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Objective To appraise the application of the 2018 European Society of Cardiology-adapted modified WHO (mWHO) classification to pregnant women with heart disease managed at our maternal-fetal medicine referral centre and to assess whether the lack of a multidisciplinary Pregnancy Heart team has influenced their outcomes. Methods A retrospective cohort study including all pregnancies with heart disease managed at our centre between June 2011 and December 2020. Cardiac conditions were categorised in five classes according to the mWHO classification. An additional class, named X, was created for conditions not included in this classification. Outcomes were compared among all classes and factors potentially associated to cardiac complications were assessed. Results We identified 162 women with 197 pregnancies, for a prevalence of 0.7%. Thirty-eight (19.3%) gestations were included in class X. Caesarean section was performed in 64.9% pregnancies in class X, a rate similar to that of class II, II-III, and III/IV, and mostly for obstetric indications; in turn, it was more commonly performed for cardiology reasons in class II-III and III/IV. Cardiac complications occurred in 10.7%, with class X and II pregnancies showing the highest number of events (n=30.8% and 34.6%, respectively). Multiple gestation and urgent caesarean section associated with a 5-fold and 6.5-fold increase in complication rates. Conclusions Even in a maternal-fetal medicine referral centre, the lack of a multidisciplinary team approach to women with heart disease may negatively impact their outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation is increasingly recognised as a rescue therapy for refractory cardiac arrest, nevertheless data are scanty about its effects on neurologic and cardiac outcome. The aim of this study is to compare clinical outcome in patients with cardiac arrest of ischaemic origin (i.e. critical coronary plaque during angiography) and return of spontaneous circulation during conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation vs refractory cardiac arrest patients needing extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Moreover, we tried to identify predictors of survival after successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation.METHODS: We enrolled 148 patients with ischaemic cardiac arrest admitted to our hospital from 2011-2015. We compared clinical characteristics, cardiac arrest features, neurological and echocardiographic data obtained after return of spontaneous circulation (within 24 h, 15 days and six months).RESULTS: Patients in the extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation group ( n=63, 43%) were younger (59±9 vs 63±8 year-old, p=0.02) with lower incidence of atherosclerosis risk factors than those with conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In the extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation group, left ventricular ejection fraction was lower than conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation at early echocardiography (19±16% vs 37±11 p<0.01). Survivors in both groups showed similar left ventricular ejection fraction 15 days and 4-6 months after cardiac arrest (46±8% vs 49±10, 47±11% vs 45±13%, p not significant for both), despite a major extent and duration of cardiac ischaemia in extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation patients. At multivariate analysis, the total cardiac arrest time was the only independent predictor of survival.CONCLUSIONS: Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation patients are younger and have less comorbidities than conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but they have worse survival and lower earl

Background Patients with chronic heart failure may suffer from severe thirst, even if mechanisms that cause thirst in subjects affected by this condition are not clear. Medical and non-medical authors may have already recognized this symptom during the classical age. Methods We analyzed association between thirst and dropsy (an ancient medical term used to indicate different conditions including chronic heart failure) in past medical and non-medical literature. Results Hippocrates and Celsus first recognized thirst as a symptom of dropsy in the classical age. Greco-Roman intellectuals (Polybius, Ovid, Horace) and theologians belonging to the first years of the Christian era (Augustine, Caesarius, Gregory I) showed to know that dropsy people were often thirsty. These authors also influenced medieval poets and writers, including Dante Alighieri. In the Renaissance, the physician and alchemist Paracelsus again evidenced this symptom and the iatrochemist Robert Fludd tried to explain pathophysiology of dropsy, basing on thirst. Conclusions The relationship between thirst and dropsy was well known by physicians and intellectuals in the classical age and in the first years of the Christian era, so influencing the Renaissance physicians

