PURPOSE To compare both home blood pressure measurement (HBPM) and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) with office blood pressure measurement (OBP); and also to compare the correlation between HBPM and OBP with LVMI (left ventricular mass index). METHODS Protocol 1--68 hypertensive patients (58 +/- 12 years, 37 females): a) self recorded blood pressure at home in the 7 days; b) record...

BACKGROUND Established risk factors for left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) are hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. However, as these risk factors explain only part of the variation in left ventricular mass, we investigated whether persistent organic pollutants (POPs) might also play a role in LVH, because exposure to polychlorinated biphenyl 126 induced cardiac growth in rats. METHODS In the...

Background Global longitudinal strain (GLS) and global circumferential strain (GCS) have emerged as important new markers of left ventricular (LV) function. Aortic stenosis (AS) creates pressure overload which produces LV hypertrophy and increased mass. Ejection fraction (EF) is the traditional parameter of LV systolic function, but the effects of increased LV mass on GLS and GCS are unclear. O...

Growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) has been identified as an endogenous anti-hypertrophy effect. However, the association of plasma GDF-15 levels with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in hypertension is poorly understood. We investigate the effect of plasma GDF-15 levels on left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in hypertension. We measured the plasma levels of GDF-15 in 299 untreated hype...

Objectives—To determine whether the heart rate (HR) response to exercise in 21 highly trained cyclists (mean (SD) age 25 (3) years) was related to their heart dimensions. Methods—Before performing an incremental exercise test involving a ramp protocol with workload increases of 25 W/min, each subject underwent echocardiographic evaluation of the following variables: left ventricular end diastol...

Autonomic imbalance in hypertension induces excessive blood pressure (BP) elevation during exercise, thereby increasing left ventricular mass (LVM). Although muscle weakness enhances autonomic imbalance by stimulating muscle sympathetic activity during exercise, it is unclear whether muscle weakness is associated with an increase of LVM in patients with hypertension. This study aimed to investi...

To examine the effects of antihypertensive therapy causing regression of left ventricular hypertrophy on cardiac arrhythmias, 26 hypertensive subjects were treated with ramipril with felodipine if required, and followed for 6 months after blood pressure control. Compared with baseline, left ventricular mass index (LVMI) was significantly reduced both at blood pressure control and after a furthe...

OBJECTIVE In this study, our aim was to determine cardiovascular risk and cardiac function in prediabetic obese children and adolescents. METHODS The study was conducted on 198 obese children and adolescents 6-18 years of age. Anthropometric measurements, blood pressure measurements, oral glucose tolerance test, lipid profile, and HbA1c levels of patients were assessed. Prediabetes was define...

OBJECTIVE Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), an independent risk factor for cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality, recognizes a multifactorial pathogenesis. A plasma glucose value ≥155 mg/dL for the 1-h postload plasma glucose during an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) identifies subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) at high risk for type 2 diabetes. We addressed the question if...

Hypertension in the elderly is characterized by isolated systolic hypertension and high variability, but its clinical significance is not yet fully understood. The goal of this paper was to assess circadian blood pressure variability (BPV) in elderly hypertensives, and to determine its relationship to cardiovascular risk factors. To achieve this goal, a number of 75 inefficiently treated hypert...