Giovanna Valentino

• Master of Science
• Pontifical Catholic University of Chile

The ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) construct has recently been updated to ¨ Life's Essential 8¨(LE8). Objective to determine LE8′s prevalence and its association with sociodemographic and socioeconomic determinants in a Latino women cohort in Santiago de Chile. Methods Cross-sectional study on 619 women between 35 and 70 years old, representin...

This cross-sectional ecological study described fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake variability across 144 cities in 8 Latin American countries and by city-level contextual variables. Data sources came from health surveys and census data (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru). Self-reported frequency of F&V inta...

Objective Ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) was developed to promote CVH as a key component of primordial prevention. Mobile short message service (SMS) is useful for improving health behaviours. We aim to test the effectiveness of SMS intervention in women to improve CVH. Methods In a single-blinded, randomised, controlled study, 620 women, aged...

Background: Intersectoral health promotion initiatives in Chile to address obesity and non- communicable diseases have had a long history in Chile, but also a high degree of changes in their design, implementation, and financing. Aim: To analyze the “Choose a Healthy Lifestyle” enacted by Law 20,670 under Sabatier's “Advocacy Coalition Framework”...

Objectives: We examined the short-term impact of the Smoking Ban Law (SBL) enacted in Chile in 2013 on low birth weight (LBW) rates in cities and its differential effects by different maternal age groups and city density. Methods: We included 885,880 live births from 21 Chilean cities of ≥100,000 inhabitants. We examined the smoking and LBW prevale...

Objetivo: Actualizar el grado de conocimiento de las chilenas sobre ECV. Método: Estudio de corte transversal realizado a través de encuesta online a mujeres entre 20 y 70 años de edad, residentes en Chile durante marzo 2020. La invitación se efectuó a través de redes sociales. La muestra fue no probabilística, ponderándose por edad, nivel socioec...

Cardiovascular disease is the main cause of death in Chilean women. Ischemic heart disease mortality rate in women is two times that of in men. Unfortunately, there have been less enrollment of women in clinical cardiovascular trials and a lack of gender-specific analysis of clinical trial data. Therefore, the evidence for secondary preventive reco...

Background Whether a patient's outcomes are better when receiving nutritional counselling during cardiac rehabilitation (CR) has been scarcely described. We compared changes in weight, waist circumference (WC) and blood pressure (BP) in patients attending CR with and without nutritional counselling. Methods A retrospective analytical study was con...

Background Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is a powerful predictor of mortality. This study evaluated the predictive value of CRF for mortality in Chilean subjects without atherosclerotic disease compared with the Framingham, European Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE), and 2013 ACC/AHA risk scores and determined the incremental predictive...

Several lifestyle and sociodemographic factors are associated with blood pressure (BP). The authors conducted a retrospective study of 4870 subjects from the National Health Survey 2009 in Chile to identify exposure factors associated with increasing BP levels. Subjects with isolated urinary excretion of sodium (n = 2873), potassium, and creatinine...

Background: Seventy four percent of Chileans replaced the traditional dinner for the consumption of "five o'clock tea" (5CT), a mealtime that includes bread and is simliar to western breakfast. The latter favors the intake of unhealthy foods. Aim: To study whether the consumption of "5CT", instead of dinner, could be a risk factor for the develo...

The objective of this study was to determine the impact of variation of dierent anthropometric parameters at follow-up in the evolution of the metabolic syndrome (MetS). Prospective study in 178 subjects who attended a cardiovascular health program between 2013 and 2016. Demographical data, medical history and cardiovascular (CV) risk factors (RFs)...

Background: Recently, the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) proposed a new cardiovascular risk (CV) score. Aim: To evaluate the new risk score (ACC/AHA 2013) in a Chilean population. Material and methods: Between 2002 and 2014, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, blood pressure, lipid profile and f...

Background . High aerobic capacity is associated with low cardiovascular (CV) risk. The aim of this study was to determine the CV RF burden in subjects with aerobic capacity ≥10 METs and compare it with those having <10 METs. Methods . Cross-sectional study in 2646 subjects (mean age 48 ± 12 years). Demographics, medical history, physical activity,...

Background: Cardiovascular rehabilitation (CVR) has been shown to improve functional capacity (FC) and quality of life. The relation between these aspects has been scarcely reported in Chile. Objectives: 1) To determine the impact of the CVR phase II program on quality of life as measured by the SF36 survey and 2) to determine which patient related...

. Impaired fasting glucose (IFG) through the nondiabetic range (100–125 mg/dL) is not considered in the cardiovascular (CV) risk profile. Aim . To compare the clustering of CV risk factors (RFs) in nondiabetic subjects with normal fasting glucose (NFG) and IFG. Material and Methods . Cross-sectional study in 3739 nondiabetic subjects. Demographics,...

High sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) is a marker of metabolic syndrome (MS) and cardiovascular (CV) disease. Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) also predicts CV disease. There are no reports comparing these markers as predictors of MS. Methods. Cross-sectional study comparing Lp-PLA2 and hsCRP as predictors of MS in asymptomat...

BACKGROUND: Body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) are the most commonly measured anthropometric parameters given their association with cardiovascular risk factors (RFs). The relationship between percentage body fat (%BF) and cardiovascular risk has not been extensively studied. AIMS: This study evaluated %BF and its relationship with...

Background: Phase II cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is a class IA indication in patients suffering a cardiovascular event (CV). Current guidelines suggest 36 exercise sessions over a period of 3 months. The main aim of this study was to analyze the rate of adherence to a cardiac rehabilitation program and the factors influencing it. Methods: This was...

Resumen: La disminución en la producción de estró-genos durante la menopausia favorece una disminución en la función endotelial y en la mineralización ósea, ade-más de cambios en la distribución de la grasa corporal. Estos cambios favorecen un aumento en la prevalencia de hipertensión arterial en mujeres mayores de 50 años, junto con un aumento en...