Low serum DHEA-S is associated with impaired lung function in women.

Background: Emerging evidence suggests that androgens and estrogens have a role in respiratory health, but it is largely unknown whether levels of these hormones can affect lung function in adults from the general population. This study investigated whether serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), a key precursor of both androgens and estrogens in peripheral tissues, was related to lung function in adult women participating in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS).

Methods: Lung function and serum DHEA-S concentrations were measured in  = 2,045 and  = 1,725 women in 1999-2002 and in 2010-2013, respectively.

Risk of asthma onset after natural and surgical menopause: Results from the French E3N cohort.

Background: The gender switch in asthma incidence around puberty has been put forward to suggest a role of sex hormones in asthma. However, there are limited and inconsistent findings on change in asthma incidence with menopause. We aimed to investigate the associations between menopause and asthma incidence, and interactions with overweight/obesity.

Smoking, telomere length and lung function decline: a longitudinal population-based study.

Telomere shortening is associated with COPD and impaired lung function in cross-sectional studies, but there is no longitudinal study. We used data from 448 participants recruited as part of the French follow-up of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey. We found no relationship between telomere length at baseline and FEV decline after 11 years of follow-up.

Abdominal obesity and late-onset asthma: cross-sectional and longitudinal results: the 3C study.

Whereas global obesity assessed by BMI has been related to asthma risk, little is known as to the potential implication of abdominal adiposity in this relationship. In the elderly, in whom asthma remains poorly studied, abdominal adiposity tends to increase at the expense of muscle mass. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between abdominal adiposity, assessed by waist circumference (WC), and prevalence and incidence of asthma in a large elderly cohort.

Lung function impairment and metabolic syndrome: the critical role of abdominal obesity.

Rationale: Increased risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality has been related to both lung function impairment and metabolic syndrome. Data on the relationship between lung function and metabolic syndrome are sparse.

Objectives: To investigate risk for lung function impairment according to metabolic syndrome traits.

Calf circumference is inversely associated with carotid plaques.

Background And Purpose: The association of carotid atherosclerosis with body composition and fat distribution is poorly understood. We aimed to test the cross-sectional association of carotid plaques and common carotid artery intima-media thickness with calf circumference (CC), representing peripheral fat and lean mass, and with waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio, 2 markers of abdominal obesity.

Methods: The study was performed on 6265 subjects aged >or=65 years recruited prospectively from the electoral rolls of 3 French cities.

Distension of the carotid artery and risk of coronary events: the three-city study.

Objective: Arterial mechanical properties are of growing interest in the understanding of cardiovascular disease development. We aimed to determine the predictive value of carotid wall mechanics on coronary heart disease (CHD) in the Three-City study.

Methods And Results: At baseline, 3337 participants aged > or =65 years underwent a carotid B-mode ultrasonography.

Tea consumption is inversely associated with carotid plaques in women.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the relationship of tea consumption with common carotid artery intima-media thickness (CCA-IMT) and carotid plaques.

Methods And Results: The study was performed on 6597 subjects aged > or = 65 years, recruited in the French population for the Three-City Study. Atherosclerotic plaques in the extracranial carotid arteries and CCA-IMT were measured using a standardized protocol.

The metabolic syndrome and the carotid artery structure in noninstitutionalized elderly subjects: the three-city study.

Background And Purpose: In contrast to the young adult population, limited data are presently available regarding the epidemiology of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its relationship with cardiovascular disease risk in the elderly. We have investigated the frequency of the MetS and its association with the carotid artery structure in an elderly free-living population.

Methods: The study population consists of 5585 French noninstitutionalized elderly men and women aged 65 to 85 years, free of diabetes, who participated in the multicenter Three City Study and who underwent ultrasound examination of the carotid arteries at baseline examination between March 1999 and March 2001.

Parental longevity, carotid atherosclerosis, and aortic arterial stiffness in adult offspring.

Background And Purpose: We examined the associations of parental longevity with carotid intima-media thickness, carotid plaques, and aortic arterial stiffness in adult offspring.

Methods: A population of 1117 volunteers who participated in the SUVIMAX Vascular Study (mean age, 59.7 years; 49.

Preterm delivery of a first child and subsequent mothers' risk of ischaemic heart disease: a nested case-control study.

Several studies have suggested that preterm delivery is related to a risk of subsequent ischaemic heart disease (IHD) in the mother. We conducted a nested case-control study in the E3N cohort to assess the association between preterm delivery of a first child and IHD, and the effect of major cardiovascular risk factors on this association. The study included 109 cases and 395 controls.

Zinc, copper, and magnesium and risks for all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular mortality.

Background: Experimental data suggest that zinc, copper, and magnesium are involved in carcinogenesis and atherogenesis. Few longitudinal studies have related these minerals to cancer or cardiovascular disease mortality in a population.

