Effect of cheese containing Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. Lactis CRL 581 on blood pressure in prehypertensive and stage 1 hypertensive subjects / Efecto de un queso con LactobacillusdelbrueckiisubspLactis CRL 581 sobre la hipertensión arterial en individuos con prehipertensión o estadio 1 de hipertensión arterial

Hypertension is one of the main risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Functional foods containing bioactive peptides have been proposed as a strategy to decrease blood pressure (BP) in subjects under no pharmacological treatment. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of low-sodium, low-fat (LSLF) cheese and LSLF cheese containing Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis CRL 581 (LSLF581) on BP in pre-hypertensive and stage 1 hypertensive subjects. Sixty-one pre-hypertensive and stage 1 hypertensive subjects assigned to one of twos (LSLF, n= 29 and LSLF581, n= 32) participated in this 12-month prospective, randomized, double-blind, crossover trial. Twenty-four h ambulatory BP monitoring was performed at the beginning and at the end of each four-week study period. Systolic and diastolic BP decreased in both study groups, but differences between groups were not significant (systolic, -1.78 and -0.2 mmHg; diastolic, -1.54 and -0.42 mmHg in LSLF581 and LSLF, respectively). Although our results could not support a BP lowering effect of LSLF581, small BP reductions could favorably prevent cardiovascular disease development.

La hipertensión arterial es uno de los principales factores de riesgo de enfermedad cardiovascular. Los alimentos funcionales que contienen biopéptidos constituyen una estrategia útil para disminuir la presión arterial (PA) en personas que no están bajo tratamiento farmacológico. El objetivo del estudio fue comparar el efecto de un queso bajo en sodio y bajo en grasas (BSBG) y el mismo queso con Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis CRL 581 (BSBG581) sobre la PA en personas con prehipertensión y estadio 1 de hipertensión arterial. Realizamos un estudio prospectivo, randomizado, cruzado y doble ciego durante 12 meses en 61 personas con prehipertensión y estadio 1 de hipertensión arterial, asignadas a dos grupos: BSBG (n= 29) y BSBG581 (n= 32). Se realizó monitoreo ambulatorio de la PA (MAPA) durante 24 h al comienzo y al final de cada etapa del estudio (cuatro semanas). La PA sistólica y diastólica disminuyó en ambos grupos, aunque las diferencias entre grupos no fueron significativas (sistólica, -1.78 y -0.2 mmHg; diastólica -1.54 y -0.42 mmHg en BSBG581 y BSBG respectivamente). Aunque nuestros resultados no pueden confirmar el efecto hipotensor del queso BSBG581, las reducciones moderadas de la PA podrían prevenir el desarrollo de enfermedad cardiovascular.

Office blood pressure values and the necessity of out-of-office measurements in high-risk pregnancies.

OBJECTIVES: To determine if there is an office blood pressure (BP) value below which out-of-office measurements are unnecessary in high-risk pregnant women. METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study in women in the second half of high-risk pregnancies. Office BP measurements and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) was performed. The cohort was divided according to quartiles of office BP and in normotension, white-coat hypertension, masked hypertension and sustained hypertension. The risks for preeclampsia/eclampsia for each category were estimated. RESULTS: Three hundred seventy-three women (30 ±â€Š7 years with 32 ±â€Š4 weeks of gestation) were included; 69 women (18.5%) developed preeclampsia/eclampsia. Risk for preeclampsia/eclampsia increased in a stepwise manner through quartiles of systolic office BP (8.8, 13.4, 19.6 and 32.3%, P < 0.001) and diastolic office BP (6.5, 13.7, 19.6 and 34,4%, P < 0.001). OR increased significantly through quartiles of systolic (P = 0.004) and diastolic (P < 0.001) office BP; the significance becomes evident between the second and third quartile, the cut-off point between these was 125/76 mmHg. Prevalence of white-coat and masked hypertension were 3.8 and 24.7%, respectively. Using ABPM, 14/61 office hypertensive women were reclassified as white-coat hypertension but 92/312 normotensive women as masked hypertension. OR for preeclampsia/eclampsia increased significantly in women with masked hypertension. Absolute risk for preeclampsia/eclampsia in women with office BP less than 125/75 mmHg was similar than that in women with normal ABPM, 7.2 and 7.1%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Masked hypertension was a prevalent and high-risk condition. Office BP at least 125/75 mmHg in the second half of gestation seems appropriate to indicate out-of-office measurements in high-risk pregnancies.

