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BackgroundThe Escarval-Risk study aims to validate cardiovascular risk scales in patients with hypertension, diabetes or dyslipidemia living in the Valencia Community, a European Mediterranean region, based on data from an electronic health recording system comparing predicted events with observed during 5 years follow-up study.Methods/DesignA cohort prospective 5 years follow-up study has been designed including 25000 patients with hypertension, diabetes and/or dyslipidemia attended in usual clinical practice. All information is registered in a unique electronic health recording system (ABUCASIS) that is the usual way to register clinical practice in the Valencian Health System (primary and secondary care). The system covers about 95% of population (near 5 million people). The system is linked with database of mortality register, hospital withdrawals, prescriptions and assurance databases in which each individual have a unique identification number. Diagnoses in clinical practice are always registered based on IDC-9. Occurrence of CV disease was the main outcomes of interest. Risk survival analysis methods will be applied to estimate the cumulative incidence of developing CV events over time.DiscussionThe Escarval-Risk study will provide information to validate different cardiovascular risk scales in patients with hypertension, diabetes or dyslipidemia from a low risk Mediterranean Region, the Valencia Community.

The improved longevity of heart transplant recipients demands heightened awareness of the long-term complications of the procedure. Between 1979 and 1990, 232 patients received 241 heart transplants at our institution. Accelerated coronary atherosclerosis occurred in 45 (19%) of the 232 patients, typically appearing within 2 years of transplantation, whereas peripheral vascular disease (PVD) appeared in 23 (10%) of the 232 patients, usually within 3 years of transplantation. In the patients with PVD, 13 had occlusive disease, nine had aneurysms, and one patient suffered a vertebral artery dissection. Accelerated coronary atherosclerosis afflicted 12 (52%) of the 23 patients affected by PVD (p < 0.05) and preceded the development of PVD in all 12. Logistic regression analysis revealed risk factors predictive of the development of PVD after transplantation to be a pretransplant history of ischemic cardiomyopathy and posttransplant hypertension and hypertriglyceridemia (p < 0.05), with the presence of more than one risk factor increasing the probability of development of PVD. Those patients thus identified as at risk should be closely monitored for the development of PVD. Aggressive medical management of hypertension and hyperlipidemia in this subpopulation may forestall or prevent the development of peripheral vascular disease after heart transplantation.

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Of 68 heart transplant patients prospectively evaluated, aortic diameter increased in 31 (46%); new aneurysms developed in four of these patients. Greater incremental increases in cardiac ejection fraction were significant correlates with aortic enlargement.

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