The degree of premature hair graying as an independent risk marker for coronary artery disease: a predictor of biological age rather than chronological ageKoroner arter hastalığı için bağımsız bir risk öngörücüsü olarak saçın erken beyazlama düzeyi: Zamansal yaştan çok biyolojik yaşın öngörücüsü ABSTRACTObjective: Age is the most important and uncorrectable coronary risk factor at the moment. The concept of measuring aging biologically rather than only chronologically may be of importance in clinical practice. Hair graying is the most apparent sign of biological aging in humans, yet its mechanism is largely unknown. Today, it is known that cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs), especially in combination, cause premature atherosclerosis. In our opinion, premature hair graying or whitening may represent early atherosclerotic changes as a surrogate of host response to the CVRFs. In this study, we planned to investigate the relationship of hair graying with CVRFs and coronary atherosclerotic burden in order to determine whether it is an independent marker for coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods: The current study has a cross-sectional observational design. Two hundred and thirteen men who underwent coronary angiography with a suspicion of CAD were enrolled in the study. The patients were evaluated in terms of age, demographical properties and the CVRFs. Hair whitening score (HWS) was defined according to extent of gray/white hairs (1: pure black; 2: black>white; 3: black=white; 4: white>black; 5: pure white). Coronary atherosclerotic burden was assessed by the Gensini score. Analyses were performed in age-matched normal coronary arteries (NCA) and CAD groups. Linear and logistic regression analyses were used for the multivariate analyses of independent variables associated with hair greying. Results: The CVRFs were higher in CAD group. Hair whitening score (2.7±1.3 vs. 3.3±1.2, p=0.002), hair losing score (1.2±0.9 vs. 1.5±1.0, p=0.038) and xanthelasma rate (24% vs. 45%, p=0.013) were also significantly different between NCA and CAD groups. Age (p<0001), Gensini score (p<0.001) and coronary severity score (p=0.001) were higher in the categories of increased HWS. In multiple logistic regression analysis, only diabetes mellitus (OR: 3.240, 95% CI: [1.017-10.319], p=0.047), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, (OR: 1.014, 95%CI: [1.001-1.027], p=0.029) and HWS (OR: 1.513, 95% CI: [1.054-2.173], p=0.025) were independently related to presence of CAD. Age (p<0.001), family history of CAD (p=0.004), hyperlipidemia (p=0.02) and serum creatinine levels (p=0.019) were found as independent predictors of hair graying. Conclusion: In our study, we found that the degree of gray/white hairs is related to extent of CAD. Our findings also suggested that hair graying is a risk marker for CAD independent of age and other traditional risk factors. Biological age may be important in determining total risk of patients. During assessment of cumulative CVRF effects on human body, presence of biological aging signs may be useful in identi...

We revealed increased pulse wave velocity and CIMT in patients with UC. UC appears to be associated with arterial stiffness and atherosclerotic burden, but the underlying mechanisms require further studies to be identified.

