Hypertension

2022 - 12 - 9

Post cover — Image courtesy of "MedPage Today"

Abstinence Tied to Lower Mortality in Alcoholic Cirrhosis With Portal ... (MedPage Today)

Alcohol abstinence was associated with improved prognosis across all stages of clinically significant portal hypertension in patients with alcohol-related ...

Among the 241 patients who remained abstinent, 109 had HVPG levels of 10-19 mm Hg while 132 had levels of 20 mm Hg or greater. Most of those with HVPG levels of 20 mm Hg or higher had large esophageal varices, prior liver decompensation, and higher MELD/Child Pugh scores, as well as certain higher biomarker levels. The average patient age was 57, and 76% were men. "In addition to these chronic changes, alcohol ingestion acutely aggravates portal hypertension and increases blood flow through portosystemic collaterals, thus further increasing the risk of hepatic decompensation." Those included underwent a baseline HVPG measurement, which is the gold standard for assessing portal hypertension severity and were required to pause any non-selective beta blocker use for at least 5 days prior. The analysis adjusted for HVPG, MELD, and prior baseline decompensation. "Our study demonstrates the beneficial long-term impact of alcohol abstinence in a large-scale cohort of patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis who have already progressed to clinically significant or high-risk portal hypertension," they noted. Once diagnosed with alcohol-related cirrhosis, most of these patients already present with decompensated liver disease, but remain at high-risk for further decompensation and even death. Abstinence and age were the only independent predictors of liver-related and all-cause mortality, the authors reported. HVPG, model for end-stage liver disease (MELD), and abstinence were the only independent predictors of hepatic decompensation. Of the 79 patients in the non-abstinent group, 39 had HVPG levels of 10-19 mm Hg while 40 had levels of 20 mm Hg or greater. Alcohol abstinence was also associated with a significant reduction in the cumulative incidence of decompensation among those with clinically significant portal hypertension involving hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) levels of 10-19 mm Hg (P<0.001), and those who had already progressed to high-risk portal hypertension with HVPG levels of 20 mm Hg or greater (P=0.002).

National hypertension taskforce takes on the silent killer of ... (University News: The University of Western Australia)

A national taskforce has been set up to address uncontrolled high blood pressure – a dangerous problem facing one in three Australian adults and the leading ...

“However, high blood pressure is a clear risk factor that we can actively do something about. “This collaboration is such a huge achievement. “A lot of people probably assume they’re OK because of their age, physical wellbeing and family history. It’s so important for people to get checked and really understand what their numbers mean and that high blood pressure is a risk factor for so many medical issues,” Mr Tang said. The Australian Cardiovascular Alliance and Hypertension Australia (formerly the High Blood Pressure Research Council of Australia) established the Taskforce with the goal of doubling Australia’s rates of controlled blood pressure to 70% by 2030. However, only half of the people with high blood pressure know they have it and of those only 32% have it under control.

Why High Blood Pressure Can Increase Your Risk of Heart Failure (SELF)

Cardiologists explain the connection between high blood pressure and heart failure, and what you can do to avoid the effects of chronic hypertension.

Hypertension can increase your risk of developing severe Covid (Daily Express)

As well as increasing your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure could increase your chances of developing a severe form of COVID-19.

Pulmonary hypertension: Causes, symptoms, risk factors ... (Hindustan Times)

Women, are you having symptoms such as breathlessness or even chest pain? Then, beware! It can be due to pulmonary hypertension. Here's all you need to know ...

Talking about why this condition is prevalent in females when compared to males, Dr Chandrashekhar Kulkarni said, “PH is more common in females and can occur as early as 15 to 20 years of age and even during pregnancy. Such dilated RV is usually not amenable to medical treatment and only a heart and lung transplant can be an option for such people.” In a few of the patients, this pulmonary pressure is raised leading to a condition called pulmonary hypertension ( PH). Dr Chandrashekhar Kulkarni revealed, “Most of the patients are usually asymptomatic in the early stages and as the pulmonary pressure rises beyond 50 mm they start to manifest common symptoms like early fatigue, breathlessness, tiredness, difficulty in climbing stairs, or more commonly seen as reducing exercise tolerance. The lung is an important organ of the body which takes part in the gas exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide and along with the heart, it forms a unit called the cardiopulmonary system. Here's all you need to know about the causes, symptoms, risk factors, complications, diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary hypertension

"The Great Masquerader": An Interesting Case Series of Pulmonary ... (Cureus)

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) encompasses pulmonary embolism (PE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT). The clinical manifestations of pulmonary embolism are ...

Because of this we are asking our users located in the EU to opt in to the data we collect in order to bring a better web experience. Though GDPR was built to protect Europeans, it will affect organizations around the world doing business in the EU. On May 25, 2018, the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) went into effect and changed how organizations deal with personal data of customers located in the EU.