Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains a health problem worldwide. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of blood pressure (BP) on the circadian pattern and prevalence of new-onset non-dipper hypertension in the post-COVID period in patients with known hypertension. This prospective single-center study included 722 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 infection. Ambulatory BP (ABP) data were collected during their initial hospitalization. The ABP data were reassessed 1 month after the patients were discharged. The results were compared with a healthy control group with known hypertension but without COVID-19 infection. After exclusion criteria were applied, the study included 187 patients with COVID-19 and 136 healthy hypertensive controls. Post-COVID ABP showed that patients with COVID-19 had significantly higher mean 24-h systolic and diastolic BP, mean nighttime systolic and diastolic BP, and mean daytime diastolic BP than the control group. In addition, new-onset non-dipper hypertension was significantly higher in patients with COVID-19. This study demonstrated for the first time that the circadian pattern is disturbed and a non-dipper pattern develops in individuals with known hypertension during the post-COVID period.

Introduction: Coronary artery ectasia (CAE) is localized or diffuse enlargement of the coronary artery more than 1.5 times in diameter in comparison with the adjacent normal coronary artery. The etiology and pathophysiology of CAE are not fully elucidated. Resistin is a newly identified adipocyte secreted hormone belonging to a cysteine-rich protein family. Recently it has been found to be relevant to inflammation-related disease and correlated with serum C-reactive protein (CRP). This research aimed to investigate whether the resistin level has a role in CAE etiopathogenesis.Material and methods: A hundred and three patients with diagnosis of CAE and 122 with normal coronary anatomy (NCA) were included. Details of baseline clinical characteristics and angiographic findings were recorded. Other necessary biochemical parameters were measured with an autoanalyzer. Blood was collected and stored for serum resistin level analysis.Results: Serum resistin levels in CAE were higher than in the NCA group and were statistically significant (p = 0.001). Hypertension (OR = 1.006, 95% CI: 1.002–1.008, p = 0.025), tobacco use (OR = 1.089, 95% CI: 1.055–1.124, p < 0.001), serum resistin levels (OR = 2.431, 95% CI: 1.100–4.696, p = 0.01), hyperlipidemia (OR = 1.005, 95% CI: 1.000–1.014, p = 0.004), triglyceride (OR = 1.006, 95% CI: 1.001–1.010, p = 0.012) remained as independent factors for CAE. In the subgroup analysis of the CAE group, in patients with ectasia in three coronary arteries, resistin levels were significantly higher and statistically significant (p = 0.001). In ROC analysis, the sensitivity of serum resistin was 67.6% and specificity was 86.7% (AUC = 0.749, 95% CI: 0.621–0.877, p = 0.0001).Conclusions: Serum resistin level was significantly higher in CAE. In addition this study showed that serum resistin levels are directly proportional to the number of coronary arteries with ectasia. We think that this study will shed light on this subject and encourage further studies in this field.

T-wave positivity in the lead aVR is a marker of ventricular repolarization abnormality and provides information on short- and long-term cardiovascular mortality in heart failure patients, those with anterior myocardial infarction, and patients who underwent hemodialysis for various reasons. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between T-wave positivity in the lead aVR on superficial electrocardiogram and mortality from COVID-19 pneumonia. This study retrospectively included 130 patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and treated as an outpatient or in the thoracic diseases ward in a single center between January 2021 and June 2021. All patients included in the study had clinical and radiological features and signs of COVID-19 pneumonia. The COVID-19 diagnosis of all patients was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction detected from an oropharyngeal swab. A total of 130 patients were included in this study. Patients were divided into two groups: survived and deceased. There were 55 patients (mean age: 64.76–14.93 years, 58.18 male, 41.12% female) in the survived group and 75 patients (mean age: 65–15 years, 58.67 male, 41.33% female) in the deceased group. The univariate and multivariate regression analyses showed that positive transcatheter aortic valve replacement (OR 5.151; 95%CI 1.001–26.504; p=0.0012), lactate dehydrogenase (OR 1.006; 95%CI 1.001–1.010; p=0.012), and d-dimer (OR 1.436; 95%CI 1.115–1.848; p=0.005) were independent risk factors for mortality. A positive transcatheter aortic valve replacement is useful in risk stratification for mortality from COVID-19 pneumonia.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) after lung resection. Methods: After the implementation of the exclusion criteria, 170 patients were retrospectively analyzed. PLR and NLR were obtained from fasting complete blood counts before surgery. POAF was diagnosed using standard clinical criteria. The associations between different variables and POAF, NLR, and PLR were calculated using univariate and multivariate analyses. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was used to determine the sensitivity and specificity of PLR and NLR. Results: Of the 170 patients, 32 with POAF (mean age =71.28±7.27 y, 28 males and 4 females) and 138 patients without POAF (mean age =64.69±10.31 y, 125 males and 13 females) were identified, and the difference in the mean age was statistically significant (P=0.001). It was found that PLR (157.67±65.04 vs 127.52±56.80; P=0.005) and NLR (3.90±1.79 vs 2.04±0.88; P=0.001) were statistically significantly higher in the POAF group. In the multivariate regression analysis, age, lung resection size, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, NLR, PLR, and pulmonary arterial pressure were independent risk factors. In the ROC analysis, PLR had a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 33% (AUC, 0.66; P<0.001), and NLR had a sensitivity of 71.9% and a specificity of 87.7% (AUC, 0.87; P<0.001). A comparison of AUC between PLR and NLR showed that NLR was statistically more significant (P<0.001). Conclusion: This study showed that NLR was a stronger independent risk factor than PLR for the development of POAF after lung resection.

Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) is associated with an increased risk of morbidity and mortality. This study aims to investigate the predictive value of uric acid/albumin ratio (UAR) for POAF following isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). This retrospective study screened patients who underwent isolated CABG between June 2017 and January 2024. POAF was diagnosed using standard clinical criteria. UAR was calculated by dividing the uric acid level by the albumin value. This study included a total of 396 patients, who were categorized into two groups: POAF- and POAF+. Among them, 321 patients (mean age: 61.7 ± 10.8 years; 74.7% male) belonged to the POAF- group, while 75 patients (mean age: 71.3 ± 10.04 years; 68.1% male) were in the POAF+ group. While there were no significant differences observed between the groups in terms of sex, those in the POAF+ group were statistically older. The univariate and multivariate regression analyses revealed that age, C-reactive protein, hypertension, serum uric acid level, and UAR are independent risk factors for POAF. In the receiver operating characteristics analysis, the UAR (area under the curve [AUC]: 0.775) was found to be a better indicator compared to uric acid (AUC: 0.649) and serum albumin (AUC: 0.606), with a sensitivity of 70.5% and a specificity of 69.2%. UAR was shown to be an independent risk factor for POAF following isolated CABG.