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A integração da espiritualidade de forma sistemática e profunda na prática clí-nica tem sido recomendada como forma de transmitir aos pacientes a certeza de sua posição no centro dos cuidados. A maioria dos pacientes tem alguma forma de religiosidade/espiritualidade que influencia tanto os processos envolvidos na manutenção da saúde e no adoecimento, quanto nas formas de enfrentamento das adversidades. Muitos pacientes e seus familiares têm demandas na esfera da espiritualidade, principalmente em doenças graves, crônicas ou próximas do fim. Há um conjunto de evidências que indicam que diversas expressões da espirituali-dade têm impacto significativo na saúde e no bem-estar, que se associa a menores níveis de mortalidade geral, depressão, suicídio e uso de substâncias e a aumento da qualidade de vida. Além de grande lacuna na formação médica para realizar a anamnese espiritual adequada, muitos profissionais têm incertezas sobre a recep-tividade dos pacientes, a percepção de invasão de privacidade ou a imposição de religião, dificuldades na linguagem da espiritualidade, divergências de crença ou mesmo falta de tempo. Para que essa abordagem não seja conflitante há que haver preparo e aceitação tanto por parte dos profissionais de saúde, quanto dos pacientes e cada momento de interação deve ser transformado em oportunidade para uma avaliação natural e sensível da espiritualidade. Neste artigo, os autores apresentam diversos conceitos sobre espiritualidade e propostas para o rastreamento e anamnese baseadas em questionários e escalas disponíveis tanto para prática clínica como para pesquisa.

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A espiritualidade tem sido pesquisada como paradigma para entendimento do adoe-cimento cardiovascular (CV) e intervenção terapêutica em potencial. Como pensamos e sentimos pode estar associado à ocorrência ou não de doença CV. Ela deve ser vista como um aspecto dinâmico e intrínseco da humanidade que, por meio de pensamentos, atitudes, ações e reações nas circunstâncias da vida, faz com que as pessoas procurem significado, propósito e transcendência. A enfermidade refere-se à resposta subjetiva do paciente ao fato de não estar bem mesmo não havendo confirmação laboratorial ou clínica, mas que pode ser avaliada objetivamente por meio de questionários ou escalas. Há correlação com alterações bioquímicas, hormonais ou com desfechos clínicos depen-dendo da intensidade, da condição clínica avaliada ou de período de observação. Existem escalas e questionários para avaliação de enfermidade moral, como por exemplo, gratidão, disposição ao perdão, propósito de vida e otimismo. A espiritualidade está associada independentemente à mortalidade CV, como a disposição ao perdão se associa à doença arterial coronariana, gratidão com melhores desfechos clínicos em insuficiência cardíaca e a raiva está associada com disfunção ventricular e diabetes. As intervenções baseadas em perdão e gratidão têm mostrado benefícios em parâmetros correlacionados com a saúde mental, saúde física e qualidade de vida. Há necessidade de estudos randomizados em pacientes com doença CV que avaliem intervenções baseadas em solidariedade atitudinal sobre a melhora da sobrevida livre de eventos.Cientificamente, podemos enunciar: Quando começamos a adoecer? Inicialmente, teríamos o desequilíbrio espiritual na intimidade de nossa consciência, por causa das escolhas e enfrentamento das situações cotidianas que vivenciamos? Estamos fazendo de nosso ambiente moral nosso campo de pesquisa em Cardiologia e postulando que esse modelo, que inclui a modificação de condutas comportamentais de cunho moral, permitiria a prevenção da doença CV.

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BACKGROUND: Data are scarce on the availability and affordability of essential medicines for diabetes. Our aim was to examine the availability and affordability of metformin, sulfonylureas, and insulin across multiple regions of the world and explore the effect of these on medicine use. METHODS: In the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study, participants aged 35­70 years (n=156625) were recruited from 110803 households, in 604 communities and 22 countries; availability (presence of any dose of medication in the pharmacy on the day of audit) and medicine cost data were collected from pharmacies with the Environmental Profile of a Community's Health audit tool. Our primary analysis was to describe the availability and affordability of metformin and insulin and also commonly used and prescribed combinations of two medicines for diabetes management (two oral drugs, metformin plus a sulphonylurea [either glibenclamide (also known as glyburide) or gliclazide] and one oral drug plus insulin [metformin plus insulin]). Medicines were defined as affordable if the cost of medicines was less than 20% of capacity-to-pay (the household income minus food expenditure). Our analyses included data collected in pharmacies and data from representative samples of households. Data on availability were ascertained during the pharmacy audit, as were data on cost of medications. These cost data were used to estimate the cost of a month's supply of essential medicines for diabetes. We estimated affordability of medicines using income data from household surveys. FINDINGS: Metformin was available in 113 (100%) of 113 pharmacies from high-income countries, 112 (88·2%) of 127 pharmacies in upper-middle-income countries, 179 (86·1%) of 208 pharmacies in lower-middle-income countries, 44 (64·7%) of 68 pharmacies in low-income countries (excluding India), and 88 (100%) of 88 pharmacies in India. Insulin was available in 106 (93·8%) pharmacies in high-income countries, 51 (40·2%) pharmacies in upper-middle-income countries, 61 (29·3%) pharmacies in lower-middle-income countries, seven (10·3%) pharmacies in lower-income countries, and 67 (76·1%) of 88 pharmacies in India. We estimated 0·7% of households in high-income countries and 26·9% of households in low-income countries could not afford metformin and 2·8% of households in high-income countries and 63·0% of households in low-income countries could not afford insulin. Among the 13 569 (8·6% of PURE participants) that reported a diagnosis of diabetes, 1222 (74·0%) participants reported diabetes medicine use in high-income countries compared with 143 (29·6%) participants in low-income countries. In multilevel models, availability and affordability were significantly associated with use of diabetes medicines.

