Publications by authors named "Frank Visseren"
Background And Aims: Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) patients have more arterial calcification due to lower levels of inorganic pyrophosphate, caused by mutations in the ABCC6 gene, but the relation with vascular complications is poorly understood. Because of the slow progressing nature of arterial disease in PXE patients, there is a need for a valid and reliable intermediate endpoint to be used in future clinical trials. Arterial calcification measured on computed tomography (CT) is a promising candidate, if associated with future cardiovascular events.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: In post-myocardial infarction (MI) patients, we examined independent and combined associations of vitamin D status and physical activity (PA) with long-term mortality, including effect modification by health determinants.
Methods: We conducted a prospective analysis of 4,837 MI patients from the Alpha Omega Cohort. Baseline blood samples (2002-2006) were assessed for plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels using LC-MS/MS.
Article Synopsis
- After 3 months of anticoagulation treatment for venous thromboembolism (VTE), clinicians must decide on continuing or stopping the treatment, ideally guided by the VTE-PREDICT calculator that estimates risks of recurrence and bleeding.
- A study involved clinicians evaluating fictional VTE cases; some made duration proposals without calculator input (Group A), while others used the calculator to inform their decisions (Group B).
- Results showed no overall difference in proposed durations between the two groups, yet many in Group A adjusted their recommendations after seeing the calculator risks, noting its usefulness, particularly for patients at high bleeding risk.
Article Synopsis
- The study evaluated the PACAS risk model's ability to identify patients at high risk for severe asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis (ACAS) and predict future strokes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.
- It involved 26,384 patients aged 45-80, finding that 6.3% had severe ACAS at baseline and that higher PACAS scores correlated with increased incidences of stroke and CVD over roughly 70,000 patient-years of follow-up.
- The PACAS model was confirmed to effectively discriminate and calibrate risk levels, indicating that patients with higher scores had a significantly higher prevalence of severe ACAS and related events during the follow-up period.
Cardiovascular (CV) disease is the most common cause of death in Europe. Despite proven benefits, use of lipid-lowering therapy remains suboptimal. Treatment goals are often not achieved, even in patients at high risk with atherosclerotic CV disease (ASCVD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Current prediction models for mainland Europe do not include ethnicity, despite ethnic disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. SCORE2 performance was evaluated across the largest ethnic groups in the Netherlands and ethnic backgrounds were added to the model.
Methods: 11,614 participants, aged between 40 and 70 years without CVD, from the population-based multi-ethnic HELIUS study were included.
Article Synopsis
- Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is a rare genetic disorder that leads to calcification in tissues like arteries due to mutations that lower levels of a natural calcification inhibitor called pyrophosphate.
- A study showed that using cyclical etidronate, a pyrophosphate analog, significantly decreased arterial calcification over a year when compared to a placebo.
- Following 73 patients for an average of 3.6 years without etidronate and 2.8 years with it, results indicated a significant reduction in the progression of calcification rates with etidronate treatment, with no serious side effects reported.
Background And Aims: Individuals with or at high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) often receive long-term treatment with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) lowering therapies, but whether the effects of LDL-C reduction remain stable over time is uncertain. This study aimed to establish the course of the effects of LDL-C reduction on cardiovascular risk over time.
Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of LDL-C lowering therapies were identified through a search in MEDLINE and EMBASE (1966-January 2023).
Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk scores provide point estimates of individual risk without uncertainty quantification. The objective of the current study was to demonstrate the feasibility and clinical utility of calculating uncertainty surrounding individual CVD-risk predictions using Bayesian methods.
Study Design And Setting: Individuals with established atherosclerotic CVD were included from the Utrecht Cardiovascular Cohort-Secondary Manifestations of ARTerial disease (UCC-SMART).
Aims: Risk assessment is essential in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. In patients with recent acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or coronary revascularization, risk prediction tools, like the European Society of Cardiology guideline recommended SMART-REACH risk score, are increasingly used to predict the risk of recurrent cardiovascular events enabling risk-based personalized prevention. However, little is known about the association between risk stratification and the social and healthcare costs at a population level.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: To assess whether implementation of the 2019 European Society of Cardiology (ESC)/European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS) dyslipidaemia guidelines observed between 2020 and 2021 improved between 2021 and 2022 in the SANTORINI study.
