[Factors Affecting Development of Cholinergic Symptoms after Irinotecan Administration].

Upon administration of irinotecan(CPT-11), cholinergic symptoms, such as perspiration and abdominal pain, may develop. These symptoms are reported to increase with higher doses of CPT-11. However, to date, in Japan, factors influencing cholinergic symptoms, such as dosage of CPT-11, regular medications, and laboratory values indicating liver function, have not been studied.

Home blood pressure level and decline in renal function among treated hypertensive patients: the J-HOME-Morning Study.

We examined the association between home and office blood pressure (BP) levels and further decline in renal function among treated hypertensive patients with and without renal dysfunction. We calculated annual decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (ΔeGFR) in 1535 treated hypertensive patients with home and office BP measurements. We defined ΔeGFR <0 as decline in renal function, and ΔeGFR ⩾0 as non-decline in renal function based on 1.

The velocity of home blood pressure reduction in response to low-dose eplerenone combined with other antihypertensive drugs determined by exponential decay function analysis.

Background/objective: Eplerenone is a highly selective aldosterone blocker, which has the potential to lower blood pressure (BP) in patients with hypertension. The objective of this study was to assess the hypotensive effects of low-dose eplerenone (25 mg) using home BP measurements. We also assessed the time required to reach 95% of the maximum antihypertensive effect (stabilization time) by analyzing exponential decay functions using home BP measurements.

Associations between visit-to-visit variability in blood pressure measured in the office and antihypertensive drugs: the J-HOME-Morning study.

The factors associated with visit-to-visit variability in blood pressure (BP) measured in the office between the two visits were identified in 1379 treated hypertensive patients (mean age, 66.1 ± 11.0 y; women, 53.

Change of the management of treated hypertensive patients with or without diabetes in Japan.

We investigate the change of the management of treated hypertensive patients with or without diabetes in Japan using the data in 2003 and the data in 2005-2006. Physicians treated hypertensive patients more aggressively and evaluated their patients' blood pressure (BP) control more strictly in 2005-2006 than in 2003. However, physicians' assessment of BP control might be still insufficient and the BP control status of patients with diabetes was still poorer than that of non-diabetes patients even in 2005-2006.

Associations between day-by-day variability in blood pressure measured at home and antihypertensive drugs: the J-HOME-Morning study.

We identified the factors associated with home blood pressure (BP) variability in 1933 patients treated with hypertensive drugs (mean age, 67 years; women, 55%). Multivariate regression analysis showed that female gender, advanced age, home BP value, and home heart rate variability were positively associated with home BP variability, whereas home heart rate, body mass index, and duration of antihypertensive treatment were negatively associated with home BP variability. Moreover, not being medicated with amlodipine and being medicated with angiotensin II receptor blockers were associated with increased home systolic BP variability only among patients who were treated for less than 12 months.

Pharmacists' awareness and attitude toward blood pressure measurement at home and in the pharmacy in Japan.

The aim of this study is to investigate the status of Japanese pharmacists' awareness and attitude toward blood pressure (BP) measurement at home (HBP) and in the pharmacy. Of the 708 community pharmacists and the 117 hospital pharmacists, more than 90% of pharmacists answered that HBP was equally important to or more important than clinic BP, 71.9% (community) and 48.

Association of arterial stiffness with silent cerebrovascular lesions: the Ohasama study.

Background: Arterial stiffness is a risk factor for symptomatic stroke, and is associated with symptomatic cerebral infarction and cognitive impairment. Hence, we hypothesized that arterial stiffness would be a significant determinant of silent cerebrovascular lesions.

Methods: The subjects were 363 individuals without symptomatic cerebrovascular lesions who had their arterial stiffness assessed by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) measurement.

Electrocardiographic abnormalities and home blood pressure in treated elderly hypertensive patients: Japan home versus office blood pressure measurement evaluation in the elderly (J-HOME-Elderly) study.

This study compares relationships between each of morning home blood pressure (BP), evening home BP and office BP with electrocardiographic (ECG) abnormalities among treated hypertensive Japanese patients. We defined ECG left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) as Sokolow-Lyon voltage and/or Cornell voltage duration product. Abnormal T waves and ST segment depression were categorized based on the Minnesota code.