Background: Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) has been traditionally associated with increased mortality and adverse cardiovascular events. We sought to determine whether CIN has a negative impact on the long-term outcome of patients with non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). Methods: A total of 312 consecutive patients (mean age 59 years, 76% male) who presented with NSTEMI and had undergone an early invasive procedure were retrospectively included. CIN was defined as either a 25% or 0.5-mg/dl increase in baseline serum creatinine (Cr) 72 h after the procedure. The primary endpoint of the study was mortality in the long-term follow-up (38 months, interquartile range 30-40). The secondary endpoint consisted of mortality and myocardial infarction (MI). Results: CIN developed in 30 (9.6%) patients. Independent predictors of CIN were the contrast volume-to-Cr clearance ratio, left ventricular ejection fraction and hemoglobin concentration. The primary (20 vs. 8.5%, p = 0.042) and secondary endpoints (33.3 vs. 17%, p = 0.029) were observed more frequently in patients with CIN during long-term follow-up. The unadjusted odds ratio (OR) of CIN was 2.55 [95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.04-6.24, p = 0.040] for mortality and 2.15 (CI 1.09-4.25, p = 0.028) for mortality/MI. However, after adjustment for confounding factors, CIN was not an independent predictor of either mortality (OR 1.62, CI 0.21-12.57, p = 0.646) or mortality/MI (OR 1.12, CI 0.31-4.0, p = 0.860). Conclusion: The effect of CIN on the long-term outcome of patients with NSTEMI was substantially influenced by confounding factors. CIN was a marker, rather than a mediator, of increased cardiovascular risk, and the baseline renal function was more conclusive as a long-term prognosticator.

Vitamin D and parathormone levels were closely associated with the stage of heart failure. There was a significant decrease in vitamin D levels and a significant increase in serum parathormone levels with clinical deterioration in heart failure.

Objectives The cross‐sectional study aimed to assess myocardial functions using global longitudinal strain (GLS) echocardiography and arrhythmia parameters with treatment naive newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and no clinical evidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methods Seventy seven newly diagnosed treatment‐naive RA patients were enrolled. Disease severity was evaluated according to rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti‐citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) positivity, and Disease Activity Score 28 C‐reactive protein (DAS28 CRP). Myocardial functions were assessed using conventional echocardiography and GLS technique and electrocardiogram parameters cQT and Tp‐e/cQT. Results Twenty three patients had severe disease while 54 patients were non‐severe. The Left Ventricle GLS (17.98 ± 1.24 vs 21.29 ± 1.03, P < .001), cQT (428.71 ± 9.05 vs 394.61 ± 17.83, P < .001), Tp‐e/cQT (0.19 ± 0.02 vs 0.16 ± 0.01, P < .001) for severe RA patients was reduced compared to RA non‐severe patients. Penalized maximum likelihood estimation logistic regression analysis revealed LVGLS as the only significantly independent predictor of severe RA disease (OR 0.70, CI 95% 0.52‐0.92, P = .001). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of the LVGLS was revealed 19.9 as GLS discriminative value with 88.8% positive predictive value for predicting severity. Severe RA risk increases when log‐odds value was over 0, corresponds to LVGLS value less than 18 by partial effect plots. Conclusion RA severity was associated with lower LV systolic myocardial function and increased arrhythmia parameters. Only LVGLS was significantly independent predictor of RA disease severity.

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