Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is potentially modifiable cardiovascular risk factor often overlooked in clinical practice. For this reason, we planned to LVH-TR (Left Ventricular Hypertrophy in Turkish Population) trial to determine the aetiological causes and demographic characteristics of LVH patients. Our study was a multicentre, national, observational study and included 886 patients who applied to the cardiology clinics in 22 centres between February 2020 and August 2021. In the initial evaluation, the Fabry disease (FD) and cardiac amyloidosis (CA) algorithm was followed in patients whose definitive etiologic cause(s) could not be identified. The most common aetiological causes of LVH in our study were hypertension with a rate of 56.6%, heart valve disease with 8.2%, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with 7.5%. Athlete’s heart was detected in eight patients, LV non-compaction was detected in four patients. The rate of LVH of unknown cause was 18.8%. FD was suspected in 143 patients, and CA was suspected in 16 patients. There were 43 (4.85%) patients with low α-galactosidase A enzyme levels. GLA gene mutation analysis was positive in 1.58% of all patients, and these patients were diagnosed with FD, and 15 (1.69%) patients were diagnosed with CA by endomyocardial biopsy method. In the aetiology of LVH, the rate of LVH of unknown cause was high. FD and CA should be considered primarily in this patient group. Early diagnosis of the disease by following the schemes leading to FD and CA was essential in starting treatment before the progression of the disease.

Our aim was to investigate the relationship between thiol, which is the main component of the antioxidant system, and coronary collateral circulation (CCC). Our patients consisted of people with stable coronary artery disease (sCAD) and total occlusion in at least one vessel (n = 249). We divided the patients into two groups, good and poor, according to their CCC degree. We determined that DM, total thiol, and disulfide are independent predictors of poor CCC in multivariate logistic regression analysis (OR: 1.012, 95% CI: 1.008–1.017, p < 0.001; OR: 1.022, 95% CI: 1.000–1.044, p = 0.044; OR: 2.671, 95% CI: 1.238–5.761, p = 0.012, respectively). The ROC analysis showed a cut-off value of 328.7 for native thiol regarding the prediction of poor CCC, with 67.4% specificity and 78% sensitivity. For disulfide, it revealed a cut-off value of 15.1 regarding the prediction of poor CCC, with 57.9% specificity and 69.5% sensitivity. In this study, we detected that the patients with sCAD who developed poor CCC had lower levels of native thiol, total thiol, and disulfide compared to those with good CCC. The most interesting finding of our study is that CCC formation is an effective predictor of the antioxidant cascade rather than the inflammation cascade in sCAD patients.

Aim: Diastolic dysfunction (DD), which often accompanies essential hypertension (HT), can progress to heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Recent studies have shown an association between chronic inflammation and HT. In this study, we aimed to investigate the neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in hypertensive patients with and without DD and the relationship between NLR and DD development. Methods: The study included 50 patients with DD and 50 patients without DD. Left ventricular systolic and diastolic functions were evaluated by echocardiography in all patients. A complete blood count, C-reactive protein (CRP), and NLR were analyzed in blood samples obtained from the patients. Results: There was no significant difference in demographic characteristics and biochemical values between the two groups. White blood cell count and NLR were significantly higher in the group with DD (p<0.001). There was a strong correlation between the presence of DD and NLR in hypertensive patients (r=0.814, p<0.001). Although CRP was between reference values in both groups, it was significantly higher in the group with DD compared to the group without DD (4.40±1.60 vs. 3.70±0.90, p=0.020). Conclusion: NLR can be used to detect DD in patients with hypertension and is an easily accessible and inexpensive inflammatory marker.

Aim: In this study we aimed to determine the burden of caregiving and the factors affecting the burden of caregiving among caregivers of patients with chronic heart failure (HF). Methods: In this prospective study, the Zarit Care Burden Scale (ZCBS) was applied face-to-face to caregivers of 178 heart failure patients. On the scale scoring, 0-20 points indicate "no care burden", 21-40 points indicate "light care burden", 41-60 points indicate "moderate care burden" and 61-88 points indicate "heavy care burden". Results: The burden of caregivers over 65 years of age with HF was higher (p 0.05). Depression was the most common psychiatric problem in both heart failure patients and caregivers.