Association of red blood cell distribution width levels with severity of coronary artery disease in patients with non-ST elevation myocardial infarction

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of the levels of red blood cell distribution width [RDW] with the severity of atherosclerosis and to determine whether or not the RDW level on admission is an independent predictor of all-cause mortality in patients with non-ST elevation myocardial infarction [NSTEMI]. Materials and A total of 335 consecutive patients with NSTEMI were enrolled in this study. The patients were divided into high [n = 105] and low [n = 230] SYNTAX groups. The high SYNTAX group was defined as patients with a value in the third tertile [SYNTAX score, SXscore >/=12], while the low SYNTAX group was defined as those with a value in the lower 2 tertiles [SXscore <12]. The high RDW group [n = 152] was defined as patients with RDW >14.25% and the low RDW group [n = 183] as those with RDW ?14.25%. All-cause mortality was followed up to 38 months. The mean follow-up period was 18 +/- 11 months. The RDW levels of patients were significantly higher in the high SYNTAX group than in the low SYNTAX group [15.2 +/- 1.8 vs. 14.2 +/- 1.2, p < 0.001]. Pearson's coefficients were used to determine the degree of association between RDW levels and SXscore and also between RDW levels and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. There was a significant correlation between RDW levels and SXscore [r = 0.460, p < 0.001]. Also, there was a significant correlation between RDW levels and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein [r = 0.180, p = 0.001]. All-cause mortality rate was not significantly different between the high and low RDW groups [log-rank, p = 0.621]. RDW levels were independently associated with high SXscore but were not associated with long-term mortality in NSTEMI patients

Atrial electromechanical delay is impaired in patients with psoriasis

In this study, we aimed to investigate atrial electromechanical delay [EMD] in patients with psoriasis. A total of 43 patients with psoriasis [26 mild-moderate, 17 severe] and 17 healthy control subjects were enrolled. Patients with psoriasis were divided into two groups: the mild-moderate group and the severe group according to their psoriasis area severity index [PASI] scores. Atrial EMD was measured from the lateral mitral annulus and called 'PA lateral', from the septal mitral annulus, called 'PA septal', and from the right ventricle tricuspid annulus, called 'PA tricuspid'. Atrial EMD was defined as the time interval from the onset of atrial electrical activity [P wave on surface ECG] to the beginning of mechanical atrial contraction [late diastolic A wave]. All three groups were compared with each other, and correlation analysis was performed to investigate the relationship between the PASI score and interatrial EMD. PA lateral was significantly higher in both the mild-moderate psoriasis group and the severe psoriasis group compared to controls [69 +/- 12 and 78 +/- 13 vs. 60 +/- 6 ms; p = 0.001]. Also, PA septal [63 +/- 11 vs. 53 +/- 6 ms; p = 0.005, post hoc analysis] and PA tricuspid [49 +/- 7 vs. 41 +/- 5 ms; p = 0.009, post hoc analysis] were significantly higher in the severe psoriasis group than in the control group. Correlation analysis revealed that the PASI score was well correlated with PA lateral [r = 0.520, p < 0.001], PA septum [r = 0.460, p = 0.002], interatrial EMD [r = 0.371, p = 0.014] and intra-atrial EMD [r = 0.393, p = 0.009]. Atrial EMD was prolonged in patients with psoriasis. The measurement of atrial EMD might be used to determine the risk of development of AF in patients with psoriasis

Evaluation of Cardiac Functions with Tissue Doppler Imaging in Prediabetic Subjects

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to evaluate left ventricle systolic and diastolic function, using tissue Doppler echocardiography (TDE), in relation to blood glucose status in prediabetic patients who had no evidence of heart disease by conventional echocardiography (CE). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We included 60 patients (30 female, 30 male) and 20 healthy controls (10 male, 10 female). All participants were randomised into four groups according to their oral glucose tolerance test. Group-I consisted of those patients who had only impaired fasting glucose (IFG). group-II consisted of patients who had only impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and group-III consisted of patients who had both IFG and IGT, that is so-called combined glucose intolerance. Group-IV included the healthy controls. All subjects underwent both CE and TDE. RESULTS: No significant differences were found among the four groups in terms of CE. There was no significant difference between group-IV and group-I with respect to the early peak diastolic velocity (Ea) of medial mitral annulus (11.65+/-0.66 vs. 9.72+/-1.58, p>0.05), whereas a statistically significant difference was found between group-IV and group-II (11.65+/-0.66 vs. 9.06+/-1.07, p<0.001) and between group-IV and group-III (11.65+/-0.66 vs. 9.74+/-1.09, p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Diastolic myocardial dysfunction in prediabetic patients may be identified by quantitative TDE before the appearance of CE indices of myocardial dysfunction.