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Background: Despite advances in therapeutic management of patients with heart failure, there is still an increasing morbidity and mortality all over the world. In this study, we aimed to present the 3-year follow-up outcomes of patients included in the Journey HF-TR study in 2016 that has evaluated the clinical characteristics and management of patients with acute heart failure admitted to the hospital and present a national registry data. Methods: The study was designed retrospectively between November 2016 and December 2019. Patient data included in the previously published Journey HF-TR study were used. Among 1606 patients, 1484 patients were included due to dropout of 122 patients due to inhospital death and due to exclusion of 173 due to incomplete data. The study included 1311 patients. Age, gender, concomitant chronic conditions, precipitating factors, New York Heart Association, and left ventricular ejection fraction factors were adjusted in the Cox regression analysis. Results: During the 3-year follow-up period, the ratio of hospitalization and mortality was 70.5% and 52.1%, respectively. Common causes of mortality were acute decompensation of heart failure and acute coronary syndrome. Angiotensin receptor blockers, betablockers, statin, and sacubitril/valsartan were found to reduce mortality. Hospitalization due to acute decompensated heart failure, acute coronary syndrome, lung diseases, oncological diseases, and cerebrovascular diseases was associated with the increased risk of mortality. Implantation of cardiac devices also reduced the mortality. Conclusions: Despite advances in therapeutic management of patients with heart failure, our study demonstrated that the long-term mortality still is high. Much more efforts are needed to improve the inhospital and long-term survival of patients with chronic heart failure.

Cardiovascular diseases are one of the most common causes of death in both developing and developed countries worldwide. Even though there have been improvements in primary prevention, the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases continues to increase in recent years. Hence, it is crucial to both investigate the molecular pathophysiology of cardiovascular diseases in-depth and find novel biomarkers regarding the early and proper prevention and diagnosis of these diseases. MicroRNAs, or miRNAs, are endogenous, conserved, single-stranded non-coding RNAs of 21-25 nucleotides in length. miRNAs have important roles in various cellular events such as embryogenesis, proliferation, vasculogenesis, apoptosis, cell growth, differentiation, and tumorigenesis. They also have potential roles in the cardiovascular system, including angiogenesis, cardiac cell contractility, control of lipid metabolism, plaque formation, the arrangement of cardiac rhythm, and cardiac cell growth. Circulating miRNAs are promising novel biomarkers for purposes of the diagnosis and prognosis of cardiovascular diseases. Cell or tissue specificity, stability in serum or plasma, resistance to degradative factors such as freeze-thaw cycles or enzymes in the blood, and fast-release kinetics, provide the potential for miRNAs to be surrogate markers for the early and accurate diagnosis of disease and for predicting middle- or long-term prognosis. Moreover, it may be a logical approach to combine miRNAs with traditional biomarkers to improve risk stratification and long-term prognosis. In addition to their efficacy in both diagnosis and prognosis, miRNA-based therapeutics may be beneficial for treating cardiovascular diseases using novel platforms and computational tools and in combination with traditional methods of analysis. microRNAs are promising, novel therapeutic agents, which can affect multiple genes using different signaling pathways. miRNAs therapeutic modulation techniques have been used in the settings of atherosclerosis, acute myocardial infarction, restenosis, vascular remodeling, arrhythmias, hypertrophy and fibrosis, angiogenesis and cardiogenesis, aortic aneurysm, pulmonary hypertension, and ischemic injury. This review presents detailed information about miRNAs regarding structure and biogenesis, stages of synthesis and functions, expression profiles in serum/plasma of living organisms, diagnostic and prognostic potential as novel biomarkers, and therapeutic applications in various diseases.

Objective: It has been reported that women receive fewer preventive recommendations regarding pharmacological treatment, lifestyle modifications, and cardiac rehabilitation compared with men who have a similar risk profile. This study was an investigation of the impact of gender on cardiovascular risk profile and secondary prevention measures for coronary artery disease (CAD) in the Turkish population. Methods: Statistical analyses were based on the European Action on Secondary and Primary Prevention through Intervention to Reduce Events (EUROASPIRE)-IV cross-sectional survey data obtained from 17 centers in Turkey. Male and female patients, aged 18 to 80 years, who were hospitalized for a first or recurrent coronary event (coronary artery bypass graft, percutaneous coronary intervention, acute myocardial infarction, or acute myocardial ischemia) were eligible. Results: A total of 88 (19.7%) females and 358 males (80.3%) were included. At the time of the index event, the females were significantly older (p=0.003) and had received less formal education (p0.05). Conclusion: Achievement of ideal body weight, fasting blood glucose and blood pressure targets was lower in women despite similar reported medication use. This highlights the importance of the implementation of lifestyle measures and adherence to medications in women.

