Arterial and Ventricular Elastance and Ventriculo-arterial Coupling in Asthmatic Children.

Objective: To compare arterial and ventricular end-systolic elastance and ventriculo-arterial coupling between asthma and healthy children and correlate these all three parameters with pulmonary function tests in subjects with asthma.

Study Design: Across-sectional analytical study.

Place And Duration Of Study: Department of Pediatrics, Bozok University Medical Faculty,Yozgat, Turkey, from January 2012 to November 2014.

Obesity-related cardiovascular behavior in children.

Objective: Obesity is a chronic metabolic disorder and may associate with cardiovascular geometrical, structural and functional changes. The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between body mass index (BMI), body surface area (BSA) and arterial-ventricular elasticity (Ea and Ees respectively) and cardiovascular coupling and myocardial wall stress and fiber stress in obese children.

Patients And Methods: Sixty non-obese healthy children with BMI <85th percentile aged 6-17 years and 65 age and sex-matched children with BMI of ≥95th percentile, were included in the study.

Cardiac and arterial elastance and myocardial wall stress in children with pectus excavatum.

Objectives: Pectus excavatum (PE) is one of the most common skeletal deformities of childhood. The study was undertaken to assess cardiac functions in children with PE.

Methods: Echocardiography was performed on 32 children with PE and 40 age-matched healthy controls.

The evaluation of carotid intima-media thickness and mean platelet volume values and correlation with cardiac functions in obese children.

Background: Obesity is associated with many risk factors, such as hyperlipidemia, hyperinsulinemia, hypertension and leads to early atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the relation of the mean platelet volume (MPV) and the carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) on cardiac functions among obese children.

Materials And Methods: Sixty obese children, with body mass index percentile were >95% and forty eight healthy controls were enrolled in the study.

Arterial Stiffness, Distensibility, and Strain in Asthmatic Children.

Background: We hypothesized that since asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease, it could lead to the early development of atherosclerosis in childhood-onset asthma. The aim of this study was to investigate arterial stiffness, distensibility, and strain of different peripheral arteries, the parameters of which can be used to detect atherosclerosis in asthmatic children.

Material/methods: We studied 22 pediatric patients with asthma and 18 healthy children.