Adjusted prognostic association of depression following myocardial infarction with mortality and cardiovascular events: individual patient data meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The association between depression after myocardial infarction and increased risk of mortality and cardiac morbidity may be due to cardiac disease severity. AIMS: To combine original data from studies on the association between post-infarction depression and prognosis into one database, and to investigate to what extent such depression predicts prognosis independently of disease severity. METHOD: An individual patient data meta-analysis of studies was conducted using multilevel, multivariable Cox regression analyses. RESULTS: Sixteen studies participated, creating a database of 10 175 post-infarction cases. Hazard ratios for post-infarction depression were 1.32 (95% CI 1.26-1.38, P<0.001) for all-cause mortality and 1.19 (95% CI 1.14-1.24, P<0.001) for cardiovascular events. Hazard ratios adjusted for disease severity were attenuated by 28% and 25% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The association between depression following myocardial infarction and prognosis is attenuated after adjustment for cardiac disease severity. Still, depression remains independently associated with prognosis, with a 22% increased risk of all-cause mortality and a 13% increased risk of cardiovascular events per standard deviation in depression z-score.

Gender differences in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in 50-year-old Swedish men and women with hypertension born in 1953.

To investigate potential gender differences in the role of hypertension as a risk factor for metabolic syndrome (MetS) we used a random population sample of 50-year-old men (n=595) and women (n=667; all born in 1953) who were examined in 2003-2004. Systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure values were dichotomized at ≥ 140 mm Hg and ≥ 90 mm Hg, respectively. MetS was defined using NCEP (National Cholesterol Education Programme) and IDF (International Diabetes Federation) criteria. MetS was more prevalent in men than in women (NCEP 16% versus 10%, P=0.003; IDF 26% versus 16%, P=0.000) and systolic hypertension was more common in men than in women (high SBP 24% versus 18%, P=0.003; high DBP 29% versus 24%, P=0.074). Women with high SBP had about a seven-fold increased NCEP risk compared with normotensive women (odds ratio (OR) 6.91, confidence interval (CI) 2.90-16.42), whereas high SBP in men was associated with about a three-fold increased NCEP risk (OR 2.72, CI 1.69-4.38). A similar pattern was observed for the IDF criterion of MetS. All interaction terms (sex × hypertension) were significant at P<0.01. At middle age, despite that fewer women had hypertension or MetS than men, hypertension carries a relatively greater risk for MetS in women than in men.

Factors associated with reaching 90 years of age: a study of men born in 1913 in Gothenburg, Sweden.

OBJECTIVES: Increasing numbers of people reach old age. We wanted to identify variables of importance for reaching 90 years old and determine how the predictive ability of these variables might change over time. SETTING AND SUBJECTS: All men in the city of Gothenburg born in 1913 on dates divisible by 3, which is on the 3rd, 6th, 9th etc., were included in the study. Thus, 973 men were invited, and 855 were examined in 1963 at age 50. Further examinations were made at age 54, 60 and 67. Anthropometric data, lifestyle and parental factors, blood pressure, lung function, X-ray of heart and lungs and maximum work performance were recorded. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was used to analyse the predictive capacity of a variable. RESULTS: A total of 111 men (13%) reached 90 years of age, men who reached 90 years were more likely at age 50 to be nonsmokers, consume less coffee, have higher socio-economic status and have low serum cholesterol levels than those who did not reach this age; however, at age 50 or 62, parents' survival was of no prognostic importance. Variables of greatest importance at higher ages were low blood pressure and measures related to good cardiorespiratory function. In multivariable analysis, including all examinations, being a nonsmoker, consuming small amounts of coffee, having high housing costs at age 50, good maximum working capacity and low serum cholesterol were related to a better chance of survival to age 90. CONCLUSIONS: Low levels of cardiovascular risk factors, high socio-economic status and good functional capacity, irrespective of parents' survival, characterize men destined to reach the age of 90.

Obesity, smoking and secular trends in cardiovascular risk factors in middle-aged women: data from population studies in Göteborg from 1980 to 2003.

