Search

Background/Objectives : Aortic valve stenosis (AS) represents one of the most common valve diseases in the western world. It often leads to severe symptoms that can lead to a restriction of everyday life and thus to psychological stress. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the association between AS and depression in outpatients in Germany. Methods : The IQVIA TM Disease Analyzer database was used to identify 14,681 individuals with non-rheumatic AS (ICD-10: I35.0 or I35.2). They were propensity score matched (1:1) based on age, sex, average yearly consultation frequency during the follow-up, and co-diagnoses to 14,681 patients without AS. Cox regression models were used to analyze the association between aortic stenosis and depression. Results : Within the follow-up period of up to 10 years, depression was diagnosed in 20.6% of AS patients compared to 20.0% in the matched cohort ( p = 0.351). In the regression analysis, we were not able to discover an association between AS and a subsequent diagnosis of depression (HR: 1.03; 95% CI: 0.96-1.11). This effect was consistent among different age and sex groups. Conclusions : In the broad population of patients treated outside of hospital settings in Germany, AS was not associated with a higher incidence of depression.

Background and Aims: Identification of patients with increased risk of mortality represents an important prerequisite for an adapted adequate and individualized treatment of critically ill patients. Circulating micro-RNA (miRNA) levels have been suggested as potential biomarkers at the intensive care unit (ICU), but none of the investigated miRNAs displayed a sufficient sensitivity or specificity to be routinely employed as a single marker in clinical practice., Methods and Results: We recently described alterations in serum levels of 7 miRNAs (miR-122, miR-133a, miR-143, miR-150, miR-155, miR-192, and miR-223) in critically ill patients at a medical ICU. In this study, we re-analyzed these previously published data and performed a combined analysis of these markers to unravel their potential as a prognostic scoring system in the context of critical illness. Based on the Youden's index method, cut-off values were systematically defined for dysregulated miRNAs, and a "miRNA survival score" was calculated. Patients with high scores displayed a dramatically impaired prognosis compared to patients with low values. Additionally, the predictive power of our score could be further increased when the patient's age was additionally incorporated into this score., Conclusions: We describe the first miRNA-based biomarker score for prediction of medical patients' outcome during and after ICU treatment. Adding the patients' age into this score was associated with a further increase in its predictive power. Further studies are needed to validate the clinical utility of this score in risk-stratifying critically ill patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare that: In the past five years, they have not received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future, and that no such organization is financing this manuscript; they do not hold any stocks or shares in an organization that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future; they do not hold, or are not currently applying for, any patents relating to the content of the manuscript; they have not received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript; and they do not have any other financial competing interests.