Influence of the gender on the relationship between heart rate and blood pressure

Blood Pressure (BP) and Heart Rate (HR) provide information on clin-ical condition along 24h. Both signals present circadian changes due to sympa-thetic/parasympathetic control system that influence the relationship between them. Moreover, also the gender could modify this relation, acting on both con-trol systems. Some studies, using office measurements examined the BP/HR re-lation, highlighting a direct association between the two variables, linked to sus-pected coronary heart disease. Nevertheless, till now such relation has not been studied yet using ambulatory technique that is known to lead to additional prog-nostic information about cardiovascular risks. In order to examine in a more ac-curate way this relation, in this work we evaluate the influence of gender on the BP/HR relationship by using hour-to-hour 24h ambulatory measurements. Data coming from 122 female and 50 male normotensive subjects were recorded using a Holter Blood Pressure Monitor and the parameters of the linear regression fit-ting BP/HR were calculated. Results confirmed those obtained in previous stud-ies using punctual office measures in males and underlined a significant relation between Diastolic BP and HR during each hour of the day in females; a different trend in the BP/HR relation between genders was found only during night-time. Moreover, the circadian rhythm of BP/HR is similar in both genders but with different values of HR and BP at different times of the day

Physical activity, exercise and self-rated health: a population-based study from Sweden

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In order to screen for the most inactive individuals in the population and target health-related interventions where they are most needed it is important to assess different forms of physical activity in population-based studies. The aims were (1) to identify the most inactive individuals in the population by assessing two dimensions of physical activity, (2) to investigate the correlation between exercise and total physical activity and (3) to investigate the association between exercise, total physical activity and good self-rated health.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A simple random sample of the Swedish population aged 25–64 years were interviewed about their living conditions, health and lifestyle in a survey performed by Statitics Sweden. In total 1876 women and 1880 men completed the survey during 1999 (response rate 76.6%) when two different questions about physical activity assessed exercise and total physical activity in all domains (e.g. transportation, exercise, and at work). Logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The most inactive individuals (no exercise and total physical activity ≤ 2 hours per week) constituted 4.3% of the sample. The correlation between exercise and total physical activity was low (gamma = 0.4, <it>p = </it>0.02). There were significant associations between higher levels of exercise, total physical activity and good self-rated health after adjustment for age, gender, country of birth, education, employment, marital status, housing tenure, smoking and BMI.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Both exercise and total physical activity were independently associated with good self-rated health. It seems to be advantageous to use more than one question in population based surveys in order to evaluate several dimensions of physical activity and identify the most inactive individuals.</p

The rationale and design of the perindopril genetic association study (PERGENE): A pharmacogenetic analysis of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor therapy in patients with stable coronary artery disease

Background: Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors reduce clinical symptoms and improve outcome in patients with hypertension, heart failure, and stable coronary artery disease (CAD) and are among the most frequently used drugs in these patient groups. For hypertension, treatment is guided by the level of blood pressure. In the secondary prevention setting, there are no means of guiding therapy. Prior attempts to target ACE-inhibitors to those patients that are most likely to benefit have not been successful, mainly due to the consistency in the treatment effect in clinical subgroups. Still, for prolonged prophylactic treatment with ACE-inhibitors it would be best to target treatment to only those patients most likely to benefit, which would considerably lower the number needed to treat and increase cost-effectiveness. A new approach for such "tailored-therapy" may be to integrate information on the genetic variation between patients. Until now, pharmacogenetic research of the efficacy of ACE-inhibitor therapy in CAD patients is still in a preliminary stage. Methods: The PERindopril GENEtic association study (PERGENE) is a substudy of the EUROPA trial, a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled multicentre clinical trial which demonstrated a beneficial effect of the ACE-inhibitor perindopril in reducing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in 12.218 patients with stable coronary artery disease (mean follow-up 4.2 years). Blood tubes were received from patients at the beginning of the EUROPA trial and buffy coats were stored at -40°C at the central core laboratory. Candidate genes were selected in the renin-angiotensin-system and bradykinin pathways. Polymorphisms were selected based on haplotype tagging principles using the HapMap genome project, Seattle and other up-to-date genetic database platforms to comprehensively cover all common genetic variation within the genes. Selection also took into consideration the functionality of SNP's, location within the gene (promoter) and existing relevant literature. The main outcome measure of PERGENE is the effect of genetic factors on the treatment benefit with ACE-inhibitors. The size of this pharmacogenetic substudy allows detection with a statistical power of 98% to detect a difference in hazard ratios (treatment effect) of 20% between genotypes with minor allele frequency of 0.20 (two-sided alpha 0.05). Conclusion: The PERGENE study is a large cardiovascular pharmacogenetic study aimed to assess the feasibility of pharmacogenetic profiling of the treatment effect of ACE-inhibitor use with the perspective to individualize treatment in patients with stable coronary artery disease

Validation of the use of Actigraph GT3X accelerometers to estimate energy expenditure in full time manual wheel chair users with Spinal Cord Injury