BACKGROUND: To study the trends in cardiovascular risk factors in middle-aged city-dwelling Swedish women from 1980 to 2003. METHODS: Using cross-sectional population-based surveys, five random population samples of a total of 1915 women aged between 45 and 54 years, participating in the BEDA study in 1980, WHO MONICA studies in 1985, 1990 and 1995, and a study of 50-year-old women in 2003 were measured for the following parameters: anthropometry, serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels, smoking habits, blood pressure, physical activity and stress. RESULTS: Over almost 25 years, middle-aged women gained on average 4.4 kg in weight, with a net increase in body mass index (BMI) from 24.7 to 25.6 kg m⁻². The proportion of participants classified as obese (≥30 kg m⁻²) increased by 50% from 10.4% to 15.1%. Women who were smokers in 2003 did not have lower BMI values than nonsmokers. Mean serum cholesterol concentrations decreased markedly, whereas smoking habits did not significantly change. The prevalence of hypertension decreased by 8%, whereas that of diabetes remained stable at around 2%. Optimal risk factor status - no smoking, normotension and serum cholesterol <5 mmol l⁻¹ - was present in less than one in six women in 2003, and similar across BMI categories. CONCLUSION: The favourable decline in cholesterol levels and hypertension and the increase in leisure time physical activity were offset by an increase in obesity, triglyceride levels and experience of stress, with only a minority of participants (less than one in six) having an optimal level of risk factors with respect to smoking, serum cholesterol and hypertension in 2003. This applied also to overweight and obese women. In earlier cohorts, subjects with low BMI values were more often smokers, whereas the opposite is observed in recent cohorts. Thus, women who smoke no longer have the advantage of lower weight.

Twenty-year trends in incidence and 1-year mortality in Swedish patients hospitalised with non-AMI chest pain. Data from 1987-2006 from the Swedish hospital and death registries.

OBJECTIVE: To study trends for 20 years in incidence and 1-year mortality in hospitalised patients who received a diagnosis of either angina or unexplained chest pain (UCP) in Sweden. DESIGN AND SETTING: Register study of all patients aged 25-84 years identified from the Swedish National Hospital Discharge Register who were hospitalised with a first-time diagnosis of UCP or angina pectoris during 1987 to 2006. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 378 454 patients, 235 855 with UCP and 142 599 with angina. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: 1-Year mortality and standardised mortality ratios (SMRs). RESULTS: From the period 1987-1991 to 2002-2006, the observed 1-year mortality rate in men and women with UCP aged 25-74 years decreased from 2.19% to 1.45% and from 1.85% to 0.91%, respectively. SMRs decreased from 1.67 (95% CI 1.39 to 1.95) and 1.63 (1.27 to 2.00) to 1.09 (0.96 to 1.23) and 0.88 (0.75 to 1.00). Corresponding decreases in 1-year mortality for a discharge diagnosis of angina were from 6.50% to 2.49% in men and from 4.80% to 1.68% in women, with SMRs decreasing from 2.69 (2.33-3.05) and 2.59 (2.06-3.12) to 1.09 (0.93-1.25) and 1.05 (0.81-1.29), respectively. Similar changes occurred in patients aged 75-84 years. Only men with UCP aged 75-84 years still retained a slightly increased mortality (SMR 1.14 (1.01-1.28)). CONCLUSIONS: The prognosis of patients admitted with chest pain in which acute myocardial infarction has been ruled out has improved for the past 20 years, such that the 1-year mortality of these patients is now similar to that in the general population.

Obesity and trends in cardiovascular risk factors over 40 years in Swedish men aged 50.

OBJECTIVE: To study trends over 40 years in cardiovascular risk factors in normal weight, overweight and obese men, all aged 50 when examined. Design. Cross-sectional studies of five successive cohorts of men aged 50. SETTING: City of Göteborg, Sweden. SUBJECTS: Random population samples of altogether 3251 urban Swedish men born in 1913, 1923, 1933, 1943 and 1953. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Anthropometry, cardiovascular risk factors, rates of nonsmoking, normotension and serum cholesterol <5 mmol L(-1) over four decades. RESULTS: Over 40 years, there was a net increase in body mass index (BMI) from 24.8 (SD = 3.2) to 26.4 (3.7) kg m(-2) (P < 0.0001), with an increase in the prevalence of obesity (BMI >or= 30 kg m(-2)) from 6.0% in 1963 to 13.8% in 2003. Favourable trends with respect to smoking, blood pressure and serum cholesterol were observed similarly amongst normal weight, overweight and obese men. In 1963, 24% of obese men were normotensive compared to 45% in 2003, and 6% had serum cholesterol <5 mmol L(-1) compared to 34% in 2003. Compared with obese men in 1963, men who were obese in 2003 had an odds ratio (OR) of 3.39 being a nonsmoker [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.56 to 7.36], 2.67 of being normotensive (1.23 to 5.83) and having serum cholesterol <5 mmol L(-1) of 8.30 (2.37 to 29.0). However, optimal risk factor status - no smoking, normotension and total serum cholesterol <5 mmol L(-1)- was still present in less than one in six men in 2003, similar across BMI categories. CONCLUSIONS: Obese Swedish men who are now in their fifties have much lower levels of other risk factors compared with obese men 40 years ago. This could contribute to explain why coronary heart disease death rates still are falling despite increasing rates of obesity.

