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This study was designed to explore the presence of a prothrombotic state, fibrinolytic dysfunction and inflammation in impaired glucose tolerance subjects, by evaluating serum markers of thrombosis, fibrinolysis and inflammation.In 48 consecutive adults, 25 patients with impaired glucose tolerance (nine men and 16 women, 50.0 ± 9.2 years) were compared with 23 control subjects (six men and 17 women, 48.0 ± 11 years). The markers of thrombotic activation used were D-dimer and fibrinogen. Fibrinolysis dysfunction was evaluated with plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) and the inflammatory marker studied was hs-C reactive protein (hs-CRP).The markers of thrombotic state were significantly higher in patients with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) than in controls: D dimer (489.6 ± 277.3 vs. 345.8 ± 158.9 ng/mL) (p0.01) and fibrinogen (317.7 ± 32.1 vs. 266.7 ± 25.4 mg/dL) (p0.0001). Fibrinolytic marker PAI-1 also differed significantly between the two study groups (66.4 ± 30.7 vs. 35.5 ± 31.0 ng/mL) (p0.006). However, hs-CRP, as inflammation marker, (0.45 ± 0.62 mg/dL vs. 0.38 ± 0.47) did not differ significantly between the two study groups (0.28).This result suggests the presence of a prothrombotic state with fibrinolytic dysfunction in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance.

The incidence of hypertension in the geriatric population is very high and is a significant determinant of cardiovascular risk in this group. The tendency for blood pressure to increase with age in westernized societies such as the United States may depend on environmental factors such as diet, stress, and inactivity. Our population tends to become more obese; to consume relatively greater amounts of sodium and lesser amounts of potassium, calcium, and magnesium; and to decrease exercising with increasing age. Senescent changes in the cardiovascular system leading to decreased vascular compliance and decreased baroreceptor sensitivity contribute not only to rising blood pressure but also to an impairment of postural reflexes and orthostatic hypotension. The hallmark of hypertension in the elderly is increased vascular resistance. Greater vascular reactivity in the elderly hypertensive patients may reflect decreased membrane sodium pump activity and decreased beta-adrenergic receptor activity as well as age-related structural changes. Treatment of diastolic hypertension in the elderly is associated with decreased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Although treatment of systolic hypertension may not decrease immediate cardiovascular mortality, it appears to decrease the incidence of stroke. The initial therapeutic approach to the elderly hypertensive patient should generally consist of a reduction in salt and caloric intake and an increase in aerobic exercise, i.e., walking. Drug therapy should be initiated with lower doses of medication with a special concern about orthostatic hypotension.

The association between arterial systemic hypertension arterial coronary disease has been demonstrated by cumulated evidence of several epidemiological studies. Hypertension is an important independent risk factor for the development of coronary artery disease, vascular cerebral disease and nephropathy. Important advances exist in the knowledge of neurohumoral and hemodynamic factors that come together in the pathophysiology of the hypertension and in the development of coronary disease that allow to establish better strategies not only of treatment, but also of prevention, with the purpose of diminishing the cardiovascular mortality. The spectrum of the coronary artery disease secondary to atherosclerosis is wide and the strategies of treatment of hypertension must be adapted to each particular case. The treatment of both conditions needs of specific limits of agreement to the conditions of the patient and the form of presentation of each one of these disease.

The evolution of reperfusion treatment has permitted an improvement in the prognosis and survival of patients with Acute myocardial infarction with ST elevation. The benefit of thrombolitic therapy was demonstrated clearly starting with the first trials of ISIS 2. It was also demonstrated this benefit is greater when the thrombolitic is combined with aspirin. Other trials have arisen like GUSTO I and TIMI 14, which have continued with the search for the best strategy of reperfusion, demonstrating that the pharmacologic combination with fibrinolitic, antiplatelet and antithrombinics provides the best results regarding permeability of the epicardic artery and transmiocardic reperfusion. Finally the mechanical reperfusion has managed to improve the results obtained with the pharmacologic treatment. Nevertheless it is probably that the Angioplasty with fibrinolitic and antiplatelet therapy is a useful treatment strategy, available for the patient with acute coronary syndrome with ST elevation. In light of the latest studies we must be very cautious, but based on the knowledge of the physiopathology of these syndromes, we think there is still much to discover.

