ObjectiveTo investigate the significance of using the term "high-normal blood pressure" and its intervention in the early stage.
MethodsIn 1992 and 2007, we performed two similar investigations focusing on cardiovascular risk factors in 711 people in Chengdu city. Since 114 individuals were diagnosed with hypertension, 597 people without hypertension were eligible and divided into two groups:the normal-pressure[<120/80 mm Hg (1 mm Hg=0.133 kPa)] group and the high-normal blood pressure (systolic blood pressure 120-139 mm Hg and/or diastolic blood pressure 80-89 mm Hg) group. Data in the two investigations were compared to explore the relationship among high-normal blood pressure, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and hypertension.
ResultsThe high-normal blood pressure group had a higher level of CVD risk factors both in 1992 and 2007, and the 15-year cumulative incidence of hypertension in the high-normal blood pressure group was higher than that of normal-pressure group (91.2% vs. 22.2%, P<0.001). After adjusting for serum lipid, body weight and other CVD risk factors, high-normal blood pressure could predict the progression into hypertension[HR=5.354, 95% CI (4.094, 7.002), P=0.001]. There was no statistics difference in CVD prevalence in the two groups in 1992, but in 2007 the prevalence of CVD tended to be higher in the high-normal blood pressure group (6.6% vs. 3.1%, P=0.052).
ConclusionHigh-normal blood pressure is a special stage of blood pressure with high level of CVD risk factors and high potential to progress into hypertension. The term should be emphasized and intervention should be done in the early stage for high-normal blood pressure people to prevent from hypertension and CVD.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the non-inferiority trials in the cardiovascular domain that utilize medical devices as interventions, and investigate its characteristics and threshold settings. MethodsThe PubMed, Embase, and CENTRAL databases were electronically searched to collect non-inferiority trials in the cardiovascular field involving medical devices from inception to July 26, 2023. Two reviewers independently screened literature and extracted data. The reported information included basic characteristics, features of non-inferiority trials, and threshold-setting features of the included studies. Data analysis was performed using Excel 2020 and R 4.2.1 software. ResultsA total of 214 studies were included, with 167 studies (78.0%) focusing on interventions related to coronary artery stents. The trials predominantly utilized a two-arm design (92.9%), with a prevalent use of non-inferiority absolute thresholds (96.7%) as the criteria for non-inferiority determination. In 150 studies (70.1%), non-inferiority thresholds were established based on estimated control group effect values, while 33 studies (15.4%) did not report the source of these values. The non-inferiority trial endpoint outcomes exhibited diversity, and there were substantial differences in threshold settings. The three most studied qualitative indicators were target lesion failure rates (2.1%-8.6%), target vessel failure rates (2.5%-19.6%), and major adverse cardiovascular events rates (2.1%-10.0%). Late lumen loss (0.1-0.4 mm) emerged as the most frequently studied quantitative indicator. After converting absolute non-inferiority thresholds for all indicators into relative thresholds, the range was 1.20-3.67. ConclusionSignificant variations in non-inferiority threshold settings are observed for identical endpoint outcomes across included studies, highlighting a lack of reporting on the rationale behind threshold settings.
ObjectiveTo analyze the papers in cardiovascular surgery field indexed by SCI-Expended between 2008 year and 2012 year from the authors in Chinese Mainland.
MethodsWe searched Web of Science database(2008-2012)on-line and collected the papers on cardiovascular surgery written by the authors in Chinese Mainland. The data of publication time, type of article, journal name, and author name were recorded.
ResultsA total of 427 papers in cardio-vascular surgery field were published from Chinese Mainland including 401 original articles, 10 conference papers, and 16 reviews. Although the number of papers has been increasing since 2008 year, the increase slowed down recently. Most of those authors came from few heart centers in Beijing, Guangdong, and Shanghai. Most of these papers were published in 7 journals in cardiovascular surgery field with low impact factor.
ConclusionThe authors in Chinese Mainland in cardiovascular field should design more scientific research and improve academic level of paper with high quote rate.
ObjectiveTo comprehensively review the status quo, contents, and problems of health technology assessments (HTAs) on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in Chinese rural.
MethodsThe CNKI, VIP, WanFang Data and CBM databases were searched for the HTAs on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in Chinese rural up to October 31st, 2013. Two reviewers independently screened literatures and extracted data, and then the qualitative method was used to systematically analyze the literatures' information and results.
