Search

Purpose: Despite continuous efforts to address classical risk factors for atherosclerosis, the battle to control the disease is far from over and atherosclerosis is still a major factor in all-cause mortality. To investigate the relations between early diagnosis and severity of coronary atherosclerosis we examined vaspin and nesfatin-1 levels, and the presence of fragmented QRS (fQRS) in admission electrocardiograms., Materials and Methods: We divided 168 patients into asymptomatic control (18%), <50% coronary artery stenosis (28%), >50% stenosis (31%) and myocardial infarction (MI) (23%) groups. Patients were also evaluated in anatomically significant (>50%stenosis ​+ ​MI) and non-significant atherosclerosis (control+<50%stenosis) groups. Vaspin and nesfatin-1 levels were measured using ELISA methods., Results: Vaspin in MI and >50% stenosis groups was lower than in other groups (p ​< ​0.001). Nesfatin-1 in MI and >50% stenosis groups was lower only than in <50%stenosis group (p0.007). The presence of fQRS was higher in MI and >50% stenosis groups than other groups (p ​< ​0.001). In the anatomically significant atherosclerosis group, vaspin, nesfatin-1 and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) values were lower while Gensini score and the presence of fQRS were higher (for all p ​< ​0.001). Lower vaspin levels and fQRS were related to in-hospital mortality (p ​< ​0.001 and p ​= ​0.02,respectively). Logistic regression analysis showed that male gender, diabetes mellitus, smoking, family history, lower LVEF, lower vaspin and fQRS were defined as independent risk factors for anatomically significant atherosclerosis (p ​= ​0.001)., Conclusions: Our results indicate that low vaspin and fQRS were found to be novel independent risk factors for anatomically significant atherosclerosis and were predictors of mortality., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All the authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Medical University of Bialystok. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Aging is one of the main risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and results in a progressive functional decline of organs and the vasculature. According to WHO data today, 8.5 percent of people worldwide (617 million) are aged 65 and over, this percentage is projected to jump to nearly 17 percent of the world's population by 2050 (1.6 billion). Turkey's 65-and- over population rise over the last 5 years about 17,1% and it is estimated that the percentage of this elderly population will rise from 8.5% (2016 data) to 20,8% in the year 2050. With aging the LV dynamics changes, afterload and myocardial oxygen consumption increase coronary perfusion decrease and the aorta stiffens due to increased collagen and reduced elastine level leading to a high systolic and low diastolic blood pressure and increased pulse wave velocity. At the cellular and mitochondrial level endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cells '(VSMC) have key structural and functional alterations that promote cardiovascular disease (CVD) and is defined as cardiovascular aging. To understand these changes is important for targeting new preventive and therapeutic strategies such as control endothelial dysfunction, mitocondrial oxidative stress, chromatin remodeling, genomic instability and vascular repair modalities including bone marrow-derived sterm cell transplantation in the aging population.

It is known that the immune systems tend to weaken over time, putting elderly patients at higher risk for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular (CV) diseases, diabetes, chronic renal disorders and their complication as well as infectious disease leading to an increased mortality and morbidity rates in patients over 65 years old. Vaccination, a prophylactic treatment strategy, means that immunogenic materials from pathogens (or tumours) are administered to generate an adequate immune response specifically to these antigens. Vaccine-preventable diseases which can affect the elderly population are influenza, pneumococcal disease, tetanus, hepatitis B and zona zoster. It is recommended that all adults over 65 years old, and for adults younger than 65 years who have certain chronic health conditions receive seasonal influenza vaccination annually, pneumococcal vaccines and zoster vaccine. Also tetanus vaccine administration is recommended every 10 years in adults.