Association between sleep duration and blood pressure in adolescents

In adults, sleep has an important role in the development of cardiovascular diseases. However, in young adolescents, the effect is unclear. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the association between sleep duration and blood pressure (BP) in subjects of 13 years of age. We evaluated 1771 adolescents as part of a population-based cohort (Epidemiological Health Investigation of Teenagers). Sleep duration was estimated based on the difference between self-reported usual bedtimes and wake-up times, and adolescents were classified into three categories: 8.5 h (reference class), >8.5 h and 8.5 and <9.5 h: OR=1.56, 95% CI 1.07–2.27; 9.5 h: OR=1.83, 95% CI 1.23–2.70). Among males, no significant association was found between sleep duration and BP. Sleep duration was positively associated with BP in both sexes, although after adjustment for potential confounders, this association was significant only for female adolescents

Worsening calcification propensity precedes all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in haemodialyzed patients

Abstract A novel in-vitro test (T50-test) assesses ex-vivo serum calcification propensity which predicts mortality in HD patients. The association of longitudinal changes of T50 with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality has not been investigated. We assessed T50 in paired sera collected at baseline and at 24 months in 188 prevalent European HD patients from the ISAR cohort, most of whom were Caucasians. Patients were followed for another 19 [interquartile range: 11–37] months. Serum T50 exhibited a significant decline between baseline and 24 months (246 ± 64 to 190 ± 68 minutes; p < 0.001). With serum Δ-phosphate showing the strongest independent association with declining T50 (r = −0.39; p < 0.001) in multivariable linear regression. The rate of decline of T50 over 24 months was a significant predictor of all-cause (HR = 1.51 per 1SD decline, 95% CI: 1.04 to 2.2; p = 0.03) and cardiovascular mortality (HR = 2.15; 95% CI: 1.15 to 3.97; p = 0.02) in Kaplan Meier and multivariable Cox-regression analysis, while cross-sectional T50 at inclusion and 24 months were not. Worsening serum calcification propensity was an independent predictor of mortality in this small cohort of prevalent HD patients. Prospective larger scaled studies are needed to assess the value of calcification propensity as a longitudinal parameter for risk stratification and monitoring of therapeutic interventions