[Reproducibility of arterial pressure measured in the ELSA-Brasil with 24-hour pressure monitoring]

Combined Association of Novel and Traditional Inflammatory Biomarkers With Carotid Artery Plaque: GlycA Versus C-Reactive Protein (ELSA-Brasil)

Elevated levels of glycoprotein acetylation (GlycA) and C-reactive protein (CRP) have been associated with carotid artery plaque (CAP). However, it is not yet established if elevations in both inflammatory biomarkers provide incremental association with CAP. This study aimed evaluate the cross-sectional association of high CRP and GlycA with CAP at baseline participants from the ELSA-Brasil adult cohort. Participants with information on CRP, GlycA, and CAP with neither previous cardiovascular disease nor CRP >10 mg/L were included. High GlycA and CRP were defined as values within upper quintile and >3 mg/L, respectively. Participants were classified into 4 groups: 1. nonelevated CRP/GlycA (reference group); 2. elevated CRP alone; 3. elevated GlycA alone; and 4. both elevated. The analysis included 4,126 participants with median age of 50 years-old, being 54.2% of women. Prevalence of CAP was 36.1%. Participants with high CRP had the highest frequency of obesity, whereas participants with high GlycA presented higher cardiovascular risk factor burden and were more likely to have CAP than the reference group (odds ratio [OR] 1.39, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.11 to 1.73), persisting after multivariable adjustment (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.83). Participants with both elevated CRP and GlycA were more likely to have CAP in crude (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.65) but not in adjusted models. The findings suggest potential different biologic pathways between inflammation and carotid atherosclerosis: high GlycA was associated with CAP whereas high CRP was more associated with obesity.

Carotid intima-media thickness in adults with and without psoriasis - a nested case-control study from baseline data of ELSA-Brasil cohort

There is a lack of consensus about the association between psoriasis (PSO) and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in literature, since previous studies considered dermatologic clinic patients or general population. This study aimed to compare cIMT levels according to PSO in a sample of 10,530 civil servants form the ELSA-Brasil cohort study and analyze its association with the disease. The PSO cases and disease duration were identified by medical diagnosis self-reported at study enrollment. A paired group was identified by propensity score matching among all the participants without PSO. Mean cIMT values were considered for continuous analysis while cIMT above 75th percentile was considered for categorical analysis. Multivariate conditional regression models were used to analyze association between cIMT and PSO diagnosis, by comparing PSO cases against paired controls and overall sample without disease. A total of n = 162 PSO cases were identified (1.54%) and no difference in cIMT values was observed between participants with PSO and overall sample or control group. PSO was not associated with linear increment of cIMT (vs. overall sample: β = 0.003, p = 0.690; vs. matched controls: β = 0.004, p = 0.633) neither with increased chance of having cIMT above 75th percentile (vs. overall sample: OR = 1.06, p = 0.777; vs. matched controls: OR = 1.19, p = 0.432; conditional regression: OR = 1.31, p = 0.254). There was no relationship between disease duration and cIMT (β = 0.000, p = 0.627). Although no significant relationship between mild cases of psoriasis and cIMT was observed among a wide cohort of civil servants, longitudinal investigation about cIMT progression and severity of disease are still needed.

Validating the Framingham Hypertension Risk Score: A 4-year follow-up from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of the Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil)

The Framingham Heart Study published an equation that permits to estimate the 4-year incidence of hypertension among adults. In Brazil, only the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil) of 15 105 men and women aged 35-74 years enrolled in 2008-2010 has data that can validate the Framingham Risk Score for Hypertension and create a new equation according to the Brazilian population. We examined the predictive performance of the Framingham Risk Score for Hypertension in the ELSA-Brasil using as an outcome variable, the 4-year incidence of hypertension. We split randomly the 8027 participants who participated in the second visit (2012-2014) and without hypertension at baseline in derivation data set (n = 4825; 60%) and a validation data set (n = 3202 participants; 40%). The area under the curve for Framingham Risk Score for Hypertension and ELSA-Brasil Risk Score was relatively similar. Hosmer-Lemeshow chi-squared statistic applied for the Framingham Risk Score was 3.78 (P-value = .876) and for our model was 8.22 (P-value = .41), disclosing good discrimination and calibration for both models. Even with these classification intervals, our model presents more underestimation of the risk, classifying 15% of the participants with new onset of hypertension in low risk vs 9% of the Framingham model and less overestimation of the risk, classifying 17% of the participants without hypertension as high risk vs 24% of the Framingham model. We concluded that the Framingham Risk Score for Hypertension has an acceptable performance when applied in the ELSA-Brasil population with good discrimination and calibration.

Prevalence of arterial hypertension according to different diagnostic criteria, National Health Survey

OBJECTIVE

To determine the population prevalence of arterial hypertension in adults according to different diagnostic criteria.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional study, analyzing information from the Brazilian National Health Survey in 2013, consisted of interviews, physical and laboratory measurements (n = 60,202). The prevalence of hypertension was defined according to three diagnostic criteria: self-reported; measured by instrument (blood pressure ≥ 140/90 mmHg); measured and/or using medication. Prevalence and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were estimated by the three diagnostic criteria of hypertension.

