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Objective: Spain's so-called Stroke Belt is an area with high prevalence of vascular disease. We aimed to determine the prevalence of undetected obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) among patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in southern Spain., Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study at the Virgen Macarena University Hospital Stroke Unit during 2018 to 2019. We included patients <72 hours after AIS with a neuroimaging lesion and performed sleep tests., Results: Seventy-two patients were included. The median participant age was 72 years. Mean body mass index was 27.07 kg/m 2 , and 40.28% were daily alcohol drinkers. Hypertension, atrial fibrillation, ischemic cardiomyopathy, and previous stroke were detected in 63.9%, 11.1%, 15.3%, and 17.6% of patients, respectively. Polygraphy was feasible in 91.38% of patients. The prevalence of OSAHS was 84.72% (apnea-hypopnea index ≥5). Patients with moderate and severe OSAHS were more likely to be obese and to have a larger neck circumference and facial palsy. The diagnostic criteria of central sleep apnea syndrome were met in only 1.38% of patients., Conclusions: The high prevalence of OSAHS found in the Spanish Stroke Belt justifies further investigation and development of a screening program as a strategy to identify patients with undetected OSAHS.

Acenocoumarol is an oral anticoagulant with significant interindividual dose variations. Variants in CYP2C9 and VKORC1 have been associated with acenocoumarol maintenance dose. We analysed whether any of the 49 polymorphisms in CYP2C9 and VKORC1 previously associated with acenocoumarol maintenance dose in a Genome-Wide Association study (GWAs) in Dutch population are associated with stroke recurrence, intracranial haemorrhage (ICH) and acenocoumarol maintenance dose in a Spanish population. We performed a GWAs using Human Core Exome-chip (Illumina) in 78 patients stroke patients treated with acenocoumarol for secondary prevention enrolled as part of the prospective investigator-initiated study (IIS) SEDMAN Study. Patients were followed-up a median of 12.8 months. Three and eight patients had recurrent stroke and ICH events, respectively. We found 14 of the 49 published variants associated with acenocoumarol maintenance dose (p < 0.05). Six polymorphisms were associated with stroke recurrence and four variants with ICH (p < 0.05). In conclusion, variants in VKORC1 and CYP2C9 are associated with acenocoumarol maintenance dose, stroke recurrence and ICH in a Spanish cohort. These results highlight the relevance of studying pharmacogenetics associated with efficacy and safety of anticoagulant drugs and justify studies with larger sample size and different ethnic populations.

Objective: To determine the patterns of drug use in an adolescent population and to analyse the role of personal and social protective factors in alcohol consumption., Material and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in five secondary schools in the city of Cuenca (Spain) in the period 2015-2016. The groups were randomly selected (3rd - 4th GCSE and 1st - 2nd GCE), with a total of 844 students giving their consent. A self-administered questionnaire was used, which included sociodemographic variables, consumption data, CD-RISC 10 scale to evaluate resilience, and KIDSCREEN-52 questionnaire to measure individual and social aspects associated with health-related quality of life in adolescents. Descriptive bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed., Results: Just over half (55.7%) of the pupils selected were girls, and the mean age was 16.3±1.01 years. The pupils began consumption when they became 13-14 years old. The percentages of habitual consumption were 70.9% for alcohol, 26.4% for tobacco, and 14.2% for cannabis. Multiple drug use was also found in 35%. The regression model for alcohol showed that non-consumers showed better values in emotional moods, self-perception, relationships with their parents, and their school environment., Conclusions: Adolescents start using drugs, especially cannabis, at an earlier age. Availability and the perception of low-risk make alcohol the most widespread drug. Actions aimed at fostering emotional well-being and family support provides security for adolescents, as well as the resources that help them overcome the pressures of the group., (Copyright © 2019. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U.)

Objective/background: In 2006, the American Heart Association recommended that for preference carotid endarterectomy (CEA) or, alternatively, carotid angioplasty and stenting (CAS) for symptomatic carotid artery stenosis should ideally occur within 14 days of an ischaemic event. The aim was to determine the safety of CAS according to those recommendations in daily practice., Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed of all consecutive patients (2000-16), with ipsilateral carotid symptoms who underwent CAS for extracranial carotid stenosis ≥70%, who were previously included in a prospective database. Thirty day morbidity was assessed (any stroke without transient ischaemic attack [TIA]/amaurosis fugax), along with mortality of the procedure in the early (≤14 days after stroke onset) and delayed phases (15-180 days after stroke onset). Patients who received CAS and/or mechanical thrombectomy for acute ischaemic stroke treatment were not included., Results: In total, 1227 patients with symptomatic carotid stenosis who underwent CAS were identified. Early and delayed CAS was performed in 291 and 936 patients, respectively. Morbidity (any stroke) and mortality was 2.2% (n = 27) in the whole cohort (n = 8 [2.7%] in early vs. n = 19 [2%] in delayed CAS; p = .47). There were no differences in morbidity between early and delayed CAS regarding TIA (n = 15 vs. 36 [5.2% vs. 3.9%]; p = .33), minor stroke (n = 4 vs. 5 [1.4% vs. 0.5%]; p = .14), or major stroke (n = 2 vs. 6 [0.7% vs. 0.6%]; p = .59). Two patients (0.7%) died after early CAS and eight (0.9%) after delayed CAS (p = .56)., Conclusion: CAS may be safely performed in the early phase after an ischaemic stroke with low clinical complication rates. Further studies are needed to validate CAS safety conducted even earlier in the acute phase of ischaemic stroke., (Copyright © 2018 European Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)