First time referral reasons, diagnoses and 10-year follow-up of patients seen at a Dutch fast lane outpatient cardiology clinic.

Purpose: To describe reasons for referral, diagnostic procedures, diagnoses and long-term follow-up of first-time referred patients to a fast lane outpatient cardiology clinic (FLOCC).

Methods: A descriptive report of results obtained in a newly organised outpatient clinic. Data up to final diagnosis were recorded from electronic medical records.

The metabolic syndrome and carotid intima-media thickness in relation to the parathyroid hormone to 25-OH-D(3) ratio in a general population.

Background: Parathyroid hormone (PTH) and vitamin D interactively regulate calcium fluxes across membranes, and thereby modulate insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, and arterial calcification. We hypothesized that lower calcium intake as reflected by circulating PTH and 25-OH-D₃ might be associated with the metabolic syndrome (MS) and arterial calcification.

Methods: In a random population sample (n = 542; 50.

Brachial pressure-independent reduction in carotid stiffness after long-term angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition in diabetic hypertensives.

Hypertension and diabetes are associated with an increased arterial stiffness. A direct blood pressure-independent effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors on arterial stiffness has never been unequivocally demonstrated. In this mechanistic study, we used an experimental design in which patients responding to 1 month treatment with 4 mg perindopril were randomized double-blind to either 4 mg perindopril or 8 mg perindopril for 6 months.

Obesity is associated with increased arterial stiffness from adolescence until old age.

Objective: To our knowledge, only two previous studies have investigated the age dependence of the relationship between the characteristics of large arteries and excessive body weight. We therefore investigated whether the relationship between arterial stiffness and body mass index (BMI) was consistent across an age range from 10 to 86 years.

Methods: Using a cross-sectional population-based design, we randomly recruited 1306 individuals (median age 43.

Carotid and femoral intima-media thickness in relation to three candidate genes in a Caucasian population.

Background: In a Caucasian population, the prevalence and incidence of hypertension, renal function and large artery stiffness were significantly correlated with polymorphisms in the genes encoding the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE I/D), aldosterone synthase (-C344T) and the cytoskeleton protein alpha-adducin (Gly460Trp).

Objective: This study investigated intima-media thickening, a precursor of atherosclerosis, in relation to these genetic polymorphisms.

Methods: Carotid and femoral intima-media thickness were assessed with a wall-track system in 380 subjects enrolled in a population study.