Fragmented QRS may predict postoperative atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass graft surgery Fragmente QRS izole koroner arter baypass greftleme operasyonu geçiren hastalarda postoperatif atriyal fibrilasyon gelişimini öngörebilir ABSTRACTObjective: Fragmented QRS complexes (fQRS) are defined as various RSR′ patterns in 2 contiguous leads corresponding to a major coronary artery territory. Although the reason of association between fQRS and cardiac events was documented as cardiac fibrosis, the predictive role of fQRS was not studied for postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) which is a frequent and serious complication in patients undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Therefore, this issue was investigated in the present study. Methods: The current study has a prospective observational design. Two hundred and seventy two eligible patients who underwent isolated CABG surgery were enrolled consecutively. The patients were divided in two groups with post-op atrial fibrillation (AF) and non-AF. The occurrence of new-onset AF following CABG and the relationship with fQRS were searched. The logistic regression analysis was used to determine independent predictors for POAF. The sensitivity and specificity of study variables in predicting POAF were calculated using a receiver-operating characteristic curve (ROC). Results: POAF occurred in 62 of 272 patients (22.8%). Patients with POAF were generally older (p<0.001) and female (p=0.006), with preexisting hypertension (p=0.008), lower hemoglobin levels (p=0.011), chronic obstructive lung disease (p=0.003), prolonged QRS time (p=0.004), and higher EUROSCORE (p<0.001) compared to non-AF patients. Patients with POAF had lower left ventricular ejection fraction (p<0.001) and high fQRS rate (p<0.001), but similar left atrial size (LA, p=NS). Interestingly, LA size was significantly enlarged in patients with fQRS (3.8±0.6 vs. 4.1±0.5 cm, p=0.002). In addition, the patients with POAF had prolonged stay in the cardiac surgery intensive-care unit (p<0.001) and extended in-hospital care (p=0.001). New-onset POAF was significantly related to the presence and number of fQRS. In the logistic regression analysis, only age (OR: 1.044, 95% CI: 1.008-1.082, p=0.016), female gender (OR: 2.347, 95% CI: 1.079-5.106, p=0.031), the presence and number of fQRS (OR: 6.020, 95% CI: 3.152-11.5 and OR: 1.522, 95% CI: 1.282-1.807, both of, p<0.001) were independent predictors of POAF. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and the diagnostic accuracy (DA) of presence of fQRS on pre-op electrocardiogram to predict POAF were 66%, 76%, 45%, 88% and 74%, respectively. The area under ROC was found as 0.733 (p<0.001, 95% CI: 0.657-0.810). Conclusion: In our study, we found that new-onset POAF was independently related to the presence and number of fQRS in patients undergoing CABG surgery. In addition, fQRS on pre-op surface ECG had high predictive values for new-onset POAF. (Anadolu Kard...

Objective:Catestatin has several cardiovascular actions, in addition to diminished sympatho-adrenal flow. Decreased plasma catestatin levels may reflect a predisposition for the development of hypertension and metabolic disorders. We planned to investigate the possible roles of catestatin in untreated hypertensive patients. As a secondary objective, we compared catestatin concentrations of healthy subjects with those of hypertensive patients in order to understand whether catestatin is increased reactively or diminished at onset.Methods:Our study was cross-sectional and observational. The patient group, comprising 109 consecutive untreated hypertensive patients without additional systemic or coronary heart disease, underwent evaluations of plasma catestatin, waist circumference, lipid parameters, left ventricular mass, carotid intima-media thickness, and flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery. Additionally, we measured catestatin concentrations of 38 apparently healthy subjects without any disease using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit.Results:We documented increased catestatin concentrations in previously untreated hypertensive patients compared to healthy controls (2.27±0.83 vs. 1.92±0.49 ng/mL, p=0.004). However, this association became insignificant after adjustments for age, gender, height, and weight. Within the patient group, catestatin levels were significantly higher in females. Among all study parameters, age, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) correlated positively to plasma catestatin, whereas triglycerides, hemoglobin, and left ventricular mass correlated negatively to plasma catestatin. We could not detect an association between vascular parameters and catestatin. Catestatin levels were significantly elevated with increasing HDL-C (1.91±0.37, 2.26±0.79, and 3.1±1.23 ng/mL in patients with HDL-C <40, 40-60, and >60 mg/dL, respectively). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed age (beta: 0.201, p=0.041) and HDL-C (beta: 0.390, p<0.001) as independent correlates of plasma catestatin concentration. Additionally, male gender (beta:-0.330, p=0.001) and plasma catestatin (beta: 0.299, p=0.002) were significantly associated with HDL-C concentrations.Conclusion:We documented that plasma catestatin is an independent predictor of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. In addition to antihypertensive effects, catestatin appears to be related to improved lipid and metabolic profiles. Coexistence of low catestatin levels with low HDL-C may provide a probable mechanism for the predictive value of low HDL-C for increased hypertension and cardiovascular events.

FQRS may be useful in identifying patients at higher cardiac risk with larger areas of ischemic jeopardized or necrotic myocardium.