A randomised, factorial trial to reduce arterial stiffness independently of blood pressure: Proof of concept? The VaSera trial testing dietary nitrate and spironolactone.

AIMS: To test if spironolactone or dietary nitrate from beetroot juice could reduce arterial stiffness as aortic pulse wave velocity (PWVart), a potential treatment target, independently of blood pressure. METHODS: Daily spironolactone (≤50 mg) vs doxazosin (control ≤16 mg) and 70 mL beetroot juice (Beet-It ≤11 mmol nitrate) vs nitrate-depleted juice (placebo; 0 mmol nitrate) were tested in people at risk or with type-2 diabetes using a double-blind, 6-month factorial trial. Vascular indices (baseline, 12, 24 weeks) were cardiac-ankle vascular index (CAVI), a nominally pressure-independent stiffness measure (primary outcome), PWVart secondary, central systolic pressure and augmentation. Analysis was intention-to-treat, adjusted for systolic pressure differences between trial arms. RESULTS: Spironolactone did not reduce stiffness, with evidence for reduced CAVI on doxazosin rather than spironolactone (mean difference [95% confidence interval]; 0.25 [-0.3, 0.5] units, P = .080), firmer for PWVart (0.37 [0.01, 0.7] m/s, P = .045). There was no difference in systolic pressure reduction between spironolactone and doxazosin (0.7 [-4.8, 3.3] mmHg, P = .7). Circulating nitrate and nitrite increased on active vs placebo juice, with central systolic pressure lowered -2.6 [-4.5, - 0.8] mmHg, P = .007 more on the active juice, but did not reduce CAVI, PWVart or peripheral pressure. Change in nitrate and nitrite concentrations were 1.5-fold [1.1-2.2] and 2.2-fold [1.3, 3.6] higher on spironolactone than on doxazosin respectively; both P < .05. CONCLUSION: Contrary to our hypothesis, in at-risk/type 2 diabetes patients, spironolactone did not reduce arterial stiffness, rather PWVart was lower on doxazosin. Dietary nitrate elevated plasma nitrite, selectively lowering central systolic pressure, observed previously for nitrite.

Cardiac effects of 6 months' dietary nitrate and spironolactone in patients with hypertension and with/at risk of type 2 diabetes, in the factorial design, double-blind, randomized controlled VaSera trial.

AIMS: The aims of the present study were to explore whether a long-term intervention with dietary nitrate [(NO3- ), a potential tolerance-free source of beneficial vasoactive nitric oxide] and spironolactone (to oppose aldosterone's potential deleterious cardiovascular effects) improve cardiac structure/function, independently of blood pressure (BP), in patients with/at risk of type 2 diabetes (a population at risk of heart failure). METHODS: A subsample of participants in our double-blind, randomized, factorial-design intervention (VaSera) trial of active beetroot juice as a nitrate source (≤11.2 mmol) or placebo (nitrate depleted) beetroot juice, and either ≤50 mg spironolactone or ≤16 mg doxazosin (control), had transthoracic cardiac ultrasounds at baseline (n = 105), and at 3 months and 6 months (n = 87) after the start of the intervention. Analysis was by modified intent-to-treat. RESULTS: Nitrate-containing juice (n = 40) decreased left ventricular (LV) end-diastolic volume {-6.3 [95% confidence interval (CI) -11.1, -1.6] ml} and end-systolic volume [-3.2 (95% CI -5.9, -0.5) ml], and increased end-diastolic mass/volume ratio [+0.04 (95% CI 0.00, 0.07)], relative to placebo juice (n = 47). Spironolactone (n = 44) reduced relative wall thickness compared with doxazosin (n = 43) [-0.01 (95% CI -0.02, -0.00)]. Although spironolactone reduced LV mass index relative to baseline [-1.48 (95% CI -2.08, -0.88) g m-2.7 ], there was no difference vs. doxazosin [-0.85 (95% CI -1.76, 0.05) g m-2.7 ]. Spironolactone also decreased the E/A ratio [-0.12 (95% CI -0.19, -0.04)] and increased S' (a tissue-Doppler systolic function index) by 0.52 (95% CI 0.05, 1.0) cm s-1 . BP did not differ between the juices, or between the drugs. CONCLUSIONS: Six months' dietary nitrate decreased LV volumes ~5%, representing new, sustained, BP-independent benefits on cardiac structure, extending mechanisms characterized in preclinical models of heart failure. Spironolactone's effects on cardiac remodelling and systolic-diastolic function, although confirmatory, were independent of BP.

