PURPOSE: Reduced heart rate variability significantly increases cardiovascular mortality. Metabolic syndrome increases the cardiac autonomic dysfunction. Recently, increasing cardiovascular mortality has been reported in patients with schizophrenia. This study was done to compare heart rate variability between adults with and without schizophrenia and to compare the relationship of heart rate variability to metabolic syndrome in hospitalized patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: This was a descriptive and correlational study in which 719 adults without schizophrenia and 308 adults with schizophrenia took part between May and June 2008. We measured the following: five-minute heart rate variability; high-frequency, low-frequency, the ratio of low-frequency to high-frequency, and the Standard Deviation of all the normal RR intervals. Data was also collected on metabolic syndrome, abdominal obesity, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, blood pressure and fasting glucose. RESULTS: The Standard Deviation of all the normal RR intervals values of heart rate variability indices were 1.53+/-0.18. The low-frequency and high-frequency values of heart rate variability indices were significantly higher in hospitalized patients with schizophrenia (3.89+/-1.36; 3.80+/-1.20) than those in the healthy participants (2.20+/-0.46; 2.10+/-0.46). There were no significant differences between the schizophrenic patients with and without metabolic syndrome. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that schizophrenia patients have significantly lower cardiac autonomic control, but they have significantly higher low-frequency and high-frequency values than those of healthy adults. Use of antipsychotic drug may affect the autonomic nervous system in schizophrenic patients. Metabolic syndrome was not associated with cardiac autonomic control in schizophrenia patients.
Adult ; Autonomic Nervous System/physiopathology ; Blood Glucose/analysis ; Blood Pressure ; Cardiovascular Diseases/complications/diagnosis/mortality ; Cholesterol, HDL/blood ; Female ; *Heart Rate ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Male ; Metabolic Syndrome X/*complications/*physiopathology ; Middle Aged ; Obesity/etiology ; Schizophrenia/*complications/mortality/*physiopathology ; Triglycerides/blood

We investigated the cutoff values of surrogate of insulin resistance for diagnosing metabolic syndrome in Korean adults. The data from 976 non-diabetic individuals (484 men and 492 women) aged 30-79 yr were analyzed. We determined the odds ratios for the prevalence of metabolic syndrome according to the quartiles of fasting insulin, homeostasis model for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI) as independent variables, while adjusting for age, sex, and body mass index. The cutoff values of fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, and QUICKI were estimated by the areas under the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The cutoff points for defining insulin resistance are a fasting insulin level of 12.94 micro U/mL, HOMA-IR=3.04 as the 75th percentile value, and QUICKI=0.32 as the 25th percentile value. Compared with the lowest quartile, the adjusted odds ratios for the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the highest quartiles of fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, and QUICKI were 1.95 (1.26-3.01), 2.27 (1.45-3.56), and 2.27 (1.45-3.56), respectively. The respective cutoff values for fasting serum insulin, HOMA-IR, and QUIC-KI by ROC analysis were 10.57 micro U/mL (sensitivity 58.5%, specificity 66.8%), 2.34 (sensitivity 62.8%, specificity 65.7%), and 0.33 (sensitivity 61.2%, specificity 66.8%). Fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, and QUICKI can be used as surrogate measures of insulin resistance in Korean non-diabetic adults.
Triglycerides/blood ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Multivariate Analysis ; Middle Aged ; Metabolic Syndrome X/*blood/diagnosis/physiopathology ; Male ; Korea ; *Insulin Resistance ; Insulin/*blood ; Humans ; Female ; Fasting/blood ; Diabetes Mellitus/blood/physiopathology ; Cholesterol, HDL/blood ; Cholesterol/blood ; Blood Pressure/physiology ; Blood Glucose/analysis ; Aged ; Adult

PURPOSE: There is no reported evidence for an anthropometric index that might link obesity to men's sexual health. We evaluated the ability of an anthropometric index and the symptom scores of five widely used questionnaires to detect men's health problems. We determined the predictive abilities of two obesity indexes and other clinical parameters for screening for lower urinary tract symptoms and sexual dysfunction in middle-aged men. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 1,910 middle-aged men were included in the study. Participants underwent a detailed clinical evaluation that included recording the symptom scores of five widely used questionnaires. The participants' body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio were determined. Serum prostate-specific antigen, urinalysis, testosterone, estimated glomerular filtration rate, evaluation of metabolic syndrome, and transrectal ultrasonography were assessed. RESULTS: By use of logistic regression analysis, age and total prostate volume were independent predictors of lower urinary tract symptoms. Metabolic syndrome was the only significant negative predictive factor for chronic prostatitis symptoms. Age and metabolic syndrome were independent predictive factors for erectile dysfunction. Waist-to-hip ratio had a statistically significant value for predicting erectile dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS: Our data showed that total prostate volume is a significant predictor of lower urinary tract symptoms, and central obesity has predictive ability for erectile dysfunction. Metabolic syndrome was the only significant negative predictive factor for chronic prostatitis-like symptoms. The management of correctable factors such as waist-to-hip ratio and metabolic syndrome may be considered preventive modalities against the development of men's health problems.
Aging ; *Body Mass Index ; Erectile Dysfunction/*diagnosis ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms/diagnosis ; Male ; *Men's Health ; Metabolic Syndrome X/*physiopathology ; Middle Aged ; Obesity ; Organ Size ; Prognosis ; Prostate/*ultrasonography ; Prostate-Specific Antigen/blood ; Prostatitis/*diagnosis ; Testosterone/blood ; Ultrasound, High-Intensity Focused, Transrectal ; *Waist-Hip Ratio