The aim of this observational study was to evaluate the effect of Mediterranean and continental nutrition on cardiovascular risk in patients with acute and chronic coronary heart disease in Croatia. The study included 1284 patients who were hospitalized in a 28-month period due to acute or chronic ischaemic heart disease in hospitals across Croatia. An individual questionnaire was prepared which enabled recording of various cardiovascular risk factors. Patients with chronic coronary artery disease have a better index of healthy diet than patients with acute coronary disease. Women have a better index of diet than men in both Croatian regions. When the prevalence of risk factors (impaired glucose tolerance, diabetes mellitus types I and II, hypercholesterolaemia, hypertriglyceridaemia and hypertension) in patients with Mediterranean and continental nutrition is compared, a trend is seen for patients who have risk factors to consume healthier food. The Mediterranean diet is associated with reduced risk of developing cardiovascular disease. This effect is more evident in patients with known cardiovascular disease.

Background and Objectives: End-stage kidney disease (ESKD) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. This study aims to evaluate the contribution of traditional risk factors to the development of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients on dialysis. Materials and Methods: In this study, 54 patients on dialysis with angina symptoms or a positive exercise stress test underwent coronary angiography. Lesions with obstruction >70% lumen diameter of the coronary artery were considered significant. Traditional risk factors included hypertension, diabetes, smoking, dyslipidemia, age, gender, and time spent on dialysis. Results: Out of 54 participants, 41 (75.92%) were men and 13 (24.07%) women. CAD was present in 34 (62.96%) patients, and 20 (37.03%) patients were without CAD. The average age of the participants was 66.51 years. In the group with CAD, the average age was 69.52 years with an average time spent on dialysis of 2.73 years. In the group without CAD, the average age was 61.40 years with a time spent on dialysis of 2.35 years. Hypertension was present in 92.59% of all participants and 97.05% of those with CAD. Diabetes was present in 41.17 patients with CAD and 40% of those without CAD. Dyslipidemia was present in 76.47 participants with CAD and in 40% of those without CAD. Smoking was noticed in 35.29% of the participants with CAD and 57.14% of those without CAD. Besides hypertension, significant predictors for the development of CAD in patients on dialysis were dyslipidemia (OR 3.698, Cl 1.005–13.608, p = 0.049) and age (OR 1.056, Cl 1.004–1.110, p = 0.033). Conclusions: Among the traditional risk factors, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and age are the predictors for the development of CAD in patients on dialysis. Further large randomized clinical studies are needed to clarify the role of traditional risk factors for CAD in patients with ESKD.

Background and Objectives: Younger and middle-aged women may continue to describe psychological and psychosocial burden years after myocardial infarction (MI), yet multicenter real-world data remain limited on what women retrospectively report during long-term follow-up. This study examined such reports in younger and middle-aged women with prior MI while explicitly accounting for delayed, heterogeneous follow-up timing and the non-standardized nature of symptom ascertainment. Materials and Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis within a Croatian multicenter cohort of 957 women younger than 60 years hospitalized with STEMI or NSTEMI between 1 February 2020 and 28 February 2025. Psychological information was collected retrospectively during routine follow-up; the formal PHQ-4 instrument was not administered. A study-specific four-item summary informed by PHQ-4 content was described, and exploratory multivariable analyses modelled this summary as a continuous variable. Descriptive timing-stratified sensitivity analyses and a timing-restricted continuous-score sensitivity model were additionally performed. Results: Prior psychiatric diagnosis was recorded in 16.0% of women, post-MI psychiatric diagnosis in 31.4%, and any psychosocial stressor in 73.2%. Among women with complete item responses, the four-item summary showed a broad distribution rather than a discrete threshold pattern. In continuous-score analyses, higher observed summary values were associated with younger age, prior psychiatric diagnosis, any psychosocial stressor, non-partnered status, non-employment, pregnancy complications/adverse pregnancy outcomes, and greater peri-menopausal symptom burden. Median summary values were only modestly higher in the small ≤ 1-year stratum and were otherwise similar across the later follow-up strata. Higher summary values were also associated with lower odds of self-reported regular current statin-based lipid-lowering use. Conclusions: These findings are best interpreted as exploratory data on retrospectively reported and currently endorsed long-term psychological and psychosocial burden years after MI, not as contemporaneous measures of recovery-phase psychopathology. Prospective studies with predefined assessment windows and validated instruments are needed.