Ricardo Pereira Silva

Prevention of hypertension in patients with pre-hypertension: protocol for the PREVER-prevention trial

BackgroundBlood pressure (BP) within pre-hypertensive levels confers higher cardiovascular risk and is an intermediate stage for full hypertension, which develops in an annual rate of 7 out of 100 individuals with 40 to 50 years of age. Non-drug interventions to prevent hypertension have had low effectiveness. In individuals with previous cardiovascular disease or diabetes, the use of BP-lowering agents reduces the incidence of major cardiovascular events. In the absence of higher baseline risk, the use of BP agents reduces the incidence of hypertension. The PREVER-prevention trial aims to investigate the efficacy, safety and feasibility of a population-based intervention to prevent the incidence of hypertension and the development of target-organ damage.MethodsThis is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, with participants aged 30 to 70 years, with pre-hypertension. The trial arms will be chlorthalidone 12.5 mg plus amiloride 2.5 mg or identical placebo. The primary outcomes will be the incidence of hypertension, adverse events and development or worsening of microalbuminuria and of left ventricular hypertrophy in the EKG. The secondary outcomes will be fatal or non-fatal cardiovascular events: myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, evidence of new sub-clinical atherosclerosis, and sudden death. The study will last 18 months. The sample size was calculated on the basis of an incidence of hypertension of 14% in the control group, a size effect of 40%, power of 85% and P alpha of 5%, resulting in 625 participants per group. The project was approved by the Ethics committee of each participating institution.DiscussionThe early use of blood pressure-lowering drugs, particularly diuretics, which act on the main mechanism of blood pressure rising with age, may prevent cardiovascular events and the incidence of hypertension in individuals with hypertension. If this intervention shows to be effective and safe in a population-based perspective, it could be the basis for an innovative public health program to prevent hypertension in Brazil.Trial RegistrationClinical Trials NCT00970931.

Effectiveness of Chlorthalidone Plus Amiloride for the Prevention of Hypertension: The PREVER‐Prevention Randomized Clinical Trial

Background Prehypertension is associated with higher cardiovascular risk, target organ damage, and incidence of hypertension. The Prevention of Hypertension in Patients with PreHypertension (PREVER‐Prevention) trial aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a low‐dose diuretic for the prevention of hypertension and end‐organ damage. Methods and Results This randomized, parallel, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial was conducted in 21 Brazilian academic medical centers. Participants with prehypertension who were aged 30 to 70 years and who did not reach optimal blood pressure after 3 months of lifestyle intervention were randomized to a chlorthalidone/amiloride combination pill or placebo and were evaluated every 3 months during 18 months of treatment. The primary outcome was incidence of hypertension. Development or worsening of microalbuminuria, new‐onset diabetes mellitus, and reduction of left ventricular mass were secondary outcomes. Participant characteristics were evenly distributed by trial arms. The incidence of hypertension was significantly lower in 372 study participants allocated to diuretics compared with 358 allocated to placebo (hazard ratio 0.56, 95% CI 0.38–0.82), resulting in a cumulative incidence of 11.7% in the diuretic arm versus 19.5% in the placebo arm (P=0.004). Adverse events; levels of blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, creatinine, and microalbuminuria; and incidence of diabetes mellitus were no different between the 2 arms. Left ventricular mass assessed through Sokolow‐Lyon voltage and voltage‐duration product decreased to a greater extent in participants allocated to diuretic therapy compared with placebo (P=0.02). Conclusions A combination of low‐dose chlorthalidone and amiloride effectively reduces the risk of incident hypertension and beneficially affects left ventricular mass in patients with prehypertension. Clinical Trial Registration URL: http://www.ClinicalTrials.gov, www.ensaiosclinicos.gov. Unique identifiers: NCT00970931, RBR‐74rr6s.

Endocardite infecciosa valvar submetida a tratamento cirúrgico: análise de 64 casos

