Adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern was associated with reduced risk for cardiovascular mortality even in a developing country setting.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a serious cardiac complication among patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). We investigated pulmonary hypertension and its associated factors among patients who were on chronic dialysis and kidney transplant recipients. One hundred-eighty patients in three groups of hemodialysis (HD), peritoneal dialysis (PD), and kidney transplant were studied. Demographic and clinical characteristics and echocardiographic findings were evaluated. A multivariable linear regression model was used to find factors associated with pulmonary artery pressure. The mean age of participants was 50.3 AE 15.5 years and 63.9% were male. We found pulmonary hypertension (mean pulmonary artery pressure >25 mmHg) in 31.6%, 8.3%, and 5% of the patients on HD, PD, and transplant recipients, respectively (p < 0.001). In multivariate analyses, being on HD (B ¼ 5.276, confidence interval [CI] 95%: 1.211-9.341), age (B ¼ -0.319, CI 95%: -0.501 to -0.138), smoking (B ¼ 11.631, CI 95%: 1.847-21.416), systolic cardiac dysfunction (B ¼ 6.313, CI 95%: 3.073-9.554), and diastolic cardiac dysfunction (B ¼ 5.227, CI 95%: 1.176-9.277) were associated with systolic pulmonary artery pressure. These results showed that pulmonary hypertension is a frequent cardiac complication among patients with ESRD, and the type of renal replacement therapy (HD), systolic and diastolic cardiac dysfunction, and smoking are associated with increased pulmonary artery pressure. Further studies with larger sample sizes and also prospective studies are recommended in this regard.

To assess the association between dietary glycemic index (GI), glycemic load (GL) and dietary quality indices in Iranian adults. This cross section was conducted among 1571 Iranian adults aged  ≥19 years. GI, GL and diet quality indices were estimated by 24-h recall and DDS was calculated using a validated 48-item food frequency questionnaire. Participants who were in the top tertile of GI had lower healthy eating index (HEI) (57.2 ± 7.8 versus 55.6 ± 8.7; p < 0.001), dietary diversity score (DDS) (3.6 ± 0.9 versus 3.3 ± 1.1; p < 0.001) and nutrient adequacy ratios (NARs) for Zn, Ca, vitamin C and B2. Individuals in the lowest tertile of GL had lower HEI, MAR and NARs for Zn, vitamin B2, B3, B6, B12, vitamin D. Both GI and GL were positively related to dietary diversity score (DED) (p < 0.001). The inverse associations for GI and GL with diet quality indices may suggest the relevance of carbohydrate source in determining the diet quality indices.

The present study aimed to assess the value of pre-diabetes and pre-hypertension in predicting cardiovascular events. A population-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted, representing a large sample of the general Iranian population aged 35 years and older from the Isfahan Province and determined using a random, multistage cluster-sampling 10-year cohort. The five end points considered as study outcome were unstable angina (UA), acute occurrence of myocardial infarction (MI), sudden cardiac death (SCD), brain stroke and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Of the 6323 subjects scheduled for assessment of diabetes state 617 were diabetics and 712 were pre-diabetic. In addition, of these subjects, 1754 had hypertension and 2500 had pre-hypertension. Analysing only pre-hypertension, pre-diabetes and its combination and adjusted for gender and age variables, pre-hypertension and pre-diabetes status together, could only effectively predict occurrence of MI (hazard ratio (HR)=3.21, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06-9.76, P=0.04). In the same COX regression models, pre-hypertension status could predict UA and CVD occurrence (HR=2.94, 95% CI: 1.68-5.14, P<0.001 and HR=1.74, 95% CI: 1.23-2.47, P=0.002, respectively). However, pre-diabetes status could not predict any of these events after adjustment for gender and age. Our data provide valuable evidence of the triggering role of pre-hypertension and pre-diabetes together, on appearance and progression of MI even in healthy individuals and the significant predicting value of pre-hypertension on the occurrence of UA and CVD. In this regard, the value of pre-hypertension and pre-diabetes together, and the pre-hypertension state alone, are clearly superior to pre-diabetes state alone in predicting cardiovascular events.

Background:Atrial fibrillation is one of the most common cardiac arrhythmia affecting patients “quality of life (QoL).” With regard to limited number of interventional studies on such patients’ QoL, the present study aimed to define the effect of a care plan on the QoL of the patients, hospitalized in coronary care unit (CCU), with atrial fibrillation.Materials and Methods:This is a randomized two-group clinical trial that was conducted on 50 patients, diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and hospitalized in CCU. Fifty patients were selected through convenient sampling and were randomly assigned to study (n = 25) and control (n = 25) groups. Study group underwent an already designed care plan, while the control group received just routine care. QoL was measured by Short Form (SF-36) QoL questionnaire before and one month after intervention. Data were analyzed by t-test through Statistical Package for the Social Sciences.Results:Independent t-test showed a significant difference in mean scores of overall QoL and all of its domains (p < 0.05), except for general health (t = 1.23, p = 0.22) and social function (t = 1.70, p = 0.09). The t-test showed a significant difference in mean (SD) scores of overall QoL in study [51.57 (14.57)] and control [41.80 (18.51)] groups after intervention (t = 2.07, p = 0.04).Conclusions:The results showed that an already designed care plan can result in improvement of QoL in patients with atrial fibrillation. In the present study, a standard care plan was administrated for the patients with atrial fibrillation. Through administration of care plans in clinical settings, nurses’ clinical and effective role can be improved.