Our data provide the first evidence that echocardiographic LVM in hypertensive patients is inversely related to FBF responses to the endothelium-dependent vasodilating agent ACh, but it is likely that both endothelium and LVM are damaged by hypertension.

These data provide evidence that treatment with liraglutide is associated with improvement of cardiac function and functional capacity in failing post-ischemic type-2 diabetes mellitus patients.

BackgroundThe independent prognostic impact of diabetes mellitus (DM) and prediabetes mellitus (pre‐DM) on survival outcomes in patients with chronic heart failure has been investigated in observational registries and randomized, clinical trials, but the results have been often inconclusive or conflicting. We examined the independent prognostic impact of DM and pre‐DM on survival outcomes in the GISSI‐HF (Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio della Sopravvivenza nella Insufficienza Cardiaca‐Heart Failure) trial.Methods and ResultsWe assessed the risk of all‐cause death and the composite of all‐cause death or cardiovascular hospitalization over a median follow‐up period of 3.9 years among the 6935 chronic heart failure participants of the GISSI‐HF trial, who were stratified by presence of DM (n=2852), pre‐DM (n=2013), and non‐DM (n=2070) at baseline. Compared with non‐DM patients, those with DM had remarkably higher incidence rates of all‐cause death (34.5% versus 24.6%) and the composite end point (63.6% versus 54.7%). Conversely, both event rates were similar between non‐DM patients and those with pre‐DM. Cox regression analysis showed that DM, but not pre‐DM, was associated with an increased risk of all‐cause death (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.28–1.60) and of the composite end point (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.13–1.32), independently of established risk factors. In the DM subgroup, higher hemoglobin A1c was also independently associated with increased risk of both study outcomes (all‐cause death: adjusted hazard ratio, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.02–1.43; and composite end point: adjusted hazard ratio, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.01–1.29, respectively).ConclusionsPresence of DM was independently associated with poor long‐term survival outcomes in patients with chronic heart failure.Clinical Trial Registration URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00336336.

No abstract

The association between angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene polymorphism and insulin resistance (IR) in hypertensive subjects remains controversial. Thus, we evaluated the possible association between IR and ACE gene polymorphism in a group of hypertensive, never-treated patients compared with that in a normotensive control group. We enrolled 200 (114 men and 86 women; age, 45.5 +/- 4.7 yr) hypertensive patients and 96 (54 men and 42 women; age, 44.0 +/- 4.7 yr) normotensive subjects. A double PCR assay was used to identify ACE genotypes. We determined fasting glucose and insulin by the glucose oxidase method and using a standard RIA technique. IR was estimated using the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA(IR)). Both fasting glucose (5.0 +/- 0.3 vs. 4.7 +/- 0.3 mmol/L; P < 0.0001), insulin levels (12.3 +/- 4.7 vs. 4.9 +/- 1.5 muU/mL; P < 0.0001), and HOMA(IR) (2.7 +/- 1.1 vs. 1.1 +/- 0.3; P < 0.0001) were significantly higher in hypertensive patients than in the normotensive control group. When we subdivided hypertensive patients according to ACE genotype, we observed that fasting insulin and HOMA(IR) were 16.3 +/- 3.3 and 3.6 +/- 0.8 in the DD genotype, 9.4 +/- 3.1 and 2.1 +/- 0.7 in the ID genotype, and 8.3 +/- 2.8 and 1.9 +/- 0.7 muU/mL in the II group (P < 0.0001, by ANOVA). No significant differences were observed in the normotensive control group. In conclusion, we extended previous data regarding the relationship of hypertension and IR by demonstrating a dependence of this relationship upon the ACE gene polymorphism.