impact of a probiotic: Akkermansia muciniphila in the regulation of blood pressure—the current facts and evidence

Akkermansia muciniphila (A. muciniphila) is present in the human gut microbiota from infancy and gradually increases in adulthood. The potential impact of the abundance of A. muciniphila has been studied in major cardiovascular diseases including elevated blood pressure or hypertension (HTN). HTN is a major factor in premature death worldwide, and approximately 1.28 billion adults aged 30–79 years have hypertension. A. muciniphila is being considered a next-generation probiotic and though numerous studies had highlighted the positive role of A. muciniphila in lowering/controlling the HTN, however, few studies had highlighted the negative impact of increased abundance of A. muciniphila in the management of HTN. Thus, in the review, we aimed to discuss the current facts, evidence, and controversy about the role of A. muciniphila in the pathophysiology of HTN and its potential effect on HTN management/regulation, which could be beneficial in identifying the drug target for the management of HTN.

The value of ventricular gradient for predicting pulmonary hypertension and mortality in hemodialysis patients

Pulmonary hypertension (PHT) is associated with increased mortality in hemodialysis (HD) patients. The ventricular gradient optimized for right ventricular pressure overload (VG-RVPO) is sensitive to early changes in right ventricular overload. The study aimed to assess the ability of the VG-RVPO to detect PHT and predict all-cause and cardiac mortality in HD patients. 265 selected HD patients were enrolled. Clinical, biochemical, electrocardiographic, and echocardiographic parameters were evaluated. Patients were divided into normal and abnormal VG-RVPO groups, and were followed-up for 3 years. Abnormal VG-RVPO patients were more likely to be at high or intermediate risk for PHT, were older, had longer HD vintage, higher prevalence of myocardial infarction, higher parathormone levels, shorter pulmonary flow acceleration time, lower left ventricular ejection fraction, higher values of left atrial volume index, left ventricular mass index, and peak tricuspid regurgitant velocity. Both all-cause and CV mortality were higher in abnormal VG-RVPO group. In multivariate Cox analysis, VG-RVPO remained an independent and strong predictor of all-cause and CV mortality. In HD patients, abnormal VG-RVPO not only predicts PHT, but also all-cause and CV mortality.