Arquivos brasileiros de cardiologia最新文献

Background:  Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a genetically inherited cardiac disease with significant clinical impact. Although its epidemiology is well described in developed countries, the prevalence of HCM in Latin American populations remains poorly defined.

Objective:  To estimate the prevalence of the HCM phenotype and describe its clinical and echocardiographic characteristics in a large adult Brazilian cohort.

Methods:  The ELSA-Brasil study is a multicenter cohort including 15,105 active and retired public servants aged 35-74 years at baseline. Comprehensive clinical data collection was conducted at each investigation center. Baseline echocardiographic examinations were reviewed, and participants were classified as having Definitive HCM if established diagnostic criteria were met. The prevalence of HCM and its 95% CI were calculated. Individuals meeting borderline criteria were classified as Possible HCM. A p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results:  Among 3,267 participants who underwent echocardiography at baseline (mean age 64 ± 9 years; 53% women), five individuals met diagnostic criteria for HCM, of whom 80% were women. The estimated prevalence of HCM was 0.15% (95% CI, 0.05%-0.36%). Three participants exhibited a septal hypertrophy phenotype, and all cases of Definitive HCM showed abnormal electrocardiographic findings. A total of 19 additional participants were classified as Possible HCM, with no statistically significant differences compared with the Definitive HCM group.

Conclusion:  The prevalence of HCM in this Brazilian cohort was approximately 1.5 per 1,000 individuals, consistent with rates reported in other populations. Most cases of HCM occurred in women and were frequently associated with metabolic conditions. These findings provide novel data on the epidemiology and clinical profile of HCM in Brazil and highlight the need for further research on genetic cardiomyopathies in Latin America.

Background: Obesity is a serious public health problem and is associated with activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the development of resistant or refractory hypertension.

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of obesity in the population of outpatients with refractory or resistant hypertension and its relationship between body mass index and hypertension severity.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in a referral outpatient clinic for severe arterial hypertension. Patients with resistant and refractory hypertension were included. Information related to demographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, comorbidities, alcoholism, smoking, and sedentary lifestyle was collected. Continuous variables were compared using the Student's t-test or Mann Whitney, and categorical variables were compared using the chi-square test. Pearson's correlation test was used for anthropometric measurements and blood pressure. A significance level of p < 0.05 was adopted.

Results: A total of 138 patients were collected, of whom 74.7% had resistant hypertension and 25.3% had refractory hypertension. There was a predominance of females and black ethnicities, representing 79.7% (p=0.307) and 91.3% (p=0.315), respectively. The mean age was 64.7± 10.8 (p=0.566). Obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) was present in 42% (p=0.379), being higher in refractory hypertension (51.4% vs. 38.8%). Higher body mass index values were directly associated with an increased number of antihypertensive medications required for blood pressure control (r = 0.45; p < 0.01). Additionally, 74.6% of the patients had dyslipidemia (p=0.400).

Conclusion: In our population of patients with severe hypertension, obesity was prevalent and significantly influenced both the presentation and the control of blood pressure levels.

Background: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in very small-caliber vessels (≤2.25 mm) presents technical challenges and is associated with poorer outcomes compared to larger vessels. The Inspiron® stent, a drug-eluting stent (DES) manufactured in Brazil, has been evaluated in multiple studies; however, data on its performance in vessels smaller than 2.5 mm are lacking.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes of PCI using DES in very small-caliber vessels and to compare the Inspiron® stent with other contemporary DES platforms. The primary endpoint was major adverse cardiac events (MACE), defined as cardiac death, target lesion myocardial infarction, and clinically driven target lesion revascularization.

Methods: We conducted an observational study including a consecutive sample at a Brazilian reference center from 2017 to 2021. Outcomes were assessed in-hospital, at 30 days, 6 months, and 12 months, using a 5% threshold for statistical significance.

Results: A total of 783 DES were implanted: 47% Inspiron® and 46.8% other DES. The mean patient age was 64.7 ± 11 years; 61% were male, and 42% had diabetes mellitus. At 12 months, the overall MACE rate was 4.54% (36/793), with no difference between groups (Inspiron®: 4.6% vs. other DES: 4.6%; p=1.000). Individual endpoints and stent thrombosis rates were also similar (4 [1.0%] vs. 2 [0.5%]; p=0.868).

