Cardiology General
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Risk Factors for Atrial Fibrillation
A United Kingdom Biobank study of new onset atrial fibrillation (AF) has shown strong associations with hypertension and obesity at all ages and acute illnesses/surgery in older individuals. Genetics was less important, but in those at low genetic risk, obesity and hypertension were strong predictors of AF.
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To Stress Test or Not Post-PCI
A prespecified subgroup analysis of diabetic patients in the POST-PCI study, which randomized patients post-percutaneous coronary intervention to routine stress testing vs. standard care at one year and followed for two years, has shown that adverse cardiac outcomes and death rates were not improved by routine stress testing.
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Long-Term Follow-Up Confirms Efficacy of Invasive Strategy in Very Old Patients with Non-ST Elevation ACS
In this long-term analysis of patients in the After Eighty Study, with a mean age of 85 years and non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome, an invasive strategy showed a reduction in a composite endpoint of major adverse cardiovascular events and was associated with a significant improvement in event-free survival compared with a conservative approach.
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Safety and Tolerability of Inclisiran
A pooled analysis of seven relatively short-term ORION studies of inclisiran vs. placebo for lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol that assessed safety and tolerability for up to six years showed that inclisiran has similar rates of adverse events, excluding injection site reactions, as placebo treatment and is associated with fewer major adverse cardiovascular events.
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Do Patients with Heart Failure Feel Better on Dapagliflozin?
An analysis of the DETERMINE studies of dapagliflozin vs. placebo in patients with heart failure showed some improvement in self-reported symptoms in those with reduced ejection fraction on dapagliflozin but not in the six-minute walk test. No improvements in symptoms or physical activity levels were found in those with preserved ejection fraction on dapagliflozin.
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Exploring the Relationship Between Alcohol and Cardiovascular Events
Researchers reported consuming two to 14 alcoholic drinks per week was associated with fewer major adverse cardiovascular events, which the authors noted could be explained in part by less stress-related neural activity demonstrated on PET and CT scans.
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Running to Keep Ahead of Coronary Artery Disease
In this cross-sectional review of the Master Athlete Heart study, the authors found lifelong endurance sport participation was not associated with a more favorable coronary plaque composition vs. a healthy lifestyle. Lifelong endurance athletes exhibited more coronary plaques.
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Detecting Left Ventricular Thrombi
A study of early post-ST-elevation myocardial infarction patients who underwent echocardiographic testing and cardiac MRI showed echo misses about two-thirds of cardiac MRI-discovered left ventricular thrombi. However, an echo apical wall motion score can identify most patients in whom echo may miss thrombi for the selective use of cardiac MRI.
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Researchers Report on the Efficacy of the Subcutaneous Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator
An FDA-mandated post-approval study of the subcutaneous cardioverter-defibrillator system in a real-world population revealed excellent safety and efficacy over five years.
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Influenza Vaccination May Temporarily Aid Cardiovascular Event Prevention
Researchers studied English patients with an acute cardiovascular event who received an influenza vaccine in the same 12-month period and compared that to the 120-day period after vaccination and the rest of the year. They observed those vaccinated were less likely to experience an acute cardiovascular event for 120 days after vaccine vs. the rest of the year.