[Associations of the work duration, sleep duration and number of holidays with an exaggerated blood pressure response during an exercise stress test among workers]

The Relationship between Left Ventricular Function Indices in Tissue Doppler Imaging and Exaggerated Blood Pressure Response During the Exercise Stress Test

Background:

Studies have indicated that exaggerated hypertension during activity and stress can be a good predictor of the incidence of hypertension. This study tries to evaluate left ventricular (LV) function by tissue Doppler to assess early changes in ventricular compliance before the onset of Hypertension (HTN) in patients with exaggerated blood pressure response during the exercise test.

Materials and Methods:

In this case-control study, 40 patients without a history of hypertension with systolic blood pressure less than 140/90 which referred for exercise test, were included. The exercise test was performed for all patients. Patients who had exaggerated blood pressure during the stress test were considered as cases and the controls with normal blood pressure responses. Then standard echocardiography and Tissue Doppler imaging performed and indices of LV systolic and diastolic were recorded.

Results:

The LV mass in cases and controls were 174.9±50.78 and 152.9±33.59, respectively (P=0.114), and LV mass index in cases and controls were 127.4±13.5 and 79.8±15.75, respectively (P=0.023). Moreover, the LV Myocardial Performance Index were 0.68±0.11 and 0.48±0.06 in cases and controls, respectively (P<0.001). The heart rate, E/A, EE, E Velocity and S velocity were measuremented. Except E/A (P=0.009), there was no significant difference between the other variables measured between the cases and controls (P>0.05).

Conclusion:

The results of this study showed that using 2D conventional echocardiography as a noninvasive method if performed in prestigious centers can evaluate systolic and diastolic function Tissue Doppler parameters very well in the early stages of heart disease caused by HTN.

Cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome and health behaviours of postmenopausal women working in agriculture

INTRODUCTION

The objective of the study was to examine the impact of occurrence of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and metabolic syndrome (MS) diagnoses on the frequency of health behaviours in postmenopausal women working in agriculture.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Eight hundred and ten postmenopausal women living in rural areas and working in agriculture, aged 46-70 and at least 12 months from the last menstrual period, were examined. Analysis of variance with multiple comparison tests was used to compare the Inventory of Health Behaviours among the women with and without CVDs and MS.

RESULTS

The frequency of some health behaviours, mainly health practices, is higher in postmenopausal women working in agriculture with CVDs or MS than in those without CVDs or MS (p = 0.045). Women with such disorders more often limit their physical effort (p = 0.029), try to be less overworked (p < 0.001) and to take more rest (p = 0.027), more often limit consumption of animal fat and sugar (p = 0.024), more regularly visit physicians (p = 0.003) and more often take seriously recommendations concerning their health. However, an insufficient frequency of health behaviours was observed among both the healthy women and those with metabolic disorders and CVDs. One third of all the examined women had a high frequency of health behaviours, one third had an average frequency and one third had a low frequency; hence actions should be taken to improve the situation.

CONCLUSIONS

Postmenopausal women working in agriculture more often perform beneficial health behaviours if they have MS and CVDs diagnosed in comparison to healthy women.

Prehypertension and its optimal indicator among adults in Hubei Province, Central China, 2013-2015

BACKGROUND

Hypertension accounts for 7% of the annual global disease burden, despite great efforts to counter this trend. Thus, interventions targeted at prehypertension might lead to a breakthrough for hypertension prevention. This study focused on the prevalence of prehypertension among adults in Central China and the best indicator of prehypertension, which would provide the basis for future interventions.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted using multistage stratified random sampling in seven counties in Hubei Province. Data from 30,634 survey respondents were analyzed using logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve statistical tests, for the prevalence of prehypertension and the predictive ability of body mass index (BMI), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), and waist circumference (WC) for prehypertension.

RESULTS

The prevalence of prehypertension in adults was 42.2%. The following factors contributed to the risk of prehypertension: male sex, elder age, divorce/separation, drinking, heavy labor intensity, and high BMI (p < 0.05). Being a farmer and exercise exhibited positive associations with prehypertension (p < 0.05). Compared with BMI and WHtR, WC had a higher predictive value for prehypertension (area under ROC curve, AUC = 0.630, 95% confidence interval: 0.623-0.637, p < 0.0001), especially for men. The optimal cutoffs of WC for prehypertension were 79.95 cm in men and 76.85 cm in women.

CONCLUSIONS

The prehypertension rate in adults was high in Central China. Significant factors related to hypertension were identified. More interventions targeting individuals with WC above the cutoff level are needed for timely awareness of prehypertension and early prevention of hypertension.