OBJECTIVE: To identify some aspects of the infective valve endocarditis treated by heart surgery, as well as antibiotic therapy, in a public hospital, in the city of Fortaleza, Ceara state, Brazil, from1988 to 2003. METHOD: A retrospective and observational study of 64 patients with Infective Valve Endocarditis who required aortic and/or mitral valve replacement, tricuspid vegectomy and repair or pulmonary valve valvulectomy, as well as antibiotic therapy, during their in-hospital stay. They were analyzed in respect to gender, age, time elapsed from hospital admission to the surgery, time elapsed from hospital admission to hospital discharge, valve lesion, blood culture result, surgical treatment and mortality. RESULTS: Infective valve endocarditis treated with heart surgery was more frequent in the third decade of life. Most of patients (81.2%) were males. The patients who died spent a shorter time from hospital admission to the surgery than the patients who survived. The aortic valve was affected in 65% of cases. Positivity blood culture were seen in 42% and Staphylococcus aureus was isolated in 52.4% of these cases. Valve replacement was necessary in 93.7% of cases. The in-hospital mortality rate was 14.1% which was not influenced by the age of the patient or the blood culture result. CONCLUSION: Infective valve endocarditis treated by heart surgery was more frequent in men and in the third decade of life. It mostly affected the aortic valve. Staphylococcus aureus was the more common pathogen found. Almost all the patients needed replacement of the infected valve and the in-hospital mortality rate was 14.1%.

A comparison between diuretics and angiotensin- receptor blocker agents in patients with stage I hypertension (PREVER-treatment trial): study protocol for a randomized double-blind controlled trial

BackgroundCardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Brazil, and hypertension is its major risk factor. The benefit of its drug treatment to prevent major cardiovascular events was consistently demonstrated. Angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARB) have been the preferential drugs in the management of hypertension worldwide, despite the absence of any consistent evidence of advantage over older agents, and the concern that they may be associated with lower renal protection and risk for cancer. Diuretics are as efficacious as other agents, are well tolerated, have longer duration of action and low cost, but have been scarcely compared with ARBs. A study comparing diuretic and ARB is therefore warranted.Methods/designThis is a randomized, double-blind, clinical trial, comparing the association of chlorthalidone and amiloride with losartan as first drug option in patients aged 30 to 70 years, with stage I hypertension. The primary outcomes will be variation of blood pressure by time, adverse events and development or worsening of microalbuminuria and of left ventricular hypertrophy in the EKG. The secondary outcomes will be fatal or non-fatal cardiovascular events: myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, evidence of new subclinical atherosclerosis and sudden death. The study will last 18 months. The sample size will be of 1200 participants for group in order to confer enough power to test for all primary outcomes. The project was approved by the Ethics committee of each participating institution.DiscussionThe putative pleiotropic effects of ARB agents, particularly renal protection, have been disputed, and they have been scarcely compared with diuretics in large clinical trials, despite that they have been at least as efficacious as newer agents in managing hypertension. Even if the null hypothesis is not rejected, the information will be useful for health care policy to treat hypertension in Brazil.Clinical trials registration numberClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00971165

Who is the Patient with Suspected White Coat Hypertension

Objectives: The aim of this study is to establish the profile of individuals with suspected white coat hypertension (WCH) submitted to ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), assessing gender, age and pressure behavior during monitoring. Material and method: Between May 2007 and May 2014, a total of 14216 ABPM tests were performed in our department. Of this total, the indication for evaluation of suspected white coat hypertension occurred in 262 tests, which constitute the study sample. The oscillometric method with Dyna-MAPA equipment was used in the study. We have used in statistics: chi-square test of equal proportions and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results: The sample consists of 262 patients, 121 (46.2%) men and 141 (53.8%) women. The mean age of male patients was 41.9 years and of females, 52.5 years. The largest group of patients was the one with abnormal results (113 patients, 43.2%). For patients with abnormal report, the proportion of men is significantly higher than that of women. For patients with normal reports, the proportion of women is significantly higher than men. There is no difference in proportion among genders in the group of patients with borderline report. The mean age of the patients classified as normal (49.9) or borderline (49.6) is significantly older than that of patients diagnosed as abnormal (44.7). Conclusions: 1) Most patients with suspected WCH actually had persistent hypertension at the ABPM; 2) A little over a third of patients with suspected WCH had the diagnosis confirmed by ABPM; 3) The standard patient with WCH in our sample was female and mean age of 50 years.

Cardiac tumours: clinical, echocardiographic and pathological features

OBJETIVO: Caracterizacao clinica e ecocardiografica dos pacientes com tumores cardiacos, avaliacao da terapeutica cirurgica e da recidiva dos tumores. METODO: Na primeira parte da pesquisa, o delineamento metodologico foi do tipo retrospectivo, atraves da identificacao de tumores cardiacos e coleta de dados dos prontuarios do Hospital Universitario Walter Cantidio (UFCE) e Hospital de Messejana, no periodo de 1981 a 2001, onde foram encontrados 19 casos de tumores cardiacos. Os pacientes foram submetidos a uma reavaliacao clinica, eletro e ecocardiografica durante o periodo de marco a julho de 2002. RESULTADOS: Sintomas congestivos e dor toracica foram os sintomas mais frequentes em nossa serie. A localizacao preferencial dos tumores cardiacos em nossa serie foi no atrio esquerdo. Entre os pacientes submetidos a operacao, todos tiveram o tumor ressecado dos atrios, predominando a localizacao em atrio esquerdo (79%). O tipo histopatologico mais encontrado em nossa serie foi o mixoma (78%). A mortalidade cirurgica foi de 14%. Detectamos recidiva de tumor em um paciente. CONCLUSOES: Tumores cardiacos foram mais encontrados no atrio esquerdo. Os tumores benignos foram mais frequentes que os malignos. O tipo histopatologico mais encontrado foi o mixoma.