Nocturnal hypertension in high-risk mid-pregnancies predict the development of preeclampsia/eclampsia.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to test if hypertension detected by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) performed at mid-pregnancy, is a useful predictor for preeclampsia/eclampsia (PEEC). METHODS: The study was performed in women coursing high-risk mid-pregnancies. Office blood pressure (BP) was estimated as the mean of three values, taken by a specialized nurse after a 15-min interview, and office hypertension defined as at least 140/90 mmHg. Immediately after, an ABPM was started. Diurnal hypertension was defined as ABPM at least 135/85 mmHg during daily activities, nocturnal hypertension as ABPM at least 120/70 mmHg during night rest. The adjusted risk of PEEC was estimated using logistic regression. RESULTS: Eighty-seven women (mean age 31 ±â€Š7 years) with 23 ±â€Š2 weeks of pregnancy were included. The prevalence of office and ABPM hypertension was 13.8 and 40.2%, respectively. The concordance between both hypertension diagnosis was low (κ = 0.170, P = 0.044). Nocturnal hypertension (35.6%) was more frequent than diurnal hypertension (26.4%). Nocturnal hypertension markedly increased the relative risk of PEEC (OR 5.32, 95% CI 1.48-19.10). The risk of PEEC attributed to diurnal hypertension did not reach statistical significance; and when both, diurnal and nocturnal hypertension were included in the same model, only the second one was a significant predictor (P = 0.012). The relative risk associated with nocturnal hypertension increased for women not taking acetylsalicylic acid (ASA); (OR 11.40, 95% CI 2.35-55.25). CONCLUSION: Nocturnal hypertension at high-risk mid-pregnancy is a frequent condition and a strong predictor for PEEC; the risk doubled for women not taking ASA.

Could self-measured office blood pressure be a hypertension screening tool for limited-resources settings?

Blood pressure (BP) was assessed by patients themselves in recently published trials. Self-measured office blood pressure (SMOBP) seems particularly interesting for limited health resources regions. The aim of our study was to evaluate the relationship between SMOBP values and those estimated by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM). Six hundred seventy-seven patients were evaluated using both, SMOBP and ABPM. The differences between SMOBP and daytime ABPM were evaluated with paired "t" test. The correlations among SMOBP and ABPM were estimated using Pearson's r. The accuracy of SMOBP to identify abnormal ABPM was determined using area under ROC curve (AUC). Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were calculated for different SMOBP cut-points. Using the average of three readings, systolic SMOBP was higher (3.7 (14.2) mmHg, p < 0.001) and diastolic SMOBP lower (1.5 (8.1) mmHg, p < 0.001) than ABPM. Both BP estimates had a significant correlation, r = 0.67 and r = 0.75 (p < 0.01) for systolic and diastolic BP, respectively. Systolic SMOBP predicted systolic abnormal ABPM; the AUC were 0.80 (0.77-0.84) and 0.78 (0.74-0.81) for daytime and 24 h hypertension, respectively. Diastolic SMOBP predicted diastolic hypertension, AUC 0.86 (0.83-0.88) for both daytime and 24 h hypertension. Neither correlations nor AUCs improved significantly using the average of five readings. SMOBP ≥ 160/90 mmHg was highly specific (>95%) to identify individuals with hypertension in the ABPM; SMOBP < 130/80 mmHg reasonably discarded abnormal ABPM. In conclusion, a high proportion of individuals could be classified adequately using SMOBP, reducing the necessity of healthcare resources and supporting its utility for screening purposes.

