An Expert Opinion on the Role of the Rosuvastatin/Amlodipine Single Pill Fixed Dose Combination in Cardiovascular Prevention.

Current cardiovascular disease prevention strategies are based on the management of cardiovascular risk as a continuum, redefining the therapeutic goals for each individual based on the estimated global risk profile. Given the frequent clustering of the principal cardiovascular risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidaemia, in the same individual, patients are required to take multiple drugs to achieve therapeutic targets. The adoption of single pill fixed dose combinations may contribute to achieve better control of blood pressure and cholesterol compared to the separate administration of the individual drugs, mostly due to better adherence related to therapeutic simplicities.

Single-pill fixed-dose drug combinations to reduce blood pressure: the right pill for the right patient.

Arterial hypertension is one of the major causes of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality worldwide. Effective and sustained reduction in blood pressure is essential to reduce individual cardiovascular risk. In daily clinical practice, single-pill fixed-dose combinations of different drug classes are important therapeutic resources that could improve both treatment adherence and cardiovascular risk management by targeting distinct pathophysiological mechanisms.

World Hypertension Day 2021 in Italy: Results of a Nationwide Survey.

Introduction: Hypertension is the biggest contributor to the global burden of cardiovascular diseases and related death, but the rates of hypertension awareness, treatment, and control remain largely perfectible.

Methods: During the XVII World Hypertension Day (May 17th, 2021), a nationwide cross-sectional opportunistic study endorsed by the Italian Society of Hypertension was conducted on volunteer adults ≥ 18 years to raise awareness of high blood pressure (BP). A questionnaire on major demographic/clinical features (sex, age, employment, education, BP status awareness, hypertension family/personal history, antihypertensive medications use) and BP measurement habits (≥1 BP measurement in the previous month/week) was administered.

Chest X-ray Score and Frailty as Predictors of In-Hospital Mortality in Older Adults with COVID-19.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic impact of chest X-ray (CXR) score, frailty, and clinical and laboratory data on in-hospital mortality of hospitalized older patients with COVID-19.

Methods: This retrospective study included 122 patients 65 years or older with positive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and with availability to CXRs on admission. The primary outcome of the study was in-hospital mortality.

The Number of Pills, Rather Than the Type of Renin-Angiotensin System Inhibitor, Predicts Ambulatory Blood Pressure Control in Essential Hypertensives on Triple Therapy: A Real-Life Cross-Sectional Study.

Introduction: We evaluated the prevalence and predictors of ambulatory blood pressure (BP) control in patients taking a triple antihypertensive therapy (renin-angiotensin system inhibitor + calcium channel blocker + thiazide/thiazide-like diuretic, in either free or fixed-dose combinations) containing an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEi) or an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB).

Methods: We performed an observational cross-sectional study on 520 consecutive patients with essential hypertension taking a stable triple therapy in whom 24-h ambulatory BP was evaluated. Both number of pills and antihypertensive treatment intensity (ATI), as possible pharmacological predictors of ambulatory BP control, were taken into account.

May Measurement Month 2018: an analysis of blood pressure screening results from Italy.

Cardiovascular (CV) diseases are burdened by high mortality and morbidity, being responsible for half of the deaths in Europe. Although hypertension is recognized as the most important CV risk factor, hypertension awareness and blood pressure (BP) control are still unsatisfactory. In 2017, 30.

Disequilibrium between the classic renin-angiotensin system and its opposing arm in SARS-CoV-2-related lung injury.

A dysregulation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) has been involved in the genesis of lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome from different causes, including several viral infections. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection of pneumocytes, the hallmark of the pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) involving both alveolar interstitium and capillaries, is linked to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) binding and its functional downregulation. ACE2 is a key enzyme for the balance between the two main arms of the RAS: the ACE/angiotensin (Ang) II/Ang II type 1 receptor axis ("classic RAS") and the ACE2/Ang(1-7)/Mas receptor (MasR) axis ("anti-RAS").

Sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors: peculiar "hybrid" diuretics that protect from target organ damage and cardiovascular events.

Aims: Sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) have been proven to lead to relevant cardiovascular benefits, regardless of glycemic control function. SGLT2i have on the one hand led to reduction in cardiovascular events such as heart failure and on the other hand to renal protection. Blood pressure reduction and kidney function play a central role in these outcomes.

Pharmacological Approach to Smoking Cessation: An Updated Review for Daily Clinical Practice.

Tobacco use is one of the major public health concerns and it is the most preventable cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Smoking cessation reduces subsequent cardiovascular events and mortality. Smoking is a real chronic disorder characterized by the development of an addiction status mainly due to nicotine.

A 95-year-old patient with unexpected coronavirus disease 2019 masked by aspiration pneumonia: a case report.

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection has become a pandemic disease (coronavirus disease 2019). The infection has moved from China to the rest of the world and Italy represents one of the most affected countries. Older adults are more susceptible to develop complications with the consequent highest mortality rates.

