Cardiac function associated with previous, current and repeated depression and anxiety symptoms in a healthy population: the HUNT study.

Objective: Symptoms of anxiety and depression often co-exist with cardiovascular disease (CVD), yet little is known about the association with left ventricular (LV) subclinical dysfunction. We aimed to study the cross-sectional associations of previous, current and repeated depression or anxiety symptoms, with sensitive indices of LV systolic and diastolic function, based on tissue Doppler (TD) and speckle tracking (ST) imaging methods. Methods: A random selection of 1296 individuals free from known CVD, hypertension and diabetes were examined with echocardiography at baseline of the third Nord-Trøndelag Health Study, (HUNT3, 2006–2008). The primary outcomes were LV diastolic function (e′) and LV systolic function (longitudinal global strain). The primary exposures were self-report on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Associations between outcomes and baseline exposures were available for 1034 (80%), and with previous and repeated exposures for 700 participants who also participated in HUNT2 (1995–1997). Results: Previous and repeated depression symptoms, but not current depression, were linearly associated with a reduction in e′. The average sum of two repeated HADS-D scores 10 years apart had the strongest effect on e′ (−8.3%; 95% CI −13.9% to −2.7%) per 5 units. We observed a sex difference between depression symptoms and longitudinal global strain (p for interaction 0.019), where women had a marginal negative effect. Anxiety symptoms, neither previous, current nor repeated were associated with subclinical LV dysfunction. Conclusions: In a healthy sample, confirmed free of CVD, past and repeated depression symptoms were associated with subclinical LV dysfunction. Thus, depression symptoms might represent a modifiable risk factor for future CVD.This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0

Asthma, asthma control and risk of ischemic stroke:The HUNT study

Background: Asthma, a chronic inflammatory airway disease, shares common pathophysiological mechanisms with ischemic stroke. The aim of the study is to assess the association between asthma, levels of asthma control and ischemic stroke risk in men and women and by smoking habits. Methods: This prospective population-based cohort study utilized data on 58 712 adults from HUNT Study in Norway free from stroke. Self-reported asthma was categorized as ever asthma, non-active asthma and active asthma (i.e., being on asthma medication within 12 months of the baseline). Asthma control was defined ac-cording to the Global Initiative for Asthma questionnaire and was categorized into controlled and not controlled asthma. Stroke was ascertained by linking HUNT data with Nord-Trøndelag hospital records and the Norwegian Patient Registry. Results: During a mean follow-up of 17.3 �5.3 years, 2619 participants (4.5%) had a first stroke. Not controlled asthma was associated with a modest increased risk of stroke (adjusted HR 1.34, 95%CI 1.03–1.73). Subgroup analyses revealed that the respective association was stronger among those with history of smoking (HR 1.48, 95%CI 1.10–2.00) and males (HR 1.55, 95%CI 1.12–2.16) while absent in non-smokers (HR 1.02, 95%CI 0.61–1.70) and females (HR 1.05, 95%CI 0.69–1.60). Likewise, active asthma was associated with similar increased stroke risk among smokers and males and absent in non-smokers and females. Conclusions: Symptomatic and active asthma was associated with a modest increased relative risk for ischemic stroke in smokers and males. Future studies should clarify the difference in risks and mechanisms between different phenotypes of asthma

Biological and clinical insights from genetics of insomnia symptoms

Insomnia is a common disorder linked with adverse long-term medical and psychiatric outcomes. The underlying pathophysiological processes and causal relationships of insomnia with disease are poorly understood. Here we identified 57 loci for self-reported insomnia symptoms in the UK Biobank (n = 453,379) and confirmed their effects on self-reported insomnia symptoms in the HUNT Study (n = 14,923 cases and 47,610 controls), physician-diagnosed insomnia in the Partners Biobank (n = 2,217 cases and 14,240 controls), and accelerometer-derived measures of sleep efficiency and sleep duration in the UK Biobank (n = 83,726). Our results suggest enrichment of genes involved in ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis and of genes expressed in multiple brain regions, skeletal muscle, and adrenal glands. Evidence of shared genetic factors was found between frequent insomnia symptoms and restless legs syndrome, aging, and cardiometabolic, behavioral, psychiatric, and reproductive traits. Evidence was found for a possible causal link between insomnia symptoms and coronary artery disease, depressive symptoms, and subjective well-being

