The effects of baseline heart rate recovery normality and exercise training protocol on heart rate recovery in patients with heart failure.

OBJECTIVE: It is unclear which exercise training protocol yields superior heart rate recovery (HRR) improvement in heart failure (HF) patients. Whether baseline HRR normality plays a role in the improvement is unknown. We hypothesized that an exercise training protocol and baseline HRR normality would be factors in altering HRR in HF patients. METHODS: In this prospective, randomized, controlled and 3 group parallel study, 41 stable HF patients were randomly assigned to 3-times-weekly training sessions for 12 weeks, consisting of i) 30 minutes of interval training (IT) (n=17, 63.7±8.8 years old) versus ii) 30 minutes of continuous training (CT) (n=13, 59.6±6.8 years old) versus iii) no training (CON) (n=11, 60.6±9.9 years old). Each patient had cardiopulmonary exercise testing before and after the training program. Maximum heart rates attained during the test and heart rates at 1 and 2 min (HRR1 and HRR2) during the recovery phase were recorded. Paired samples t-test or Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for comparisons before and after training. One-way ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis variance analysis was used for comparisons among groups. RESULTS: HRR1 was unchanged after training. HRR2 improved in the IT group after training, and post-training HRR2 values were significantly faster in the IT group than in controls. Both HRR1 and HRR2 was significantly faster, irrespective of exercise protocol in patients with abnormal baseline values after training. CONCLUSION: HRR1 did not improve after training. HRR2 improved only in the IT group. Both HRRs in patients with abnormal baseline values improved after both exercise protocols. IT might be superior to CT in improving HRR2. Baseline HRR might play a role in its response to exercise

Predictors of in-hospital mortality in very eldery patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome: A single-center study.

OBJECTIVE: Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) has become more frequent in the elderly population due to increased life expectancy. The aim of this trial was to determine clinical and laboratory factors related to in-hospital mortality in patients over 80 years of age who presented with ACS. METHODS: A total 171 patients (86 men, median age 83 years) who were over 80 years of age and were hospitalized due to a diagnosis of ACS were enrolled in this study. The patients' demographic data, clinical features, and laboratory values were screened retrospectively from hospital records. RESULTS: During the follow-up period, 19 of 171 patients (11.1%) died. The causes of death were cardiogenic shock (n=6, 31.5%), acute renal failure (n=6, 31.5%), arrhythmia (n=4, 21%), and septic shock (n=3, 15.7%). ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction presentation was more common among those who died [14 (73.7%) vs. 31 (20.5%); p<0.001]. Patients who died during in-hospital follow-up also had higher peak troponin [3.1 ng/mL (7.2) vs. 0.3 ng/mL (1.6); p<0.001] and creatine kinase-MB levels [96.7 ng/mL (194) vs. 10.9 ng/mL (36.2); p<0.001]. The results indicated that a high Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) risk score [odds risk (OR): 1.074, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.039-1.110; p<0.001], ejection fraction (EF) ≤40% (OR: 8.113, 95% CI: 1.101-59.773; p=0.040), or no use of an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI)/angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) (OR: 0.075, 95% CI: 0.006-0.995; p=0.049) was significantly associated with in-hospital mortality. CONCLUSION: Presentation with a high GRACE risk score, no use of an ACEI/ARB, and a low EF at admission were associated with in-hospital mortality in ACS patients more than 80 years old

Risk assessment and survival of patients with pulmonary hypertension: Multicenter experience in Turkey.

OBJECTIVE: Risk stratification continues to evolve in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Our aim was to further confirm the risk assessment strategy in our cohort and to determine the most reliable model. METHODS: We enrolled incident patients with idiopathic PAH (IPAH), heritable, drug-induced, congenital heart disease (CHD), connective tissue diseases (CTD) subsets, and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) from January 2008 to February 2018. Data from the baseline and subsequent follow-ups within 1 year of diagnosis were included. An abbreviated risk assessment strategy was applied using the following variables: functional class (FC), 6-minute walk distance (6 MWD), N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) or BNP, right atrial (RA) area, pericardial effusion, the mean RA pressure, cardiac index, and mixed venous oxygen saturation. Three different methods were applied to categorize patients. RESULTS: A total of 189 subjects (46+-17 years, 23% male) were included. Sixty-one patients had died. The survival differed significantly between the risk groups both at diagnosis and during the follow-up. Patients with a low-risk profile had a better survival rate. An abbreviated risk assessment tool predicted mortality at early follow-up in the entire group and CHD, CTD subsets, and CTEPH, separately. An overall mortality among risk categories was significantly different according to each categorization method. The most reliable model comprised FC, 6 MWD, NT pro-BNP/BNP, and the RA area at the follow-up. CONCLUSION: The abbreviated risk assessment tool may be valid for the PAH subsets and CTEPH. Echocardiographic variables do matter. A model comprising FC, 6 MWD, NT pro-BNP/BNP, and the RA area at the follow-up could be useful for better prognostication