Diet, cardiovascular disease, and mortality in 80 countries.
European heart journal
AIMS:To develop a healthy diet score that is associated with health outcomes and is globally applicable using data from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study and replicate it in five independent studies on a total of 245 000 people from 80 countries. METHODS AND RESULTS:A healthy diet score was developed in 147 642 people from the general population, from 21 countries in the PURE study, and the consistency of the associations of the score with events was examined in five large independent studies from 70 countries. The healthy diet score was developed based on six foods each of which has been associated with a significantly lower risk of mortality [i.e. fruit, vegetables, nuts, legumes, fish, and dairy (mainly whole-fat); range of scores, 0-6]. The main outcome measures were all-cause mortality and major cardiovascular events [cardiovascular disease (CVD)]. During a median follow-up of 9.3 years in PURE, compared with a diet score of ≤1 points, a diet score of ≥5 points was associated with a lower risk of mortality [hazard ratio (HR) 0.70; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.63-0.77)], CVD (HR 0.82; 0.75-0.91), myocardial infarction (HR 0.86; 0.75-0.99), and stroke (HR 0.81; 0.71-0.93). In three independent studies in vascular patients, similar results were found, with a higher diet score being associated with lower mortality (HR 0.73; 0.66-0.81), CVD (HR 0.79; 0.72-0.87), myocardial infarction (HR 0.85; 0.71-0.99), and a non-statistically significant lower risk of stroke (HR 0.87; 0.73-1.03). Additionally, in two case-control studies, a higher diet score was associated with lower first myocardial infarction [odds ratio (OR) 0.72; 0.65-0.80] and stroke (OR 0.57; 0.50-0.65). A higher diet score was associated with a significantly lower risk of death or CVD in regions with lower than with higher gross national incomes (P for heterogeneity <0.0001). The PURE score showed slightly stronger associations with death or CVD than several other common diet scores (P < 0.001 for each comparison). CONCLUSION:A diet comprised of higher amounts of fruit, vegetables, nuts, legumes, fish, and whole-fat dairy is associated with lower CVD and mortality in all world regions, especially in countries with lower income where consumption of these foods is low.
10.1093/eurheartj/ehad269
Effects of stress on the development and progression of cardiovascular disease.
Kivimäki Mika,Steptoe Andrew
Nature reviews. Cardiology
Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of disease burden globally, which underlies the continuing need to identify new complementary targets for prevention. Over the past 5-10 years, the pooling of multiple data sets into 'mega-studies' has accelerated progress in research on stress as a risk and prognostic factor for cardiovascular disease. Severe stressful experiences in childhood, such as physical abuse and household substance abuse, can damage health and increase the risk of multiple chronic conditions in adulthood. Compared with childhood stress and adulthood classic risk factors, such as smoking, high blood pressure, and high serum cholesterol levels, the harmful effects of stress in adulthood are generally less marked. However, adulthood stress has an important role as a disease trigger in individuals who already have a high atherosclerotic plaque burden, and as a determinant of prognosis and outcome in those with pre-existing cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease. In real-life settings, mechanistic studies have corroborated earlier laboratory-based observations on stress-related pathophysiological changes that underlie triggering, such as lowered arrhythmic threshold and increased sympathetic activation with related increases in blood pressure, as well as pro-inflammatory and procoagulant responses. In some clinical guidelines, stress is already acknowledged as a target for prevention for people at high overall risk of cardiovascular disease or with established cardiovascular disease. However, few scalable, evidence-based interventions are currently available.
10.1038/nrcardio.2017.189
Cardiovascular Disease, Aging, and Clonal Hematopoiesis.
Evans Megan A,Sano Soichi,Walsh Kenneth
Annual review of pathology
Traditional risk factors are incompletely predictive of cardiovascular disease development, a leading cause of death in the elderly. Recent epidemiological studies have shown that human aging is associated with an increased frequency of somatic mutations in the hematopoietic system, which provide a competitive advantage to a mutant cell, thus allowing for its clonal expansion, a phenomenon known as clonal hematopoiesis. Unexpectedly, these mutations have been associated with a higher incidence of cardiovascular disease, suggesting a previously unrecognized connection between somatic mutations in hematopoietic cells and cardiovascular disease. Here, we provide an up-to-date review of clonal hematopoiesis and its association with aging and cardiovascular disease. We also give a detailed report of the experimental studies that have been instrumental in understanding the relationship between clonal hematopoiesis and cardiovascular disease and have shed light on the mechanisms by which hematopoietic somatic mutations contribute to disease pathology.
10.1146/annurev-pathmechdis-012419-032544
Exercise benefits in cardiovascular disease: beyond attenuation of traditional risk factors.
Fiuza-Luces Carmen,Santos-Lozano Alejandro,Joyner Michael,Carrera-Bastos Pedro,Picazo Oscar,Zugaza José L,Izquierdo Mikel,Ruilope Luis M,Lucia Alejandro
Nature reviews. Cardiology
Despite strong scientific evidence supporting the benefits of regular exercise for the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD), physical inactivity is highly prevalent worldwide. In addition to merely changing well-known risk factors for systemic CVD, regular exercise can also improve cardiovascular health through non-traditional mechanisms. Understanding the pathways through which exercise influences different physiological systems is important and might yield new therapeutic strategies to target pathophysiological mechanisms in CVD. This Review includes a critical discussion of how regular exercise can have antiatherogenic effects in the vasculature, improve autonomic balance (thereby reducing the risk of malignant arrhythmias), and induce cardioprotection against ischaemia-reperfusion injury, independent of effects on traditional CVD risk factors. This Review also describes how exercise promotes a healthy anti-inflammatory milieu (largely through the release of muscle-derived myokines), stimulates myocardial regeneration, and ameliorates age-related loss of muscle mass and strength, a frequently overlooked non-traditional CVD risk factor. Finally, we discuss how the benefits of exercise might also occur via promotion of a healthy gut microbiota. We argue, therefore, that a holistic view of all body systems is necessary and useful when analysing the role of exercise in cardiovascular health.
10.1038/s41569-018-0065-1