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Effective policies to control hypertension require an understanding of its distribution in the population and the barriers people face along the pathway from detection through to treatment and control. One key factor is household wealth, which may enable or limit a household’s ability to access health care services and adequately control such a chronic condition. This study aims to describe the scale and patterns of wealth-related inequalities in the awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in 21 countries using baseline data from the Prospective Urbanand Rural Epidemiology study. Methods: A cross-section of 163,397 adults aged 35 to 70 years were recruited from 661 urban and rural communities in selected low-, middle- and high-income countries (complete data for this analysis from 151,619 participants). Using blood pressure measurements, self-reported health and household data, concentration indices adjusted for age, sex and urban-rural location, we estimate the magnitude of wealth-related inequalities in thelevels of hypertension awareness, treatment, and control in each of the 21 country samples. Results: Overall, the magnitude of wealth-related inequalities in hypertension awareness, treatment, and control wasobserved to be higher in poorer than in richer countries. In poorer countries, levels of hypertension awareness and treatment tended to be higher among wealthier households; while a similar pro-rich distribution was observed forhypertension control in countries at all levels of economic development. In some countries, hypertension awarenesswas greater among the poor (Sweden, Argentina, Poland), as was treatment (Sweden, Poland) and control (Sweden)...

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Background and objectives: Although 24-h urinarymeasure to estimate sodium and potassium excretion isthe gold standard, it is not practical for large studies. Wecompared estimates of 24-h sodium and potassiumexcretion from a single morning fasting urine (MFU) usingthree different formulae in healthy individuals.Methods: We studied 1083 individuals aged 35–70 yearsfrom the general population in 11 countries. A 24-h urineand MFU specimen were obtained from each individual. Asubset of 448 individuals repeated the measures after 30–90 days. The Kawasaki, Tanaka, and INTERSALT formulaewere used to estimate urinary excretion from a MFU specimen.Results: The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)between estimated and measured sodium excretion washigher with Kawasaki (0.71; 95% confidence interval, CI:0.65–0.76) compared with INTERSALT (0.49; 95% CI:0.29–0.62) and Tanaka (0.54; 95% CI: 0.42–0.62)formulae (P<0.001). For potassium, the ICC was higherwith the Kawasaki (0.55; 95% CI: 0.31–0.69) than theTanaka (0.36; 95% CI: 0.07 to 0.60; P<0.05) formula(no INTERSALT formula exists for potassium). The degreeof bias (vs. the 24-h urine) for sodium was smaller withKawasaki (R313 mg/day; 95% CI: R182 to R444)compared with INTERSALT ( 872 mg/day; 95% CI: 728to 1016) and Tanaka ( 548 mg/day; 95% CI: 408 to 688) formulae (P<0.001 and P»0.02, respectively).Similarly for potassium, the Kawasaki formula provided thebest agreement and least bias. Blood pressure correlatedmost closely and similarly with the 24-h and Kawasakiestimates for sodium compared with the other twoformulae.Conclusion: In a diverse population, the Kawasaki formulais the most valid and least biased method of estimating24-h sodium excretion from a single MFU and is suitablefor population studies.

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Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most frequently occurring cardiac arrhythmia with often serious clinical consequences. Many patients have contraindications to anticoagulation, and it is often underused in clinical practice. The addition of clopidogrel to aspirin (ASA) has been shown to reduce vascular events in a number of high-risk populations. Irbesartan is an angiotensin receptor–blocking agent that reduces blood pressure and has other vascular protective effects.

Methods and Results ACTIVE W is a noninferiority trial of clopidogrel plus ASA versus oral anticoagulation in patients with AF and at least 1 risk factor for stroke. ACTIVE A is a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of clopidogrel in patients with AF and with at least 1 risk factor for stroke who receive ASA because they have a contraindication for oral anticoagulation or because they are unwilling to take an oral anticoagulant. ACTIVE I is a partial factorial, double-blind,

placebo-controlled trial of irbesartan in patients participating in ACTIVE A or ACTIVE W. The primary outcomes of these studies are composites of vascular events. A total of 14000 patients will be enrolled in these trials. Conclusions ACTIVE is the largest trial yet conducted in AF. Its results will lead to a new understanding of the role of combined antiplatelet therapy and the role of blood pressure lowering with an angiotensin II receptor blocker in patients with AF. (Am Heart J 2006;151:1187-93.)

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