Obstructive sleep apnea is independently associated with subclinical coronary atherosclerosis among middle-aged women.

Purpose: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with coronary disease among men. However, this association is not clear for women. In this study, we evaluate the association between OSA and presence of subclinical atherosclerosis assessed by tomographic coronary calcium score in middle-aged women.

OSA is common and independently associated with hypertension and increased arterial stiffness in consecutive perimenopausal women.

Background: Perimenopause is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. OSA is an emerging risk factor for cardiovascular disease, particularly among men, but the independent contribution of OSA to cardiovascular risk in climacteric women is not clear.

Methods: We evaluated 277 consecutive women (age, 56 [52-61] years; BMI, 28 [25-32] kg/m2) without manifest cardiovascular disease (heart failure, coronary disease, or stroke).

Validation of the Brazilian version of the Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument: a cross-sectional evaluation in children and adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Background: There is a lack of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) questionnaires to evaluate pediatric musculoskeletal diseases in Brazil. The Pediatric Outcome Data Collection Instrument (PODCI) is widely used elsewhere for pediatric patients with musculoskeletal disorders, but it has not been fully validated in Brazil. Validation of the PODCI in the Brazilian Portuguese language is important to improve the assessment of pediatric patients with musculoskeletal diseases and to compare Brazilian study results with results from the international literature.