Beta blockers for congestive heart failure.

The prognosis remains poor for many patients with congestive heart failure, despite maximal medical treatment with ACE inhibitor, diuretics and digitalis. In heart failure, activation of sympathetic nervous system has been described as one of the most important pathophysiologic abnormalities in patients with congestive heart failure and as one of the most important mechanisms that may be responsible for progression of heart failure. The use of beta blockers which may inhibit sympathetic activity, might reduce the risk of disease progression in heart failure, improve symptoms and increase survival. Several large clinical trials with metoprolol, carvedilol and bisoprolol have shown that long term use of these agents can improve left ventricular function and symptoms of CHF, it may also reduce hospital readmission and decrease mortality. Current guidelines recommend the use of beta blocker in mild, moderate and severe CHF, in the absence of contraindications or tolerance in combination with ACE inhibitor and diuretics. Beta blocker should be initiated in patients after maximal medical therapy with diuretics, ACE inhibitor and digitalis and patients already stabilized and in compensated conditions. Beta blocker should be started in low doses and require slow titration over weeks or months before patients can attain maintenance doses.

Insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome in elderly women living in nursing homes.

AIM: To obtain a depiction of insulin resistance and to determine the correlation between age, body mass index, and insulin resistance, and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in elderly women living in nursing homes. METHODS: Ninety two elderly females with an average age of 71.4 (SD 7.45) who did not suffer from chronic renal disease or chronic liver disease and were not taking corticosteroids, beta blockers, thiazides, or anti-dyslipidemic drugs, participated as research subjects. Investigated variables, comprising blood pressure, body mass index, waist circumference, laboratory measurements, lipid profile, fasting blood glucose level, and fasting insulin level, were used to determine insulin resistance according to HOMA-IR > 75 percentile. The NCEP ATP III criteria Asia Pacific modification was used to determine metabolic syndrome. RESULTS: There were twenty three subjects with insulin resistance (HOMA-IR > 2.67) for the 75th percentile. Seventeen of them (73.9%) had metabolic syndrome. However, out of the 6 subjects (26.1%) without metabolic syndrome, 5 subjects had at least one component of metabolic syndrome. There was no correlation between age and insulin resistance. However, there was a correlation between BMI and insulin resistance (p<0.017). There were 53 elderly females (57.6%) with metabolic syndrome; the most common metabolic syndrome component being hypertension (79.3%), followed by HDL hypocholesterolemia (55.4%), and central obesity (53%). As many as 32.1% of subjects with metabolic syndrome also demonstrated insulin resistance. CONCLUSION: The value of insulin resistance was 2.67 (HOMA-IR cut-off > 75 percentile). Subjects with insulin resistance had at least one component of metabolic syndrome. A high prevalence (57.6%) of metabolic syndrome in elderly females living in a nursing home was found.