Background: The time in therapeutic range values may vary between different geographical regions of Turkey in patients vitamin K antagonist therapy. Aims: To evaluate the time in therapeutic range percentages, efficacy, safety and awareness of warfarin according to the different geographical regions in patients who participated in the WARFARIN-TR study (The Awareness, Efficacy, Safety and Time in Therapeutic Range of Warfarin in the Turkish population) in Turkey. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: The WARFARIN-TR study includes 4987 patients using warfarin and involved regular international normalized ratio monitoring between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2014. Patients attended follow-ups for 12 months. The sample size calculations were analysed according to the density of the regional population and according to Turkish Statistical Institute data. The time in therapeutic range was calculated according to F.R. Roosendaal’s algorithm. Awareness was evaluated based on the patients’ knowledge of the effect of warfarin and food-drug interactions with simple questions developed based on a literature review. Results: The Turkey-wide time in therapeutic range was reported as 49.5%±22.9 in the WARFARIN-TR study. There were statistically significant differences between regions in terms of time in therapeutic range (p

Objective: Data from EUROASPIRE-IV Turkey report investigating risk factors and adherence to guidelines in patients hospitalized for coronary artery disease are presented and results are compared with those of EUROASPIRE-III Turkey and EUROASPIRE-IV Europe. Methods: Study was performed in 24 European countries, including Turkey (17centers).Patients (18–80years old)hospitalized for coronary (index)event during preceding 3 years were identified from hospital records and interviewed ≥6 months later. Patient information regarding index event was acquired from hospital records. Anamnesis was obtained during the interview, and physical examination and laboratory analyses were performed. Results: Median age at the index coronary event was 58.8 years, and it was significantly decreased compared with last EUROASPIRE-III study (60.5 years),which was conducted at the same centers 6 years earlier (p=0.017). Of all patients, 19.3% were under 50 years of age and mean age was lower than that of EUROASPIRE-IV Europe (62.5years).Comparing EUROASPIRE-IV Turkey with EUROASPIRE-IIITurkey, rate of smokers increased to 25.5% from 23.1% (p=0.499), obesity increased to 40.7% from 35.5% (p=0.211), total cholesterol level increased to 49.6% from 48.3% (p=0.767),and diabetes rate increased to 39.7% from 33.6% (p=0.139), however none of the differences reached a level of statistical significance.Only 11.7%of the smokers quit after coronary event. Rates for these factors were lower in EUROASPIRE-IVEurope (16%for smoking, 37.6%for obesity, and 26.8%for diabetes). Conclusion: EUROASPIRE-IVTurkey data revealed that secondary prevention was unsatisfactory and had progressed unfavorably compared with last EUROASPIRE study, some risk factors were more uncontrolled than overall European average, and coronary artery events at young age remain an important problem.

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a clinical syndrome characterized with a wide spectrum of left ventricular (LV) structural and functional abnormalities. LV ejection fraction (EF) is considered important with respect to classifying HF patients because of differing patient demographics and prognosis; as well as the response to HF therapies. We aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics, demographics, in-hospital management and in-hospital outcome of HF patients with mid-range EF (HFmrEF) in comparison with those with HF patients with reduced EF (HFrEF) or HF patients with preserved EF (HFpEF) in a large acute HF (AHF) cohort. Materials-Methods and Results: The Journey HF-TR study is a multicenter, and observational registry. One thousand six hundred and six patients who were diagnosed with AHF were enrolled in this study. The mean age was 67.8 ± 13.0 years and 57.2% of the study population was male. Patients were classified as HFrEF (n = 1028, 64%), HFmrEF (n = 305, 19%), and HFpEF (n = 273, 17%) according to LVEF. HFmrEF patients were elder than HFrEF patients but younger than HFpEF patients and the female proportion was the highest in HFpEF group followed by HFmrEF and HFrEF groups (P < 0.001 and P = 0.03, respectively). The prevalence of coronary artery disease was 56.7% in HFmrEF patients. It was lower than HFrEF patients (65.2%) and higher than HFpEF patients (41.4%) (P < 0.001). The prescription of evidence-based HF drugs (Renin-Angiotensin-System blocker, beta-blocker, mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist) was similar in HFrEF and HFmrEF patients and higher than HFpEF patients. The in-hospital mortality rate was the lowest in patients with HFmrEF (1.8%, 7.3%, and 7.5%, respectively for HFmrEF, HFrEF, and HFpEF patients) (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Patients with HFmrEF has unique clinical, echocardiographic, hemodynamic, and biomarker features compared with HFrEF and HFpEF. However, patients with HFmrEF seem to be more similar to HFrEF, in terms of etiology and use of guideline recommended medical therapy.