Study design: Cross-sectional validation study. Objectives: The goals of this study were to validate the use of accelerometers by means of multiple linear models (MLMs) to estimate the O2 consumption (VO2) in paraplegic persons and to determine the best placement for accelerometers on the human body. Setting: Non-hospitalized paraplegics’ community. Methods: Twenty participants (age=40.03 years, weight=75.8 kg and height=1.76 m) completed sedentary, propulsion and housework activities for 10 min each. A portable gas analyzer was used to record VO2. Additionally, four accelerometers (placed on the non-dominant chest, non-dominant waist and both wrists) were used to collect second-by-second acceleration signals. Minute-by-minute VO2 (ml kg−1 min−1) collected from minutes 4 to 7 was used as the dependent variable. Thirty-six features extracted from the acceleration signals were used as independent variables. These variables were, for each axis including the resultant vector, the percentiles 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th; the autocorrelation with lag of 1 s and three variables extracted from wavelet analysis. The independent variables that were determined to be statistically significant using the forward stepwise method were subsequently analyzed using MLMs. Results: The model obtained for the non-dominant wrist was the most accurate (VO2=4.0558−0.0318Y25+0.0107Y90+0.0051YND2−0.0061ZND2+0.0357VR50) with an r-value of 0.86 and a root mean square error of 2.23 ml kg−1 min−1. Conclusions: The use of MLMs is appropriate to estimate VO2 by accelerometer data in paraplegic persons. The model obtained to the non-dominant wrist accelerometer (best placement) data improves the previous models for this population.LM Garcia-Raffi and EA Sanchez-Perez gratefully acknowledge the support of the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad under project #MTM2012-36740-c02-02. X Garcia-Masso is a Vali + D researcher in training with support from the Generalitat Valenciana.Garcia Masso, X.; Serra Añó, P.; García Raffi, LM.; Sánchez Pérez, EA.; Lopez Pascual, J.; González, L. (2013). Validation of the use of Actigraph GT3X accelerometers to estimate energy expenditure in full time manual wheel chair users with Spinal Cord Injury. Spinal Cord. 51(12):898-903. https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.2013.85S8989035112Van den Berg-Emons RJ, Bussmann JB, Haisma JA, Sluis TA, van der Woude LH, Bergen MP et al. A prospective study on physical activity levels after spinal cord injury during inpatient rehabilitation and the year after discharge. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2008; 89: 2094–2101.Jacobs PL, Nash MS . Exercise recommendations for individuals with spinal cord injury. Sports Med 2004; 34: 727–751.Erikssen G . Physical fitness and changes in mortality: the survival of the fittest. Sports Med 2001; 31: 571–576.Warburton DER, Nicol CW, Bredin SSD . 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Multidisciplinary care planning in the primary care management of completed stroke: a systematic review

Background: Chronic disease management requires input from multiple health professionals, both specialist and primary care providers. This study sought to assess the impact of co-ordinated multidisciplinary care in primary care, represented by the delivery of formal care planning by primary care teams or shared across primary-secondary teams, on outcomes in stroke, relative to usual care

Physical activity in Hodgkin's lymphoma survivors with and without chronic fatigue compared with the general population – a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hodgkin's lymphoma survivors (HLSs) commonly report chronic fatigue, defined as high levels of fatigue for 6 months or more. Underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Based upon knowledge from other populations, lifestyle parameters may be related to this increased and persistent fatigue. The primary objective of the present study was to assess self-reported levels of physical activity, smoking habits and sleep patterns in HLSs with and without chronic fatigue. The secondary objective was to compare these results with data from age and gender adjusted data from the general population (Gen-Pop).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The Fatigue Questionnaire (FQ) and questions about daily smoking, sleep patterns and level of physical activity were completed by 476 HLSs treated at Rikshospitalet-Radiumhospitalet Trust (RR). The Gen-Pop data was derived from 56.999 inhabitants in a Norwegian county responding to a mail survey. Fischer's exact test, chi square test and t-tests were used to compare groups. P-values < .05 were considered statistically significant. A logistic regression analysis was performed in comparing the Gen-Pop with the HLSs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Level of physical activity, smoking habits and sleep patterns did not differ significantly between HLSs with and without chronic fatigue. The multivariate logistic regression analysis adjusting for different covariates, showed significantly more physically active men among HLSs compared with the Gen-Pop (OR = 1.50, CI 1.04 – 2.17), p = .031. No significant difference was found among females (OR = 1.20, CI = 0.83 – 1.74), p = .33.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Lifestyle parameters did not seem to be related to increased and persistent fatigue among HLSs. The results may indicate that the experience of Hodgkin's lymphoma increases the level of physical activity among male HLSs.</p

Effects of a multimodal exercise program on the functional capacity of Parkinson's disease patients considering disease severity and gender

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a multimodal exercise program (MEP) on the functional capacity of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) according to disease severity and gender. Fourteen patients with PD participated in the study and were distributed into groups according to 1) stage of disease and 2) gender. Functional capacity was evaluated before and after 6 months of intervention. The overall PD patient group improved their coordination and strength. Men and women improved in strength performance after exercise. Men also improved on coordination. For severity of disease, the unilateral group improved in strength, while the bilateral group improved in strength, balance, coordination and the UPDRS-functional score. In conclusion, a MEP is efficient in improving components of functional capacity in patients with PD, especially in strength. Gender may be considered in the exercise program. Individuals in the bilateral disease group appeared to benefit more from exercise