Growth and body composition of children aged 2-4 years after exposure to community mobilisation women's groups in Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: Women's groups interventions in Bangladesh reduced neonatal deaths by 38% and improved hygienic delivery, newborn care practices and breast feeding. We explore the longer-term impact of exposure to women's groups during pregnancy on child growth at 2-4 years. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional survey of child anthropometric measures (analysed as z-scores) among children born to women who had participated in the women's groups interventions while pregnant, compared with an age-matched and sex-matched sample of children born to control mothers. Results were stratified by maternal body mass index (BMI) and adjusted for possible confounding effects of maternal education, household asset ownership and, in a separate model, mother-child height difference, a proxy for improved survival of small babies in intervention groups. RESULTS: Data were obtained from 2587 mother-child pairs (91% response). After adjustment for asset ownership, maternal education and potential survival effects, children whose mothers were exposed to the women's group intervention had higher head (0.16 (0.04 to 0.28)), mid-upper arm (0.11 (0.04 to 0.19)), abdominal (0.13 (0.00 to 0.26)) and chest (0.18 (0.08 to 0.29)) circumferences than their control counterparts. No significant differences in subcutaneous fat (subscapular and triceps skinfold thickness) were observed. When stratified by maternal BMI, intervention children had higher weight, BMI and circumferences, and these effects decreased with increasing maternal BMI category. CONCLUSIONS: Women's groups appear to have had a lasting, positive impact on child anthropometric outcomes, with most significant results clustering in children of underweight mothers. Observed differences are likely to be of public health significance in terms of the nutritional and metabolic development of children.

Compliance with dietary guidelines affects capillary recruitment in healthy middle-aged men and women.

PURPOSE: Healthy microcirculation is important to maintain the health of tissues and organs, most notably the heart, kidney and retina. Single components of the diet such as salt, lipids and polyphenols may influence microcirculation, but the effects of dietary patterns that are consistent with current dietary guidelines are uncertain. It was hypothesized that compliance to UK dietary guidelines would have a favourable effect on skin capillary density/recruitment compared with a traditional British diet (control diet). METHODS: A 12-week randomized controlled trial in men and women aged 40-70 years was used to test whether skin microcirculation, measured by skin video-capillaroscopy on the dorsum of the finger, influenced functional capillary density (number of capillaries perfused under basal conditions), structural capillary density (number of anatomical capillaries perfused during finger cuff inflation) and capillary recruitment (percentage difference between structural and functional capillary density). RESULTS: Microvascular measures were available for 137 subjects out of the 165 participants randomized to treatment. There was evidence of compliance to the dietary intervention, and participants randomized to follow dietary guidelines showed significant falls in resting supine systolic, diastolic and mean arterial pressure of 3.5, 2.6 and 2.9 mmHg compared to the control diet. There was no evidence of differences in capillary density, but capillary recruitment was 3.5 % (95 % CI 0.2, 6.9) greater (P = 0.04) on dietary guidelines compared with control. CONCLUSIONS: Adherence to dietary guidelines may help maintain a healthy microcirculation in middle-aged men and women. This study is registered at www.isrctn.com as ISRCTN92382106.

Arterial stiffness in hypertensive and type 2 diabetes patients in Ghana: comparison of the cardio-ankle vascular index and central aortic techniques.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes and hypertension increase arterial stiffness and cardiovascular events in all societies studied so far; sub-Saharan African studies are sparse. We investigated factors affecting arterial function in Ghanaians with diabetes, hypertension, both or neither. METHOD: Testing the hypothesis that arterial stiffness would progressively increase from controls to multiply affected patients, 270 participants were stratified into those with diabetes or hypertension only, with both, or without either. Cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI), heart-ankle pulse wave velocity (haPWV), aortic PWV (PWVao) by Arteriograph, aortic and brachial blood pressures (BP), were measured. RESULTS: In patients with both diabetes and hypertension compared with either alone, values were higher of CAVI (mean ± SD, 8.3 ± 1.2 vs 7.5 ± 1.1 and 7.4 ± 1.1 units; p < 0.05), PWVao (9.1 ± 1.4 vs 8.7 ± 1.9 and 8.1 ± 0.9 m/s; p < 0.05) and haPWV (8.5 ± 1 vs 7.9 ± 1 and 7.2 ± 0.7 m/s; p < 0.05) respectively. In multivariate analysis, age, having diabetes or hypertension and BMI were independently associated with CAVI in all participants (ß = 0.49, 0.2, 0.17 and -0.2 units; p < 0.01, respectively). Independent determinants of PWVao were heart rate, systolic BP and age (ß = 0.42, 0.27 and 0.22; p < 0.01), and for haPWV were systolic BP, age, BMI, diabetes and hypertension status (ß = 0.46, 0.32, -0.2, 0.2 and 0.11; p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: In this sub-Saharan setting with lesser atherosclerosis than the western world, arterial stiffness is significantly greater in patients with coexistent diabetes and hypertension but did not differ between those with either diabetes or hypertension only. Simple, reproducibly measured PWV/CAVI may offer effective and efficient targets for intervention.