Clinical and prognostic value of hypertensive cardiac damage in the PAMELA Study

High blood pressure with elevated resting heart rate: a high risk "Sympathetic" clinical phenotype

Epidemiological studies have unequivocally shown that elevated heart rate values measured at rest have an adverse prognostic impact in the hypertensive patient, being associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events and complications. In recent years new data have been collected on this issue, strengthening the clinical relevance of elevated heart rate as a specific hypertensive phenotype. The present paper will review old and new data on the prognostic importance of resting tachycardia in the hypertensive patient. It will also examine the role of the sympathetic nervous system in the development of this alteration as well as its therapeutic implications. The different approaches to dynamically assess heart rate values in the clinical setting will be finally discussed.

Hypertensive Heart Failure in Asia

Hypertension (HT) is an important risk factor for heart failure (HF). The prevalence of HT among the HF population is higher in Asia than in other regions around the world. In Asia, HT is the most common cause of HF after ischemic heart disease. Hypertensive HF (HHF) results from structural and functional adaptations of the heart, which lead to left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy (LVH). Hypertensive LVH can cause ventricular diastolic dysfunction and becomes a risk factor for myocardial infarction, which is a well-known cause of LV systolic dysfunction. Asymptomatic systolic and diastolic LV dysfunction easily progress to clinically overt HF with other precipitating factors. Although the precise pathophysiology of HHF is still unclear, we have known that HHF can be reversed by effective control of blood pressure (BP). Thus, HT control is essential not only for primary prevention but also for the secondary prevention of HF. Here, we reviewed the epidemiology, pathophysiology, outcome, and implication of BP management in HHF patients, especially in the Asian population.

Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome and left ventricular hypertrophy: a meta-analysis of echocardiographic studies

AIM

We investigated the association between obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and subclinical cardiac organ damage through a meta-analysis of echocardiographic studies that provided data on left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), assessed as a categorical or continuous variable.

DESIGN

The PubMed, OVID-MEDLINE, and Cochrane library databases were systematically analyzed to search English-language articles published from 1 January 2000 to 15 August 2019. Studies were detected by using the following terms: 'obstructive sleep apnea', 'sleep quality', 'sleep disordered breathing', 'cardiac damage', 'left ventricular mass', 'left ventricular hypertrophy', and 'echocardiography'.

RESULTS

Meta-analysis included 5550 patients with OSA and 2329 non-OSA controls from 39 studies. The prevalence of LVH in the pooled OSA population was 45% (CI 35--55%). Meta-analysis of studies comparing the prevalence of LVH in participants with OSA and controls showed that OSA was associated with an increased risk of LVH (OR = 1.70, CI 1.44-2.00, P < 0.001). LV mass was significantly increased in patients with severe OSA as compared with controls (SMD 0.46 ± 0.08, CI 0.29-0.62, P < 0.001) or with mild OSA. This was not the case for studies comparing patients with unselected or predominantly mild OSA and controls (0.33 ± 0.17, CI -0.01 to 0.67, P = 0.057).

CONCLUSION

The present meta-analysis expands previous information on the relationship between OSA and echocardiographic LVH, so far based on individual studies. The overall evidence strongly suggests that the likelihood of LVH increases with the severity of OSA, thus exhibiting a continuous relationship.

The role of sacubitril/valsartan in the treatment of chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction in hypertensive patients with comorbidities: From clinical trials to real-world settings

Background:

Sacubitril/valsartan, the first agent to be approved in a new class of drugs called angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitors (ARNIs), has been shown to reduce cardiovascular mortality and morbidity compared to enalapril in outpatient subjects with chronic heart failure (HF) and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (HFrEF). However, there is little real-world evidence about the efficacy of ARNIs in elderly hypertensive patients with HFrEF and comorbidities.

Methods:

In this prospective open-label study, 108 subjects, 54 of them (mean age 78.6 ± 8.2 years, 75.0 % male), with HFrEF (29.8 ± 4.3 %) and New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II-III symptoms were assigned to receive ARNIs twice daily, according to the recommended dosage of 24/26, 49/51, 97/103 mg. Patients were gender- and age-matched with a control arm of patients with HFrEF receiving the optimal standard therapy for HF. The clinic blood pressure (BP), N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), uric acid (UA), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and NYHA class were evaluated at a mean follow-up of 12 months. During the follow-up, the clinical outcomes, including mortality and re-hospitalization for HF, were collected.

