Blood pressure screening results from May Measurement Month 2019 in Vietnam.

Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a growing burden worldwide, leading to over 10 million deaths each year. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global initiative to raise awareness of high BP and act as a temporary solution to the lack of screening programmes worldwide. We aimed to screen for hypertension and cardiovascular risk factors in people aged ≥18 years in the community, thereby defining the proportion of subjects with elevated BP and assess the awareness and the effectiveness of its treatment. An opportunistic cross-sectional survey of volunteers aged ≥18 years was carried out in May 2019. Blood pressure measurement, the definition of hypertension and statistical analysis followed the standard MMM protocol. From May 2019 to June 2019, through 10 cities/provinces in Vietnam, 25 887 individuals with mean age 48.7 (SD ±17.7) years were screened. After multiple imputations, 8758 (33.8%) had hypertension. Of individuals not receiving antihypertensive medication, 3025 (15.0%) were hypertensive. Of individuals receiving antihypertensive medication, 2800 (48.8%) had uncontrolled BP. Raised BP [systolic BP (SBP) ≥140 mmHg and/or diastolic BP (DBP) ≥90 mmHg] was also associated with additional risk factors including smoking, alcohol intake, previous hypertension in pregnancy, and obesity. May Measurement Month 2019 was the most extensive BP screening campaign ever undertaken in Vietnam. Undiagnosed and uncontrolled hypertension in Vietnam remains a substantial health problem. Local campaigns applying standardized methods such as MMM 2019 will be beneficial to screen for the significant number of individuals with raised BP and increase the awareness of hypertension.

May Measurement Month 2018: an analysis of blood pressure screening results from Vietnam.

Vietnam in the Asia Pacific region has a high hypertension (HTN) prevalence. The May Measurement Month (MMM) program was enthusiastically responded to in Vietnam by launching and deploying it across the whole country from 2017. The aims of the MMM 2018 program in Vietnam were to screen at least 15 000 people aged 18 and over across the country; to inform participants of the risks associated with HTN; and thereby define the proportion of subjects with elevated blood pressure (BP) and assess the awareness and the effectiveness of its treatment. An opportunistic cross-sectional survey of volunteers aged ≥ 18 was carried out in May 2018. Blood pressure measurement, the definition of HTN, and statistical analysis followed the standard MMM protocol. From May 2018 to June 2018, through 10 cities/provinces in Vietnam, 17 332 individuals with mean age 47.0 ± 17.9 years were screened during MMM18. After multiple imputation, 5260 (30.3%) had HTN. Of individuals not receiving antihypertensive medication, 1956 (13.9%) were hypertensive. Of patients receiving antihypertensive medication, 1540 (46.6%) had uncontrolled BP. Those who had HTN also displayed many additional risk factors similarly to MMM 2017 including smoking, alcohol, overweight-obesity, and diabetes. In conclusion, MMM 2018 campaign is a continuation program of MMM 2017 that has promoted the strength of the BP screening survey in the community in Vietnam, which hopefully will influence on awareness of disease prevention in this century. The next steps of the program will have special innovations on how to reduce the frequency of focusing on variable risk factors to change the overall picture of HTN in Vietnam.

Blood pressure screening during the May Measurement Month 2017 programme in Vietnam-South-East Asia and Australasia.

Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a growing burden worldwide, leading to over 10 million deaths each year. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global initiative aimed at raising awareness of high BP and to act as a temporary solution to the lack of screening programmes worldwide. Our aim was to screen for hypertension (HTN) and cardiovascular risk factors in people aged ≥18 years in the community, thereby define the proportion of subjects with elevated BP and assess the awareness and the effectiveness of its treatment. An opportunistic cross-sectional survey of volunteers aged ≥18 years was carried out in May 2017. Blood pressure measurement, the definition of HTN and statistical analysis followed the standard MMM protocol. From May 2017 to June 2017, through 10 cities/provinces in Vietnam, 10 993 individuals with mean age 49.1 ± 16.2 years were screened during MMM17. After multiple imputation, 3154 (28.7%) had HTN. Of individuals not receiving antihypertensive medication, 1509 (16.1%) were hypertensive. Of individuals receiving antihypertensive medication, 620 (37.7%) had uncontrolled BP. Raised BP was also associated with additional risk factors including smoking, alcohol, overweight-obesity, and diabetes. May Measurement Month 17 was the largest BP screening campaign ever undertaken in Vietnam. Undiagnosed and uncontrolled HTN in Vietnam remains a substantial health problem. Local campaigns applying standardized methods such as MMM17, will be highly useful to screen for the significant number of individuals with raised BP and increase the awareness of HTN.

Serum Periostin Levels in Acute Myocardial Infarction Patients: a 3-month Follow-up Study.

Background: Heart attack, acute myocardial infarction, are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Western countries and are rapidly pandemic in developing and underdeveloped countries. Periostin concentration increases in the blood of patients after acute myocardial infarction and affects the process of cardiac remodeling leading to myocardial fibrosis. Objective: To evaluate the correlation between serum periostin levels and cardiac function and acute myocardial infarction patients' short-term prognosis (three months after onset). Methods: Fifty-two acute myocardial infarction patients were prospectively enrolled in the present study, and 52 controls were established. The levels of periostin of acute myocardial infarction patients at 5-7 days after the onset were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Other blood tests and echocardiography were performed during the patient's hospital stay. The correlation between periostin and TIMI, GRACE scores, body mass index, laboratory findings, and 3-month post- acute myocardial infarction data, including pro-B-type natriuretic peptide and echocardiographic parameters, were investigated. Results: Serum periostin levels increased significantly in acute myocardial infarction patients compared with normal controls. There was an association between serum periostin at diagnosis and cardiac function three months after acute myocardial infarction: serum periostin was in negative correlation with ejection fraction (r = - 0.31, p = 0.028); positive association was found between serum periostin level and left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (r = 0.38, p = 0.006). Conclusion: Serum periostin levels increase in acute myocardial infarction, and serum periostin can be used to predict cardiac function three months after acute myocardial infarction.

Assessment of preferred methods to measure insulin resistance in Asian patients with hypertension.

Insulin resistance (IR), a metabolic risk factor, is linked to the pathogenetic mechanism of primary hypertension. Detecting IR in the patients with hypertension will help to predict and stratify the added cardiovascular risk, institute appropriate IR management, and manage hypertension optimally. There are many methods for assessing IR, each with distinct advantages and disadvantages. The euglycemic insulin clamp and intravenous glucose tolerance test, gold standards for measuring IR, are used in research but not in clinical practice. Homeostatic model assessment (HOMA-IR), a method for assessing ß-cell function and IR, is frequently applied presently, particularly in Asia. Besides, the triglyceride-glucose index (TyG) first published by South American authors showed a good correlation with the insulin clamp technique and HOMA-IR index. This simple, convenient, and low-cost TyG index is of research interest in many countries in Asia and can be used to screen for IR in the Asian hypertensive community.