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Studies of the associations of sodium and potassium intakes with cardiovascular disease incidence often rely on self-reported dietary data. In the present study, self-reported intakes from postmenopausal women at 40 participating US clinical centers are calibrated using 24-hour urinary excretion measures in cohorts from the Women's Health Initiative, with follow-up from 1993 to 2010. The incidence of hypertension was positively related to (calibrated) sodium intake and to the ratio of sodium to potassium. The sodium-to-potassium ratio was associated with cardiovascular disease incidence during an average follow-up period of 12 years. The estimated hazard ratio for a 20% increase in the sodium-to-potassium ratio was 1.13 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.04, 1.22) for coronary heart disease, 1.20 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.42) for heart failure, and 1.11 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.19) for a composite cardiovascular disease outcome. The association with total stroke was not significant, but it was positive for ischemic stroke and inverse for hemorrhagic stroke. Aside from hemorrhagic stroke, corresponding associations of cardiovascular disease with sodium and potassium jointly were positive for sodium and inverse for potassium, although some were not statistically significant. Specifically, for coronary heart disease, the hazard ratios for 20% increases were 1.11 (95% CI: 0.95, 1.30) for sodium and 0.85 (95% CI: 0.73, 0.99) for potassium; and corresponding values for heart failure were 1.36 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.82) for sodium and 0.90 (95% CI: 0.69, 1.18) for potassium.

Background: Although the associations of antioxidant micronutrients, such as carotenoids and vitamins, with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have been studied extensively, blood concentrations of antioxidant micronutrients and heart rate variability (HRV), which has been proven to be an indicator of cardiac autonomic control, has not been reported. We aimed to explore whether blood concentrations of antioxidant micronutrients, including carotenoids and vitamins, are associated with elevated heart rate variability (HRV (beneficial change) in a cross-sectional analysis.Methods: Data were obtained from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study that includes a general adult population. A total of 1074 (aged 34-84) individuals were included. Multivariable analyses were performed to investigate the association between main blood carotenoids (total lutein, zeaxanthin, beta-cryptoxanthin, 13-cis-beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, all-trans-beta-carotene and total lycopene) and vitamins A (retinol) and E (gamma-tocopherol and alpha-tocopherol) and HRV after adjustments were made for lifestyle factors and age-related confounders.Results: Pearson correlation analyses showed that the increased levels of carotenoids and vitamins were positively correlated with higher HRV (all P < 0.05). After adjustments were made for age, gender, race, body mass index(BMI), ever-smoker, number of drinking years and exercise, blood alpha-carotene, all-trans-beta-carotene and total lycopene levels were independently associated with higher HRV in the linear regression model (all P < 0.05). Sensitivity analysis by adding "ever chronic respiratory diseases" as a covariate suggested that blood concentrations of these three carotenoids were still associated with higher low-frequency (LF)-HRV and high-frequency (HF)-HRV (all P < 0.05). Furthermore, stratified analyses suggested that the associations were affected by adding "heart disease" and "hypertension" as covariates.Conclusions: We provide the first evidence that elevated blood concentrations of alpha-carotene, trans-beta-carotene and lycopene are associated with beneficial changes in HRV in the general population. Daily intake of fruit and vegetables may be beneficial to increase blood carotenoid status and further prevent autonomic dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Patients with cancer tend to have a high prevalence of depressive symptoms. The direct relationship between serum glycosylated hemoglobin (GHb) levels and depressive symptoms in cancer patients is still uncertain. We aimed to evaluate the association with serum GHb levels with depressive symptoms in the population (aged ≥ 49 years) with cancer. Patients and Methods: Longitudinal data in 204 participants with cancer obtained from The Irish LongituDinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) were used to investigate the association of serum GHb levels with depressive symptoms. Results: Our results suggested a positive and significant association between serum GHb levels and depression score, independent of age, gender, body mass index (BMI), currently married, education, smoking status, drink alcohol, systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP), physical activity, self-reported cardiovascular diseases and laboratory measurement in participants with cancer (coefficient =0.141, P< 0.001; Model 2) at baseline (wave 1). Higher GHb levels did associate with higher prevalence of depressive symptoms in participants with cancer (OR=2.100, 95% CI 1.105– 5.036, P=0.004; Model 2) after adjustment for these same confounding factors in wave 1 was made. Stratified analysis further showed that these significant associations were interfered by antidepressants. Sensitivity analysis showed that higher serum GHb levels in subjects with cancer were linked to higher prevalence of depression events during a follow-up of 4 years. Conclusion: Our results found a significant association between elevated serum GHb levels and increased risk of depressive symptoms in the population aged ≥ 49 years with cancer after confounding factors were adjusted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anxiety and depression are considered risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), but their relationship to blood pressure (BP) is still uncertain. Lifestyle factors and age-related comorbidities may confound these relationships. Our study aimed to evaluate the associations between BP and anxiety and depression scores in a population aged ≥49 years.Methods: Data on 8504 participants from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) were analyzed for associations between BP and anxiety and depression questionnaire scores, accounting for relevant confounding factors.Results: Multivariable analyses showed negative associations between systolic BP and anxiety and depression scores, independent of age, body mass index (BMI), marital status, education level, smoking status, alcohol consumption, level of physical activity, self-reported CVDs (≥2) and antihypertensive medication use in men (coefficient=-0.112, P=0.013; coefficient=-0.051, P=0.026) but not in women (coefficient=-0.001, P=0.855; coefficient=-0.005, P=0.556). Diastolic BP was not associated with anxiety or depression scores in either men (coefficient=-0.018, P=0.223; coefficient=-0.001, P=0.924) or women (coefficient=-0.007, P=0.338; coefficient=-0.015, P=0.293) after adjusting for these same confounding factors. After a follow-up of 4 years, lower BP in subjects not using antihypertensive medications was significantly associated with more anxiety and depression events.Limitation: Time-varying confounding factors may have interfered with our results.Conclusion: Our results show that systolic BP in a middle-aged and elderly population is negatively associated with anxiety and depression scores in men but not women after adjustment for a range of lifestyle factors. These results contrast with the predisposition of anxious or depressed participants to CVDs in later life when decades of unhealthy lifestyles have persisted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]