RESUMO
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) is a strong predictor of cardiovascular events and associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS). MetS is a cluster of cardiovascular risk factors, but the association structure between specific factors and disease development is not well-established in rural populations. We described the association structure between MetS factors and cIMT in a sample from rural Brazil. METHODS: We studied 1937 participants from the Baependi Heart Study who underwent carotid ultrasound exam. We used ATP-III-2001 for MetS definition and linear mixed-effects models, adjusting by the family structure, to assess independent associations between the cardiovascular risk factors which define MetS and cIMT. RESULTS: The sample's mean age was 46 ± 16y, 61% female, 73% white, mean body-mass-index 26±5 kg/m2, mean cIMT 0.53 ± 0.16 mm, with 35% of the sample classified with MetS. As expected, cIMT demonstrated a linear relationship with increasing age, and cIMT higher values were observed for MetS (0.58 ± 0.16 mm) compared to non-MetS (0.49 ± 0.14 mm). Considering models for cIMT with MetS and all of its factors, we found that blood pressure, glucose and obesity were independently associated with cIMT, but not HDL or triglycerides. CONCLUSIONS: cIMT showed a linear relationship with increasing age. Blood pressure, obesity, and glucose were independently associated with cIMT, but not HDL-cholesterol or triglycerides. In a rural population, hypertension, diabetes and obesity play a more important role than lipids in determining cIMT interindividual variability.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To compare the laparotomy and laparoscopy techniques for correction of ventral hernia when related to perioperative complications, length of hospitalization, surgical time, and recurrence of hernia. METHODS: This was a systematic review of randomized controlled trials, which included studies retrieved from four databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane and LILACS), using a combination of the terms (Hernia, Ventral) and (Laparoscopy) and (Laparotomy). RESULTS: Six randomized trials were included, totaling 566 patients, 283 in the Laparoscopy group and 283 in the Laparotomy group. Laparoscopy reduced the risk of infection of the surgical wound (NNT = 5) and seroma formation (NNT = 13) and less length hospitalization (P = 0.02) compared to laparotomy in the correction of ventral hernias. Furthermore, laparoscopy increased the incidence of enterotomy (NNH = 25) and post operative pain (NNH = 8) and longer surgical time (P = 0.0009) when compared with laparotomy. There was no difference related to abscess (P = 0.79), hematoma (P = 0.43) and recurrency of ventral hernias (P = 0.25). CONCLUSIONS: In the correction of ventral hernias, the use of laparoscopic technique is effective to reduce infections of the surgical wound and seroma formation, as well as, decrease the length hospitalization.