RESULTS

The high blood pressure measurements were: 21.4% (95%CI 20.8 - 22.0) using the criterion self-reported; 22.8% (95%CI 22.1 - 23.4) by measured hypertension; and 32.3% (95%CI 31.7 - 33.0) by measured hypertension and/or reported use of medication. Women presented higher prevalence for the self-reported criterion (24.2%; 95%CI 23.4 - 24.9) and men, for the measured criterion (25.8%; 95%CI 24.8 - 26.8). Hypertension increases with age and is more frequent in urban areas. Using these three criteria, the hypertension was higher in the Southeast and South regions, in relation to the average of the country and the other regions. Using these three criteria, hypertension increased with age, was more frequent in urban areas and in the Southeast and South regions, in relation to the average of the country and the other regions.

CONCLUSION

These findings are important to support policies that aim to achieve the World Health Organization's goal of reducing hypertension by 25% over the next decade.

Impact of Different Normality Thresholds for 24-hour ABPM at the Primary Health Care Level

Background

Hypertension is an important risk factor for cardiovascular outcomes. Primary health care (PHC) physicians should be prepared to act appropriately in the prevention of cardiovascular risk factors. However, the rates of patients with control of blood pressure (BP) remain low. The impact of the reclassification of high BP by 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) can lead to different medical decisions in PHC.

Objective

To evaluate the agreement between the BP measured by a conventional method by PHC physicians and by 24-hour ABPM, considering different BP normal thresholds for the 24-hour ABPM according to the V Brazilian ABPM Guidelines and the European Society of Hypertension Guidelines.

Methods

A cross-sectional study including 569 hypertensive patients. The BP was initially measured by the PHC physicians and, later, by 24-hour ABPM. The BP measurements were obtained independently between the two methods. The therapeutic targets for the conventional BP followed the guidelines by the Eighth Joint National Committee (JNC 8), the V ABPM Brazilian Guidelines, and the 2013 European Hypertension Guidelines.

Results

There was an accuracy of 54.8% (95% confidence interval [95%CI] 0.51 - 0.58%) for the BP measured with the conventional method when compared with the 24-hour ABPM, with a sensitivity of 85% (95%CI 80.8 - 88.6%), specificity of 31.9% (95%CI 28.7 - 34.7%), and kappa value of 0.155, when considering the European Hypertension Guidelines. When using more stringent thresholds to characterize the BP as "normal" by ABPM, the accuracy was 45% (95%CI 0.41 - 0.47%) for conventional measurement when compared with 24-hour ABPM, with a sensitivity of 86.7% (95%CI 0.81 - 0.91%), specificity of 29% (95%CI 0.26 - 0.30%), and kappa value of 0.103.

Conclusion

The BP measurements obtained by PHC physicians showed low accuracy when compared with those obtained by 24-hour ABPM, regardless of the threshold set by the different guidelines.

Biomarcadores de função endotelial em doenças cardiovasculares: hipertensão

A incidência de hipertensão arterial sistêmica está aumentando mundialmente. Sua prevenção baseia-se na identificação dos hipertensos. Atualmente, biomarcadores são utilizados com fins de diagnosticar, estratificar e prognosticar doenças. Neste estudo, objetivou-se revisar artigos dos últimos cinco anos relacionados a biomarcadores nas doenças cardiovasculares. Pesquisaram-se dados de PubMed, SciELO, Science Direct e MEDLINE, mediante as palavras-chave: hipertensão arterial, biomarcadores cardiovasculares, óxido nítrico, função endotelial e dimetilarginina assimétrica. Os estudos levantados mostram que as doenças cardiovasculares possuem uma etiologia complexa. Neste artigo, evidenciaram-se interações entre o óxido nítrico e a dimetilarginina assimétrica na regulação, no metabolismo e na determinação dos níveis intracelulares, e reviram-se outros biomarcadores relacionados à hipertensão. Alguns estudos indicam os biomarcadores como uma ferramenta útil na predição de eventos cardíacos, e outros reportam que eles contribuem pouco para a avaliação. A seleção e combinação desses pode ser uma alternativa para validar o uso dos biomarcadores devido à pouca especificidade existente para diagnosticar a hipertensão.

Prevalence of high blood pressure measured in the Brazilian population, National Health Survey, 2013

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE

High blood pressure (hypertension) is the most frequent cause of morbidity and a major risk factor for cardiovascular complications. The aim here was to describe the prevalence of blood pressure greater than or equal to 140/90 mmHg in the adult Brazilian population and federal states, along with self-reported information about previous medical diagnoses of hypertension, use of medication and medical care for hypertension control.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Cross-sectional study analyzing information from the National Health Survey of 2013, relating to Brazil and its federal states.

METHODS

The sample size was estimated as 81,254 households and information was collected from 64,348 households. The survey consisted of interviews, physical and laboratory measurements. Systolic blood pressure was considered to be high when it was ≥ 140 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure, ≥ 90 mmHg.

RESULTS

It was found that 22.8% of the population has blood pressure measurements ≥ 140/90 mmHg. The proportion was higher among men than among women: 25.8% versus 20.0%. The frequency increased with age, reaching 47.1% in individuals over 75 years and was highest in the southeast and south. 43.2% reported previous medical diagnoses of hypertension and, of these, 81.4% reported using medication for hypertension and 69.6%, going to the doctor within the past year for pressure monitoring, thus showing regular medical follow-up.

CONCLUSION

These results are important for supporting measures for preventing and treating hypertension in Brazil, with the aim of achieving the World Health Organization's goal of reducing hypertension by 25% over the next decade.