Asthma, asthma control and risk of ischemic stroke: The HUNT study

Background: Asthma, a chronic inflammatory airway disease, shares common pathophysiological mechanisms with ischemic stroke. The aim of the study is to assess the association between asthma, levels of asthma control and ischemic stroke risk in men and women and by smoking habits. Methods: This prospective population-based cohort study utilized data on 58 712 adults from HUNT Study in Norway free from stroke. Self-reported asthma was categorized as ever asthma, non-active asthma and active asthma (i.e., being on asthma medication within 12 months of the baseline). Asthma control was defined ac-cording to the Global Initiative for Asthma questionnaire and was categorized into controlled and not controlled asthma. Stroke was ascertained by linking HUNT data with Nord-Trøndelag hospital records and the Norwegian Patient Registry. Results: During a mean follow-up of 17.3 �5.3 years, 2619 participants (4.5%) had a first stroke. Not controlled asthma was associated with a modest increased risk of stroke (adjusted HR 1.34, 95%CI 1.03–1.73). Subgroup analyses revealed that the respective association was stronger among those with history of smoking (HR 1.48, 95%CI 1.10–2.00) and males (HR 1.55, 95%CI 1.12–2.16) while absent in non-smokers (HR 1.02, 95%CI 0.61–1.70) and females (HR 1.05, 95%CI 0.69–1.60). Likewise, active asthma was associated with similar increased stroke risk among smokers and males and absent in non-smokers and females. Conclusions: Symptomatic and active asthma was associated with a modest increased relative risk for ischemic stroke in smokers and males. Future studies should clarify the difference in risks and mechanisms between different phenotypes of asthma

Is having asthma associated with an increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease? A prospective cohort study of 446 346 Taiwanese adults

Objectives A significant proportion of cardiovascular disease (CVD) cannot be explained by well-known risk factors such as high cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes. One potential novel risk factor for CVD is asthma. We aimed to investigate the association between asthma and mortality due to CVD. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting A large health check-up programme from 1994 to 2011 in Taipei, Taiwan. Participants 446 346 Taiwanese adults. Each participant answered questions regarding asthma history (yes/no) and current daily use of asthma medications (yes/no). Active asthma was defined as those using current daily medications for asthma. Outcomes The participants were followed for mortality from CVD, coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke obtained through linkage to the cause-of-death register until 31 December 2011. Results We found an increased risk of dying from CVD in individuals with active asthma (adjusted HR (aHR) 1.32, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.62). The risk of death from CHD or stroke was increased in a similar manner (aHR 1.16, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.73 and aHR 1.23, 95% CI 0.86 to 1.74, respectively) although the HR estimates were less precise than that of CVD. For deaths from CVD, CHD and stroke, we found stronger associations with active asthma than non-active asthma, and for CVD and stroke stronger associations in men than women. Conclusion Our study suggests that asthma, particularly active asthma, may be associated with adverse cardiovascular consequences

Insomnia and left ventricular function – an echocardiography study

<p><i>Objectives</i>. Recently, studies have reported an association of insomnia with incident heart failure but its causal relation is still uncertain. In patients with heart failure, the left ventricular function is impaired and the deterioration may start long before the patient experiences any symptoms. As the first study, we examined the association of insomnia with left ventricular function using state-of-the art echocardiography methods. <i>Design</i>. In the echocardiography study, several indices of left ventricular function were examined in participants free from cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and diabetes. In total 788 participants with information on all relevant covariates were included. We calculated the least square mean of indices of left ventricular function associated with increasing number of insomnia symptoms (i.e. difficulties falling asleep, frequent awakenings and early awakenings), including systolic mitral annular excursion, peak velocities of systolic and diastolic motion of the mitral annulus and systolic deformation of the left ventricle. <i>Results</i>. We found no clear evidence that increasing number of insomnia symptoms is associated with any of the left ventricular function indices. <i>Conclusions</i>. The methods that were used are sensitive to detect preclinical HF, and therefore, our findings do not support a causal relation between insomnia symptoms and HF.</p

Light-moderate alcohol consumption and left ventricular function among healthy, middle-aged adults: the HUNT study

Objectives To investigate the association between alcohol consumption and left ventricular (LV) function in a population with low average alcohol intake. Design, setting and participants A total of 1296 healthy participants, free from cardiovascular diseases, were randomly selected from the third wave of the Norwegian HUNT study (2006–2008) and underwent echocardiography. After validation of the inclusion criteria, 30 participants were excluded due to arrhythmias or myocardial or valvular pathology. Alcohol consumption, sociodemographic and major cardiovascular risk factors were assessed by questionnaires and clinical examination in the HUNT3. General linear models were used to analyse the cross-sectional associations between alcohol intake and LV indices. Primary and secondary outcome measures LV functional and structural indices were measured with tissue Doppler and speckle tracking echocardiography. Results We observed no associations between alcohol consumption and multivariable-adjusted LV functional indices. Excluding abstainers who reported regular alcohol consumption 10 years prior to the baseline did not change the results. Alcohol consumption was positively associated with LV mass indices (p<0.01 for linear trend of the means); there was no such association among participants with non-risky drinking characteristics (p=0.67 for linear trend of the means). Conclusions We found no clear evidence that light–moderate alcohol consumption is associated with measures of LV function, although our results indicate that consumption, especially when marked by binge drinking, is progressively associated with greater LV mass