Objectives: Physical activity (PA) is a key factor in cardiovascular disease prevention. Through the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA), the present study investigated the process of change in PA in coronary patients (CPs) and hypertensive patients (HPs). Design: Longitudinal survey study with two follow-up assessments at 6 and 12 months on 188 CPs and 169 HPs. Main outcome measures: Intensity and frequency of PA. Results: A multi-sample analysis indicated the equivalence of almost all the HAPA social cognitive patterns for both patient populations. A latent growth curve model showed strong interrelations among intercepts and slopes of PA, planning and maintenance self-efficacy, but change in planning was not associated with change in PA. Moreover, increase in PA was associated with the value of planning and maintenance self-efficacy reached at the last follow-up Conclusions: These findings shed light on mechanisms often neglected by the HAPA literature, suggesting reciprocal relationships between PA and its predictors that could define a plausible virtuous circle within the HAPA volitional phase. Moreover, the HAPA social cognitive patterns are essentially identical for patients who had a coronary event (i.e. CPs) and individuals who are at high risk for a coronary event (i.e. HPs).

Many studies have focused on Type A and Type D personality types in the context of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), but nothing is known about how these personality types combine to create new profiles. The present study aimed to develop a typology of Type A and Type D personality in two groups of patients affected by and at risk for coronary disease. The study involved 711 patients: 51.6% with acute coronary syndrome, 48.4% with essential hypertension (mean age = 56.4 years; SD = 9.7 years; 70.7% men). Cluster analysis was applied. External variables, such as socio-demographic, psychological, lifestyle, and clinical parameters, were assessed. Six groups, each with its own unique combined personality profile scores, were identified: Type D, Type A-Negatively Affected, Not Type A-Negatively Affected, Socially Inhibited-Positively Affected, Not Socially Inhibited, and Not Type A-Not Type D. The Type A-Negatively Affected cluster and, to a lesser extent, the Type D cluster, displayed the worst profile: namely higher total cardiovascular risk index, physical inactivity, higher anxiety and depression, and lower self-esteem, optimism, and health status. Identifying combined personality profiles is important in clinical research and practice in cardiovascular diseases. Practical implications are discussed.

Aims According to recent data, more accurate selection of patients undergoing coronary angiography for suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) is needed. From the Active PREvention Study multicentre prospective study, we further analyse whether carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), carotid plaques (cPL), and echocardiographic cardiac calcium score (eCS) have incremental discriminatory and reclassification predictive value for CAD over clinical risk score in subjects undergoing coronary angiography, specifically depending on their low, intermediate, or high class of clinical risk. Methods and results In eight centres, 445 subjects without history of prior CAD but with chest pain of recent onset and/or a positive/inconclusive stress test for ischaemia prospectively underwent clinically indicated elective coronary angiography after cardiac and carotid ultrasound assessments with measurements of cIMT, cPL, and eCS. The study population was divided into subjects at low (10%), intermediate (10-20%), and high (.20%) Framingham risk score (FRS). Ultrasound parameters were tested for their incremental value to predict CAD over FRS, in each pre-test risk category. No significant difference could be appreciated between the discrimination value of FRS and Diagnostic Imaging for Coronary Artery Disease score for the presence of CAD. eCS or cPL demonstrated significant incremental prediction over FRS, consistently in the three FRS categories (P , 0.01); this applied to both discrimination and reclassification, with the exception of high-risk subjects, in whom cPL was apparently not incremental over FRS, and eCS was only of borderline significance for better discrimination. Conclusions Ultrasound eCS and cPL assessments were significant predictors of angiographic CAD in patients without prior CAD but with signs or symptoms suspect for CAD, independently and incrementally to FRS, across all pre-test risk probability strata, although in high-risk subjects, only eCS maintained an in

