Long-term blood pressure changes induced by the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake: assessment by 24 h ambulatory monitoring.

An increased rate of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events has been described during and immediately after earthquakes. In this regard, few data are available on long-term blood pressure control in hypertensive outpatients after an earthquake. We evaluated the long-term effects of the April 2009 L'Aquila earthquake on blood pressure levels, as detected by 24 h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. Before/after (mean±s.d. 6.9±4.5/14.2±5.1 months, respectively) the earthquake, the available 24 h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring data for the same patients were extracted from our database. Quake-related daily life discomforts were evaluated through interviews. We enrolled 47 patients (25 female, age 52±14 years), divided into three groups according to antihypertensive therapy changes after versus before the earthquake: unchanged therapy (n=24), increased therapy (n=17) and reduced therapy (n=6). Compared with before the quake, in the unchanged therapy group marked increases in 24 h (P=0.004), daytime (P=0.01) and nighttime (P=0.02) systolic blood pressure were observed after the quake. Corresponding changes in 24 h (P=0.005), daytime (P=0.01) and nighttime (P=0.009) diastolic blood pressure were observed. Daily life discomforts were reported more frequently in the unchanged therapy and increased therapy groups than the reduced therapy group (P=0.025 and P=0.018, respectively). In conclusion, this study shows that patients with unchanged therapy display marked blood pressure increments up to more than 1 year after an earthquake, as well as long-term quake-related discomfort. Our data suggest that particular attention to blood pressure levels and adequate therapy modifications should be considered after an earthquake, not only early after the event but also months later.

Cardiovascular risk and cardiometabolic protection: role of glitazones.

Thiazolidinediones (TZDs) are widely used in the type 2 diabetes mellitus (DMT2) treatment but have also been tested in cardiovascular prevention. DMT2 is associated with a marked increment in cardiovascular risk, and its prevention represents a main target in cardiometabolic protection. Both Troglitazone (Troglitazone in Prevention of Diabetes study) and Rosiglitazone (Diabetes Reduction Assessment with Ramipril and Rosiglitazone Medication study) significantly reduced new-onset diabetes. A similar topic will be investigated with pioglitazone (Actos Now for Prevention of Diabetes). In the Prospective Pioglitazone Clinical Trial in Macrovascular events the primary end point (all-cause mortality, nonfatal myocardial infarction, stroke, acute coronary syndromes, endovascular or surgical intervention in the coronary/leg arteries and amputation above ankles) was unaffected, whereas the secondary one (all-cause mortality, nonfatal myocardial infarction and stroke) was reduced by pioglitazone (-16%, p=0.027) compared to placebo in 5,238 patients with DMT2 and macrovascular disease. In contrast, a meta-analysis (Nissen and Wolski, N Engl J Med. 2007;356:2457-2471) reported that rosiglitazone treatment is associated with a significant increase in myocardial infarction risk (p=0.03) and a borderline significant increase in the risk of death from cardiovascular causes (p=0.06). Nevertheless, the possibility that rosiglitazone might affect cardiovascular events should be evaluated by the ongoing trial Rosiglitazone Evaluated for Cardiac Outcomes and Regulation of Glycemia in Diabetes (RECORD). Interim findings early from RECORD did not show significant differences between the rosiglitazone and the control group regarding myocardial infarction and death from cardiovascular and any cause. Additional large-scale trials are awaited to clarify the of role TZDs in cardiovascular outcomes.