Cardiovascular Events and Mortality in White Coat Hypertension: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Limitation: Paucity of studies evaluating isolated cardiac outcomes or reporting participant race/ethnicity.
Conclusion:  Untreated WCH, but not treated WCE, is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality. Out-of-office BP monitoring is critical in the diagnosis and management of hypertension.
Read the abstract at Annals of Internal Medicine

Stress related disorders and risk of cardiovascular disease: population based, sibling controlled cohort study

BMJ 2019; 365 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l1255 (Published 10 April 2019) Cite this as: BMJ 2019;365:l1255

Conclusion Stress related disorders are robustly associated with multiple types of cardiovascular disease, independently of familial background, history of somatic/psychiatric diseases, and psychiatric comorbidity.

This study is Open Access and a PDF can be downloaded at the link above.

Even When Not In Rome, Eat A Mediterranean Diet To Cut Heart Disease Risk — Kaiser Health News

Once again, your mother was right. You really do need to eat your vegetables. And while you are at it, put down the bacon and pick up the olive oil, because new research supports the contention that switching to a Mediterranean diet could significantly decrease the risk of heart disease. According to a study published…

via Even When Not In Rome, Eat A Mediterranean Diet To Cut Heart Disease Risk — Kaiser Health News

Sleep Apnea Raises Your Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death

In a five-year study of nearly 11,000 people, those with obstructive sleep apnea had a higher risk of sudden cardiac death. At greatest risk were those aged 60 and older with moderate to severe apnea (20 episodes an hour).

When their oxygen saturation levels dipped below 78 percent — preventing air from flowing into the lungs — their risk increased by 80 percent.

Memo to Underwriters:

In case anyone asks why we are so harsh on untreated OSA quote this study.

Article link here.

Link to the study abstract here.

RESULTS:

During an average follow-up of 5.3 years, 142 patients had resuscitated or fatal SCD (annual rate 0.27%). In multivariate analysis, independent risk factors for SCD were age, hypertension, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy or heart failure, ventricular ectopy or nonsustained ventricular tachycardia, and lowest nocturnal O2sat (per 10% decrease, hazard ratio [HR]: 1.14; p = 0.029). SCD was best predicted by age >60 years (HR: 5.53), apnea-hypopnea index >20 (HR: 1.60), mean nocturnal O2sat <93% (HR: 2.93), and lowest nocturnal O2sat <78% (HR: 2.60; all p < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS:

In a population of 10,701 adults referred for polysomnography, OSA predicted incident SCD, and the magnitude of risk was predicted by multiple parameters characterizing OSA severity. Nocturnal hypoxemia, an important pathophysiological feature of OSA, strongly predicted SCD independently of well-established risk factors. These findings implicate OSA, a prevalent condition, as a novel risk factor for SCD.

Eat Yogurt

Higher intakes of yogurt were associated with a 30 percent reduction in risk of myocardial infarction among the Nurses’ Health Study women and a 19 percent reduction in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study men.

In both groups, participants consuming more than two servings a week of yogurt had an approximately 20 percent lower risks of major coronary heart disease or stroke during the follow-up period. When revascularization was added to the total cardiovascular disease outcome variable, the risk estimates were reduced for both men and women, but remained significant.

Higher yogurt intake in combination with an overall heart-healthy diet was associated with greater reductions in cardiovascular disease risk among hypertensive men and women.

Read the source article here.

 

Linking Sucrose to Hyperlipidemia and Cancer

In rats.  But it’s the behavior of the sugar industry rats that is more disturbing.

Read the entire study here.

Our study contributes to a wider body of literature documenting industry manipulation of science. Industries seeking to influence regulation have a history of funding research resulting in industry-favorable interpretations of controversial evidence related to health effects of smoking [15,16], therapeutic effects of pharmaceutical drugs [17,18], the relationship between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and weight gain or obesity [5], and the causes of climate change, [19] among other issues. The tobacco industry also has a long history of conducting research on the health effects of its products that is often decades ahead of the general scientific community and not publishing results that do not support its agenda [2023]. This paper provides empirical data suggesting that the sugar industry has a similar history of conducting, but not publishing studies with results that are counter to its commercial interests.