Background & Aims: Iron accumulation within the arterial wall has been hypothesized to promote atherosclerosis progression. Aim of this study was to evaluate whether the hormone hepcidin and iron stores are associated with arterial stiffness in subjects with essential hypertension. Methods: Circulating hepcidin, ferritin, and mutations in the hemochromatosis gene were compared between subjects included in the first vs. third tertile (n=284 each) of carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) in an unselected cohort of patients with arterial hypertension. Results: At univariate logistic regression analysis, high PWV was associated with higher ferritin levels (p=0.010), but lower hepcidin (p=0.045), and hepcidin ferritin/ratio (p<0.001). Hemochromatosis mutations predisposing to iron overload were associated with high PWV (p=0.025). At multivariate logistic regression analysis, high aortic stiffness was associated with older age, male sex, lower BMI, higher systolic blood pressure and heart rate, hyperferritinemia (OR 2.05, 95% c.i. 1.11-3.17 per log ng/ml; p=0.022), and lower circulating hepcidin concentration (OR 0.29, 95% c.i. 0.16-0.51 per log ng/ml; p<0.001). In subgroup analyses, high PWV was associated with indices of target organ damage, including microalbuminuria (n=125, p=0.038), lower ejection fraction (n=175, p=0.031), cardiac diastolic dysfunction (p=0.004), and lower S wave peak systolic velocity (p<0.001). Ferritin was associated with cardiac diastolic dysfunction, independently of confounders (p=0.006). Conclusions: In conclusion, hyperferritinemia is associated with high aortic stiffness and cardiac diastolic dysfunction, while low circulating hepcidin with high aortic stiffness.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a major cause of worldwide morbidity and mortality. Nutrition plays an important role in the primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of CVDs. The present longitudinal study used the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) to investigate changes in dietary behavior in coronary patients (CPs) affected by acute coronary syndrome and hypertensive patients (HPs) affected by essential arterial hypertension. Methods: CPs (N = 250) and HPs (N = 246) completed a questionnaire during three measurement points (baseline, 6-month follow-up, and 12-month follow-up). Statistical analyses included a repeated measures ANOVA and a multi-sample structural equation model. Results: HPs showed no changes in dietary behavior, whereas CPs improved their nutrition at 6 months and then maintained the healthier diet. The multi-sample analysis indicated equivalence of the HAPA model for both patient populations. Conclusions: These findings provide further evidence for the generalisability of the HAPA model, shedding light on dietary behavior among CVD patients and particularly on hypertensive patients which has received little attention. Moreover, the equivalence of the model suggests that the process of change is almost identical for individuals who are at high risk for a coronary event (i.e. HPs) and individuals who have already had the event (i.e. CPs).

Objective: Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS) is a genetic disorder that involves elastin gene causing cardiovascular abnormalities and increased risk. However, data on arterial function in these patients are only few and conflicting. Aim of this study was to evaluate dynamic behaviour of central and peripheral blood pressure (BP) and arterial stiffness parameters early in the course of WBS. Methods: We enrolled 19 WBS paediatric patients (age 13-4 years) and 23 age, height and BP-matched controls (10±4 years). We evaluated 24-h ambulatory BP values via an ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) system (Mobil-O-Graph) also capable to calculate 24-h central BP and 24-h arterial stiffness parameters. Carotid-femoral PWV (cf-PWV) was assessed in all WBS individuals (Complior). Results: BP values were similar in WBS and control, during the daytime and the night-time. The same behaviour applies to 24-h central BP. However, during the night, WBS showed heart rate values (HR; 78-10 vs. 71-9 bpm; P<0.03), augmentation index (Aix; 24.6±13.5% vs. 16.5±8.9%; P=0.03) and reflection magnitude (68 5.8 vs. 63.5 8.1; P=0.02) higher than controls. The HR, Aix and reflection magnitude reduction in the day-night shift was lower in WBS than in controls. Cf-PWV in WBS children did not differ when compared with their normalized expected value. Conclusion: In WBS children, the higher night-time HR, Aix and reflection magnitude and their impaired physiological reduction in the day-night shift suggests an abnormal sympathetic cardiovascular control, an augmented wave reflection and an increase in small arteries resistance. These alterations possibly due to a sympathetic overactivity can be regarded as earlier hallmarks of cardiovascular dysfunction in these patients.