Psychosocial profile in men and women with unexplained chest pain.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare men and women with unexplained chest pain (UCP) to a randomly selected population sample free of clinical heart disease with regard to sleep problems, mental strain at work, stress at home, negative life events and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). DESIGN AND SUBJECTS: The study was conducted at a university hospital in Sweden including 231 patients aged 25-69 without any organic cause for chest pain. As a reference group, 1069 participants, were recruited from the INTERGENE population-based study. RESULTS: Patients with UCP had more sleep problems (OR = 1.8, P < 0.0001), were almost three times more worried about stress at work (OR = 2.9, P < 0.0001), or had more stress at home (OR = 2.8, P < 0.0001), and were twice as likely to have negative life events (OR = 2.1, P < 0.0001). Women, but not men, with UCP, had a higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors (obesity, smoking, diabetes and hypertension) compared with references. With regard to HRQOL, UCP patients scored significantly lower than references in all dimensions of the SF-36. CONCLUSIONS: In comparison with a healthy reference group, patients with UCP reported more sleep problems, mental strain at work, stress at home and negative life events and had lower health-related quality of life. Aside from immigration the strongest independent psychosocial factors were mental strain at work and negative life events last year in men and stress at home in women.

Serum lipids in fathers and sons at middle age: the study of sons to men born in 1913.

OBJECTIVE: To relate lipid levels in middle-aged men to that of their fathers at 50 years of age measured 30 years earlier. DESIGN AND SUBJECTS: In 1963, 855 men born in 1913 took part in a cardiovascular risk factor survey when they were at 50 years of age. In 1993, 475 sons to these men, aged 44-56, were invited to another examination; 263 of these men were examined (response rate: 56%) and compared with their 217 fathers when they were examined at 50 years of age in 1963. In the 1993 survey, 798 men aged 50, were also examined, from a general population sample of men born in 1943 (response rate: 55%). SETTING: City of Göteborg, Sweden. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Serum lipids in sons as a function of lipids in their fathers. RESULTS: Compared with the men born in 1913, both sons and men born in 1943 had lower mean serum cholesterol, but higher body mass index (BMI) and serum triglycerides. There was a significant relation between serum cholesterol in sons and their fathers (r = 0.25; P < 0.0001). Amongst sons to fathers in the highest cholesterol quartile (>6.9 mmol x L(-1)), 37% had serum cholesterol above 6.5 mmol x L(-1), compared with 16% amongst sons to fathers in the lowest quartile (<5.7 mmol x L(-1)) [adjusted odds ratio 3.73 (1.52-9.12)]. Sons to fathers with the highest serum cholesterol levels had slightly lower BMI; otherwise there was no relation between serum cholesterol in the father and any other lifestyle or biological risk factor in the sons. Serum triglyceride concentration in the father was unrelated to any variable in the son. CONCLUSIONS: There was a moderately strong association between serum cholesterol concentration in fathers and sons at middle age. However, secular trends were also important in determining serum cholesterol concentrations in those born at a later period, indicating a major role of environmental factors.

Independent importance of psychosocial factors for prognosis after myocardial infarction.

AIMS: As a primary aim it was tested whether the 10-year prognosis after a myocardial infarction is related to psychological stress, lack of social support, anxiety, and/or depressive tendency. A secondary aim was to analyse the prognostic importance of a series of other psychosocial factors as well as interactions. METHODS: Non-selected patients aged below 65 years with a first infarction (230 men and 45 women) were followed for 10 years with 100% assessment of morbidity and cause-specific mortality. Baseline somatic and psychosocial variables were collected with the aid of standard, validated questionnaires. RESULTS: In multivariate analysis, factors increasing risk for coronary mortality included female sex (hazard ratio, +/- 95% confidence interval) 2.47 (1.06, 5.71), signs of left ventricular failure 3.93 (1.87, 8.26), ventricular dysrhythmia 3 months after the infarction 5.45 (2.21, 13. 42), high depression scores 3.16 (1.38, 7.25) and lack of social support 2.75 (1.29, 5.89). All-cause mortality was significantly related to left ventricular failure, ventricular dysrhythmias, and high depression scores with borderline significance for female sex and social support. Prognosis was affected during the entire follow-up period. It was not significantly associated with age, marital status, education, extra work, mental strain at work or in the marriage, anxiety, dissatisfaction with family life, problems with children, dissatisfaction with the financial situation, life events, anger-in, irritability, type A behaviour, or health locus of control. Incidence of nonfatal infarction was not associated with any of the baseline variables. CONCLUSION: In addition to known somatic predictors of prognosis after a myocardial infarction, prognosis is strongly influenced by depression and lack of social support, but not to a series of other psychosocial factors. It is recommended to use self-reporting scales to detect prognostically important psychosocial problems.

