Evaluation of the atherosclerotic burden in hypertensive patients with prediabetes

AIM

To assess the atherosclerotic burden in hypertensive patients with prediabetes without cardiovascular disease.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We included patients with hypertension and prediabetes (fasting blood glucose: 100-125mg/dL and/or glycohemoglobin A1c: 5.7-6.4%), excluding those with established cardiovascular disease or those at very high risk. We recorded major vascular risk factors. Subclinical arteriosclerosis was measured by the ankle/brachial index (ABI) and carotid intima-medial thickness (IMT). Subclinical arteriosclerosis was mild if IMT was >75p adjusted by age and sex and/or ABI was 0.7-0.9 and was considered moderate-severe when there was plaque and/or ABI<0.7.

RESULTS

We included 53 patients, 63±7 years-old; women: 50,9% (95%CI: 36.8-64.9). Atherosclerotic burden was detected in 66.0% (95%CI: 51.7-78.5) of subjects. 24,5% (95%CI: 13.8-38.3) of patients had mild arteriosclerosis disease and 41.5% (95%CI: 28.1-55.9) had moderate-severe. This allowed us to re-stratified as very high vascular risk the 41.5% (95%CI: 28.1-55.9) of patients. 45.4% (95%CI: 16-74.8) of subjects with moderate initial risk were considered high or very high risk. In multivariate analyses, only smoking was associated with atherosclerotic burden (P=.07).

CONCLUSIONS

Two thirds of hypertensive patients with prediabetes had subclinical arteriosclerotic disease when they were evaluated by the ankle/brachial index and carotid ultrasonography. Approximately forty percent of patients were re-stratified as very high vascular risk. Nearly half of the prediabetic hypertensive patients initially classified as moderate risk were considered high or very high risk.

A cardiovascular educational intervention for primary care professionals in Spain: positive impact in a quasi-experimental study

BACKGROUND

Routine general practice data collection can help identify patients at risk of cardiovascular disease.

AIM

To determine whether a training programme for primary care professionals improves the recording of cardiovascular disease risk factors in electronic health records.

DESIGN AND SETTING

A quasi-experimental study without random assignment of professionals. This was an educational intervention study, consisting of an online-classroom 1-year training programme, and carried out in the Valencian community in Spain.

METHOD

The prevalence rates of recording of cardiovascular factors (recorded every 6 months over a 4-year period) were compared between intervention and control group. Clinical relevance was calculated by absolute risk reduction (ARR), relative risk reduction (RRR), and number of patients needed-to-attend (NNA), to avoid under-recording, with their 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Linear regression models were used for each of the variables.

RESULTS

Of the 941 professionals initially registered, 78.1% completed the programme. The ARR ranged from 1.87% (95% CI = 1.79 to 1.94) in the diagnosis of diabetes to 15.27% (95% CI = 15.14 to 15.40) in the recording of basal blood glucose. The NNA ranged from 7 in blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose recording to 54 in the diagnosis of diabetes. The RRR ranged from 26.7% in the diagnosis of diabetes to 177.1% in the recording of the Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE). The rates of change were greater in the intervention group and the differences were significant for recording of cholesterol (P<0.001), basal blood glucose (P<0.001), smoking (P<0.001), alcohol (P<0.001), microalbuminuria (P = 0.001), abdominal circumference (P<0.001), and SCORE (P<0.001).

CONCLUSION

The education programme had a beneficial effect at the end of the follow-up that was significant and clinically relevant.

Mortality risk in spanish adults with diagnosed diabetes, undiagnosed diabetes or pre-diabetes. The Asturias study 1998-2004

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES

Although type-2 diabetes is a well-known cause of death, the mortality associated with undiagnosed diabetes and early-stage dysglycemia has not been clearly determined.

METHODS

This study included 1015 individuals aged 30-75 years who took part in the first phase of the Asturias study (1998-1999). Participants completed a questionnaire and underwent a physical examination and an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). All deaths that occurred in the cohort within 6 years of follow-up (i.e. December 1998 to December 2004) were recorded.

RESULTS

Participants were divided into four groups according to the condition indicated by their OGTT result in the first phase of the study: normoglycemia, pre-diabetes, undiagnosed diabetes or diagnosed diabetes (World Health Organization 1999 criteria). A total of 42 deaths were recorded during follow-up. With normoglycemic individuals acting as a control group, multivariate analysis showed that the relative risk of mortality was 2.5 (95% CI, 1-6.3) in the group with diagnosed diabetes, 2.7 (95% CI, 1.1-6.7) in the group with undiagnosed diabetes and 1.6 (95% CI, 0.7-4) in the group with pre-diabetes.

CONCLUSIONS

Both individuals with diagnosed diabetes and those with undiagnosed diabetes had a risk of mortality around 2.5-3 times greater than individuals with normoglycemia. Those with pre-diabetes also had increased mortality relative to the control group, though the difference was not significant.