Current epidemiological trends of infective endocarditis (IE) in Greece were investigated via a prospective cohort study of all cases of IE that fulfilled the Duke criteria during 2000-2004 in 14 tertiary and six general hospitals in the metropolitan area of Athens. Demographics, clinical data and outcome were compared for nosocomial IE (NIE) and community-acquired IE (CIE). NIE accounted for 42 (21.5%) and CIE for 153 (78.5%) of 195 cases. Intravenous drug use was associated exclusively with CIE, while co-morbidities (cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, chronic renal failure requiring haemodialysis and malignancies) were more frequent in the NIE group (p <0.05). Prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) predominated in the NIE group (p 0.006), and >50% of NIE cases had a history of vascular intervention. Coagulase-negative staphylococci and enterococci were more frequent in cases of NIE than in cases of CIE (26.2% vs. 5.2%, p <0.01, and 30.9% vs. 16.3%, p 0.05, respectively). Enterococci accounted for 19.5% of total IE cases and were the leading cause of NIE. Staphylococcus aureus IE was hospital-acquired in only 11.9% of cases. In-hospital mortality was higher for NIE than for CIE (39.5% vs. 18.6%, p 0.02). Cardiac failure (New York Heart Association grade III-IV; OR 13.3, 95% CI 4.9-36.1, p <0.001) and prosthetic valve endocarditis (OR 3.7, 95% CI 1.3-10.6, p 0.01) were the most important predictors of mortality.

In essential hypertension, pronounced low-grade inflammation in conjunction with hypoadiponectinaemia exerts an additive detrimental effect on aortic stiffness, accelerating the vascular ageing process.

The data regarding the role of serum uric acid (SUA) along with subclinical inflammation in the context of hypertensive vascular damage are rather scarce and controversial. Towards this end, we assess the links between SUA, high-sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP), adiponectin and carotid to femoral pulse wave velocity (c-f PWV) in 292 subjects with never-treated stage I-II essential hypertension. On the basis of the median SUA levels (0.31 mmol l À1 ), the study population was divided into subjects with low (n ¼ 149) and high (n ¼ 143) SUA values. By multiple regression analysis, it was revealed that SUA was independently associated with log hs-CRP (R 2 ¼ 0.098; P ¼ 0.02), log adiponectin (R 2 ¼ 0.102; P ¼ 0.03), waist circumference (R 2 ¼ 0.049; P ¼ 0.04), 24-h systolic blood pressure (SBP) (R 2 ¼ 0.179; P ¼ 0.001) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (R 2 ¼ 0.156; b (s.e.) ¼ À0.169 (0.023); P ¼ 0.02). In addition, c-f PWV was independently associated with age (R 2 ¼ 0.116; Po0.0001), waist circumference (R 2 ¼ 0.088; Po0.0001), 24-h SBP (R 2 ¼ 0.167; P ¼ 0.001), log adiponectin (R 2 ¼ 0.07; P ¼ 0.006) and log hs-CRP (R 2 ¼ 0.06; P ¼ 0.034). In conclusion, SUA levels are independently associated with hs-CRP and adiponectin levels but not with c-f PWV in essential hypertensive patients. Increased SUA levels are accompanied by a state of pronounced inflammatory activation and hypoadiponectinemia that significantly impairs the arterial stiffness accelerating the vascular ageing process in this setting.

We investigated whether the type of left ventricular (LV) geometry is associated with left atrial (LA) size as determined either by LA diameter or by volume, indexed for body surface area, in essential hypertensives. A total of 339 consecutive, untreated, hypertensives (aged 51.8 years, 234 males) underwent 24-h ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring and estimation of LA diameter and volume, as well as LV structure and function by echocardiography. LV hypertrophy was present in 130 (38.3%) patients whereas normal geometry (LV-NG), concentric remodeling (LV-CR), concentric hypertrophy (LV-CH) and eccentric hypertrophy (LV-EH) represented 34.5, 27.1, 25.7 and 12.7%, respectively. Patients with either LV-CH or LV-EH had increased LA diameter index compared with those with either LV-NG (by 1.1 mm m -2 , Po0.01 and 1.4 mm m -2 , P ¼ 0.003, respectively) or LV-CR (by 1.3 mm m -2 , P ¼ 0.003 and 1.6 mm m -2 , P ¼ 0.001, respectively). Similarly, patients with either LV-CH or LV-EH had significantly increased LA volume index compared with those with either LV-NG (by 3.2 ml m -2 , Po0.001 and 3.4 ml m -2 , Po0.005, respectively) or LV-CR (by 4.5 and 4.7 ml m -2 , respectively, Po0.001 for both). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the independent predictors of both LA volume and diameter index were LV mass index, 24-h pulse pressure and E/Em.LA size assessed either by its diameter or by volume is closely related only to LV mass index and not to any specific LV geometric pattern in the early stages of essential hypertension.