Cardiovascular risk prediction based on home blood pressure measurement: the Didima study.

OBJECTIVE: Although home blood pressure (HBP) is being used increasingly in clinical practice, the evidence on its prognostic value is still limited. This study in the general population investigated the value of HBP compared to office measurements (OBP) in predicting cardiovascular risk. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In 1997 all adults of the Didima area in Greece were invited to participate in a cross-sectional study involving OBP (two visits) and HBP measurements (3 days). Incident cardiovascular morbidity and cause-specific mortality were assessed after 8.2 +/- 0.2 years (mean +/- SD). Average OBP and HBP were used in Cox regression analysis of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events with age, gender, history of cardiovascular disease, use of antihypertensive medication, smoking and diabetes as covariates. RESULTS: A total of 662 subjects were analysed (mean age at baseline 54.1 +/- 17.6 years). During follow-up 78 deaths (42 cardiovascular) and 67 cardiovascular events (fatal and non-fatal) were documented. Unadjusted hazard ratios for cardiovascular events per 1 mmHg blood pressure increase were for HBP systolic 1.034 (P < 0.001) and diastolic 1.037 (P < 0.01) and for OBP systolic 1.035 (P < 0.001) and diastolic 1.021 (P = 0.07). After adjustment for all available cardiovascular risk predictors, only diastolic OBP remained significant. The addition of HBP in the models already including OBP did not significantly improve the predictive ability. White coat but not masked hypertensives were at high risk. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that both HBP and OBP are significant predictors of cardiovascular risk in the general population. However, no prognostic superiority of HBP compared to OBP has been demonstrated.

Prognostic value of home blood pressure measurement.

Although self-monitoring of blood pressure by patients at home is being widely used in clinical practice, the evidence on its prognostic value is still limited. Five long-term studies with nearly 60,000 patients/year have provided prognostic information for home blood pressure measurements. Differences exist among these studies regarding the population characteristics, the sample size and follow-up, the methodology and protocol for office and home blood pressure measurement and the adjustment procedure for other risk factors. All these studies, nevertheless, showed systolic home blood pressure to be a significant predictor of cardiovascular risk, and three of them also showed prognostic value of diastolic home blood pressure. Moreover, the prognostic value of home blood pressure appeared to be consistently superior to that of conventional office measurements. The prognostic significance of the white coat and the masked hypertension phenomena detected by home measurements were investigated in two studies, one in treated hypertensive patients and another in a general population sample. These studies showed that patients with white-coat phenomenon have similar cardiovascular risk as those with low office and home blood pressure, whereas the masked hypertension phenomenon is associated with high risk as in patients with uncontrolled hypertension. In conclusion, the available evidence suggests that home blood pressure has strong prognostic value, which appears to be superior to that of the conventional office measurements. More outcome studies on the prognostic value of home blood pressure, however, are needed.

Dietary patterns among older Europeans: the EPIC-Elderly study.

Overall dietary patterns have been associated with health and longevity. We used principal component (PC) and cluster analyses to identify the prevailing dietary patterns of 99 744 participants, aged 60 years or older, living in nine European countries and participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-Elderly cohort) and to examine their socio-demographic and lifestyle correlates. Two PC were identified: PC1 reflects a 'vegetable-based' diet with an emphasis on foods of plant origin, rice, pasta and other grain rather than on margarine, potatoes and non-alcoholic beverages. PC2 indicates a 'sweet- and fat-dominated' diet with a preference for sweets, added fat and dairy products but not meat, alcohol, bread and eggs. PC1 was associated with a younger age, a higher level of education, physical activity, a higher BMI, a lower waist:hip ratio and never and past smoking. PC2 was associated with older age, less education, never having smoked, a lower BMI and waist:hip ratio and lower levels of physical activity. Elderly individuals in southern Europe scored positively on PC1 and about zero on PC2, whereas the elderly in northern Europe scored negatively on PC1 and variably on PC2. The results of cluster analysis were compatible with the indicated dietary patterns. 'Vegetable-based' and a 'sweet- and fat-dominated' diets are prevalent among the elderly across Europe, and there is a north-south gradient regarding their dietary choices. Our study contributes to the identification of groups of elderly who are likely to have different prospects for long-term disease occurrence and survival.

Residence in mountainous compared with lowland areas in relation to total and coronary mortality. A study in rural Greece.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association of residence in mountainous or lowland areas with total and coronary mortality, in a cohort with 15 years of follow up. DESIGN AND SETTING: Prospective study, based on the adult population of two lowland and one mountainous village in rural Greece. Baseline measurements on sociodemographic, lifestyle, somatometric, clinical, and biochemical variables were recorded in 1981 during a health survey and total and coronary deaths were ascertained on the basis of death certificates up to 1996. PARTICIPANTS: 1198 men and women, who had participated in the 1981 survey. Analyses are based on 504 men and 646 women with complete data. MAIN RESULTS: There were 150 deaths among men and 140 among women (coronary deaths: 34 and 33 respectively). In multivariate analysis with Cox regression, after adjustment for age, education, body weight, smoking, alcohol consumption, systolic blood pressure, serum total cholesterol, blood glucose, serum triglycerides, and serum uric acid, total and coronary mortality were lower for residents of the mountainous village in comparison with residents of the lowland villages (hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for men and women, respectively: total mortality, 0.57 (0.38 to 0.84) and 0.69 (0.47 to 1.02); coronary mortality, 0.39 (0.16 to 0.98) and 0.46 (0.20 to 1.05)). CONCLUSIONS: Residence in mountainous areas seems to have a "protective effect" from total and coronary mortality. Increased physical activity from walking on rugged terrains under conditions of moderate hypoxia among the mountain residents could explain these findings.