Author Interviews, CMAJ, Heart Disease, Lifestyle & Health, Stroke / 23.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Doug Manuel MD, MSc, FRCPC Professor and Senior Scientist Ottawa Hospital Research Institute | L’Institut de Recherche de l’Hôpital d’Ottawa Department of Family Medicine, University of Ottawa Départment de Médicine Familiale Université d’Ottawa  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: A lot of people are interested in healthy living, but often we don't have that discussion in the doctor's office," says Dr. Manuel, who is also a professor at the University of Ottawa. "Doctors will check your blood pressure and cholesterol levels, but they don't necessarily ask about lifestyle factors that could put you at risk of a heart attack and stroke. We hope this tool can help people — and their care team — with better information about healthy living and options for reducing their risk of heart attack and stroke." "What sets this cardiovascular risk calculator apart is that it looks at healthy living, and it is better calibrated to the Canadian population," says Dr. Doug Manuel, lead author, senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and a senior core scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES).”  (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Lipids, Menopause, University of Pennsylvania, Women's Heart Health / 19.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Samar R. El Khoudary, Ph.D., M.P.H. BPharm, FAHA Associate Professor Department of Epidemiology University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The background for this study is based on the current measurements used to determine cardiovascular disease risk in postmenopausal women. Higher levels of HDL “good cholesterol” as measured by the widely available clinical test, HDL-Cholesterol, may not always be indicative of a lower risk of cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women. HDL is a family of particles found in the blood that vary in sizes, cholesterol contents and function. HDL particles can become dysfunctional under certain conditions such as chronic inflammation. HDL has traditionally been measured as the total cholesterol carried by the HDL particles, known as HDL cholesterol. HDL cholesterol, however, does not necessarily reflect the overall concentration, the uneven distribution, or the content and function of HDL particles. We looked at 1,138 women aged 45 through 84 enrolled across the U.S. in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), a medical research study sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). MESA began in 1999 and is still following participants today. We assessed two specific measurements of HDL: the number and size of the HDL particles and total cholesterol carried by HDL particles. Our study also looked at how age when women transitioned into post menopause, and the amount of time since transitioning, may impact the expected cardio-protective associations of HDL measures. Our study points out that the traditional measure of the good cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, fails to portray an accurate depiction of heart disease risk for postmenopausal women. We reported a harmful association between higher HDL cholesterol and atherosclerosis risk that was most evident in women with older age at menopause and who were greater than, or equal to, 10 years into post menopause. In contrast to HDL cholesterol, a higher concentration of total HDL particles was associated with lower risk of atherosclerosis. Additionally, having a high number of small HDL particles was found beneficial for postmenopausal women. These findings persist irrespective of age and how long it has been since women became postmenopausal. On the other hand, large HDL particles are linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease close to menopause. Women are subject to a variety of physiological changes in their sex hormones, lipids, body fat deposition and vascular health as they transition through menopause. We are hypothesizing that the decrease of estrogen, a cardio-protective sex hormone, along with other metabolic changes, can trigger chronic inflammation over time, which may alter the quality of HDL particles. Future studies should test this hypothesis. The study findings indicate that measuring size and number of HDL particles can better reflect the well-known cardio-protective features of the good cholesterol in postmenopausal women. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA, PAD, Stroke / 19.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Michael Barry MD Director of the Informed Medical Decisions Program Health Decision Sciences Center at Massachusetts General Hospital Physician at Massachusetts General Hospit Professor of Medicine,Harvard Medical School  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Peripheral artery disease—which is known as PAD—is a disease that reduces blood flow to a person’s limbs, especially the legs. PAD can cause leg and foot pain when resting or walking, wounds to not heal properly, and loss of limbs. Additionally, people with PAD are more likely to experience a cardiovascular disease event, such as heart attack and stroke. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force looked at the latest research to see if screening people without signs or symptoms of PAD using the ankle brachial index (ABI) can prevent heart attack, stroke, or other adverse health effects. We found that more research is needed to determine if screening with ABI can help to identify PAD and/or prevent heart attack or stroke in people without signs or symptoms. Additionally, in a separate recommendation statement, we looked into the effectiveness of what we call nontraditional risk factors for assessing a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease. Clinicians typically check someone’s risk for cardiovascular disease using traditional risk factors, such as age, race, and smoking status. The Task Force looked at the current evidence to see if three additional, nontraditional risk factors can help prevent heart disease or stroke. The nontraditional factors considered were ABI measurements, an elevated amount of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) in the blood, and an elevated amount of calcium in the coronary arteries (CAC score). In this recommendation, we also found that there is insufficient evidence to recommend for or against using nontraditional risk factors in addition to those normally used to assess cardiovascular disease risk in people without signs or symptoms.