Effect of Guanxin Danshen Dripping Pills on Coronary Heart Disease Comorbid with Depression or Anxiety: The ADECODE-Real World Study.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of Guanxin Danshen Dripping Pill (GXDSDP) in treating anxiety and depression in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). METHODS: A total of 1,428 patients diagnosed with CHD screened for anxiety, depression, and quality of life (QOL) at baseline received 0.4 g of GXDSDP treatment 3 times per day and returned for monthly reassessment. Patients were recruited after stable treatment for CHD and received assessment of General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ) for evaluating anxiety, depression, and QOL. Patients were followed up 3 times, once every 4 weeks, during outpatient visits for 12 weeks. RESULTS: At the third follow-up (F3), the anxiety symptom of 63.79% (673/1,055) of the patients improved to sub-clinical level, and the GAD-7 score improved significantly (8.11 vs. 3.87, P<0.01); 57.52% (585/1,017) patients' depressive symptoms improved to sub-clinical level, with a significant improvement in PHQ-9 score (8.69 vs. 4.41, P<0.01) at F3. All aspects of QOL significantly improved at the end of treatment compared to those at baseline (all P<0.01) as assessed by SAQ: physical limitation (31.17 vs. 34.14), anginal stability (2.74 vs. 4.14), anginal frequency (8.16 vs. 9.10), treatment satisfaction (13.43 vs. 16.29), and disease perception (8.69 vs. 11.02). CONCLUSIONS: A fixed dosage of GXDSDP may be a potential treatment option for CHD patients comorbid with anxiety or depression. (Registration No. ChiCTR2100051523).

The role of immune abnormality in depression and cardiovascular disease.

Depression and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are both highly prevalent disorders, and some evidence shows that there is a 'vicious cycle' linking major depression and CVD. There is also growing evidence that immune abnormalities underpin the common pathophysiology of both CVD and major depression. The abnormalities include the following: abnormal levels of inflammatory markers, such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and interleukin-12 (IL-12); increased acute phase proteins, such as C-reactive protein, fibrinogen and haptoglobin; and abnormal complement factors. The findings show that major depression and CVD patients have greater immune abnormalities, which may increase depressive symptoms and cardiovascular pathological changes, and that there may be a bidirectional relationship, therefore more prospective studies are needed to draw conclusions.

[An angiographic trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of tenecteplase in Chinese patients with acute myocardial infarction].

OBJECTIVE: In this randomized, open-label, multicenter, angiographic trial, we compared the efficacy and safety of tenecteplase (TNK-tPA) with alteplase (rt-PA) in Chinese patients with acute myocardial infarction. METHOD: Patients with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction and pain to hospital time within 6 hours from October 2002, to March 2004 were randomly assigned a body weight-adjusted bolus of TNK-tPA (0.53 mg/kg over more than 10 s, n = 58) or front loaded rt-PA (< or = 100 mg, n = 52). Coronary angiography was performed at 90 min after initiating study drugs. All patients received aspirin and heparin (target activated partial thromboplastin time: 50-70 s). The primary end point of the trial was the rate of TIMI grade 3 flow at 90 minutes. Other end points included the rate of TIMI grade 2/3 flow at 90 minutes, all cause mortality at 30 days, the moderate/severe hemorrhage without intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) and ICH within 30 days. RESULTS: TIMI grade 3 flow at 90 minutes (68.4% vs. 66.7%, P = 1.00), TIMI grade 2 or 3 at 90 minutes (89.5% vs. 80.4%, P = 0.278), total mortality at 30 days (13.8% vs. 9.6%, P = 0.565), the rate of moderate/severe hemorrhage (8.6% vs. 5.8%, P = 0.72) and incidence of ICH (3.5% vs. 1.9%, P = 1.00) were all similar in TNK-tPA treated patients compared to rt-PA treated patients. CONCLUSION: The efficacy of single-bolus, weight-adjusted TNK-tPA fibrinolytic regimen is equivalent to front-loaded alteplase in terms of the rates of TIMI grade 3 flow, TIMI 2 or 3 flow. Incidences of moderate/severe hemorrhage, ICH and 30-days mortality were similar in TNK-tPA and rt-PA treated patients.

[The relationship between hyperfibrinogenemia and severity of coronary heart disease].

OBJECTIVE: To study the relationship between serum advanced fibrinogen and the severity of coronary artery stenosis. METHODS: In a collection of 195 patients suspected of coronary artery disease (CAD), coronary artery stenosis was studied with coronary angiography. The severity of coronary artery disease was quantified with a modified Gensini score on the basis of angiographic imaging manipulation system. Fibrinogen, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and D-dimer were determined in all the patients. After the influences of other risk factors were controlled, the relationship between fibrinogen and severity of CAD was analyzed. RESULTS: Partial correlation analysis showed that fibrinogen was positively correlated with the severity of CAD (r = 0.293, P < 0.01). Multiple stepwise regression analysis indicated that fibrinogen and age were significant variables associated with the severity of coronary artery disease (F value was 16.89, 15.47, P < 0.01; R was 0.29, 0.38, P < 0.01). All the patients were assigned to one of four groups according to fibrinogen level with 25, 50 and 75 percentile as cut-off points. We found that high fibrinogen level was associated with severe coronary artery disease, particularly in men and in diabetes mellitus patients. CONCLUSION: Elevated fibrinogen level is related to the severity of CAD.