Impact of sex-specific thresholds for low flow in assessment of prognosis in concordantly and discordantly graded aortic valve stenosis.

Objective: Sex-specific low flow was recently defined as stroke volume index (SVi) ≤40 ml/m² in men and ≤32 ml/m² in women. We tested the prognostic association of these cut-offs in patients with aortic stenosis (AS) with concordantly and discordantly graded AS (CGASEL and DGASEL) based on pressure recovery adjusted aortic valve area (energy loss, EL).

Methods: Data from 1351 patients with asymptomatic AS, peak jet velocity <4m/s and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction enrolled in the Simvastatin and Ezetimibe in AS study was used.

Association of Left Atrial Stiffness With Risk of Cryptogenic Ischemic Stroke in Young Adults.

Background: Incidence of cryptogenic ischemic stroke (CIS) in young adults is increasing. Early left atrial (LA) myopathy might be 1 of the underlying mechanisms, but this has only been scarcely explored.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the association between increased LA stiffness and CIS in young adults.

Influence of cardiorespiratory fitness on obesity-associated inflammation in women and men: The FATCOR study.

Background And Aims: Cardiorespiratory fitness has been postulated to lower chronic inflammation in obesity. We assessed sex-specific associations of inflammation with cardiorespiratory fitness in overweight and obese persons.

Methods And Results: Peak oxygen uptake (VO) was measured by treadmill in 566 participants (age 48 ± 9 years, 60% women) with body mass index >27.

Factors associated with progression of arterial stiffness in ischemic stroke survivors: the Norwegian Stroke in the Young Study.

Background: Progressive arterial stiffening may increase the risk of recurrent cardiovascular events in ischemic stroke survivors. Information about factors associated with progressive arterial stiffening during the follow-up of young patients with ischemic stroke is lacking.

Methods: Arterial stiffness by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV) and ambulatory 24-hour blood pressure (24hBP) were assessed in 81 women and 190 men ≤60 years of age included in the Norwegian Stroke in the Young (NOR-SYS) study 3 months and 5.

High-normal blood pressure in midlife is a stronger risk factor for incident hypertension 26 years later in women than men: the Hordaland Health Study.

Purpose: To identify modifiable risk factors in early midlife associated with incident hypertension 26 years later in women and men.

Materials And Methods: We used data from 1025 women and 703 men in the community-based Hordaland Health Study examined at the mean age of 42 years (baseline) and after a 26-year follow-up. Patients with hypertension at baseline were excluded.

Biomarkers of inflammation and left ventricular remodelling in psoriasis patients treated with infliximab.

Psoriasis is an immune mediated disorder associated with T cell activation and cardiovascular disease (CVD). We explored the association of inflammation with left ventricular (LV) remodelling in psoriasis patients receiving treatment with the tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) blocker infliximab. Psoriasis patients ( = 47, age 47 ± 14 years, 66% men) and 99 control subjects without psoriasis (age 47 ± 11 years, 72% men) were examined by echocardiography in a cross-sectional study.

Persistent cardiac organ damage in surgically and medically treated primary aldosteronism.

Objective: We compared persistent cardiac organ damage in patients treated surgically or medically for primary aldosteronism.

Methods: Eighty-four patients (age 57 ± 11 years, 27% women) with primary aldosteronism underwent echocardiography at time of diagnosis and after one year of treatment (49% adrenalectomy, 51% medical treatment). Persistent cardiac organ damage was defined as presence of left ventricle (LV) hypertrophy, low LV midwall shortening, global longitudinal strain and/or enlarged left atrium both at baseline and at follow-up.

Subclinical Cardiac Organ Damage in Patients with Moderate to Severe Psoriasis.

We explored the association between subclinical cardiac organ damage (OD) with comorbidities and psoriasis severity in 53 psoriasis patients on infliximab treatment (age 47 ± 15 years, 30% women) and 99 controls without psoriasis (age 47 ± 11 years, 28% women). Cardiac OD was assessed by echocardiography as the presence of increased left ventricular (LV) relative wall thickness (RWT), LV hypertrophy or dilated left atrium. Psoriasis severity was graded using the psoriasis area and severity index (PASI).

Stage 1 hypertension, sex, and acute coronary syndromes during midlife: the Hordaland Health Study.

Aims: Hypertension has been suggested as a stronger risk factor for acute coronary syndromes (ACS) in women than men. Whether this also applies to stage 1 hypertension [blood pressure (BP) 130-139/80-89 mmHg] is not known.

Methods And Results: We tested associations of stage 1 hypertension with ACS in 12 329 participants in the Hordaland Health Study (mean baseline age 41 years, 52% women).

Association of Myocardial Energetic Efficiency with Circumferential and Longitudinal Left Ventricular Myocardial Function in Subjects with Increased Body Mass Index (the FATCOR Study).

Lower myocardial mechanic-energetic efficiency (MEEi), expressed as stroke volume/heart rate ratio (SV/HR) in mL/s/g of the left ventricular (LV) mass, is associated with the incidence of heart failure in subjects with cardiometabolic disorders. We explored the association of MEEi with LV systolic circumferential and longitudinal myocardial function in 480 subjects with increased body mass index (BMI) without known cardiovascular disease (mean age 47 ± 9 years, 61% women, 63% obese, 74% with hypertension) participating in the fat-associated cardiovascular dysfunction (FATCOR) study. Insulin resistance was assessed by the homeostasis model assessment insulin-resistance index (HOMA-IR).

Preclinical cardiac disease in women and men with primary aldosteronism.

Purpose: We tested the sex-specific associations between primary aldosteronism (PA), left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and LV systolic myocardial function.

Material And Methods: Conventional and speckle tracking echocardiography was performed in 109 patients with PA and 89 controls with essential hypertension (EH). LV hypertrophy was identified if LV mass index exceeded 47.

Higher Acceleration/Ejection Time Ratio Predicts Impaired Outcome in Aortic Valve Stenosis.

Background: Acceleration time (AT)/ejection time (ET) ratio is a marker of aortic valve stenosis (AS) severity and predicts outcome in moderate-severe AS.

Methods: We explored the association of increased AT/ET ratio on prognosis in 1530 asymptomatic patients with presumably mild-moderate AS, normal ejection fraction, and without known diabetes or cardiovascular disease. Patients were part of the SEAS study (Simvastatin Ezetimibe Aortic Stenosis).

Intermediate-High Risk Pulmonary Embolism: The Use of Riociguat and Inferior Vena Cava Filter in a Situation of Recurrent Embolism following Insufficient Anticoagulation and Fibrinolytic Therapy.

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is associated with serious morbidity and mortality. In this case report, we describe a hemodynamically stable patient with submassive PE and a large thrombus in the inferior vena cava (IVC) protruding into the right atrium (RA), complicated by severe respiratory failure, elevated troponin T (TnT), and right ventricular (RV) dysfunction. The patient was stratified as intermediate-high risk of early death.