Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: An increasing notion suggests that aldosterone contributes to the development and progression of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Experimental studies documented an upregulation of cellular adhesion molecules, which are involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, after administration of aldosterone. However, evidence for an association between circulating aldosterone levels and soluble cellular adhesion molecules in humans is sparse.<p class="...

Over the past several years, growing evidence suggested that serum cortisol is associated with increased cardiovascular (CVD) mortality in patients with chronic heart failure. The prognostic significance of serum cortisol concentration (SCC) in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) however is unknown.In the prospective Ludwigshafen Risk and Cardiovascular Health (LURIC) study 3316 patients (median age: 63.5 (56.3–70.6) years; 30.2% women) were...

Background: There is increasing evidence that aldosterone exerts deleterious, blood pressure independent effects on cerebral blood vessels. We aimed to evaluate whether high aldosterone levels are related to fatal stroke.Methods: Serum aldosterone concentrations (SAC, pg/ml) were measured in 3073 Caucasian patients, who were routinely referred to coronary angiography. We calculated Cox proportional hazard ratios for death due to fatal stroke according to...

Background: The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone-system (RAAS) is a major regulator of blood pressure, however, there are no studies available addressing its characterization in a large clinical setting. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to describe the relationship between parameters of the RAAS and actual blood pressure results in a large cohort of patients with and without essential hypertension.Methods: We investigated 3253 patients (ages 63.2...

Context: The aldosterone to active renin ratio (AARR) is the recommended screening test for primary aldosteronism (PA), but prospective study data on its sensitivity and specificity are sparse.Objective: We investigated the diagnostic accuracy of the AARR for detecting PA.Design: This is a prospective diagnostic accuracy study.Setting: This study was conducted from February 2009 to August 2015 at the outpatie...

Introduction: Soluble ST2 (sST2) is the truncated soluble form of the ST2 receptor in the circulation. It is a decoy receptor of IL-33 and thereby inhibits the effects of IL-33/ST2 signaling. Elevated levels of sST2 have been associated with various adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Recently, potential associations of sST2 with obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have been described in the general population. In this study, we determined possible cross-sectional associa...