Results:

NYHA class significantly improved in the ARNI arm compared to the control (24.9 vs. 6.4 %, shifting from class III to II, and 55.4 vs. 25.2 %, from class II to I, p < 0.05 for all). A significant improvement in LVEF and eGFR levels was found in the ARNI arm compared to controls (42.4 vs. 34.2 %, 73.8 vs. 61.2 mL/min, respectively; p < 0.001 for all). NT-proBNP, clinic systolic and diastolic BP, blood glucose, HbA1c and UA values were reduced in both treatment arms, but they were lower in the ARNI arm compared controls (3107 vs. 4552 pg/mL, 112.2 vs. 120.4 and 68.8 vs. 75.6 mmHg, 108.4 vs. 112.6 mg/dL, 5.4 vs. 5.9 % and 5.9 vs. 6.4 mg/dL, respectively, p < 0.05). Mortality and re-hospitalization for HF was lower in the ARNI arm than controls (20.1 vs. 33.6 % and 27.7 vs. 46.3 % respectively; p < 0.05 for all). Gender differences were not found in either arm. No patients refused to continue the study, and no side effects to the ARNI treatment were observed.

Conclusions:

In elderly patients with HFrEF and comorbidities, ARNI treatment seems effective and safe. The improvement in LVEF and cardiac remodeling, BP, eGFR, serum glucose, UA and HbA1c could be the mechanisms by which ARNIs play their beneficial role on clinical outcomes. However, these results need to be confirmed in studies involving a greater number of subjects, and with a longer follow-up.

Extreme dipping: is the cardiovascular risk increased? An unsolved issue

: Extreme dipping (i.e. a marked blood pressure fall during night-time period) is an alteration of circadian blood pressure (BP) rhythm frequently observed in the setting of systemic hypertension as well as in the general population. Some reports have suggested that cardiovascular prognosis in extreme dippers (ED) is similar as in dippers, whereas other studies have documented either a better or worse prognosis in ED. Available information on clinical and prognostic implications of ED is scanty and data provided by studies are controversial. Furthermore, a comprehensive report summarizing the key features of this BP pattern is lacking. The present review focuses on a number of issues concerning ED pattern such as the prevalence and clinical correlates, mechanisms underlying this BP phenotype association with hypertension mediated organ damage (HMOD) and prognostic value in predicting cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality. The reported prevalence of this BP rhythm alteration ranges from 5% to 30%, depending on diagnostic criteria, clinical and demographic characteristics of subjects. Most studies targeting the association of this condition with HMOD failed to find consistent findings in support of an adverse impact of ED on vascular, renal of cardiac structure and function. Available data on ED as compared to low risk reference group (i.e. dippers) do not allow to conclude that high BP variability resulting from a marked BP fall at night adversely affects cardiovascular prognosis at the community level and in the general hypertensive population. Thus, further studies aimed to assess the prognostic significance of ED as well as the impact of therapeutic interventions aimed to normalize this circadian BP pattern, are highly needed.

Conventional and new electrocardiographic criteria for hypertension-mediated cardiac organ damage: A narrative review

Hypertension-mediated organ damage (HMOD) is frequently observed in hypertensive patients at different cardiovascular (CV) risk profile. This may have both diagnostic and therapeutic implications for the choice of the most appropriate therapies. Among different markers of HMOD, the most frequent functional and structural adaptations can be observed at cardiac level, including left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), diastolic dysfunction, aortic root dilatation, and left atrial enlargement. In particular, LVH was shown to be a strong and independent risk factor for major CV events, namely myocardial infarction, stroke, congestive heart failure, CV death. Thus, early identification of LVH is a key element for preventing CV events in hypertension. Although echocardiographic assessment of LVH represents the gold standard technique, this is not cost-effective and cannot be adopted in routine clinical practice of hypertension. On the other hand, electrocardiographic (ECG) assessment of HMOD relative to the heart is a simple, reproducible, widely available and cost-effective method to assess the presence of LVH, and could be preferred in large scale screening tests. Several new indicators have been proposed and tested in observational studies and clinical trials of hypertension, in order to improve the relatively low sensitivity of the conventional ECG criteria for LVH, despite high specificity. This article reviews the differences in the use of the main conventional and the new 12 lead ECG criteria of LVH for early assessment of asymptomatic, subclinical cardiac HMOD in a setting of clinical practice of hypertension.

