This review presents the results of research in the field of studying associations of biochemical and molecular genetic markers of kidney damage in arterial hypertension. Information on the topic from publications of PubMed, Google Scholar databases was used. 

The article is a review of information about the management of arterial hypertension (AH) on hemodialysis. This problem is relevant due to poor elaboration. At the same time, the prevalence of AH on hemodialysis is 91,4 %. The article discusses surveys concerning criteria for determining AH on hemodialysis and methodological approaches to its registration, target values of blood pressure during therapy. The concept of intradialysis hypertension, issues of the pathogenesis of AH on hemodialysis are also considered. The author presents approaches to nondrug therapy and drug treatment of patients with AH on hemodialysis. In particular, approaches to the control of sodium and volemic status within the framework of patient-dependent and apparatus-dependent technologies are considered. Data on the effectiveness of the use of certain classes of antihypertensive drugs are presented, in particular, diuretics, blockers of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, beta-blockers, calcium channel antagonists, mineralocorticoid receptors are considered. The article reflects the needs of modern clinical practice in conducting evidence-based medicine research and identifies the critical points of orientation of such research.

Relevance. Assessment of the cardiovascular risk factors (RF) knowledge is important for the development of disease preventive programs. It is shown that awareness of the RF does not guarantee readiness for their correction, and there is a potential gap between intention and behavior. Ample evidence suggests that a physician’s commitment to a healthier lifestyle and RF control increases patient confi        in his recommendations. Assessment of the subjective attitude to RF for the development of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and the readiness for their correction not only in patients, but also in doctors is an important task both for the health of the doctors themselves and indirectly for their future and current patients.

Objective. To assess the subjective attitude to RF for the development of CVD and the readiness for their correction in doctors and patients of one medical organization.

Design and methods. The study included 58 doctors and 55 patients who were consecutively hospitalized in different departments of the Medical Research and Education Center of Moscow State University named after M. V. Lomonosov. Doctors and patients of the cardiology department were not included in the study. All questions about CVD RF were open. The number of answers was not limited.

Results. The analysis included 58 questionnaires of doctors and 52 questionnaires of patients. The median age of physicians was 37 [31; 48] years, among them 40 % were men. The median age of patients was 61 [49; 71] years, men — 42 %. Physicians expectedly showed higher awareness of various RF for CVD. They called an average of 4,9 ± 2,0 RF, and patients — 3,9 ± 1,6, but the difference was not significant. Physicians were more aware of carbohydrate metabolism disorders, malnutrition, physical inactivity, sleep disturbances, and stress as CVD RF (all p < 0,001), with more frequent patients, than physicians indicated smoking (67,3 % and 27,6 %, respectively, p < 0,001). Female physicians were statistically significantly less likely to report obesity (4,3 % and 25,7 %, respectively, p = 0,013). At the same time, they indicated hypertension more often than men (13,0 % and 2,6 %, respectively, p = 0,018). Physicians named one RF that threatened their own health more (p < 0,001). At the same time, physicians were willing to try to change less than half of these factors, while inpatients were determined to change two-thirds of the factors (45,9 % and 66,1 %, p = 0,012). Conclusions. The level of physicians’ awareness of CVD RF and readiness for change remains relatively low. To combat the growing burden of CVD in Russia, it is necessary to maximize the potential of not only cardiologists, but also doctors of other specialties, as channels of reliable information about health, develop and implement measures to increase awareness of the circumstances that contribute to the development of CVD, as well as tools for self-management of risks, not only among patients, but also among medical workers.

Aim. To assess the frequency of arterial hypotension, orthostatic hypotension, low blood pressure (BP) and their clinical manifestations in the group of elderly and senile patients with a controlled course of arterial hypertension (AH), taking combinations of drugs based on an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE inhibitor).