Methods: Data from the Paris Prospective Study 2, a cohort of 4035 men age 30-60 years at baseline, were used to assess the association between serum zinc, copper, and magnesium and all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular disease mortality.

Serum tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases 1 (TIMP-1) and carotid atherosclerosis and aortic arterial stiffness.

Background: The results of experimental studies have suggested that matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their inhibitors, the tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs), are involved in vascular remodeling. In a population-based study, we report the relationships of serum TIMP-1 with carotid intima-media thickness, carotid plaques and aortic arterial stiffness.

Methods: Free health examinations were performed on 238 men free of coronary heart diseases (aged 56.

Parental longevity and 7-year changes in blood pressures in adult offspring.

In this report, we examined the cross-sectional and the 7-year longitudinal changes in blood pressures in adult offspring according to parental longevity. A population of volunteers free of symptomatic cardiovascular diseases who participated to the Supplementation en Vitamines et en Minéraux Antioxydants (SUVIMAX) Vascular Study (mean age 52.3 years; 48.

Heart-rate profile during exercise as a predictor of sudden death.

Background: Changes in heart rate during exercise and recovery from exercise are mediated by the balance between sympathetic and vagal activity. Since alterations in the neural control of cardiac function contribute to the risk of sudden death, we tested the hypothesis that among apparently healthy persons, sudden death is more likely to occur in the presence of abnormal heart-rate profiles during exercise and recovery.

Methods: A total of 5713 asymptomatic working men (between the ages of 42 and 53 years), none of whom had clinically detectable cardiovascular disease, underwent standardized graded exercise testing between 1967 and 1972.

Alcohol consumption and carotid artery structure in older French adults: the Three-City Study.

Background And Purpose: Several epidemiological studies have suggested a U-shaped association between alcohol consumption and cardiovascular risk. However, the modifications of vascular structure associated with alcohol consumption are largely unknown.

Methods: The study population sample comprised 6216 subjects (3780 women and 2436 men) aged 65 years or older who were recruited from 3 French cities (Bordeaux, Dijon, and Montpellier, which are located in the 3 principal wine-growing regions).

Genes encoding endothelin-converting enzyme-1 and endothelin-1 interact to influence blood pressure in women: the EVA study.

Background: Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a potent vasoactive peptide that has been implicated in the regulation of basal vascular tone. Endothelin-converting enzyme-1 (ECE-1), the main enzyme responsible for ET-1 generation, may contribute to blood pressure (BP) control. A possible association between a polymorphism of the gene encoding ECE-1 (ECE1B C-338A) and BP values in untreated hypertensive women was recently reported.

Bronchial hyperresponsiveness to methacholine is associated with increased common carotid intima-media thickness in men.

Background: Respiratory alterations have been associated with subsequent coronary heart diseases in numerous population-based studies. The underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. The objective of this study was to examine the association between bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) to methacholine (which reflects local inflammation in the bronchus) and common carotid intima-media thickness (CCA-IMT).

Polymorphism R92Q of the tumour necrosis factor receptor 1 gene is associated with myocardial infarction and carotid intima-media thickness--the ECTIM, AXA, EVA and GENIC Studies.

The TNFRSF1A gene was screened for polymorphisms in 95 subjects with premature myocardial infarction (MI), who also had one parent who had an MI. A total of 10 polymorphisms were found: three in the promoter region, two in exons and five in introns. All polymorphisms were genotyped in ECTIM, a case-control study of MI (1815 subjects).

Echogenic carotid plaques are associated with aortic arterial stiffness in subjects with subclinical carotid atherosclerosis.

A better understanding of the interrelationships between the structure and function of the large arteries would lead to optimize cardiovascular disease prevention strategies. In this study, we investigated the relationships of aortic arterial stiffness assessed by carotid-femoral pulse-wave velocity (PWV), with carotid plaque echogenicity assessed by B-mode ultrasound. We analyzed 561 subjects (without coronary heart disease or stroke) who were volunteers for free health examinations (age, 58.

Serum elastase activity, serum elastase inhibitors, and occurrence of carotid atherosclerotic plaques: the Etude sur le Vieillissement Artériel (EVA) study.

Background: In the last decades, interest has increased in the potential deleterious atherogenic effects of some cellular elastase activities. The results of experimental and clinical investigations were inconsistent. In this report, we assessed the associations of serum elastase activity and serum elastase inhibitors with carotid plaque occurrence during the 4-year follow-up in a population of 859 subjects free of coronary heart disease and stroke (age, 59 to 71 years).

Carotid plaques, but not common carotid intima-media thickness, are independently associated with aortic stiffness.

Objective: It has been suggested that non-invasive aortic stiffness measurements can be used as an indicator of atherosclerosis. The relationships of arterial stiffness with arterial wall hypertrophy and atherosclerosis however, have rarely been investigated in large-scale studies. The present study reports the associations of carotid arterial structure assessed by B-mode ultrasound with carotid-femoral pulse-wave velocity in hypertensive and non-hypertensive subjects.