Hack‐Lyoung Kim

Early detection of subclinical atherosclerosis is important to reduce patients' cardiovascular risk. However, current diagnostic strategy focusing on traditional risk factors or using risk scoring is not satisfactory. Non-invasive imaging tools also have limitations such as cost, time, radiation hazard, renal toxicity, and requirement for specialized techniques or instruments. There is a close interaction between arterial stiffness and atherosclerosis. Increased luminal pressure and shear stress

Arterial stiffness and hypertension are closely related in pathophysiology. Chronic high blood pressure (BP) can lead to arterial wall damage by mechanical stress, endothelial dysfunction, increased inflammation, oxidative stress, and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) activation. Hypertension also increases collagen fiber production and accelerates elastin fiber degradation. Stiffened arteries struggle with BP changes, raising systolic BP and pulse pressure. The resulting increased sys

Hypertension is the leading cause of death in human being, which shows high prevalence and associated complications that increase the mortality and morbidity. Controlling blood pressure (BP) is very important because it is well known that lowering high BP effectively improves patients' prognosis. This review aims to provide a focused update of the 2018 Korean Hypertension Society Guidelines for the management of hypertension. The importance of ambulatory BP and home BP monitoring was further emp

This study was conducted to investigate the association between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and the lipid profile among elderly Koreans. A total of 462 subjects (mean age 66.2 7.6 yr, 84% males) who underwent health check-up were investigated. Each subject underwent gastroduodenoscopy with gastric mucosal biopsy, and H. pylori infection was determined by histopathological examination using the updated Sydney System score. The presence of H. pylori infection was significantly associ

The influence of body fat on arterial stiffness remains controversial. This study was performed to investigate the associations between four different types of body fat parameters and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV). A total of 3758 subjects (mean age, 53.4 ± 8.8 years; females, 36.3%) who underwent health check-up were retrospectively analyzed. Anthropometric parameters including body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist-hip ratio (WHR) were assessed, and visceral fat

With the recent rapid increase in obesity worldwide, metabolic syndrome (MetS) has gained significant importance. MetS is a cluster of obesity-related cardiovascular risk factors including abdominal obesity, atherogenic dyslipidemia, high blood pressure and impaired glucose tolerance. MetS is highly prevalent and strongly associated with an increased risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease, putting a great burden on human society. Therefore, it is very important to reduce MetS ris

Left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction and subsequent overt heart failure are more prevalent in elderly women. Close interaction between arterial stiffness and LV morphology/function has been reported. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is an age- and gender-dependent relationship between arterial stiffness and LV diastolic function. A total of 819 subjects (58.6 ± 13.3 years, 50.2% men) without structural heart disease (LV ejection fraction ≥50%) were retrospectively an

There is a significant association between baPWV and E/E' in an apparently healthy Korean population. BaPWV is useful as a simple and non-invasive method for early detection of increased LV filling pressure among these people.

The study results showed a positive relationship between blood cell counts and bone mineral density in postmenopausal women, supporting the idea of a close connection between hematopoiesis and bone formation. The study results also suggest that blood cell counts could be a putative marker for estimating BMD in postmenopausal women.

The prognostic value of arterial stiffness in Korean hypertensive patients has not been specified. This study was performed to evaluate the prognostic value of brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) in Korean hypertensive patients and to propose a cutoff value of baPWV predicting future cardiovascular events. A total of 2561 hypertensive patients without documented cardiovascular disease (mean age, 63 years; 47% females) who underwent baPWV measurement were retrospectively analyzed. Composit