0000000000017795
AUTHOR
Benedetto Caroleo
COPD significantly increases cerebral and cardiovascular events in hypertensives
AbstractEssential hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease often coexist in the same patient. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the addition of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease modifies the risk of cardiovascular events in hypertensives. We enrolled 1728 hypertensives. Study outcomes included fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular stroke and myocardial infarction, and cardiovascular death. During a mean follow-up of 57 months there were 205 major adverse cardiovascular events (2.47 per 100 pts/yr): cardiac (n117; 1.41 per 100 pts/yr) and cerebrovascular (n = 77; 0.93 per 100 pts/yr). In hypertensives with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease we observed a greater…
Insulin-resistance HCV infection-related affects vascular stiffness in normotensives
BACKGROUND AND AIMS. Arterial stiffness evaluated as pulse wave velocity, is an early marker of vascular damage and an independent predictor for cardiovascular events. We investigated if the insulin resistance/hyperinsulinemia chronic hepatitis C virus infection-related could influence arterial stiffness. METHODS. We enrolled 260 outpatients matched for age, body mass index, gender, ethnicity: 52 with never-treated uncomplicated chronic hepatitis C virus infection (HCV(+)), 104 never-treated hypertensives (HT) and 104 healthy subjects (NT). Pulse wave velocity was evaluated by a validated system employing high-fidelity applanation tonometry. We also measured: fasting plasma glucose and insu…
Estimating minimum adult HIV prevalence: A cross-sectional study to assess the characteristics of people living with HIV in Italy
In 2012, we conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study to assess the number of people living with HIV linked to care and, among these, the number of people on antiretroviral therapy. The health authority in each of the 20 Italian Regions provided the list of Public Infectious Diseases Clinics providing antiretroviral therapy and monitoring people with HIV infection. We asked every Public Infectious Diseases Clinic to report the number of HIV-positive people diagnosed and linked to care and the number of those on antiretroviral therapy during 2012. In 2012, 94,146 people diagnosed with HIV and linked to care were reported. The majority were males (70.1%), Italians (84.4%), and aged betw…
Severe reduction of blood lysosomal acid lipase activity in cryptogenic cirrhosis: A nationwide multicentre cohort study
Background and aims Blood lysosomal acid lipase (LAL) is reduced in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, which is the major cause of cryptogenic cirrhosis (CC); few data on LAL activity in CC do exist. We investigated LAL activity in a cohort of patients with liver cirrhosis. Methods This is a multicentre cohort study including 274 patients with liver cirrhosis of different aetiology from 19 centres of Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology and Hepatology distributed throughout Italy. Blood LAL activity (nmol/spot/h) was measured with dried blood spot extracts using Lalistat 2. Results Overall, 133 patients had CC, and 141 patients had cirrhosis by other causes (61 viral, 53 alcoholic, 20 alcoholic …