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Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) and diabetes confer a high risk for developing subsequent cardiovascular disease (CVD). Persons with MetS constitute 24-34 % of the employee population at Baptist Health South Florida (BHSF), a self-insured healthcare organization. The Baptist Employee Healthy Heart Study (BEHHS) aims to assess the addition of a personalized, interactive, web-based, nutrition-management and lifestyle-management program to the existing health-expertise web platform available to BHSF employees in reducing and/or stabilizing CVD and lifestyle risk factors and markers of subclinical CVD.Methods/design: Subjects with MetS or Type II Diabetes will be recruited from an employee population at BHSF and randomized to either an intervention or a control arm. The intervention arm will be given access to a web-based personalized diet-modification and weight-modification program. The control arm will be reminded to use the standard informational health website available and accessible to all BHSF employees. Subjects will undergo coronary calcium testing, carotid intima-media thickness scans, peripheral arterial tonometry, and advanced lipid panel testing at visit 1, in addition to lifestyle and medical history questionnaires. All tests will be repeated at visits 2 and 4 with the exception of the coronary calcium test, which will only be performed at baseline and visit 4. Visit 3 will capture vitals, anthropometrics, and responses to the questionnaires only.Conclusion: Results of this study will provide information on the effectiveness of personalized, web-based, lifestyle-management tools in reducing healthcare costs, promoting healthy choices, and reducing cardiovascular risk in an employee population. It will also provide information about the natural history of carotid atherosclerosis and endothelial dysfunction in asymptomatic but high-risk populations.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov registry, NCT01912209 . Registered on 3 July 2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Among the obese, the so-called metabolically healthy obese (MHO) phenotype is thought to confer a lower CVD risk as compared to obesity with typical associated metabolic changes. The present study aims to determine the relationship of different subtypes of obesity with inflammatory-cardiometabolic abnormalities. Methods. We evaluated 5,519 healthy, Brazilian subjects (43±10 years, 78% males), free of known cardiovascular disease. Those with <2 metabolic risk factors (MRF) were considered metabolically healthy, and those with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 and/or waist circumference meeting NCEP criteria for metabolic syndrome as overweight/obese (OW). High sensitivity C reactive protein (hsCRP) was measured to assess underlying inflammation and hepatic steatosis (HS) was determined via abdominal ultrasound. Results. Overall, 40% of OW individuals were metabolically healthy, and 12% normal-weight had ≥2 MRF. The prevalence of elevated CRP (≥3 mg/dL) and HS in MHO versus normal weight metabolically healthy group was 22% versus 12%, and 40% versus 8% respectively (P<0.001). Both MHO individuals and metabolically unhealthy normal weight (MUNW) phenotypes were associated with elevated hsCRP and HS. Conclusion. Our study suggests that MHO and MUNW phenotypes may not be benign and physicians should strive to treat individuals in these subgroups to reverse these conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND Heart rate recovery (HRR) has been shown to predict cardiovascular disease mortality. HRR is delayed in hypertension, but its association with prehypertension (PHT) has not been well studied. METHODS The study population consisted of 683 asymptomatic individuals (90% men, aged 47±7.9 years). HRR was defined as peak heart rate minus heart rate after a 2-minute rest. PHT was categorized into stage I (systolic blood pressure (SBP) 120–129mm Hg or diastolic BP (DBP) 80–84mm Hg) or stage II (SBP 130–139mm Hg or DBP 85–89mm Hg). Logistic regression was used to generate odds ratios (ORs) for the relationship between HRR and PHT. RESULTS The mean HRR was lower in the PHT groups than in those who were normotensive (60 bpm and 58 bpm in stages I and II PHT vs. 65 bpm in normal BP; P <0.01). Persons with PHT were more likely to be in the lowest quartile of HRR compared with those with normal BP (adjusted OR, 3.80 and 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06, 13.56 for stage II PHT and adjusted OR, 3.01 and 95% CI 1.05, 8.66 for stage I PHT). In a fully adjusted model, HRR was still significantly associated with both stages of PHT. CONCLUSION Among asymptomatic patients undergoing stress testing, delayed HRR was independently associated with early and late stages of PHT. Further studies are needed to determine the usefulness of measuring HRR in the prevention and management of hypertension. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background A subgroup has emerged within the obese that do not display the typical metabolic disorders associated with obesity and are hypothesized to have lower risk of complications. The purpose of this review was to analyze the literature which has examined the burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality in the metabolically healthy obese (MHO) population. Methods Pubmed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were searched from their inception until December 2012. Studies were included which clearly defined the MHO group (using either insulin sensitivity and/or components of metabolic syndrome AND obesity) and its association with either all cause mortality, CVD mortality, incident CVD, and/or1 subclinical CVD. Results A total of 20 studies were identified; 15 cohort and 5 cross-sectional. Eight studies used the NCEP Adult Treatment Panel III definition of metabolic syndrome to define "metabolically healthy", while another nine used insulin resistance. Seven studies assessed all-cause mortality, seven assessed CVD mortality, and nine assessed incident CVD. MHO was found to be significantly associated with all-cause mortality in two studies (30%), CVD mortality in one study(14%), and incident CVD in three studies (33%). Of the six studies which examined subclinical disease, four (67%) showed significantly higher mean common carotid artery intima media thickness (CCA-IMT), coronary artery calcium (CAC), or other subclinical CVD markers in the MHO as compared to their MHNW counterparts. Conclusions MHO is an important, emerging phenotype with a CVD risk between healthy, normal weight and unhealthy, obese individuals. Successful work towards a universally accepted definition of MHO would improve (and simplify) future studies and aid inter-study comparisons. Usefulness of a definition inclusive of insulin sensitivity and stricter criteria for metabolic syndrome components as well as the potential addition of markers of fatty liver and inflammation should be explored. Clinicians should be hesitant to reassure patients that the metabolically benign phenotype is safe, as increased risk cardiovascular disease and death have been shown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The internet is gaining popularity as a means of delivering employee-based cardiovascular (CV) wellness interventions though little is known about the cardiovascular health outcomes of these programs. In this review, we examined the effectiveness of internet-based employee cardiovascular wellness and prevention programs. Evidence Acquisition: We conducted a systematic review by searching PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane library for all published studies on internet-based programs aimed at improving CV health among employees up to November 2012. We grouped the outcomes according to the American Heart Association (AHA) indicators of cardiovascular wellbeing – weight, BP, lipids, smoking, physical activity, diet, and blood glucose. Evidence Synthesis: A total of 18 randomized trials and 11 follow-up studies met our inclusion/exclusion criteria. Follow-up duration ranged from 6 – 24 months. There were significant differences in intervention types and number of components in each intervention. Modest improvements were observed in more than half of the studies with weight related outcomes while no improvement was seen in virtually all the studies with physical activity outcome. In general, internet-based programs were more successful if the interventions also included some physical contact and environmental modification, and if they were targeted at specific disease entities such as hypertension. Only a few of the studies were conducted in persons at-risk for CVD, none in blue-collar workers or low-income earners. Conclusion: Internet based programs hold promise for improving the cardiovascular wellness among employees however much work is required to fully understand its utility and long term impact especially in special/at-risk populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]