Materials and methods. The study included 171 male and female residents of Krasnodar Territory with drug-controlled AH (blood pressure - BP less than 140/90 mm Hg in the background of previous antihypertensive therapy containing an ACE inhibitor perindopril), and with diseases of atherosclerotic genesis. All patients were questioned, tested for balance control, assessed for the risk of falls according to the Morse scale, hypotension in orthostasis was determined, measured office BP, carried out daily monitoring of BP with the determination of the time indices of hypotension and low BP.

Results. Most often patients took a combination of ACE inhibitors with calcium channel blockers (CCB) (28.1% of cases), beta-blockers (BB) (27.1%) or diuretics (29.1%). Assessing the risk of falls on the Morse scale, there was a significantly lower level in patients who took the combination of perindopril with CCB compared with those who received perindopril with BB (15 versus 25 points respectively, p=0.039). Patients receiving perindopril and CCB lost balance in the “legs together” position in 19.3% and in the “tandem” or “semi-tandem” position of the feet in 29.8% of cases, that could be compared to the group taking perindopril and a diuretic (22% and 33.9%, respectively) and significantly lower than in the groups with perindopril and BB therapy (34.5% and 50.9%, respectively, p₁=0.037, p₂=0.043). The time index of low systolic and diastolic BP during therapy with perindopril and CCB was significantly lower than the corresponding indicator in the groups of patients treated with perindopril and BB (22% and 17% versus 27% and 21%, respectively, p₁=0,009, p₂=0,024), and the time index of low systolic BP for the combination of perindopril and diuretic is lower than for the combination of perindopril and BB (23% versus 27%, respectively, p=0.023).

Conclusion. The data obtained on the frequency of arterial hypotension, orthostatic hypotension and low BP in the group of elderly and senile patients indicate the advisability of further studying the risks of drug hypotension in order to better personalize the treatment of AH.

Objective. The aim of the study was to evaluate the features of vascular rigidity in patients with arterial hypertension (AH) depending on the presence of chronic heart failure (CHF) and senile asthenia syndrome (SAS).

Design and methods. 320 patients with AH were divided into two main groups: group 1 — patients with AH and CHF (n = 161), group 2 — patients with AH without CHF (n = 159). Depending on the presence of SAS, patients of each group were divided as follows: subgroup 1A — patients with AH, CHF and SAS (n = 84), subgroup 1B — patients with AH, CHF without SAS (n = 77), subgroup 2A — patients with AH, SAS without CHF (n = 84), subgroup 2B — patients with AH without CHF and without SAS (n = 75). To identify SAS, we used the “Age is not a barrier” questionnaire and a short battery of physical functioning tests. The parameters of vascular stiffness were determined using a device for daily monitoring of blood pressure BPLab using Vasotens technology (Peter Telegin, Nizhny Novgorod). The obtained data were processed using STATISTICA 12.0 (StatSoft Inc., USA), SPSS 21.0, MedCalc (version 9.3.5.0).

Results. Analysis of the effect of SAS on vascular stiffness showed that in patients with AH, CHF and SAS, compared with patients with AH, CHF without SAS, there were statistically significantly lower values of the reflected wave propagation time (RWTT) (p = 0,001) against the background of higher values pulse wave velocity in the aorta (РWVао) (p < 0,001), arterial stiffness index (ASI) (p = 0,0001) and ambulatory arterial stiffness index (AASI) (p = 0,002), which indicates more pronounced vascular stiffness in patients with AH, CHF in the presence of SAS. In the group of patients with AH and SAS without CHF, compared with patients with AH without CHF and without SAS, higher values of РWVао (p < 0,001) and “adjusted” index of augmentation index (AIх@75) (p < 0,001) were revealed, which allows to judge the effect of SAS on the development of arterial stiffness in patients with AH without CHF. Analysis of the effect of CHF on vascular stiffness showed that in patients with AH, SAS and CHF, compared with patients with AH, SAS without CHF, statistically significantly lower values of RWTT (p < 0,001) and higher values of РWVао (p = 0,024) were noted, ASI (p < 0,001), AASI (p < 0,001), maximum rate of blood pressure rise (dP/dtmax) (p < 0,001) and AIх@75 (p < 0,001). In the group of patients with AH, CHF without SAS, compared with patients with AH without CHF and without SAS, lower values of RWTT (p < 0,001) and higher values of РWVаo (p = 0,004), ASI (p < 0,001), AASI (p < 0,001) and dP/dtmax (p < 0,001), which in turn demonstrates the contribution of CHF to the development of vascular stiffness in AH patients without SAS. CS.

