[Will the new figures from the AHA/ACC guidelines on the definition and treatment of hypertension in Latin America have an impact?]

Oxidative Stress and Inflammation Are Associated with Coexistent Severe Multivessel Coronary Artery Stenosis and Right Carotid Artery Severe Stenosis in Elderly Patients

Oxidative stress and inflammatory response are the main pathogenic pathways in atherosclerosis stenosis. This study is aimed at evaluating the roles of oxidative stress and inflammatory response in coexistent right carotid artery severe stenosis and severe multivessel coronary artery stenosis in elderly patients. Circulating levels of total oxidant status (TOS), lipid hydroperoxide (LHP), 8-isoprostane (8-IP), malondialdehyde (MDA), monocyte chemotactic protein-4 (MCP-4), amyloid A (AA), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were measured by standardised laboratory test methods. Markers of oxidative stress and inflammatory response: levels of TOS, LHP, 8-IP, MDA, MCP-4, AA, hs-CRP, and TNF-α, were increased (P < 0.001) in elderly patient. These results suggested that oxidative stress and inflammatory response may be involved in carotid artery severe stenosis and severe multivessel coronary artery stenosis and measuring oxidative stress and inflammation biomarkers may also be a promising step in the development of an effective method for monitoring the severity of right carotid artery stenosis and multivessel coronary artery stenosis in elderly patients.

Development and validation of a nomogram to better predict hypertension based on a 10-year retrospective cohort study in China

Background

Hypertension is a highly prevalent disorder. A nomogram to estimate the risk of hypertension in Chinese individuals is not available.

Methods

6201 subjects were enrolled in the study and randomly divided into training set and validation set at a ratio of 2:1. The LASSO regression technique was used to select the optimal predictive features, and multivariate logistic regression to construct the nomograms. The performance of the nomograms was assessed and validated by AUC, C-index, calibration curves, DCA, clinical impact curves, NRI, and IDI.

Results

The nomogram^140/90 was developed with the parameters of family history of hypertension, age, SBP, DBP, BMI, MCHC, MPV, TBIL, and TG. AUCs of nomogram^140/90 were 0.750 in the training set and 0.772 in the validation set. C-index of nomogram^140/90 were 0.750 in the training set and 0.772 in the validation set. The nomogram^130/80 was developed with the parameters of family history of hypertension, age, SBP, DBP, RDWSD, and TBIL. AUCs of nomogram^130/80 were 0.705 in the training set and 0.697 in the validation set. C-index of nomogram^130/80 were 0.705 in the training set and 0.697 in the validation set. Both nomograms demonstrated favorable clinical consistency. NRI and IDI showed that the nomogram^140/90 exhibited superior performance than the nomogram^130/80. Therefore, the web-based calculator of nomogram^140/90 was built online.

Conclusions

We have constructed a nomogram that can be effectively used in the preliminary and in-depth risk prediction of hypertension in a Chinese population based on a 10-year retrospective cohort study.

Funding

This study was supported by the Hebei Science and Technology Department Program (no. H2018206110).

Hypertension care cascade in Chile: a serial cross-sectional study of national health surveys 2003-2010-2017

Background

Trend data on hypertension prevalence and attainment indicators at each step of the care cascade (awareness, treatment, control) are required in Chile. This study aims to quantify trends (2003–2017) in prevalence and in the proportion of individuals with hypertension attaining each step of the care cascade among adults aged 17 years or older, and to assess the impact of lowering the blood pressure (BP) thresholds used to define elevated BP on these indicators.

Methods

We used data from 2003, 2010, and 2017 Chilean national health surveys. Each year we assessed levels of (1) mean systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, (2) hypertension prevalence (BP ≥ 140/90 mmHg or use of antihypertensive treatment), and (3) awareness, treatment, and control. Logistic regression on pooled data was used to assess trends in binary outcomes; linear regression was used to assess trends in continuous SBP and DBP. We compared levels of hypertension prevalence using two sources to ascertain antihypertensive treatment (self-reported versus medicine inventory). The 2017 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) guidelines were used to re-define hypertension using lower thresholds (BP ≥ 130/80 mmHg).

