SCORE underestimates cardiovascular mortality in hypertension: insight from the OLD-HTA and NEW-HTA Lyon cohorts.

Aims: Current European guidelines recommend the SCORE to estimate 10-year cardiovascular mortality in patients with moderate/low cardiovascular risk. SCORE was derived from the general population. The objective of this study was to investigate the estimated 10-year cardiovascular mortality according to the SCORE in a historic and a contemporary cohort of hypertensive patients.

Risk stratification in hypertension: NT-proBNP and R wave in aVL lead combination better than echocardiographic left ventricular mass.

Objectives: Plasma N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and R wave in aVL lead (RaVL) have been associated with mortality in hypertension. The aim of the current study was to compare the prognostic value of their combination to that of the left ventricular mass index (LVMI) assessed by echocardiography.

Methods: A total of 1104 hypertensive patients who had at baseline an assessment of plasma NT-proBNP, a 12-lead ECG, and echocardiography were included.

Recurrent vertigo is a predictor of stroke in a large cohort of hypertensive patients.

Objective: Dizziness is associated with hypertension but there are numerous other causes. The aims of the present study were to describe the characteristics and the clinical correlates of dizziness in a large cohort of hypertensive patients, and to test its prognostic value for all-cause, cardiovascular, and stroke mortality.

Methods: A total of 1716 individuals from the OLD-HTA Lyon's cohort of hypertensive patients recruited in the 1970s were categorized according to the absence or the presence of dizziness.

Aortic atherosclerosis is a key modulator of the prognostic value of postural blood pressure changes.

Background And Aims: Orthostatic blood pressure decrease or increase has been related to cardiovascular events in hypertensive patients. Large blood pressure changes after orthostatic stress are associated with autonomic and neurohormonal abnormalities; aortic atherosclerosis (ATS) may also play a role.

Methods: We investigated the interaction of ATS on the prognostic value of postural blood pressure changes.

R Wave in aVL Lead is a Robust Index of Left Ventricular Hypertrophy: A Cardiac MRI Study.

Background: In patients free from overt cardiac disease, R wave in aVL lead (RaVL) is strongly correlated with left ventricular mass index (LVMI) assessed by transthoracic echocardiography. The aim of the present study was to extend this finding to other settings (cardiomyopathy or conduction disorders), by comparing ECG criteria of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) to cardiac MRI (CMR).

Methods: In 501 patients, CMR and ECG were performed within a median-period of 5 days.