In recent years, more intensive chemotherapy regimens for mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) have been associated with prolongation of survival. In this study, our aim was to investigate prognostic factors and evaluate improvement in survival in MCL on a population level. The cohort included all patients diagnosed with MCL from 1 January 2000 to 31 March 2010 in the Swedish Lymphoma Registry. At total of 785 patients with MCL were identified. Age, performance status, and B-symptoms were significant prognostic factors for overall survival (OS) in multivariate analysis. In addition, OS was markedly improved (hazard ratio 0.8, 95% confidence interval 0.7-0.9) for patients diagnosed during the latest time period, 2006-2010, also when corrected for prognostic factors as above. Estimated OS at 3 years was 62%, compared to 47% for patients diagnosed earlier (p < 0.01). The reasons for this dramatic improvement in OS are not yet clear, but may be due to the introduction of specific and more potent therapeutic regimens.

Background: Patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) are generally less intensively managed than patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), despite that their risk of complications is believed to be equivalent. Identification of PAD patients at risk of poorly controlled blood pressure (BP) could lead to improved treatment, thus lowering the risk of cardiovascular (CV) complications. We aimed to describe the prevalence of poorly controlled cardiovascular (CV) risk factors, focusing on BP, in outpatients with PAD diagnosed in a vascular ultrasound laboratory. Methods: Consecutive outpatients with carotid and/or lower extremity PAD were included (n = 402) and examined with blood sampling, clinical BP, and 24-h ambulatory BP measurements. A poorly controlled clinical BP was defined as ≥140/90 mmHg, ambulatory BP ≥130/80 mmHg, low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol level ≥2.5 mmol/L, and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level >53 mmol/mol in those with diabetes. Results: Most of the patients had poorly controlled clinical (76.6%) and ambulatory BP (51.7%) profiles. Antihypertensive medications were prescribed in 84% of the patients. However, >40% of them used only 0–1 medication, and <25% of them used three or more agents. Clinical BP, a low number of medications, body mass index, and the presence of diabetes independently predicted a poorly controlled ambulatory BP. Nearly one-third of the patients were smokers, and most of the cohort had an LDL-cholesterol level of ≥2.5 mmol/L. An HbA1c level of >53 mmol/mol was present in 55% of diabetic patients. Conclusion: Poorly controlled clinical and ambulatory systolic BP profiles were common. In addition, suboptimal control of other important CV risk factors was detected. The findings of this study highlight the need for better preventive efforts against CV risk factors in outpatients with PAD.

Background: Patients with peripheral vascular disease (PVD) are often underdiagnosed and undertreated. Nocturnal nondipping blood pressure (BP) pattern, as diagnosed by ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM), is associated with increased cardiovascular risk, but has not been studied in patients with PVD. We aimed to investigate if a nondipping BP pattern predicts cardiovascular events or all-cause death in outpatients with PVD. Methods: Consecutive outpatients with carotid or lower-extremity PVD were examined with 24-hour ABPM ( n = 396). Nondipping was defined as a < 10% fall in systolic BP level during night-time. We used Cox regression models adjusting for potential confounders. We also evaluated the incremental prognostic value of dipping status in the COPART risk score. Our primary composite outcome was cardiovascular events or all-cause death. Results: In the cohort (mean age 70; 40% women), 137 events occurred during a 5.1-year median follow-up; incident rate of 7.35 events per 100 person-years. Nondipping was significantly associated with outcome (hazard ratio 1.55, 95% CI 1.07–2.26, p = 0.021) in a fully adjusted model. When adding nondipping to the risk markers in the COPART risk score, the model fit significantly improved (χ2 7.91, p < 0.005) and the C-statistic increased from 0.65 to 0.67. Conclusion: In a cohort of outpatients with PVD, nondipping was an independent risk factor for future cardiovascular events or mortality and seemed to be a strong predictor in patients with carotid artery disease but not in lower-extremity PVD. Additional studies are needed to evaluate the clinical utility of ABPM for improved prevention in these high-risk patients. (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01452165)

Background: Newer therapeutic agents for type 2 diabetes mellitus can improve cardiovascular outcomes, but diabetes remains underdiagnosed in patients with myocardial infarction (MI). We sought to identify proteomic markers of undetected dysglycaemia (impaired fasting glucose, impaired glucose tolerance, or diabetes mellitus) to improve the identification of patients at highest risk for diabetes. Materials and methods: In this prospective cohort, 626 patients without known diabetes underwent oral glucose tolerance testing (OGTT) during admission for MI. Proximity extension assay was used to measure 81 biomarkers. Multivariable logistic regression, adjusting for risk factors, was used to evaluate the association of biomarkers with dysglycaemia. Subsequently, lasso regression was performed in a 2/3 training set to identify proteomic biomarkers with prognostic value for dysglycaemia, when added to risk factors, fasting plasma glucose, and glycated haemoglobin A1c. Determination of discriminatory ability was performed in a 1/3 test set. Results: In total, 401/626 patients (64.1%) met the criteria for dysglycaemia. Using multivariable logistic regression, cathepsin D had the strongest association with dysglycaemia. Lasso regression selected seven markers, including cathepsin D, that improved prediction of dysglycaemia (area under the receiver operator curve [AUC] 0.848 increased to 0.863). In patients with normal fasting plasma glucose, only cathepsin D was selected (AUC 0.699 increased to 0.704). Conclusions: Newly detected dysglycaemia, including manifest diabetes, is common in patients with acute MI. Cathepsin D improved the prediction of dysglycaemia, which may be helpful in the a priori risk determination of diabetes as a motivation for confirmatory OGTT.