Two hypothesis on the cause of heart failure (HF) have been postulated, one of hemodynamic character and another one of neurohormonal nature. According to the second one, HF is consequence of the overactivity of endogenous endocrine systems such as the renin-angiotensin aldosterone or the autonomic system. Angiotensin-II blockage is actually the first option in the medical treatment of HF. Since it reduces cardiac and vascular remodelation, synthesis of collagen and improves the endothelial function. Preceding to this option one can find the use of beta adrenergic blochers. Recently it was discovered that atrial myocardium liberates, in response to stretching, several peptides with natriuretic properties, specially one denominated B. Such compound has utility in the treatment of decompensated heart failure exclusively in hospitalized patients.

From beginnings of last century the hypertensive emergency was defined as the association of acutely elevation from the arterial pressure and the appearance of damage to end organ. At present is recognized the effects of the hypertensive emergency, the aspects of its patophysiology in which are included phenomenon of vasomotricity and the participation of different substances with vasoactives properties. The clinical presentation includes not only the manifestations of the increase of the arterial pressure, the end organ damage too; for this reason the hypertensive emergency needs the immediate reduction of the arterial tension to prevent the damage to specific organs. The treatment in every case will have to be individualized, with a wide knowledge of the characteristics of every medicament to obtain the best results. The diagnosis and treatment of the hypertensive emergencies needs often of the attention of its complications if they have appeared and later, of a treatment of support for the arterial hypertension.

The multidisciplinary Institutional Committee of experts in Systemic Arterial Hypertension from the National Institute of Cardiology "Ignacio Chávez" presents its update (2008) of "Guidelines and Recommendations" for the early detection, control, treatment and prevention of Hypertension. The boarding tries to be simple and realistic for all that physicians whom have to face the hypertensive population in their clinical practice. The information is based in the most recent scientific evidence. These guides are principally directed to hypertensive population of emergent countries like Mexico. It is emphasized preventive health measures, the importance of the no pharmacological actions, such as good nutrition, exercise and changes in life style, (which ideally it must begin from very early ages). "We suggest that the changes in the style of life must be vigorous, continuous and systematized, with a real reinforcing by part of all the organisms related to the health education for all population (federal and private social organisms). It is the most important way to confront and prevent this pandemic of chronic diseases". In this new edition the authors amplifies the information and importance on the matter. The preventive cardiology must contribute in multidisciplinary entailment. Based mainly on national data and the international scientific publications, we developed our own system of classification and risk stratification for the carrying people with hypertension, Called HTM (Arterial Hypertension in Mexico) index. Its principal of purpose this index is to keep in mind that the current approach of hypertension must be always multidisciplinary. The institutional committee of experts reviewed with rigorous methodology under the principles of the evidence-based medicine, both, national and international medical literature, with the purpose of adapting the concepts and guidelines for a better control and treatment of hypertension in Mexico. This work group recognizes that hypertension is not an isolated disease; therefore its approach must be in the context of the prevalence and interaction with other cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity, diabetes, dislipidemia and smoking among others. The urgent necessity is emphasized to approach in a concatenated form the diverse cardiovascular risk factors, since independently of which they share common pathophysiological mechanisms, its suitable identification and control will affect without any doubt the natural history of the other concatenated risk factor. By all means that to greater participation of factors, greater it will be the global cardiovascular risk but never, however, the specific weight is due to avoid that each one has on the global cardiovascular risk. In this Second edition we try to amplify and give systematic forms for the clinical approach for the suspicion of secondary hypertension and we emphasizes that hypertension in the woman with or without menopause should be careful analyzed, and special recommendations are given for the hypertension in pregnancy. Also we have approached some aspects related to the hypertensive emergencies and other special situations. In this second version some recommendations are presented for boarding hypertension in children and adolescents.

