Gender and the systemic hypertension-snoring association: a questionnaire-based case-control study.

Since the role of gender in the association between hypertension and snoring is unknown, we studied it while accounting for age and body mass index (BMI) as confounding variables. A questionnaire on snoring was administered to 90 hypertensive (HT) subjects (45 men and 45 women) and to 90 normotensive (NT) subjects matched for gender, age and BMI. As expected, snoring was more commonly reported by men than by women, but no significant difference was found between HT and NT men, irrespective of age. Conversely, heavy snoring was more frequently reported by HT than NT women; habitual snoring was more common among young (age < 50 years) HT than NT women; and heavy snoring was more common among older (age > 50 years) HT than NT women. These data suggest an effect of gender on the hypertension-snoring association: in men, snoring may be accounted for by age and BMI whether or not hypertension is present, whereas in women the natural history of snoring appears different and more severe in HT than in NT. Although the mechanism(s) responsible for the differences between men and women are obscure at present, gender may be an important variable in the systemic hypertension-snoring association.

Effect of the acute administration of haloperidol and pimozide on plasma GH levels in acromegaly.

In 11 untreated acromegalic patients the plasma GH levels were determined after the acute administration of bromocriptine, haloperidol, pimozide (only in 8 patients) and of placebo. A 50% or more suppression of the basal GH levels was arbitrarily defined as a positive response to bromocriptine. Five patients displayed a negative response to bromocriptine. Of these, 4 responded to both antidopaminergic drugs. We conclude that the acute administration of antidopaminergic drugs reduces the GH secretion in some bromocriptine-insensitive acromegalic patients. Therapeutical implications will require further studies.

[Normalization of the GH response to L-DOPA in acromegalics after treatment with bromocriptine]. / Normalizzazione della risposta in GH al L-DOPA negli acromegalici dopo trattamento con bromocriptina.

The plasma GH response to the L-dopa test (500 mg per os) has been assessed in 7 acromegalics who had never been treated before. Whereas three patients showed an increase in plasma GH, the other four presented a paradoxical response with a significant reduction in plasma GH levels. All subjects were put on to treatment with bromocryptin (10 mg/die). Three months later it was noted that only the four subjects with paradoxical response to L-dopa responded positively to bromocryptin treatment (at least 50% reduction in plasma GH). The L-dopa test was repeated in these four patients. In three of them who presented basal levels of GH lower than 10 ng/ml the L-dopa response curve was found to be reversed. It is concluded that in responsive patients, bromocryptin not only reduces GH levels but also normalizes the response to certain stimuli such as L-dopa.