Effect of ramipril on renal function in patients with intermittent claudication.

Background: The Heart Outcomes Prevention Study (HOPE) demonstrated that ramipril resulted in a blood-pressure-independent 25% reduction in cardiovascular events in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Despite this, general practitioners and vascular surgeons remain reluctant to prescribe ACE inhibitors in this group of patients because of concerns about renal artery stenosis (RAS). We aimed to define the effect of ramipril on renal function in patients with intermittent claudication (IC).

A reproducibility study of a TDI-based method to calculate indices of arterial stiffness.

The aim of the study was to investigate the reproducibility of estimation of Young's modulus E and pressure strain elastic modulus Ep, derived from a tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) wall motion technique. Healthy subjects had their arteries insonated at the same sitting by two different observers and at two different sittings by the same observer. From 32 subjects in the reproducibility study, within-scan coefficient of variation (CV) was 4.

Assessment of smoking status in patients with peripheral arterial disease.

Objective: To assess the utility of a novel rapid urinary cotinine assay to detect and quantify the level of smoking in patients with peripheral arterial disease.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study in a vascular surgical outpatient department of a large teaching hospital. Participants were 100 consecutive subjects presenting to a hospital outpatient clinic with a diagnosis of intermittent claudication confirmed by a positive Edinburgh claudication questionnaire and an ankle-brachial pressure index of less than 0.

Dietary folate and vitamin B6 are independent predictors of peripheral arterial occlusive disease.

Background: It has been suggested that hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) is an independent risk factor for peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD). However, the relationship between dietary folate and vitamin B6, cofactors in the metabolism of homocysteine (Hcy), and PAOD is unclear.

Aims: To study the relationship between dietary folate and B6 and PAOD.

The prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia, methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase C677T mutation, and vitamin B12 and folate deficiency in patients with chronic venous insufficiency.

Introduction: Hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) is a risk factor for venous thromboembolism, which in turn is a major cause of chronic venous insufficiency. HHcy may be more common in patients with chronic venous insufficiency, but the cause is unknown.

Methods: One hundred hospital outpatients (52 women; median age, 66.

Are antihypertensive drugs associated with abdominal aortic aneurysms?

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between anti-hypertensive drugs, the risk of developing an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), aortic wall stiffness, collagen turnover, and change in aortic diameter. STUDY DESIGN, SETTINGS AND METHODS: Data on present medication, smoking status, and medical history of participants in two population-based aneurysm screening programs in the United Kingdom were collected by use of questionnaire. Aortic elasticity was measured by M-mode ultrasound scanning.