Conclusion: our findings show that the Inspiron® stent has acceptable safety and efficacy and provides comparable 12-month clinical outcomes to other contemporary DES in very small-caliber coronary vessels.

Background: Artificial intelligence (AI) language models are increasingly used to generate patient education materials. However, their accuracy, completeness, and adherence to clinical guidelines remain uncertain.

Objectives: To compare ChatGPT-Mini and ChatGPT-4.0 in the generation of hypertension education content with respect to accuracy, completeness, structural quality using the Ensuring Quality Information for Patients (EQIP), response consistency, and alignment with established guidelines.

Methods: A standardized set of 31 hypertension-related questions was submitted to both models. Outputs were independently evaluated by 10 blinded clinicians using a modified EQIP score, a 5-point accuracy scale, and a 3-point completeness scale. Response consistency was assessed using BERTScore. Between-model comparisons were performed using the two-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum test (p < 0.05). Effect sizes were reported as Hodges-Lehmann (HL) median differences and Cliff's delta (δ), both with 95% CIs. Inter-rater reliability was estimated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC; two-way random effects model, absolute agreement).

Results: Central tendency measures favored ChatGPT-4.0, although differences were small. Median scores were as follows: accuracy, 4.10 (3.70-4.20) versus 3.73 (3.60-4.05); completeness, 1.26 (1.17-1.41) versus 1.10 (0.96-1.23); and total EQIP score, 19.5 (18.0-25.0) versus 18.5 (16.0-23.0) for ChatGPT-4.0 and ChatGPT-Mini, respectively. HL median differences were small, with 95% CIs crossing zero (accuracy: +0.37, -0.25 to +0.50; completeness: +0.16, -0.06 to +0.36; EQIP: +1.0, -1.0 to +6.0). Cliff's δ values were consistently small and positive across primary outcomes, indicating only modest stochastic dominance of ChatGPT-4.0. Identification clarity tended to be higher with ChatGPT-4.0, whereas response consistency measured by BERTScore F1 was generally higher for ChatGPT-Mini (> 0.92 versus 0.885-0.932). Inter-rater reliability was good to excellent across all measures (ICC > 0.80).

Conclusions: ChatGPT-4.0 demonstrated small, non-significant improvements in accuracy, completeness, and structural quality compared with ChatGPT-Mini. Effect sizes were modest, and all 95% CIs included zero. ChatGPT-Mini produced more consistent responses. These findings underscore the importance of routinely reporting effect sizes with 95% CIs and support the use of standardized evaluation methods and real-time validation frameworks for AI-generated medical education content.

Background: The histopathological features of PRKAG2 cardiomyopathy have been reported in a fragmentary manner.

Objective: We aimed to systematically evaluate the cardiac pathological features of PRKAG2 cardiomyopathy in a large patient cohort and assess their diagnostic potential compared to genetic sequencing.

Methods: We conducted an observational, cross-sectional, case-control study including 18 patients with PRKAG2 cardiomyopathy and 11 heart transplant recipients as controls. All patients underwent percutaneous right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy. Tissue samples were analyzed using H&E staining, Periodic Acid-Schiff staining for glycogen, Masson's trichrome for fibrosis, and ultrastructural assessment by transmission electron microscopy. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05 for all analyses.

Results: PRKAG2 cardiomyopathy hearts exhibited significant cardiomyocyte enlargement, normal-appearing mitochondria, extensive vacuolization of most myofibers, minimal interstitial fibrosis (only two patients had mild fibrosis), and no inflammatory cell infiltration. Transmission electron microscopy revealed abundant cytosolic glycogen, primarily in the perinuclear region, with additional deposits in intermyofibrillar and subsarcolemmal areas. This pronounced glycogen accumulation, consistently observed in all PRKAG2 patients, was absent in controls.

Conclusion: Histological and ultrastructural examination of right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy samples reveals a distinct set of features that strongly suggest PRKAG2 cardiomyopathy.