Nocturnal but not Diurnal Hypertension Is Associated to Insulin Resistance Markers in Subjects With Normal or Mildly Elevated Office Blood Pressure.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to evaluate the relationships among insulin resistance markers and nocturnal and diurnal hypertension in normotensive or mildly untreated hypertensive adults. METHODS: The study was performed in both female and male adults referred to the Cardiometabolic Unit of the Hospital San Martín, La Plata, Argentina, in order to perform an ambulatory blood pressure measurement (ABPM) for the evaluation of a possible hypertensive disorder. The population was stratified according to their ABPM in: 1-presence or absence of diurnal hypertension and 2-presence or absence of nocturnal hypertension; both conditions were analyzed separately. Fasting plasma insulin (FPI), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and triglycerides (TG)/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) ratio were used as surrogate markers of insulin resistance and compared among subjects with vs. without diurnal or nocturnal hypertension. RESULTS: One hundred and five patients, 55 women, 47 (11) years old, and 50 men, 44 (16) years old, were included. Diurnal and nocturnal hypertension were found in 60% and 64% of the sample, respectively. There were no significant differences among the levels of insulin resistance markers between individuals with or without diurnal hypertension. In contrast, individuals with nocturnal hypertension were more insulin resistant irrespectively of whether they were evaluated using FPI (P = 0.016), HOMA-IR (P = 0.019), or TG/HDL-C ratio (P = 0.011); FPI differences remained significant after adjustment for sex, age, and obesity indicators (P = 0.032). CONCLUSIONS: Nocturnal but not diurnal hypertension was related to higher levels of 3 insulin resistance markers in normotensive and untreated mildly hypertensive adults; this relationship seems partially independent of obesity.

Significance of masked and nocturnal hypertension in normotensive women coursing a high-risk pregnancy.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to evaluate the prevalence of nocturnal and masked hypertension and the prognostic values of these blood pressure (BP) abnormalities in normotensive women coursing a high-risk pregnancy. METHODS: The study was performed in pregnant women with 20 or more weeks of gestation coursing a high-risk pregnancy, sent to a specialized hypertension department to perform a prospective defined protocol of BP evaluation. Women with office BP at least 140/90 mmHg were excluded. An ambulatory monitoring of BP was performed to identify masked and nocturnal hypertension (defined according to the current guidelines). The adjusted risk for development of preeclampsia/eclampsia (PEEC) was estimated using logistic regression. The ability of SBP and DBP to identify risk of PEEC was estimated using area under the receiver-operating characteristic curves. RESULTS: Eighty-seven women (29 ±â€Š7 years old, 30 ±â€Š5 weeks of pregnancy) were included in this analysis. The prevalence of masked hypertension was 33.3%. Nocturnal hypertension was found in 42.5% of the women. Remarkably, 27.0% of the women with nocturnal hypertension had normal 24-h values according to ambulatory BP monitoring. Twenty-two patients developed PEEC; adjusted relative risks increased with the presence of nocturnal (odds ratio = 4.72, 95% confidence interval 1.25-19.43, P = 0.023) or masked hypertension (odds ratio = 7.81, 95% confidence interval 2.6-22.86, P = 0.001). Nocturnal SBP and DBP had the highest abilities to predict PEEC (area under the curve = 0.77 and 0.80, respectively). CONCLUSION: Masked and nocturnal hypertension are frequent findings in normotensive women coursing a high-risk pregnancy, and their presence implies an increased risk to develop PEEC.

Insulin resistance: The linchpin between prediabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that cardiovascular disease occurs to the greatest extent in persons with prediabetes mellitus who are also insulin resistant. In 2003, 664 non-diabetic women (n = 457) and men (n = 207), aged 52 ± 16 and 53 ± 15 years, were surveyed during a programme for cardiovascular disease prevention. Fasting plasma glucose concentrations defined participants as having normal fasting plasma glucose (fasting plasma glucose <5.6 mmol/L) or prediabetes mellitus (fasting plasma glucose ⩾ 5.6 and <7.0 mmol/L). The tertile of prediabetes mellitus subjects with the highest fasting plasma insulin concentration was classified as insulin resistant. Baseline cardiovascular disease risk factors were accentuated in prediabetes mellitus versus normal fasting glucose, particularly in prediabetes mellitus/insulin resistant. In 2012, 86% of the sample were surveyed again, and the crude incidence for cardiovascular disease was higher in subjects with prediabetes mellitus versus normal fasting glucose (13.7 vs 6.0/100 persons/10 years; age- and sex-adjusted hazard ratio = 1.88, p = 0.052). In prediabetes mellitus, the crude incidences were 22.9 versus 9.6/100 persons/10 years in insulin resistant versus non-insulin resistant persons (age- and sex-adjusted hazard ratio = 2.36, p = 0.040). In conclusion, cardiovascular disease risk was accentuated in prediabetes mellitus/insulin resistant individuals, with a relative risk approximately twice as high compared to prediabetes mellitus/non-insulin resistant subjects.

