Aim: To investigate associations between subclinical distress and 6-month clinical outcomes after ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Materials & methods: The case-control study involved 144 STEMI patients (72 STEMI having subclinical emotional disturbances were included to the case group and 72 STEMI individuals matched with age, sex and cardiovascular risk factors were enrolled to the control group). The primary end point was the combination of 6-month events including CV death, recurrent angina, newly diagnosed heart failure and re-hospitalization. Results: The emotional distress predicted out-hospital combined end point (odds ratio [OR] = 2.48; 95% CI: 1.12-5.33; p = 0.034). Other independent predictors of out-hospital end point were Type 2 diabetes mellitus (OR = 1.10; 95% CI: 1.02-1.23; p = 0.048), thrombolysis in myocardial infarction score <6 units (OR = 0.86; 95% CI: 0.67-0.92; p = 0.001) and the number of culprit vessels (OR = 1.19; 95% CI: 1.02-1.34; p = 0.002). Conclusion: Premorbid emotional distress independently predicted 6 month combined clinical end point in STEMI patients.
Aim: The aim of the work was to study the circulating microRNA-133a levels in blood plasma of patients with arterial hypertension (AH), hypertensive heart disease (HHD), and left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction (DD). Materials and Methods: A total of 48 patients with grade 2-3 AH and HHD at the age of 52.23 ± 7.26 (23 patients had LV DD [main group] and 25 patients had normal LV diastolic function [comparison group]) and 21 practically healthy individuals of comparable gender and age were examined. Diagnosis of AH and HHD was carried out according to the 2018 ESC/ESH recommendations. LV DD was determined according to the 2016 ASE/EACVI recommendations. Plasma microRNA-133a level was obtained by polymerase chain reaction using the CFX96 Touch System (BioRad), ≪TaqMan microRNA Assay≫ and ≪TaqMan® Universal PCR Master Mix≫ reagent kits (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA). Results: We have found that in patients from the main and comparison groups plasma microRNA-133a levels were significantly lower than in practically healthy individuals (0.094 [0.067, 0.147]) and (0.182 [0.102, 0.301]) vs. (0.382 [0.198,0.474]), p = 0.002 and p = 0.04, respectively. In all this among patients with AH, HHD, and LV DD, plasma microRNA-133a levels were significantly lower than in patients with AH, HHD, and normal diastolic function (p = 0.03). In the main and comparison groups there was a statistically significant negative relationship between plasma microRNA-133a level and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) (R = -0.40, p = 0.003 and R = -0.35, p = 0.04, respectively). Conclusions: The findings suggest the significant role of decreased microRNA-133a levels in blood plasma of patients with AH in the pathogenesis and development of both HHD and LV DD.