Social relationships and myocardial infarction: a case-control study.

BACKGROUND: For more than 10 years there has been increasing evidence that not only biological risk factors are important for the development of coronary heart disease. The present study is one of a series of case-control studies in which a wide range of psychosocial factors in the same population have been analysed to obtain information on their relationship with myocardial infarction, and of the interaction between psychosocial and biomedical variables. METHODS: The association between social relationships and nonfatal myocardial infarction was studied by comparing consecutively admitted male (n = 288) and female (n = 55) patients with myocardial infarction with a population sample of 283 men and 129 women. All participants were under 65 years of age. The social relationships were investigated by means of a self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: Men with myocardial infarction reported significantly lower perceived emotional support compared with their controls, as well as less social activity. Women with myocardial infarction reported significantly less social activity than their controls. There were no significant differences between cases and controls in social integration (number and frequency of social relationships and contacts). Neither did dissatisfaction with social relationships differ significantly between patients with myocardial infarction and controls. After controlling for traditional risk factors (smoking, hypertension, serum cholesterol level, diabetes) perceived emotional support remained significantly related to myocardial infarction in men, and so did the amount of social activity in both men and women. CONCLUSION: The importance of perceived emotional support and lack of social activity is amplified by the fact that they are related to myocardial infarction independently of conventional biomedical risk factors. These social factors should be studied further in prospective investigations.

Behavioural characteristics in patients with myocardial infarction: a case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Over the past 10-20 years, evidence has accumulated suggesting that it is not just biological risk factors that are important for the development of coronary heart disease. The present study is one of a series of case-control studies in which a wide range of psychosocial factors have been analysed in the same population to obtain information on their relationship with myocardial infarction, as well as of the interaction between psychosocial and biomedical variables. METHODS: The relationship between behavioural factors and non-fatal myocardial infarction was studied by comparing consecutively admitted male (n = 288) and female (n = 55) patients with a population sample of 283 men and 129 women. All participants were under 65 years of age. The behavioural variables (type-A behaviour, health locus of control, sleep problems and alcohol consumption) were investigated by means of a self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: No significant differences emerged between patients with myocardial infarction and controls in terms of their type-A behaviour pattern. After controlling for traditional risk factors (smoking, hypertension, serum cholesterol level and diabetes), men with myocardial infarction reported a significantly stronger external health locus of control (i.e. a weak belief in their capacity to control their health) compared with their controls, as well as more problems with sleep and a lower alcohol consumption; women with myocardial infarction reported significantly more problems with sleep than their controls. CONCLUSION: The importance of health locus of control, sleep problems and alcohol consumption is amplified by the fact that they are related to myocardial infarction independently of conventional biomedical risk factors. These behavioural factors should be studied further in prospective investigations.

A comparison of different psychosocial questionnaires in patients with myocardial infarction.

In a consecutive study of 140 patients investigated one month after myocardial infarction (MI), a battery of American and English questionnaires was used to measure depression, anxiety, sleep problems, health locus of control and perceived health. These measures were compared with a well-documented generic questionnaire, the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP), and a similarly well-documented mood scale, the Mood Adjective Check List (MACL). There was close agreement among all measures depicting anxiety and tension. The concordance between the measures of anxiety states and depression was lower. Depression and sleep problems seem to constitute separate concepts, since they are not as highly related to the other measures of anxiety. Because psychosocial factors are important measures for the outcome after an infarction, accurate assessments of these variables are required. Further research is clearly warranted to clarify the complicated interaction between psychosocial constructs and to improve the methods used for their evaluation.

Prevention of recurrent acute cystitis by methenamine hippurate: double blind controlled crossover long term study.

In a randomised, double blind, long term, crossover study 1 g twice daily of methenamine hippurate was compared with placebo for its preventive effect on recurrent attacks of acute cystitis. Methenamine hippurate and placebo were interchanged every six months for two years. During one of the years patients took 250 ml extra fluid every morning and evening. Out of 21 enrolled patients, 14 completed the first year and 13 both years of treatment, which permitted the evaluation of 27 patient years. There were 52 episodes of acute cystitis caused by reinfection: 41 occurred during placebo treatment and only 11 during the methenamine hippurate regimen (p less than 0.01). Extra fluid intake did not reduce the incidence of acute cystitis, nor did it reduce the effect of methenamine hippurate. Methenamine hippurate is an effective prophylactic agent against recurrent acute cystitis and has the advantage of not inducing cross resistance to conventional antibiotics.