Objective: Cardiovascular risk prediction is deemed fundamental and the assessment of organ damage is emerging as a potentially 'downstream' picture of individual risk. Our aim was to assess the feasibility and value of prediction of coronaropathy [coronary artery disease (CAD)] of integrated cardiovascular ultrasound examination. Methods: This multicenter study involved eight cardiology centers that enrolled 457 consecutive patients. Blood pressures, carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), carotid pulse wave velocity (cPWV), semiquantitative score of cardiac calcifications, global myocardial longitudinal strain (GLS), and rest Doppler flow velocity on the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery were measured. After coronary angiography, patients were divided in CAD, n = 273, at least one coronary stenosis higher than 50%, and no CAD, n = 184. Results: CAD were older (65.9 ± 10.7 versus 63.1 ± 11.2 years, mean ± standard deviation, P = 0.01), and had higher blood pressure (137.0 ± 18.8/77.5 ± 11.1 versus 130.2 ± 17.4/75.1 ± 9.7 mmHg, P < 0.02), cIMT (791.4 ± 165.5 versus 712.0 ± 141.5 mcm, P < 0.0001), cPWV (median: 9 versus 8.1 m/s, P < 0.01), score of calcium (median, 2 versus 1, P < 0.0001), LAD velocity (median, 38 versus 36, P < 0.07), and lower GLS (-17.6 ± 4.3 versus -19.3 ± 5.1, P < 0.05) than no CAD. Score of calcium was feasible in the totality of patients, cIMT in 97%, cPWV in 86%, GLS in 88%, and LAD in 84%. A combination of at least three variables was measurable in 80% of the patients. All ultrasound parameters significantly predicted CAD. However, in a stepwise logistic regression, the only combined predictors of obstructive CAD were score of calcium, cIMT, and LAD velocity. Conclusion: In Echo-Lab, Rome, Italy, the integrated cardiovascular ultrasound study is feasible in a high percentage of patients. The combination of three parameters, that is, score of calcium, cIMT, and LAD velocity, has incremental predictive value for obstructive CAD.

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is characterized by a marked sympathetic overdrive, as documented by the elevated sympathetic nerve firing rate detected in peripheral muscle nerves. No data are available, however, on the behaviour of sympathetic drive in vascular regional districts other than the muscle circulation.

The two novel approaches recently introduced for the treatment of resistant hypertension, i.e. carotid baroreceptor stimulation and renal denervation, share a number of similarities but are also characterized by important differences. The similarities include the evidence that both interventions have as common pathophysiological background the state of sympathetic overdrive characterizing essential hypertension. In addition both procedures 1) are invasive, 2) exert in the short-term period clearcut blood pressure lowering effects and 3) still face a number of open questions, particularly related to the long-term blood pressure lowering effects, impact on end-organ damage and on cardiovascular events. The differences include the fact that two procedures act on distinct targets that trigger sympathetic activation and consequently blood pressure increase. In addition, only in the case of carotid baroreceptor stimulation the blood pressure effects can be easily assessed immediately following the implantation. Finally, the economic costs, metabolic effects and impact on vagal modulation of heart rate are different between the two interventions. This paper will provide a comparison of the background, effects and outcome of renal denervation and carotid baroreceptor stimulation, stressing whenever possible the clinical implications of the main features of the two interventions.