Reumatic fever: it is still among us

Medical Science Institute - Paulo Marcelo Martins Rodrigues. MedicalSchool, Federal University of Ceara. Fortaleza, CE, Brazil.Correspondence address: Demostenes G. L. Ribeiro. Rua DeputadoMoreira da Rocha, 655 / 202. Aldeota Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil. CEP:60.160-060. Phone: (85) 248-3009.E-mail:ricardop@ultranet.com.br

O Ventrículo Direito e a Hipertensão Arterial: Aspectos Ecocardiográficos

O exame ecocardiografico do ventriculo direito temmuitas limitacoes. Grande parte da câmara situa-se atras doesterno, possui formato irregular, paredes trabeculadas e lo-calizacao variavel dentro do torax, na dependencia da posi-cao do paciente. Apesar destes problemas, o ecocardiogra-ma pode fornecer informacoes uteis sobre o ventriculo di-reito, incluindo a determinacao de suas dimensoes

Effectiveness of low-dose diuretics for blood pressure reduction to optimal values in prehypertension: a randomized clinical trial

Background: To determine the effectiveness of low-dose diuretic therapy to achieve an optimal level of blood pressure (BP) in adults with prehypertension. Methods: The PREVER-prevention trial was a randomized, parallel, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial, with 18 months of follow-up, conducted at 21 academic medical centers in Brazil. Of 1772 individuals evaluated for eligibility, 730 volunteers with prehypertension who were aged 30–70 years, and who did not reach optimal blood pressure after 3 months of lifestyle intervention, were randomized to a fixed association of chlorthalidone 12.5 mg and amiloride 2.5 mg or placebo once a day. The main outcomes were the percentage of participants who achieved an optimal level of BP. Results: A total of 372 participants were randomly allocated to diuretics and 358 to placebo. After 18 months of treatment, optimal BP was noted in 25.6% of the diuretic group and 19.3% in the placebo group (P < 0.05). The mean net reduction in SBP and DBP for the diuretic group compared with placebo was 2.8 mmHg (95% CI 1.1 to 4.5) and 1.1 mmHg (95% CI −0.09 to 2.4), respectively. Most participants in the active treatment group (74.5%) and in the placebo group (80.7%) continued to have BP in the prehypertension range or progressed to hypertension. Conclusion: Low-dose diuretic therapy increased the probability of individuals with prehypertension to achieve optimal BP but most of those treated continued to have a BP in the prehypertension range or progressed to having overt hypertension.

Clinical correlation between N-terminal pro-b-type natriuretic peptide and angiographic coronary atherosclerosis

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the clinical correlation between angiographic coronary atherosclerosis and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide along with other known correlated factors. METHODS: In total, 153 patients with a diagnostic hypothesis of stable angina, unstable angina or acute myocardial infarction were classified as group A (patients with angiographically normal coronary arteries) or group B (patients with angiographic coronary atherosclerosis). The two groups were analyzed with respect to the following factors: gender, age, body mass index, abdominal circumference, smoking, diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, early family history of atherosclerosis, statin use, the presence of metabolic syndrome, clinical presentation and biochemical factors, including cholesterol, creatinine and fibrinogen plasma concentrations, monocyte counts and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide. RESULTS: Univariate analyses comparing the two groups revealed that group B patients more frequently had diabetes, used statins and had systolic dysfunction, N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide levels ≥250 pg/mL, fibrinogen levels >500 mg/dL and ≥501 monocytes/mm3 compared with group A patients (p<0.05). Nevertheless, multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the independent predictors of angiographic coronary atherosclerosis were an N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide level ≥250 pg/mL, diabetes mellitus and increased monocyte numbers and fibrinogen plasma concentration, regardless of the creatinine level or the presence of systolic dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS: An N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide plasma concentration of ≥250 pg/mL is an independent predictor of angiographic coronary atherosclerosis.