Conclusions. In hypertensive patients over 80 years of age, the development of both SAS and CHF was accompanied by limited compliance of the aortic walls and increased vascular stiffness in the peripheral arteries. Significantly more pronounced changes in vascular stiffness parameters were noted in patients with a combination of AH, CHF and SAS compared with those in patients with AH and CHF or AH and SAS, which indicates an increase in vascular stiffness, and, consequently, a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases in this combined pathology.

Objective. To assess the impact of adipose tissue dysfunction for target blood pressure levels achieving in arterial hypertension (AH) and chronic heart failure with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (HFpEF) in real clinical practice.

Materials and methods. We examined 91 elderly patients (> 75 y.o.) with AH and HFpEF during hospital admission. The mass and mass fraction of adipose tissue, serum levels of adipokines (adiponectin, leptin) and proinflammatory cytokines (TNFa and IL6) were assessed. Steady normotension at discharge was used as a marker of the target blood pressure level achievement possibility.

Results. By the time of the planned discharge, stable normotension was recorded in 24.2% of patients. In senile patients with failure to achieve normotension, isolated systolic AH was most common - 55.1%. Patients with persistent hypertension at the time of the planned discharge were characterized by a low ability of adipose tissue to secrete adiponectin: 0.05 (0.03; 0.12) vs 0.37 (0.12; 0.5) μg/mL/kg (p = 0.037 ). The minimum values of adiponectin (corrected for adipose tissue mass) were in patients with systolic-diastolic AH (0.04 (0.03; 0.06) μg/ml/kg, Jonkhier-Terpstra test, p = 0.033). A regression model for achieving normotension in senile patients with HFpEF was built with a total percentage of correct classifications of 93.8% before bootstrap and 95.8% after: the maximum values of the Wald statistics were achieved with respect to the predictors "adiponectin", "TNF-a" and "heart rate".

Conclusion. The development of adipose tissue dysfunction, accompanied by a decrease in the “rescue hormone” adiponectin synthesis, is associated with the failure to achieve normotension during medication of the inpatient treatment in senile patients with AH and HFpEF.

Objective. To identify the association of a number of clinical features and structural and functional characteristics of the heart with the progression of chronic heart failure (CHF) in patients one year after ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (MI) (STEMI) with preserved and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) (LVEF).

Design and methods. 120 patients with STEMI were included in a prospective study. During the study, all patients underwent an echocardiographic study using a Sonos 2500 device (Hewlett Packard, USA) on the 1st day (point I), on the 12th day (point II) of hospitalization, and also after 1 year (point III). Depending on the parameters of EF on the 1st day of the disease, the total sample of patients was divided into two: the 1st group — with preserved LVEF was represented by 86 (71,7 %), the 2nd group — with a reduced LVEF was represented by 34 (28,3 %) patients.

Results. A total of 19 (15,8 %) adverse events were registered. In two cases, a fatal outcome (1,7 %) was recorded, the cause of which was repeated MI, in five (4,2 %) patients decompensation of СHF was noted, in eight (6,7 %) patients a clinic of progressive angina was traced, in four (3, 3 %) of patients were diagnosed recurrent MI. Deterioration of systolic and diastolic function was established one year after STEMI with preserved (≥ 50 %) LVEF: 17,6 % of patients began to correspond to the intermediate range of EF (40-49 %), the number of patients with diastolic dysfunction increased by 10 % compared to with acute study.

Conclusions. Within a year after a STEMI with initially preserved LVEF, there is a deterioration in myocardial function in the form of a decrease in myocardial contractility and an increase in the number of patients with diastolic dysfunction.

