Coronary artery disease screening in type II diabetic patients: prognostic value of rest and stress echocardiography.

Aim: Presence of inducible ischemia in type II diabetic patients is associated with an adverse outcome, but less is known about prognostic value of resting wall motion abnormalities (WMA).

Materials And Methods: From October 2006 to May 2008, 278 patients underwent to CAD screening, according to ADA criteria, by dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE). Between July and September 2009, all patients were contacted to verify the occurrence of new cardiac events.

Lower extremity performance measures predict long-term prognosis in older patients hospitalized for heart failure.

Background: In older heart failure (HF) patients, survival depends on the severity of their cardiac condition and on their functional status. Lower extremity performance, assessed with the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), predicts survival in older persons, both in epidemiologic and clinical settings. We evaluated whether SPPB predicts long-term survival in older subjects hospitalized for HF, independent of traditional measures of HF severity.

Metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular mortality in older type 2 diabetic patients: a longitudinal study.

Background: Although age does not seem to modify the association of the metabolic syndrome (MS) with cardiovascular risk in middle-aged individuals, no comparison of risks associated with MS between old and middle-aged persons has been reported so far.

Methods: An observational study was performed on a consecutive series of 1716 type 2 diabetic outpatients (age range: 28-96 years). The diagnosis of MS was made following either the National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel (NCEP-ATPIII) or the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria.

Skin autofluorescence in type 2 diabetes: beyond blood glucose.

Background And Aim: Skin autofluorescence (AF), which has been proposed as a measure of tissue content of advanced glycation end-products, is a predictor of health outcomes in diabetic patients. Aim of this study is the assessment of parameters associated with increased AF in a sample of type 2 diabetic patients.

Methods: AF was determined in a consecutive series of type 2 diabetic 92 patients aged 69.