Abstract Background: Cardiac cachexia is an important predictive factor of the reduction in survival of patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. Objectives: The aims of the present study were to evaluate adropin and irisin levels in cachectic and non-cachectic subjects and the relationships between the levels of these proteins and clinical and laboratory parameters in patients with HFrEF. Methods: The clinical records of patients who were admitted to the cardiology outpatient clinic for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction were screened. Cachectic patients were identified and assigned to the study group (n = 44, mean age, 65.4 ± 11.2 y; 61.4% men). Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction patients without weight loss were enrolled as the control group (n = 42, mean age, 61.0 ± 16.5 y; 64.3% men). The serum adropin and irisin levels of all patients were measured. A p-value < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Serum adropin and irisin levels were significantly higher in the cachexia group than in the controls (Adropin (ng/L); 286.1 (231.3-404.0) vs 213.7 (203.1-251.3); p < 0.001, Irisin (µg/mL); 2.6 (2.2-4.4) vs 2.1 (1.8-2.4); p = 0.001). Serum adropin and irisin levels were positively correlated with brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels and New York Heart Association (NYHA) class and negatively correlated with body mass index (BMI) and serum albumin levels (all p values: < 0.001). In a multivariate analysis, adropin was the only independent predictor of cachexia in the heart failure with reduced ejection fraction patients (OR: 1.021; 95% CI: 1.004−1.038; p = 0.017). Conclusions: The results suggest that adropin and irisin may be novel markers of cardiac cachexia in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction patients. Adropin and irisin are related with the severity of heart failure.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relation of three new inflammatory markers with presence and severity of preeclampsia and to compare the predictive values of all markers for presence of this setting. Methods: In this study, a total of 100 consecutive pregnants with a diagnosis of preeclampsia and 40 healthy pregnants between October 2014 and April 2015 were included. Epicardial fat tissue was calculated by two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography, and pentraxin-3 and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio were measured by using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method and routine blood count analysis, respectively. Results: Epicardial fat thickness (p

Introduction: Inflammation and increased platelet activation play a crucial role in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. Platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) has recently been reported as a new independent predictor for major adverse cardiovascular events in cardiovascular diseases. Aim: To investigate the relation between PLR and cardiovascular mortality in patients with intermittent claudication or critical limb ischemia (CLI) or both. Material and methods : In our retrospective study, 602 consecutive patients who were admitted to a large tertiary hospital with the diagnosis of symptomatic peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) were included. Patients were divided into two groups according to their PLR as follows: high PLR (PLR > 142) and low PLR (PLR ≤ 142) groups. Results : During the follow-up period (median: 33.8 months (interquartile range: 21–45)), 131 deaths occurred out of 602 (21.8%) patients. Cardiovascular mortality was found to be significantly higher in the high PLR group compared to the low PLR group (31.6% vs. 17.2 %; p 142 and age were found to be independent predictors of long-term cardiovascular mortality in Cox regression analysis (hazard ratios (95% confidence interval): 1.03 (1.01–1.04) and 1.04 (1.02–1.06), p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). Conclusions : Platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, which is one of the parameters of routine complete blood count, reflects increased inflammatory status, platelet activation and aggregation. PLR is a cheap and readily available marker that has the ability to improve risk stratification provided by conventional risk scores in predicting long-term cardiovascular mortality in PAOD.

Objective: Red cell distribution width (RDW) is a measure of variation in the size of circulating red blood cells. Recent studies have reported a strong independent relation between elevated RDW and short- and long-term prognosis in various disorders.The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between admission RDW-to-platelet ratio (RPR) and in-hospital and long-term prognosis in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods: A total of 470 consecutive patients with a diagnosis of STEMI who underwent primary PCI were included in this prospective study. The patients were divided into two groups based on their admission RPR: high (>0.061) RPR group and low (≤0.061) RPR group. The patients were followed for adverse clinical outcomes in-hospital and for up to one year after discharge. Results: In-hospital cardiovascular mortality, major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), advanced heart failure and cardiogenic shock were significantly higher in the high RPR group (p 0,061) e grupo com RPR inferior (≤ 0,061)). Os doentes foram seguidos para registo dos eventos clínicos adversos durante o internamento e um ano após a alta hospitalar. Resultados: A mortalidade cardiovascular intra-hospitalar, os eventos cardiovasculares adversos major (MACE), a insuficiência cardíaca avançada e o choque cardiogénico foram significativamente superiores no grupo com RPR elevado (p