Clinical value of the metabolic syndrome for long term prediction of total and cardiovascular mortality: prospective, population based cohort study.

Objectives: To find out if the presence of the metabolic syndrome increases the risk of subsequent total and cardiovascular mortality, taking into account established risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: General population.

Fetal, developmental, and parental influences on childhood systolic blood pressure in 600 sib pairs: the Uppsala Family study.

Background: Little is known about the contribution of maternal and paternal factors to the inverse association between birth weight and later blood pressure in human offspring. A study of within- and between-family associations of birth weight with blood pressure, which collected data on both parents, would address this gap in our knowledge.

Methods And Results: The study examined families composed of mother, father, and 2 full sibs delivered between 38 and 41 weeks' gestation within 36 months of each other.

hUNC-93B1, a novel gene mainly expressed in the heart, is related to left ventricular diastolic function, heart failure morbidity and mortality in elderly men.

Aims: The hUNC-93B1 gene has the highest expression in the heart. We aimed to explore relationships between the hUNC-93B1 gene and cardiac function, morbidity and mortality in elderly men.

Methods And Results: Two sub-samples of the population-based ULSAM-cohort (n=330, mean age 71 years and n=152, mean age 75 years, respectively) were used to explore and validate relationships between genotypes of the hUNC-93B1 gene and cardiac phenotypes (ejection fraction, E/A-ratio, left ventricular mass index and relative wall thickness).

Effect of baseline cognitive function and antihypertensive treatment on cognitive and cardiovascular outcomes: Study on COgnition and Prognosis in the Elderly (SCOPE).

Background: We examined whether cognitive function at baseline affected cognitive and cardiovascular outcomes in the Study on COgnition and Prognosis in the Elderly (SCOPE), a blood pressure (BP)-lowering intervention trial.

Methods: SCOPE included 4937 patients, aged 70 to 89 years, with mild-to-moderate hypertension and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score > or =24. Double-blind treatment was initiated with candesartan or placebo.

Insulin resistance, dietary fat intake and blood pressure predict left ventricular diastolic function 20 years later.

Background And Aims: Our knowledge on the development of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction is scarce. Thus, we aimed to investigate the relationship between left ventricular diastolic function and a wide variety of cardiovascular risk factors, including dietary factors using both cross-sectional and longitudinal data with 20 years follow-up.

Method And Results: A population-based cohort of 505 50-year-old men was examined with determinations of blood pressure, insulin, glucose and fatty acid composition of serum cholesterol esters.