Use of the plasma triglyceride/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio to identify cardiovascular disease in hypertensive subjects.

This analysis evaluated the hypothesis that the plasma triglyceride (TG)/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) concentration ratio can help identify patients with essential hypertension who are insulin-resistant, with the cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk profile associated with that defect. Data from a community-based study developed between 2003 and 2012 were used to compare CVD risk factors and outcome. Plasma TG/HDL-C cut-points of 2.5 (women) and 3.5 (men) subdivided normotensive (n = 574) and hypertensive (n = 373) subjects into "high" and "low" risk groups. Metabolic syndrome criteria (MetS) were also used to identify "high" and "low" risk groups. The baseline cardio-metabolic profile was significantly more adverse in 2003 in "high" risk subgroups, irrespective of BP classification or definition of risk (TG/HDL-C ratio vs. MetS criteria). Crude incidence of combined CVD events increased across risk groups, ranging from 1.9 in normotensive-low TG/HDL-C subjects to 19.9 in hypertensive-high TG/HDL-C ratio individuals (P for trends <.001). Adjusted hazard ratios for CVD events also increased with both hypertension and TG/HDL-C. Comparable findings were seen when CVD outcome was predicted by MetS criteria. The TG/HDL-C concentration ratio and the MetS criteria identify to a comparable degree hypertensive subjects who are at greatest cardio-metabolic risk and develop significantly more CVD.

Comparison of the abilities of the plasma triglyceride/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio and the metabolic syndrome to identify insulin resistance.

This study compares the ability of an elevated triglyceride/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) ratio, using sex-specific cut-points, to identify insulin-resistant individuals within a population without known cardiac disease or diabetes with that obtained using the diagnostic criteria of the metabolic syndrome (MetS). Measurements were made of waist circumference (WC), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, fasting plasma insulin (FPI), plasma TG and plasma HDL-C concentrations in 1102 women and 464 men. These data were used to classify subjects as being insulin resistant (FPI concentration in the upper quartile) and having the MetS or an elevated TG/HDL-C ratio (>2.5 and >3.5 for women and men, respectively). The sensitivity and specificity with which the two indices identified insulin-resistant subjects were similar (43% and 81% for TG/HDL-C ratio and 45% and 82% for MetS), as the number of individuals was found with either an elevated TG/HDL-C ratio (n = 386) or the MetS (n = 384). Eighty-one per cent of the individuals were identified concordantly. Cardio-metabolic risk profiles in 'low-risk' individuals identified by a low TG/HDL-C ratio were comparable to those who did not have the MetS, and this was also the case when comparing 'high-risk' groups identified by having the MetS or an elevated TG/HDL-C ratio. These findings suggest that TG/HDL-C concentration ratio is as adequate as MetS diagnosis to identify insulin-resistant subjects.

Optimal uric acid threshold to identify insulin resistance in healthy women.

BACKGROUND: Identifying insulin-resistant (IR) individuals is an issue of particular interest in the assessment of cardiometabolic risk, but there is no simple way to accomplish this task. Our aims were to determine the relationship between uric acid and insulin resistance and to define the optimal uric acid cutoff to identify insulin resistance in women. METHODS: A population-based sample of 588 women without cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, or low glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was divided according to uric acid tertiles. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), fasting glucose, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), TG/HDL-C ratio, insulin [fasting plasma insulin (FPI)], and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were compared between the mentioned tertiles. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to determinate the optimal cutoff of uric acid and identify IR individuals defined by the top tertile of FPI and HOMA-IR. The same variables were compared using the top tertile of uric acid and the maximum Youden index as cutoffs. The P values were adjusted by age, GFR, and body mass index (BMI) using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). RESULTS: FPI, HOMA-IR, and all of the cardiometabolic risk factors increased through uric acid tertiles. Both cutoffs of uric acid, estimated by the top tertile and by ROC, were identical (4.0 mg/dL). FPI, HOMA-IR, SBP, DBP, TG, TG/HDL-C ratio, and fasting glucose were higher, whereas HDL-C was lower in women who had uric acid levels >4.0 mg/dL. All of the differences remained significant after the adjustment by age and GFR. CONCLUSION: In healthy women, uric acid levels >4.0 mg/dL were associated with all the markers of IR.