ResultsA total of 34 studies were included. Of which, 23 were descriptive studies and 11 were experimental studies. The studied populations were patients and ordinary residents who had received the service of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases health technology in rural, as well as the grassroots medical technical personnel and promotion staffs who had developed the health technologies. HTAs on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in rural mainly included western medicine health technologies and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) health technologies. The contents of HTA of the included literatures mainly included:effectiveness, acceptability, requirements, economic characteristics, safety and technical specific property. The results of the included literatures showed that the type of diseases involved in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in rural were not widely enough, the fields involved in assessment contents were single, lack of rigorous and comprehensive study design.
ConclusionWe need more HTAs of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in rural, we also need to strengthen early prevention, promote a wider range of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases health technology, strengthen promotion and application of both TCM health technologies and the combination of TCM and western medicine health technologies in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
Objective To explore perioperative outcomes of coronary artery bypass grafting （CABG） using the radialartery as the second arterial graft. Methods Clinical data of 175 consecutive patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting （OPCAB） in General Hospital of Shenyang Military Command from August 2011 to April 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. All the 175 patients were divided into two groups. There were 75 patients including 49 male and 26 female patients with their age of 56.8±8.2 years in group 1，who received radial artery as a graft vessel. There were 100patients including 66 male and 34 female patients with their age of 57.7±8.1 years in group 2，who received great saphenousvein but not radial artery as the graft vessel. The use of left internal mammary artery as a graft vessel was 100% in both groups. Perioperative cardiovascular events and other clinical results were compared between the two groups. Results All the patients survived OPCAB and there was no 30-day death. There was no statistical difference in operation time，thoracic drainage within the first 24 hours after surgery or postoperative hospital stay between the two groups（P＞0.05）. Length of postoperative ICU stay and mechanical ventilation time of group 1 were shorter than those of group 2，although the differencewas not statistically significant. The percentage of patients receiving prolonged postoperative inotropic therapy of group 2 was higher than that of group 1 ［16% （16/100） vs. 12% （9/75）］，although the difference was not statistically significant. Postoperatively，there was no patient in group 1 who had new-onset myocardial ischemia or received intra-aortic balloon pump （IABP） support for hemodynamic instability. In group 2，3 patients had new-onset myocardial ischemia and 2 patientsreceived IABP support after OPCAB. Conclusion Radial artery can partly replace great saphenous vein as a graft vesselfor OPCAB，which does not increase the risk of perioperative cardiovascular events but is beneficial for postoperativerecovery to some degree. Radial artery can be more extensively used in CABG.
Abstract： Objective To analyze the manifestation, treatment，outcome and potentially predisposing risk factors of perioperative thromboembolism after cavo-pulmonary connection, and to assess the effects of our prophylactic antithrombotic strategy.?Methods?Clinical data of 264 cases of bidirectional Glenn and 224 cases of total cavopulmonary connection （TCPC） operations undertaken from September 2005 to December 2010 in Fu wai hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Perioperative thromboembolic complications occurred in 9 patients. 5 of them were after bidirectional Glenn, 4 were after TCPC. Most of the 9 patients had at least one thrombi-related risk factor. The routine prophylactic antithrombotic therapy after these operations were intravenous infusion of heparin 10 U/（kg·h） initially, followed with oral aspirin 1-3 mg/（kg·d）. Results Thromboembolic events occurred within 7 days after the operation in 6 cases, appeared 2 to 4 weeks after the surgery in 3 cases. All 9 patients received anticoagulation with heparin. One patient also undertook take-down operation. 3 （33%） patients died, accounting for 33% （1/3）, and 18% （2/11） of the early deaths after bidirectional Glenn and TCPC operations. Clinical symptoms improved or disappeared in the remaining 6 patients. Conclusion The mortality of perioperative thromboembolic complications after cavo-pulmonary connection is high, consisting of the important cause of early deaths after these procedures. Our prophylactic anticoagulation strategy proved to be effective, though some thrombi-relatedrisk factors still need to be avoided.