Chronic heart failure (CHF), arterial hypertension (AH), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) worsen the prognosis for the cure of newly diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), including due to an increase in negative symptoms and a deterioration in the quality of life of patients in the intensive phase of TB treatment. This requires the algorithmic diagnostic actions of a doctor for the subsequent appointment of rational pharmacotherapy with a proven best outcome in the treatment of TB.

Objective. To develop an algorithm for the diagnosis and pharmacotherapy of patients with hypertension, CHF and COPD in the intensive phase of chemotherapy for newly diagnosed TB in terms of the best outcome of TB cure.

Design and methods. An open, prospective, randomized comparative study included 135 patients who were admitted to a tuberculosis dispensary for the treatment of newly diagnosed TB. Depending on concomitant cardiac pathology, patients were divided into 2 groups: 76 patients with TB, COPD and AH; 59 patients with TB, COPD and CHF. In patients on the background of intensive chemotherapy for newly diagnosed TB, symptoms such as shortness of breath, tachycardia, and increased blood pressure (BP) were first detected or intensified. The selection of treatment regimens was carried out with an assessment of the best tolerability and effectiveness. Duration of follow-up was 6 months with an assessment of the outcomes of TB treatment in comparison with retrospective control (a similar group according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria treated in 2018).

Results. During intensive chemotherapy of newly diagnosed TB, increasing symptoms were assessed and analyzed, indicating the appearance or exacerbation of comorbid pathology: AH, CHF and COPD. Based on the results of the study, an algorithm of doctor’s actions was developed for the differential diagnosis of cardiovascular (AH and CHF) and bronchopulmonary (COPD) pathologies with recommendations for prescribing a rational combination of drugs. In patients with TB, hypertension and COPD, the best effect was obtained in reducing the average daily systolic and diastolic BP during therapy with an angiotensin II receptor antagonist and a dihydropyridine calcium antagonist with satisfactory tolerability. For patients with TB, COPD and CHF, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (if intolerant, an angiotensin II receptor antagonist) in combination with a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist and titration of a beta-blocker with the addition of a myocardial cytoprotector to the above therapy showed an optimal effect on the severity of CHF symptoms. These treatment regimens for 3 months led to the achievement of target indicators for BP, heart rate, exercise tolerance in the test with a 6-minute walk, and improvement in echocardiography. Continuation of treatment up to 6 months showed a significant improvement in the outcomes of TB chemotherapy, expressed in an increase in the number of people who achieved cessation of bacterial excretion and closure of decay cavities, without increasing antibiotic therapy.

Conclusions. Algorithm of doctor’s diagnostic actions and prescription of rational pharmacotherapy of AH, CHF and COPD in patients with newly diagnosed pulmonary TB leads not only to improved tolerability of TB therapy, but also to the outcomes of curing newly diagnosed TB without intensifying antibiotic therapy.

Nitric oxide (NO) plays an important pathogenetic role in vascular relaxation and is a candidate molecule of a common pathogenetic link in the development of arterial hypertension (AH) and tension-type headache (TTH).

Objective of the study was to study the association of the single nucleotide variant (SNV) rs2297518 of the NOS 2 gene with the risk of developing AH and clinical “AH + TTH” phenotype in adults living in a large industrial city of Eastern Siberia.

Design and methods. All participants (N = 91) were divided into two groups: group 1 (patients with AH) — 60 people, including the main subgroup (patients with AH without headache) — 30 people and a comparable subgroup (patients with clinical phenotype “AH + TTH”) — 30 people; group 2 (control — healthy volunteers) — 31 people. Carriage of the SNV rs2297518 gene NOS 2 (locus 17q11.2) was determined using real-time polymerase chain reaction.