Higher plasma leptin levels are associated with reduced left ventricular mass and left ventricular diastolic stiffness in black women: insights from the Genetic Epidemiology Network of Arteriopathy (GENOA) study

Our previous experimental animal data suggest a beneficial effect of leptin on LV structure and function. We hypothesized that leptin levels are associated with lower LV mass and myocardial stiffness which are important risk factors for the development of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). We evaluated 1172 blacks, in which the prevalence of HFpEF is quite high, with preserved LV ejection fraction (EF > 50%) from the Genetic Epidemiology Network of Arteriopathy Study (mean age 62.9 years, 72% women), a community-based study to identify genes influencing blood pressure and target organ damage due to hypertension. Associations between leptin levels and indices of LV structure and function were evaluated using generalized estimating equations accounting for clustering in siblings. LV myocardial stiffness was evaluated using diastolic wall strain (DWS) measured by echocardiography. Analyses were stratified by sex because leptin levels were three times higher in women than men (p < 0.001). After adjustment for confounders, higher leptin levels were associated with lower LV mass (coefficient for 1 s.d. increase of leptin level: -5.825 g, 95% CI: -9.755 to -1.895 g, P = 0.004) and higher DWS (lower LV stiffness) (coefficient for 1 s.d. increase of leptin level: 0.009, 95% CI: 0.002-0.015, P = 0.007) in women. There were no statistically significant associations in men. In women, there were interactions between leptin levels and body mass index quartiles on LV mass and stiffness (p < 0.05 for both). Higher leptin levels were associated with lower LV mass and stiffness in obese but not lean black women.

Home sphygmomanometers can help in the control of blood pressure: a nationwide field survey

Home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM), which integrates patients into their treatment program, is a self-management tool. The prevalence of home sphygmomanometer ownership and patient compliance with HBPM guidelines are not well known, especially in developing and underdeveloped countries. The aims of this study were to measure the prevalence of home sphygmomanometer ownership among hypertensive subjects through a nationwide field survey (PatenT2), to investigate the validation of sphygmomanometers and consistency of the user arm circumference and cuff size of the upper-arm device owned, as well as to compare blood pressure (BP) readings between hypertensive subjects who have or do not have a sphygmomanometer. Sample selection was based on a multistratified proportional sampling procedure to select a nationally representative sample of the adult population (n = 5437). Of 1650 hypertensive subjects, 332 (20.1%) owned a device, but the percentage of patients who owned a sphygmomanometer was 28.8% among patients who were aware of their hypertension (260/902). The usage of wrist devices and nonvalidated devices is common, and selection of an appropriate cuff size is ignored. Linear-regression analysis showed that owning a BP monitor is associated with decreases of 3.7 mmHg and 2.8 mmHg for systolic and diastolic BPs, respectively. Many patients do not own a sphygmomanometer. The decrease of systolic and diastolic BPs among BP monitor owners is a striking finding. The implementation of a hypertension care program consisting of sphygmomanometer reimbursement and training of patients in its use for HBPM might be cost-effective.

Renal artery stenosis and left ventricular hypertrophy: an updated review and meta-analysis of echocardiographic studies

AIM

Data on left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in patients with renal artery stenosis (RAS) and its regression following renal revascularization are scanty. We performed a meta-analysis to provide comprehensive information on this clinically relevant issue.

METHODS

Full articles providing data on: LVH, as assessed by echocardiography, in RAS patients as compared with essential hypertensive counterparts; changes of left ventricular (LV) mass index after renal artery revascularization were considered.

RESULTS

A total of 905 study participants (RAS = 446, essential hypertensive = 459) of both sex were included in nine studies. Pooled LV mass index was higher in RAS than in essential hypertensive patients (140.4 ± 11.1 g/m versus 121.8 ± 6.2 g/m, standard mean difference being 0.41 ± 0.07 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.27-0.51, P < 0.001]. Among 360 RAS patients undergone renal revascularization from eight studies, baseline and post-intervention pooled mean LV mass index values were 129.0 ± 10.2 g/m and 115.5 ± 9.9 g/m, respectively, the standard mean difference being-0.36 ± 0.06 (95% CI from -0.47 to -0.25, P < 0.001). These findings were unaffected by publication bias or single study effect.

CONCLUSION

Our meta-analysis indicates that RAS patients have an increased likelihood of LVH compared with essential hypertensive counterparts and renal artery revascularization has a beneficial effect on LV structure, as reflected by a significant decrease in LV mass index.