Impact of cardiovascular risk factors in an urban sample of Portuguese adults according to the Framingham risk prediction models.

Objectives: To estimate the 10-year risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) according to the Framingham risk prediction models and to assess the impact of major risk factors in an urban sample of Portuguese adults.

Methods: We surveyed 938 non-institutionalized adults aged 40 to 74 years, recruited by random digit dialing. A fasting venous blood sample was collected to measure glucose, total cholesterol and high-density-lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.

B-type natriuretic peptide and left ventricular hypertrophy in hypertensive patients.

Aim: To assess the accuracy of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) plasma levels for the diagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in hypertensive patients.

Participants And Methods: We studied a sample of 409 adults aged 45 years or older, recruited from residents of Porto by random digit dialing. Data were collected by clinical interview and physical examination, ECG, echocardiogram and venous blood sampling for the measurement of plasma concentrations of BNP.

Soccer-related ocular injuries.

Objective: To outline the severity and long-term sequelae of eye injuries in soccer.

Design: Prospective observational study of 163 patients who sustained soccer-related ocular injuries between April 1, 1992, and March 31, 2000 (8 years).

Methods: Patients were observed at a sports ophthalmology unit located in the largest university hospital of the northern region of the country and central to all major soccer fields in town.

Assessment of autonomic function in high level athletes by pupillometry.

Spectral analysis of heart rate variability has become a noninvasive standard method for assessment of autonomic nervous system activity in athletes. The effect of exercise training on autonomic regulation of pupillary light reflex is not known. The purpose of this study was to evaluate pupil autonomic function in athletes.

Gender differences in the treatment of hypertension: a community based study in Porto.

Objectives: To describe the use of antihypertensive drugs in a random sample of adults living in Porto, Portugal, and to identify gender differences in the treatment of hypertension.

Design: Observational, cross-sectional.

Participants And Methods: Nine hundred and fifty-nine participants over 39 years of age, living in Porto, were selected by random digit dialing.