RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene polymorphism in patients with degenerative aortic valve calcification (AVC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Our study consisted of 305 Turkish patients of European descent (139 male, 166 female; mean plus or minus age, 68 plus or minus 9 years) referred to our echocardiography laboratory for aortic valve evaluation between June 2, 2003, and April 29, 2005. The severity of AVC was graded from 1 to 6 by echocardiography. We used polymerase chain reaction to determine ACE gene polymorphism. RESULTS: The ACE insertion/deletion genotype distributions for the study population were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (chi square equals 3.5, P equals .18). The study population was divided into 3 groups based on the severity of AVC: those with grade 1 calcification were in group 1, those with grades 2 to 4 in group 2, and those with grades 5 to 6 in group 3. Group 1 patients were significantly younger, less likely to have hypertension and diabetes, and had higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. The genotype frequencies were significantly different among groups, with the insertion/insertion genotype being less prevalent in group 3 patients. In multivariate analysis, independent predictors of severe AVC were hypertension (odds ratio [OR], 5.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.8 to 11.0; P less than .001), low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (OR, 2.7; 95 percent CI, 1.5 to 4.9; P equals .001), and the deletion/deletion and insertion/deletion vs insertion/insertion genotype (OR, 3.2; 95 percent CI, 1.5 to 7.2; P equals .004). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that ACE gene polymorphism may be associated with severe AVC.
Assuntos
Valva Aórtica/enzimologia , Calcinose/enzimologia , Doenças das Valvas Cardíacas/enzimologia , Peptidil Dipeptidase A/genética , Polimorfismo Genético/genética , Idoso , Índice de Massa Corporal , Calcinose/classificação , Calcinose/genética , HDL-Colesterol/sangue , Elementos de DNA Transponíveis/genética , Complicações do Diabetes , Ecocardiografia , Feminino , Frequência do Gene , Genótipo , Doenças das Valvas Cardíacas/classificação , Doenças das Valvas Cardíacas/genética , Humanos , Hipertensão/complicações , Masculino , Fatores de Risco , Deleção de Sequência/genéticaRESUMO
BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study was undertaken to evaluate changes in the seroepidemiological pattern of Helicobacter pylori in a group of Turkish children over a span of 10 years. METHODS: A total of 403 (219+184) serum samples were obtained from a primary school located in the urban part of Ankara in 1990 and 2000. All of the samples were from healthy students aged 7-14 (in 1990, n= 219, 109 females; and in 2000, n= 184, 90 females). RESULTS: All serum samples were assayed for Helicobacter pylori IgG by means of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The overall prevalence of Helicobacter pylori antibodies was 78.5% in 1990 and 66.3% in 2000. The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori was found to be decreasing over a time span of 10 years (p<0.01). While the most susceptible age group to Helicobacter pylori in 1990 was 10 years (89.5%), in 2000 the susceptible age group was 8 years (85.0%). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that the seroprevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection seems to have decreased during the last 10 years in Turkey. This change may be attributable to the changes in environmental condition and socioeconomic development that have taken place in the country.