Aims. Diabetes mellitus is characterized by structural and functional alterations of the large- and medium-size arteries. Whether blood glucose variability, i.e. the glycemic oscillations occurring during the 24-h period, represents a risk factor for vascular alterations additional to and independent on HbA1c in type 1 diabetes mellitus is still undefined. The present study was carried out with the aim at investigating the impact of different measures of blood glucose variability on arterial structure and function. We studied 17 non-complicated type 1 diabetic patients (11 males, six females) with an age of 40.8 ± 7.6 years (mean ± SD). In each patient, 24-h glucose profile was obtained by continuous glucose monitoring system and glucose variability was expressed as mean ± SD of 24-h blood glucose levels, mean amplitude of glycemic excursions and postprandial hyperglycemic spikes. Arterial structure and function was measured as carotid IMT and stiffness. Major findings. The different approaches to assessing blood glucose variability well correlated between and with HbA1c. Carotid IMT and stiffness showed significant correlations with age, blood pressure, heart rate and daily insulin intake but a non- significant correlation with blood glucose variability. Principal conclusion. Thus, in type 1 diabetes mellitus, measures of glycemic variability are useful in predicting both actual and long-lasting glycemic control. In absence of diabetes-related complications and of any intima-media thickness alterations, the major predictors of arterial distensibility are represented by traditional risk factors beside glycemic 24-h control. © 2013 Scandinavian Foundation for Cardiovascular Research

Objective. Evidence exists that arterial stiffness, i.e. an independent predictor of cardiovascular and all-causes mortality, has a genetic component. The 9p21 region is associated with a greater susceptibility to coronary disease. Whether this can be ascribed to the fact that genes located on chromosome 9p may also regulate arterial stiffness is largely unknown, however. We evaluate the influence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 9p on carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity (C-F PWV), measured via the Complior method, in a cohort of 821 hypertensive subjects. Design. The selected tagSNPs were screened with a custom-designed 384-plex VeraCode GoldenGate Genotyping assay on Illumina BeadXpress Reader platform. Association analysis was done using PLINK considering C-F PWV as a quantitative trait (linear regression assuming an additive model) adjusting for sex, age, systolic blood pressure and body mass index (BMI). We used false discovery rate (FDR) to account for multiple testing. Results. Although none of the 384 SNPs was significant after adjusting for multiple testing, probably due to the small sample size of the study population, a trend of association with C-F PWV was observed for rs300622 and rs2381640. Conclusions. These data suggest that SNPs located on chromosome 9p may affect arterial stiffness. Further studies are needed to confirm our finding on a larger sample and define the physiopathological link of the present results

L’ipertensione arteriosa è una delle principali cause di malattia sia nei paesi sviluppati che in quelli in via di sviluppo, sia per l’ampia prevalenza della malattia che per gli effetti. E’ stato calcolato infatti che nel 2000 il 26.4% della popolazione mondiale era affetto da ipertensione e la percentuale di soggetti ipertesi è destinata a crescere fino a 29.2% nel 2025. Nella pratica clinica si ottengono due valori che sono ritenuti indicativi dell’omeostasi pressoria: la pressione di picco sistolica (PAS) e la pressione di fine diastole (PAD). Tradizionalmente si poneva particolare attenzione ai valori di pressione diastolica ritenendo che predicesse in maniera più indicativa della PAS la morbilità e mortalità cardiovascolari. Una ampia metanalisi condotta su 61 studi ed oltre un milione di individui senza patologia cardiovascolare conclamata, ha dimostrato come sia la PAS che la PAD siano entrambe predittori indipendenti della mortalità per IMA ed ictus. I valori della pressione di picco sistolica e della pressione di fine diastole misurati con metodica non invasiva sono stati quindi assunti come indicativi del processo continuo che conduce dalla presenza di fattori di rischio (dislipidemia, ipertensione, diabete, fumo, obesità) allo scompenso cardiaco terminale attraverso la formazione della placca aterosclerotica e l’infarto del miocardio (4,5). Più di recente è stata dimostrata l’esistenza di un altro processo lesivo legato all’aumento della pressione arteriosa, ed indipendente da quello aterosclerotico, tale processo è caratteristico dell’invecchiamento e non coinvolge tanto le cellule quanto le componenti inanimate responsabili delle caratteristiche meccaniche della parete vasale, denominato arteriosclerosi. Argomento di questa tesi sarà ampliare l’approccio al paziente iperteso non limitandoci alla misurazione dei valori sisto-diastolici di PA ma aggiungendo a questa valutazione tradizionale un dato sul funzionamento meccanico dei grandi vasi a