Right ventricular hypertension (RVH) is an entity that could be expected in various cardiopulmonary diseases. Mechanical obstruction to the right ventricle outflow tract is a cause of RVH. We present the case of a 69 year-old male with a history of hepatocarcinoma previously treated. The developed RVH due to mechanical obstruction secondary to metastatic infiltration of the right ventricle. The clinical syndrome was characterized by systemic venous hypertension. Non-invasive studies, such as electrocardiogram and computed tomography scan limited the metastasis to the right ventricle; the diagnosis was confirmed by cardio-angiography and endocardial biopsy. The studies did not demonstrate neoplastic activity at any other level.

Based on a National Re-survey on Hypertension (HTA) and other cardiovascular risk factors performed in Mexico during 2003 and 2004 in the adult population with HTA, as identified in the 2000 National Survey of Health, this study was planed to determine: 1) morbidity and mortality rates; 2) the incidence and interrelation with other risk factors, such as overweight, obesity, dyslipidemia, nephropathy and diabetes; 3) the main risk factors associated to HTA involved in its complications, need for hospitalization and number of days; and, 4) the degree of therapeutical adhesion and the type of antihypertensive drugs used.The survey was of type III using the step by step method described by WHO. Sampling was weighed a priori taking into account a national prevalence average of HTA of 30.05% and its corresponding rate for each federal state. Permissible maximum error in the estimation = 0.28. Effect of design = 4.5; and, Rate of awaited answer (0.70).From the initial 14,567 interviewed patients, 1,165 (8%) subjects were considered non-hypertensive or false positives at the 2000 survey. From the 13,402 remaining patients, 335 died during the first 2 years of pursuit, which implies an annual mortality of approximately 1.15% in the hypertensive population. Thus, 13,067 survivors were subjected to the final analysis. The mean age at the re-survey was 45.6 +/- 12.6; 40.5% were men (n = 5,295). There was a statistically significant difference in height, but not in weight between both genders. The control HTA was raised 14.6% in the year 2000 and 19.2% in 2004. The prevalence of diabetes was duplicated from 16% to 30% (.001). Fifty four percent of the whole population required hospitalization at least once during the period of study. The rates of overweight, obesity, and dyslipidemia rose significantly (p0.05) independently from age, federal state, and gender.RENAHTA shows the impact of hypertension on the morbidity and mortality during the 3.1 +/- 1.5 years of follow-up in Mexico. It alerts us on the need to reinforce the strategies of attention and prevention of this crucial risk factor and of screening the dynamic nonlinear interaction between the main cardiovascular risk factors in Mexico. New hypotheses are proposed for the metabolic syndrome.

Prevalence of proteinuria in Mexico: A conjunctive consolidation approach with other cardiovascular risk factors: The Mexican Health Survey 2000.BackgroundA number of cross-sectional or serial studies have demonstrated the clinical impact of microproteinuria and macroproteinuria by identifying individuals at risk of both end-stage renal disease and major cardiovascular events. This study focused on the prevalence of proteinuria in Mexico and its relationship with other cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, body mass index, smoking, age, and gender.MethodsThe prevalence of proteinuria in Mexico was obtained from the probabilistic cross-sectional national health survey performed in the year 2000. The proportion of urine dipstick samples that tested positive for protein (defined as ≥1+) in adults from 20 to 69 years of age was determined. The analysis was performed using both algebraic and multicategorical models. Potential interactions between proteinuria and other major cardiovascular risk factors were investigated.ResultsA total of 46,523 adult survey participants were included in the analysis. In the general population, 9.2% had proteinuria. By univariate, multivariate, and multicategorical analysis, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and age were strongly associated with the prevalence of proteinuria (P < 0.001). However, in Mexico, the specific distribution of age groups demonstrated that the absolute number of patients without hypertension that had proteinuria is not irrelevant. To identify 1 case of proteinuria, one would need to screen 3 persons with diabetes mellitus, 5 patients with hypertension without diabetes, or 6 persons over the age of 55 years. When proteinuria is present, the probability of having a noncommunicable chronic disease or other major cardiovascular risk factor is more than 85%.ConclusionProteinuria is prevalent. When considered together, dipstick-positive proteinuria, blood pressure level, body mass index ≥30m2/kg, and abnormal fasting blood glucose measured on a single occasion identifies different segments of the population. Studies such as this may be a suitable initial clinical approach to general population screening for renal and cardiovascular risk stratification.