Prevalence of Subclinical Carotid Atherosclerosis and Role of Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Older Adults: Atherosclerosis and Aging are Not Synonyms.

Introduction: Age is traditionally considered a major cardiovascular (CV) risk factor, but its real weight in the absence of other modifiable risk factors is not clear.

Aim: To compare the prevalence of subclinical carotid atherosclerosis, and its association with the main CV risk factors, between older adults and hypertensive adults.

Methods: Cross-sectional study on 210 consecutive patients: 70 older adults (age ≥ 80 years), and 140 hypertensive adults having at least another CV risk factor.

Statin therapy is associated with better ambulatory blood pressure control: a propensity score analysis.

Objective: Statin therapy was associated with lower blood pressure (BP) in some but not all studies. We evaluated the association between statin therapy and ambulatory BP in a large hypertensive population using 'propensity score matching'.

Methods: Retrospective observational study on 1827 consecutive essential hypertensive patients evaluated with 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring.

Prevalence and Control of Dyslipidemia in Patients Referred for High Blood Pressure: The Disregarded "Double-Trouble" Lipid Profile in Overweight/Obese.

Introduction: We evaluated the prevalence and control of dyslipidemia in a wide sample of patients referred to our ESH "Hypertension Excellence Centre" for high blood pressure (BP). Furthermore, we evaluated the role of adiposity on the serum lipid profile.

Methods: Observational study on 1219 consecutive outpatients with valid ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) referred for high BP.

PCSK9 is Expressed in Human Visceral Adipose Tissue and Regulated by Insulin and Cardiac Natriuretic Peptides.

Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) binds to and degrades the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), contributing to hypercholesterolemia. Adipose tissue plays a role in lipoprotein metabolism, but there are almost no data about PCSK9 and LDLR regulation in human adipocytes. We studied PCSK9 and LDLR regulation by insulin, atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP, a potent lipolytic agonist that antagonizes insulin), and LDL in visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and in human cultured adipocytes.

Prognostic role of masked and white-coat hypertension: 10-Year mortality in treated elderly hypertensives.

White-coat uncontrolled hypertension (WUCH) and masked uncontrolled hypertension (MUCH) are common in the elderly. The prognostic role of these hypertension phenotypes is not completely defined in this subpopulation. Our aim is to evaluate the long-term prognostic role of WUCH and MUCH in treated elderly hypertensives.

Aldosterone, Hypertension, and Antihypertensive Therapy: Insights From a General Population.

Objective: To investigate the relationships among aldosterone level, use of antihypertensive (anti-HTN) medications, clinical profile, and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) level in individuals with HTN.

Participants And Methods: In a community-based cohort, we analyzed aldosterone plasma levels based on the presence (n=477) or absence (n=1073) of HTN. In individuals with HTN, we evaluated circulating aldosterone levels according to the number of anti-HTN drugs used, analyzed the associated clinical characteristics, and determined the relationship to the counterregulatory cardiac hormone ANP.

Ten-year changes in ambulatory blood pressure: The prognostic value of ambulatory pulse pressure.

Blood pressure (BP) changes and risk factors associated with pulse pressure (PP) increase in elderly people have rarely been studied using ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM). The aim is to evaluate 10-year ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) changes in older hypertensives, focusing on PP and its associations with mortality. An observational study was conducted on 119 consecutive older treated hypertensives evaluated at baseline (T0) and after 10 years (T1).

N-terminal pro B-Type natriuretic peptide is inversely correlated with low density lipoprotein cholesterol in the very elderly.

Background And Aims: Laboratory studies on human adipose tissue and differentiated adipocytes indicate that natriuretic peptides (NPs) affect lipid metabolism and plasma cholesterol. Few previous clinical studies in non-elderly populations found associations between NPs in the physiological range and cholesterol.

Aim: evaluate the association between NT-proBNP and lipid profile in very elderly hospitalized patients characterized by a wide range of NT-proBNP levels.

Renin-Angiotensin System Blockers and Statins Are Associated With Lower In-Hospital Mortality in Very Elderly Hypertensives.

Objectives: Cardiovascular diseases are mainly related to hypertension and dyslipidemia and increase with aging because of the larger time span for these risk factors to damage arterial blood vessels. The impact of cardiovascular drug therapy on outcomes in the very elderly hospitalized is still not well established. The aim of our study was to evaluate the associations between cardiovascular therapy and in-hospital mortality in very elderly hypertensives.

Plasma renin activity to plasma aldosterone concentration ratio correlates with night-time and pulse pressures in essential hypertensive patients treated with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/AT1 blockers.

Objectives: Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE-I) and AT1 blockers (ARB) are commonly used antihypertensive drugs, but several factors may affect their effectiveness. We evaluated the associations between ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring (ABPM) parameters and plasma renin activity (PRA)-to-plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) ratio (RAR) to test renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibition in essential hypertensive patients treated with ACE-I or ARB for at least 12 months.

Methods: We evaluated 194 consecutive patients referred to our Hypertension Centre.