Methods And Results: Patients with high or very high cardiovascular (CV) risk were recruited across 14 European countries from March 2020 to February 2021, with 1-year prospective follow-up until May 2022. Lipid-lowering therapy (LLT) and 2019 ESC/EAS risk-based low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (LDL-C) goal attainment (defined as <1.
Aim: To quantify the relationship of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) with cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), independent of C-reactive protein (CRP).
Methods: Patients with T2D from the UCC-SMART-cohort were studied using multivariable-adjusted Cox regression. The relationship of NLR and CRP with vascular events (cerebrovascular events, myocardial infarction and vascular death) and all-cause mortality was quantified.
Background And Aims: Body adiposity is known to affect mortality risk in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). We examined associations of body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) with long term mortality in Dutch CAD patients, and potential and effect modification of these associations by lifestyle and health determinants.
Methods: 10,370 CAD patients (mean age ∼65 y; 20% female; >80% on cardiovascular drugs) from the prospective Alpha Omega Cohort and Utrecht Cardiovascular Cohort-Secondary Manifestations of ARTerial disease study were included.
Article Synopsis
- - The study examined dietary habits of 2,656 patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and their adherence to dietary guidelines, aiming to link adherence with the risk of recurrent cardiovascular events.
- - Most participants showed high compliance with some dietary recommendations, like legumes and fish, but had low compliance in areas such as whole grains and red meat; the median dietary score was 81.7 out of 135.
- - Results indicated that better compliance with dietary guidelines significantly reduced the risk of stroke but not myocardial infarction, highlighting the need for effective dietary counseling in CVD patients.
Aims: The 2021 European Society of Cardiology prevention guidelines recommend the use of (lifetime) risk prediction models to aid decisions regarding initiation of prevention. We aimed to update and systematically recalibrate the LIFEtime-perspective CardioVascular Disease (LIFE-CVD) model to four European risk regions for the estimation of lifetime CVD risk for apparently healthy individuals.
Methods And Results: The updated LIFE-CVD (i.
Aims: Icosapent ethyl lowers triglycerides and significantly reduces major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), though treatment effects may vary between individuals. This study aimed to determine the relative and absolute effects of icosapent ethyl on MACE according to baseline cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD).
Methods And Results: Participants from the Reduction of Cardiovascular Events with Icosapent Ethyl-Intervention Trial (REDUCE-IT) with ASCVD were included (n = 5785).
Aims: Identifying patients with established cardiovascular disease (CVD) who are at high risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) may allow for early interventions, reducing the development of T2D and associated morbidity. The aim of this study was to develop and externally validate the CVD2DM model to estimate the 10-year and lifetime risks of T2D in patients with established CVD.
Methods And Results: Sex-specific, competing risk-adjusted Cox proportional hazard models were derived in 19 281 participants with established CVD and without diabetes at baseline from the UK Biobank.
Aims: The efficacy of a healthy lifestyle in secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is well established and a first-line recommendation in CVD prevention guidelines. The aim of this study was to assess whether Mediterranean diet and physical activity are also cost-effective in patients with established CVD.
Methods And Results: A cost-utility analysis (CUA) was performed comparing a combined Mediterranean diet and physical activity intervention to usual care in patients with CVD.
Background And Purpose: Risk factors for stroke differ between women and men in general populations. However, little is known about sex differences in secondary prevention. We investigated if sex interacted with modifiable risk factors for stroke in a large arterial disease cohort.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: To develop and externally validate the LIFE-T1D model for the estimation of lifetime and 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in individuals with type 1 diabetes.
Materials And Methods: A sex-specific competing risk-adjusted Cox proportional hazards model was derived in individuals with type 1 diabetes without prior CVD from the Swedish National Diabetes Register (NDR), using age as the time axis. Predictors included age at diabetes onset, smoking status, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, glycated haemoglobin level, estimated glomerular filtration rate, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, albuminuria and retinopathy.
Background And Aims: Guidelines no longer recommend low-fat diets and currently recommend more plant-based diets to reduce atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk. Furthermore, these guidelines have consistently recommended salt-reduced diets. This article describes current self-reported use and time-trends in the self-reported use of low-fat, low-salt and vegetarian diets in ASCVD patients and examines patient characteristics associated with each diet.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims/hypothesis: Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is increasingly used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, but the effects on glycaemic control are unclear. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to provide a comprehensive overview of the effect of CGM on glycaemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes.
Methods: We performed a systematic review using Embase, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus and ClinicalTrials.