Results

Hypertension prevalence was 34.0, 32.0 and 30.8% in 2003, 2010 and 2017, respectively. Levels of treated- and controlled-hypertension were significantly higher in 2017 than in 2003 (65% versus 41% for treatment, P < 0.001; 34% versus 14% for control, P < 0.001), while levels of awareness were stable (66% versus 59%, P = 0.130). Awareness, treatment, and control levels were higher among females in 2003, 2010, and 2017 (P < 0.001). Mean SBP and DBP decreased over the 15-year period, except for SBP among females on treatment. Adopting the 2017 ACC/AHA guidelines would increase hypertension prevalence by 17 and 55% in absolute and relative terms, respectively.

Conclusions

Chile has experienced a positive population-wide lowering in blood pressure distribution which may be explained partly by a significant rise in levels of treated- and controlled-hypertension since 2003. Lowering the thresholds used to define elevated BP would substantially increase the financial public health challenge of further improving attainment levels at each step of the care cascade. Innovative and collaborative strategies are needed to improve hypertension management, especially among males.

Position statement of the Interamerican Society of Cardiology (IASC) on the current guidelines for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of arterial hypertension 2017-2020

OBJECTIVES

As an Inter-American Society we are convinced of the need to standardize the steps in which we diagnose, evaluate, treat and control hypertension, establishing guidelines and rules that should be adopted in all countries of Latin America, aimed at standardizing management and control of CV risk in order to achieve a substantial decrease in CV events.

METHODS

In the last four years important international guidelines for the diagnosis, management, treatment and control of arterial hypertension have been published. In America, mostly in mid- and low-income countries, hypertension is a major problem of public health, being the most important cardiovascular risk factor due to its great population impact. Therefore, it is crucial to dedicate all the possible efforts to increase substantially the number of hypertensive patients diagnosed in a given area, and to improve the percentage of controlled patients. This is a major necessity in order to reduce the morbidity and mortality for CVD in the Latin American region, although no guidelines takes the Latin American populations into account, and much less standardizes their diagnosis and management.

CONCLUSIONS

The Inter-American Society of Cardiology suggest the use of the blood pressure classification of the Latin American Society of Hypertension (LASH) and recommends the use of the SCORE System to stratify the global CV risk because this system has the capability to adapt the global risk by means of a correcting factor based on the ethnicity of the different native populations in America.

Hypertension prevalence in Colombian Patients Evaluated with Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring According to Changes in Clinical Guidelines Between 2017-2018

INTRODUCTION

The latest American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) Guidelines for high blood pressure in adults bring changes with lower cut-off points, creating socioeconomic issues in low and middle income countries. It is necessary to consider the changes that would have the adherence to these new guidelines in diagnosis and hypertension (HTN) control with ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), the gold standard for hypertension diagnosis.

AIM

To describe the changes in hypertension diagnosis and control according to the latest ACC/AHA guidelines, the European Society of Cardiology and European Society of Hypertension (ESC/ESH) and Latin-America Society of Hypertension (LASH) guidelines.

METHODS

Cross-sectional, descriptive, retrospective study of all patients who have had an ABPM during June 2017 and June 2018 according to cut-off points established by the ACC/AHA Guidelines compared to the ESC/LASH Guidelines.

RESULTS

1957 patients evaluated with ABPM were included; median age was 57 years, 55% were female. The difference in diagnosis by 24-h ABPM, day-time, and night-time cycle was 21%, 42%, and 24% higher applying ACC/AHA guidelines vs ESC/ESH guidelines. There were no significant differences regarding the history of HTN, gender, and age in the circadian pattern.

CONCLUSION

If the measured value of blood pressure in the 24-h ABPM is taken into account, it would necessary to intervene pharmacologically 21.5% more individuals according to the ACC/AHA guidelines in our population, Individualization is awarded.