In diabetes mellitus, structural and functional alterations of the heart can be already present at the time of first diagnosis. However, how early these alterations may occur has never been fully clarified. The present study aimed at investigating cardiac functional abnormalities in uncomplicated hypertensive or normotensive patients with a recent diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. We studied 40 diabetics (24 normotensives and 16 hypertensives) by means of routine echocardiography plus pulse tissue Doppler analysis. Data were compared with those obtained in healthy age- and sex-matched controls. Left ventricular remodelling was more evident in hypertensive diabetics than in normotensive diabetics vs controls. Diastolic function was altered in diabetic patients only when detected by pulse tissue Doppler analysis and not by conventional transmitral Doppler evaluation. Normotensive patients with type 2 diabetes with little or no evidence at standard echocardiography of alterations in cardiac structure and function, already displayed an alteration in diastolic function when the evaluation was based on the tissue Doppler approach. Patients with type 2 diabetes combined to hypertension showed more evident functional cardiac alterations at echocardiography. These findings support the conclusion that cardiac abnormalities are very early phenomena in type 2 diabetes.

BackgroundAdequate control of blood pressure (BP) is limited worldwide. This has serious consequences for public health because in hypertensive patients, uncontrolled BP is associated with a higher incidence of cardiovascular events, particularly stroke. The aim of this study was to investigate BP control in a cohort of treated patients with diagnosed hypertension, who were under general practitioner care in Italy.MethodsData were collected by 2,643 physicians on 8,572 individual Italian patients. Office BP was measured 5 min after seating each patient and then 35 min later. For each patient, data such as medical history of patients, physical examination data, antihypertensive drug usage, and self-BP measurement frequency were obtained.ResultsMale prevalence was 48.4%, and mean age was 64.3 ± 10.5 years. Based on the second measurement, BP control (140/90 mm Hg) was observed in 33.5% of all patients (34.2% in men and 33.4% in women). BP control was much lower for systolic BP than for diastolic BP (35.9 vs. 61.3%, P<0.0001); moreover, BP control was much more common in patients who were engaged in self-BP measurement (61.2 vs. 38.8%, P<0.0001). A stricter BP control recommended by the guidelines of the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) and European Society of Cardiology (ESC) (130/80 mm Hg) was observed in only 5.5% of diabetic patients.ConclusionsIn treated Italian hypertensives effective BP control remains uncommon largely due to the failure to appropriately reduce the systolic BP. The stricter values recommended by the ESH/ESC guidelines for diabetic patients are achieved only by a small fraction of hypertensive diabetic population.

Aims: The aim of our study was to compare global and segmental longitudinal myocardial velocity and deformation obtained from three different echocardiographic techniques of postprocessing analysis (two-dimensional tissue Doppler imaging (2D TDI), triplane tissue Doppler imaging (3D TDI), and speckle tracking echocardiography (STE)), in a group of consecutive subjects referred to echocardiography with different clinical indications, and to assess their reproducibility. Methods and results: Standard echocardiograms with high frame rate gray-scale images and color coded TDI apical views, and a single beat TDI triplane apical section of the left ventricle were acquired at two different times. Longitudinal velocity and deformation parameters were obtained in postprocessing in 103 subjects from TDI and STE derived curves, and absolute values were compared to test the variability of the three techniques. All the measures were repeated twice, for a test-retest study. The times to peak velocity and deformation were similar by TDI and STE; other parameters showed significant difference (P < 0.05), both for global and segmental analysis. Reproducibility (expressed by the coefficient of variation and the coefficient of correlation r, in a large part of cases > 0.9) was acceptable, meaning that measures obtained at two different times did not differ significantly in between. Conclusion: TDI and speckle tracking are both feasible and reproducible. Myocardial velocity and deformation parameters obtained with them are significantly different. STE is the most reproducible technique, whereas TDI based measurements are lower reproducible. STE can easily be used during clinical follow up for its feasibility and high reproducibility. (Echocardiography****;**:1-10).