Results. The minor allele A rs2297518 of the NOS 2 gene was statistically significantly associated with a high risk of developing AH (odds ratio (OR) = 8,43 [95 % confidence interval (CI): 2,33–30,46], p = 0,000223) and phenotype “AH + TTH” (OR = 5,44 [95 % CI: 1,46–20,21], p = 0,006) compared with the control group. The heterozygous genotype GA rs2297518 of the NOS 2 gene also was statistically significantly associated with a high risk of developing AH (OR = 8,17 [95 % CI: 2,03–32,79], p = 0,001).

Conclusions. The study demonstrated that the minor allele A of the SNV rs2297518 (26096597 G > A) of the NOS 2 gene, which encodes the inducible NO-synthase (iNOS), can be considered as a clinically significant genetic biomarker, first of all, of AH in the Caucasian population of Eastern Siberia. At the same time, future studies may clarify the role of this SNV as a genetic biomarker of the “AH + TTH” phenotype.

Background. Correction of endothelial dysfunction during arterial hypertension (AH) is an important measure in preventing cerebrovascular stroke. Drugs activating soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) and 3’,5’-guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) production independently of nitric oxide (NO) were shown to be therapeutically useful in reducing the risk of stroke. The present work aims to study the antiaggregant and endothelium-protective activity of a new sGC stimulator, an indolinone derivative (2-[2-[(5RS)-5-(hydroxymethyl)-3-methyl-1,3-oxazolidine-2- yliden]-2-cyanoethylidene]-1H-indole-3(2H)-one (codename — GRS) in a model of ischemic stroke with AH. Prior studies have shown that GRS compound inhibits platelet aggregation, lowers blood pressure (BP) in spontaneouslyhypertensive SHR rats, prevents vascular occlusion in models of arterial and venous thrombosis. Antiplatelet drug clopidogrel, a P2Y₁₂ receptor inhibitor, included in the standard of care for secondary prevention of ischemic stroke, was used as the reference drug.

Objective. To assess the antiaggregant and endothelium-protective activity of a new indolinone derivative GRS, an sGC stimulator, compared to clopidogrel in a model of ischemic stroke concomitant with high arterial BP in spontaneously-hypertensive SHR rats.

Design and methods. Focal brain ischemia/reperfusion was modelled in spontaneously-hypertensive SHR rats (n = 78). GRS in 10 mg/kg dose and clopidogrel in 10 mg/kg dose were administered orally once daily 3 days before modelling ischemia/reperfusion and for 5 days afterwards. Platelet aggregation and functioning of vascular endothelium were monitored.

Results. Focal brain ischemia/reperfusion in SHR rats resulted in increased platelet aggregation and the development of endothelial dysfunction and disruption of vasodilatory function of endothelium. GRS compound and clopidogrel in repeated administration have prevented an increase in platelet aggregation (p < 0,05), GRS compound also alleviated endothelial dysfunction (p < 0,05).

Conclusions. The indolinone derivative GRS, an sGC stimulator, inhibits increased platelet aggregation and prevents endothelial dysfunction in rats after focal brain ischemia/ reperfusion; the endothelium-protective effects of GRS aren’t related to its antiaggregant activity.

Infectious aneurysms (IA) are cerebral aneurysms that are formed due to the infectious inflammation of the arterial wall. They are a rather rare pathology and in most cases prove to be a complication of infectious (bacterial) endocarditis of the left heart chambers. Timely diagnosis of IA in the pre-hemorrhagic period is problematic due to the variability of the clinical picture of IA, frequent blurred or low-symptomatic clinical course, the possibility of IA formation in the remote period after septic embolism, even despite the background of antibiotic therapy. The presented clinical case illustrates the first successful use of a low-profile flow-diverting stent for the treatment of a young patient with a mechanical heart valve and an infectious aneurysm of the left middle cerebral artery, developed at the site of septic embolism in the acute period of septic bacterial endocarditis accompanied by ischemic stroke. This observation demonstrates the effectiveness of the chosen method of treatment, peculiarities of adequate preoperative preparation, possible postoperative complications and detailed correction of anticoagulant and antiplatelet therapy.