Abstract： Arginine vasopressin （AVP） is closely related to the pathogenesis of a variety of cardiovascular diseases and kidney diseases. Currently it is often used for the treatment of severe peripheral vasodilatory shock， and particularly beneficial for patients with refractory catecholamine-resistant vasodilatory shock. For some patients who do not have adequate AVP level in plasma after cardiovascular surgery， external low-dose AVP infusion is helpful to decrease the heart rate, and the dosage and duration of catecholamine use. Early initiation of low-dose AVP infusion may be beneficial for postoperative patients’ hemodynamic recovery without adverse complications. More randomized control trials are needed to provide evidence for rational usage， dosage and duration of AVP administration.
Objective To evaluate the robustness of cardiovascular meta-analysis with use of fragility index. Methods By searching PubMed, EMbase, and Web of Science databases from 2018 to 2022, relevant literature on cardiovascular meta-analysis was systematically collected and the fragility indexes were calculated; Spearman correlation analysis was used to explore the relationship between fragility index and sample size, total number of events, effect size and its confidence interval width. Results A total of 212 meta-analyses from 29 articles were included, with a median fragility index of 11 (5, 25), a median sample size of 10301 (3384, 48330), and a median total number of events of 360 (129, 1309). Most meta-analyses chose relative risk as the effect measure (179/212), and chose Mantel-Haenszel method (102/212) and random effects model (153/212). The fragility index was positively correlated with the sample size (rs=0.56, P<0.05) and the total number of events (rs=0.61, P<0.05), and negatively correlated with confidence interval width of the effect size (rs=?0.52, P<0.05). No statistically significant results were obtained in the correlation between the fragility index and effect size. Conclusion The fragility indexes of cardiovascular meta-analyses published in comprehensive journals of high impact factors and professional cardiovascular journals are generally low, and therefore lack robustness. Fragility index is suggested to be reported in medical researches, assisting in explaining the P-value.
The main cause of death in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is cardiovascular disease, and trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) has been found to be one of the specific risk factors in the pathogenic process in recent years. TMAO is derived from intestinal bacterial metabolism of dietary choline, carnitine and other substances and subsequently catalyzed by flavin monooxygenase enzymes in the liver. The changes of intestinal bacteria in ESRD patients have contributed to the accumulation of gut-derived uremic toxins such as TMAO, indoxyl sulfate and indole-3-acetic acid. While elevated TMAO concentration accelerates atherosclerosis through mechanisms such as inflammation, increased scavenger receptor expression, and inhibition of reverse cholesterol transport. In this review, this research introduces the biological function, metabolic processes of TMAO and mechanisms by which TMAO promotes the progression of cardiovascular disease in ESRD patients and summarizes current interventions that may be used to reverse gut microbiota disturbances, such as activated carbon, fecal microbial transplantation, dietary improvement, probiotic and probiotic introduction. It also focuses on exploring intervention targets to reduce the gut-derived uremic toxin TMAO in order to explore the possibility of more cardiovascular disease treatments for ESRD patients.
Objective To compare the effectiveness and safety of angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) for coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on ARB vs. ACEI in treating CHD were collected in databases including MEDLINE, EMbase, BIOSIS Previews, The Cochrane Library, CBM, VIP, WanFang Data and CNKI from inception to July 2011, and the references of the included articles were also retrieved. In accordance with the Cochrane Handbook 5.0.1, two reviewers independently evaluated the quality of articles, and extracted and cross-checked the data. Then meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.1.1 software. Results A total of 18 RCTs (17 660 cases) were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that there were no significant differences between the ARB group and the ACEI group in all-cause mortality (RR=1.04, 95%CI 0.98 to 1.11, P=0.20), cardiovascular mortality (RR=1.04, 95%CI 0.97 to 1.12, P=0.26), myocardial infarction (RR=0.98, 95%CI 0.92 to 1.05, P=0.59), hospitalization for heart failure (RR=1.14, 95%CI 0.97 to 1.32, P=0.11) and stroke (RR=0.93, 95%CI 0.80 to 1.08, P=0.34). However, the risk of adverse events causing drug discontinuation was significantly lower in the ARB group compared with the ACEI group (RR=0.77, 95%CI 0.67 to 0.89, P=0.000 3). Conclusion Current evidence suggests that ARB is as effective as ACEI in reducing the risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, myocardial infarction, hospitalization for heart failure and stroke in patients with coronary heart disease. Moreover, it is much better in tolerance. Because of the quality limitation and sampling size of the induced studies, this conclusion still needs to be further proved by more large-scale, multicenter and perspective clinical trials.
