Preventing cognitive decline by reducing BP target (PCOT): A randomized, pragmatic, multi-health systems clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Growing evidence suggests that intensive lowering of systolic blood pressure (BP) may prevent mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. However, current guidelines provide inconsistent recommendations regarding optimal BP targets, citing safety concerns of excessive BP lowering in the diverse population of older adults. We are conducting a pragmatic trial to determine if an implementation strategy to reduce systolic BP to <130 and diastolic BP to <80 mmHg will safely slow cognitive decline in older adults with hypertension when compared to patients receiving usual care. METHODS: The Preventing Cognitive Decline by Reducing BP Target Trial (PCOT) is an embedded randomized pragmatic clinical trial in 4000 patients from two diverse health-systems who are age ≥ 70 years with BP >130/80 mmHg. Participants are randomized to the intervention arm or usual care using a permuted block randomization within each health system. The intervention is a combination of team-based care with clinical decision support to lower home BP to <130/80 mmHg. The primary outcome is cognitive decline as determined by the change in the modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS-m) scores from baseline. As a secondary outcome, patients who decline ≥3 points on the TICS-m will complete additional cognitive assessments and this information will be reviewed by an expert panel to determine if they meet criteria for MCI or dementia. CONCLUSION: The PCOT trial will address the effectiveness and safety of hypertension treatment in two large health systems to lower BP targets to reduce risk of cognitive decline in real-world settings.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and the Physical Examination.

Performing a hypothesis-driven examination in patients with possible chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an important component of increasing the recognition and diagnosis of this avoidable and costly medical condition. Using known likelihood ratios for various physical examination maneuvers can be combined with known individual risk factors and symptoms to adjust a patient's post-test probability of having COPD and inform appropriate diagnostic work-up. Equally important is intentionality in history-taking and physical examination procedures for patients with known COPD to mitigate the decreased quality of life and mortality and to monitor response to treatment.

Comparison of Morisky Medication Adherence Scale with therapeutic drug monitoring in apparent treatment-resistant hypertension.

The Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) is a questionnaire developed for screening of non-adherence in patients with several chronic conditions, including uncomplicated hypertension. However, its accuracy in predicting non-adherence in patients with apparent treatment-resistant hypertension (a-TRH) is not known. Accordingly, we performed a retrospective study in 47 patients with a-TRH who had completed the eight-item MMAS during the initial clinic visit. Non-adherence was defined as presence of undetected serum levels of at least one prescribed antihypertensive drug by therapeutic drug monitoring. We found that 26% of patients were considered to have low adherence score (<6), while the actual prevalence of non-adherence was 51% by therapeutic drug monitoring. Sensitivity of the MMAS-8 was 26% (95% confidence interval, 10.3%-48.4%) with specificity of 75% (95% confidence interval, 53.3%-90.2%). By multivariate analysis, the MMAS-8 score was not an independent predictor of non-adherence, while certain clinical parameters such as heart rate were found to be independent predictors of non-adherence. Our study suggested limited accuracy of the MMAS-8 in detecting medication non-adherence in a-TRH.

Cost-Effectiveness of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring in Diagnosing Primary Aldosteronism in Patients With Resistant Hypertension.

Primary aldosteronism (PA) is present in up to 20% of patients with treatment-resistant hypertension (TRH). Investigation for PA in patients with TRH is recommended by current guidelines after medication nonadherence is excluded. Studies using therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) have shown that >50% of patients with TRH are nonadherent to their prescribed antihypertensive medications. However, the relationship between the prevalence of PA and medication adherence as confirmed by TDM has not been previously assessed. A retrospective analysis from a hypertension referral clinic showed that prevalence of PA in adherent patients with TRH by TDM was significantly higher than in nonadherent patients (28% vs 8%, P<.05). Furthermore, cost analysis showed that TDM-guided PA screening was $590.69 less expensive per patient, with minimal impact on the diagnostic accuracy. These data support a TDM-guided PA screening approach as a cost-saving strategy compared with routine PA screening for TRH.

Association of cardiorespiratory fitness with left ventricular remodeling and diastolic function: the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study.

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to compare the cross-sectional associations between fitness and echocardiographic measures of cardiac structure and function. BACKGROUND: Cardiorespiratory fitness is inversely associated with heart failure risk. However, the mechanism through which fitness lowers heart failure risk is not fully understood. METHODS: We included 1,678 men and 1,247 women from the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study who received an echocardiogram from 1999 to 2011. Fitness was estimated by Balke protocol (in metabolic equivalents) and also categorized into age-specific quartiles, with quartile 1 representing low fitness. Cross-sectional associations between fitness (in metabolic equivalents) and relative wall thickness, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter indexed to body surface area, left atrial volume indexed to body surface area, left ventricular systolic function, and E/e' ratio were determined using multivariable linear regression analysis. RESULTS: Higher levels of mid-life fitness (metabolic equivalents) were associated with larger indexed left atrial volume (men: beta = 0.769, p < 0.0001; women: beta = 0.879, p value ≤0.0001) and indexed left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (men: beta = 0.231, p < 0.001; women: beta = 0.264, p < 0.0001). Similarly, a higher level of fitness was associated with a smaller relative wall thickness (men: beta = -0.002, p = 0.04; women: beta = -0.005, p < 0.0001) and E/e' ratio (men: beta = -0.11, p = 0.003; women: beta = -0.13, p = 0.01). However, there was no association between low fitness and left ventricular systolic function (p = NS). CONCLUSIONS: Low fitness is associated with a higher prevalence of concentric remodeling and diastolic dysfunction, suggesting that exercise may lower heart failure risk through its effect on favorable cardiac remodeling and improved diastolic function.