ACTA ENDOCRINOLOGICA (BUC)

Context. Patients with diabetes mellitus have high-risk of coronary artery disease that is often silent. NT-proBNP is a\r\nneurohormone that in recent studies proved useful in detecting ischemic heart disease.\r\nThe objective was to evaluate whether NT-proBNP can detect silent myocardial ischemia and can predict cardiovascular outcome and mortality in asymptomatic patients with type 2 diabetes.\r\nMethods. This study was conducted on 250 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus without known coronary heart disease and heart failure. All patients were evaluated at baseline and were followed-up prospectively for 3 years for major cardiac events. Exercise ECG and Holter ECG were performed for silent ischemia detection. NT-proBNP was determined on a ROCHE cardiac reader.\r\nResults. NT-pro BNP was significantly raised in patients with silent ischemia (p<0.0001) and remained independent and the strongest predictor of silent ischemia in multiple regression analysis (p<0.0001). NTproBNP levels in patients who experienced major cardiac events were significantly higher (p<0.0001). In multiple regression analysis only silent ischemia (p<0.0001, r=0.20) and NT-proBNP (p<0.0001, r=0.67) remained independent predictors for major cardiac events.\r\nConclusions. NT-proBNP can be useful in screening for silent ischemia in asymptomatic type 2 diabetic patients and also is a strong predictor for major cardiac events.

Context. In addition to traditional risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, there are new risk factors with potentially relevant prognostic, such as vitamin D deficiency. Objective. The study aims to analyze the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and the occurrence of cardiovascular disease, in patients who already have at least one cardiovascular risk factor. Design. It is a prospective, observational study. Follow- up time was 24 months. Subjects and methods. A total of 77 patients were included in the study, aged over 18 years, who had at least one cardiovascular risk factor. Their vitamin D levels were measured and they were monitored for a period of 2 years, in order to see which one developed cardiovascular diseases. Results. Of the 77 patients, 56 (72.7%) had serum deficient levels of vitamin D and the mean serum level was 16 ng/mL (± 8.6 ng/mL). Statistically significant differences were observed only in the case of dyslipidemia (p=0.0334). The evolution to cardiovascular disease occurred in 39 of the cases (50.6%). The only independent risk factors for progression to cardiovascular disease demonstrated in this study were serum vitamin D (OR = 0.9024, 95% CI: 0.83- 0.97 and age (OR = 1.1313, 95% CI: 1.05-1.21). Conclusion. The results shows that patients with cardiovascular risk factors and advanced age are at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease, if they also have vitamin D deficiency.