Prognostic impact of subclinical thyroid dysfunction in heart failure

Background

Therapeutic and prognostic implications of subclinical thyroid dysfunction in patients with heart failure (HF) are unclear. We compared the prognostic impact of euthyroidism, subclinical thyroid dysfunction, and euthyroid sick syndrome (ESS) in systolic HF.

Methods

We included 1032 patients hospitalized for systolic HF (left ventricular ejection fraction [LVEF] ≤ 40%) who participated in a randomized trial assessing the effects of a HF disease management program. Patients with incomplete thyroid function tests or thyrotropic medication were excluded. In the remaining 758 subjects, the risk of all-cause death was estimated based on TSH only, or full thyroid function profile. Changes of thyroid function after six months were assessed in 451 subjects.

Results

Subclinical thyroid dysfunction was present in 103 patients at baseline (14%). No differences were found between groups regarding NYHA class (P = 0.29), and LVEF (P = 0.60). After a median follow-up of three years patients with ESS (n = 13) had a 3-fold age-adjusted increased risk of death compared to euthyroid patients (P = 0.001). However, neither subclinical hyperthyroidism (HR 1.18, 95%CI:0.82–1.70) nor hypothyroidism (HR 1.07, 95%CI:0.58–1.98) were associated with increased age-adjusted mortality risk. Subclinical thyroid dysfunction had normalized spontaneously at follow-up in 77% of patients. However, persistent subclinical thyroid dysfunction was also not associated with worse outcome.

Conclusions

In this large well-characterized HF cohort, subclinical thyroid dysfunction did not predict an increased mortality risk. Thus, in patients with moderate to severe HF, further diagnostic and therapeutic procedures for subclinical thyroid dysfunction appear dispensable. ESS was an infrequent but important indicator of a poor prognosis in HF.

Clinical trial registration

URL: http://www.controlled-trials.com. Unique identifier: ISRCTN23325295.     

Discriminative validity of the Scoliosis Research Society 22 questionnaire among five curve-severity subgroups of adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis

Background contextPrevious studies of the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) 22 discriminative validity have lacked sufficiently matched study groups and were limited to a comparison with three or fewer subgroups of disease severity.PurposeTo evaluate the discriminative validity of SRS-22 by assessing the questionnaire's ability to discriminate among five groups of pretreatment adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients with increasing curve severity.Study designRetrospective review of prospectively administered surveys.MethodsTwo hundred eighty-six SRS-22 questionnaires were issued to two AIS pretreatment patient populations: 67 nonoperative and 219 preoperative. Study subjects were separated into five subgroups depending on the major Cobb angle (nonoperative 0°–19° and 20°–40° and preoperative 41°–50°, 51°–60°, and >60°). Each group (n=31) was matched for age (within 1 year) and sex (23 females and 8 males), resulting in a total of 155 study subjects. Analysis of variance was used to determine statistically significant differences (p<.05) between the five subgroups' domains and total scores.ResultsSignificant differences between study groups were found within two of the four domains (pain and image) and the total score. Both nonoperative groups (0°–19° and 20°–40°) demonstrated significantly less pain than the preoperative group (41°–50°) and significantly better self-image than all three preoperative groups. Both nonoperative groups' total scores were significantly higher than all three preoperative groups' scores, with the exception of the 20° to 40° subgroup versus the >60° subgroup. No significant differences were found between groups within the same planned treatment category.ConclusionsThe SRS-22 questionnaire demonstrated good discriminative validity between small nonoperative curves and larger surgical curves within the pain, image, and total domains. However, SRS-22 lacked the ability to differentiate between small intervals of curve magnitude, suggesting a limitation to the questionnaire's discriminative capacity. The discriminative validity of the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) 22 has not been clearly defined. Our analysis of 155 adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients evaluates the instrument's discriminative validity among five age- and sex-matched curve-severity subgroups. The SRS-22 questionnaire lacked the ability to differentiate between small intervals of curve magnitude, suggesting a limit to the questionnaire's discriminative capacity.     

The leukergy test in rheumatic diseases. New implications for an old test

In order to assess the value of the leukergy test in which leukocytes aggregate in citrated whole blood, we examined 65 patients with various rheumatic conditions. In addition, plasma samples from 40 patients were examined for neutrophil aggregation activity in vitro. Results of the leukergy test were found to be in very good correlation with disease activity (P = 0.0001), whereas no increased neutrophil aggregation activity was found in the 40 plasma samples examined. The value of the leukergy test in assessing patients with rheumatic disease and its theoretical etiopathogenic role in these diseases are discussed.     

Comparative analysis of Bayer wide-range C-reactive protein (wr-CRP) and the Dade-Behring high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

OBJECTIVE: The recently introduced Bayer wide‐range C‐reactive protein (wr‐CRP) assay might be relevant for the real‐time low‐cost and online determination of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) activity. Our aim was to examine whether wr‐CRP can substitute for the Dade Behring high sensitivity C‐reactive protein (hs‐CRP) assay in IBD patients. METHODS: A total of 71 patients with IBD, of whom 48 had Crohn's disease CD and 23 had ulcerative colitis (UC) with various intensities of disease activity participated in the study. The CRP of patients who were under treatment at the Department of Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases were measured using both wr‐CRP and the hs‐CRP. RESULTS: A significant (r = 0.995; P < 0.001) correlation was noted between the hs‐CRP and wr‐CRP measurements for the whole sample as well as for the two diseases, CD (r = 0.994; P < 0.001) and UC (r = 0.997; P < 0.001), which were analyzed separately. CONCLUSION: The Bayer wr‐CRP assay might be a useful low‐cost and real‐time inflammation‐sensitive biomarker in patients with IBD.     

Obesity-related correlation between C-reactive protein and the calculated 10-y Framingham Coronary Heart Disease Risk Score

OBJECTIVE: To clarify the role of body mass index (BMI, kg/m(2)) adjustment in predictive models for cardiovascular events that add high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) to the 10-y Framingham Coronary Heart Disease Risk Score (FCRS). DESIGN: A cross-sectional study in a group of apparently healthy individuals.SUBJECTS:In all, 1512 apparently healthy individuals (955 men and 557 women) at a respective age of 49.7+/-10.6 and 50.6+/-9.6 y. RESULTS: The Pearson correlation between hs-CRP and the calculated 10-y FCRS was lower when adjusted for BMI. This reduction was especially noted in women where it dropped from 0.247 to 0.09. The dominant role of hs-CRP concentrations was also noted in a linear regression model, again, especially noted in women (drop of the standardized coefficient from 0.517 for BMI to 0.08 for the FCRS). CONCLUSIONS: The correlation between hs-CRP and the 10-y FCRS is partly related to the presence of obesity. We raise the possibility that the addition of BMI to the predictive model of FCRS might attenuate the cost-effectiveness of CRP measurements for this specific risk assessment.