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Hospital Readmissions, JACC, Outcomes & Safety / 17.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Mamas Mamas (BM BCh, MA, DPhil, MRCP) Professor of Cardiology at Keele University and an Honorary Professor of Cardiology at the University of Manchester MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Discharge against medical advice occurs in 1 to 2% of all medical admissions but little / no data around how frequently this occurs in the context of PCI or the outcomes associated with such a course of action. We undertook this study to understand both how commonly discharge against medical advice occurs, the types of patients it occurs in and outcomes in terms of both readmission rates and causes of readmisison.   (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Nutrition, Stroke / 16.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Milk” by Mike Mozart is licensed under CC BY 2.0Marcia C. de Oliveira Otto, PhD, FAHA Assistant Professor Division of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences University of Texas Houston, TX 77030-3900 | MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Our research adds to a growing body of evidence showing no harm in relation to heart disease or overall mortality associated with consumption of whole-fat dairy foods. The findings also indicate that one of three fatty acids present in dairy fat was linked to lower risk of stroke among older adults. To the best of our knowledge, ours was the first large study to use repeated measures of fatty acids over time and evaluate association with mortality in older adults, which allowed us to expand and contribute to this important debate regarding fat intake and health. (more…)
Asthma, Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA / 11.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Aivaras Cepelis, MSci Department of Public Health and Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim, Norway MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Atrial fibrillation is the most common sustained, irregular and often rapid heart rate with a lifetime risk of 26%. The number of adults with atrial fibrillation is projected to double by 2050. Atrial fibrillation is also linked to adverse cardiovascular outcomes such as doubled risk of stroke and cardiovascular mortality. Therefore, we believe that research into the novel risk factors of the disease is highly warranted. One of the potential condition that could play a role in the growing prevalence of atrial fibrillation is asthma. Asthma is a chronic inflammatory airway disease, affecting as many as 30 million children and adults in Europe. High levels of systemic inflammation biomarkers have been reported in both uncontrolled asthmatics and patients with atrial fibrillation. Furthermore, beta-agonists, the most common prescribed asthma control medication, has been shown to influence heart rate and increase the risk of irregular heartbeat. However, research looking at asthma and atrial fibrillation link are lacking and no previous studies have assessed the dose-response relationship between levels of asthma control and atrial fibrillation. We utilized over 54 000 adults from a large well-defined Norwegian population cohort The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT) to explore this association. (more…)
Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Emory, Endocrinology, Heart Disease, Sexual Health, Thromboembolism / 10.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael Goodman, MD, MPH Professor of Epidemiology Director, MD/MPH program Emory University School of Public Health Atlanta, GA  30322 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: There is a concern that hormone therapy may be associated with higher risk of certain cardiovascular problems such as heart attacks, stroke and formation of blood clots (“venous thromboembolism”). To study this concern we examined data on 4,960 transgender and gender non-conforming people enrolled in Kaiser Permanente health systems in Georgia, Northern California, and Southern California. They were matched to 48,686 cisgender men and 48,775 cisgender women.  Below are the main findings
  • Rates of venous thromboembolism in all transwomen were approximately twice as high as the rates among cisgender men or cisgender women. The data for stroke and myocardial infarction demonstrated little difference between transwomen and cisgender men, but 80% to 90% higher rates among transwomen compared to cisgender women.
  • When the analyses focused specifically on transwomen who started therapy with female hormone estrogen at Kaiser Permanente, the incidence of both venous thromboembolism and stroke was more clearly elevated relative to either reference group.  There was evidence that incidence of both of these conditions among transwomen was particularly increased two to six years after estrogen initiation. By contrast, the association between estrogen therapy and myocardial infarction was less evident due to relatively few observed events.
  • Transmen did not appear to have significantly higher rates of venous thromboembolism, ischemic stroke, or myocardial infarction than their non-transgender counterparts, but this group was rather young and included a relatively small proportion of participants who initiated their hormone therapy during the study.
(more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Clots - Coagulation, Heart Disease / 07.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Yana Vinogradova, PhD, Research Fellow Division of Primary Care, School of Medicine University of Nottingham Nottingham MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Anticoagulants are prescribed for treatment and prevention of thrombosis and stroke but may lead to major bleeding.  Unlike the older drug warfarin, newer direct oral anticoagulants do not require regular blood tests but their safety was shown only in selected patients and in trial conditions. The study found that Direct Oral AntiCoagulants (DOACs) are safer than warfarin in terms of bleeding risks with apixaban being the safest.  (more…)
Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Heart Disease, OBGYNE / 03.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jennifer J. Stuart, ScD Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Reproductive & Cardiovascular Epidemiology Department of Epidemiology Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Division of Women's Health Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Preeclampsia and gestational hypertension are common pregnancy complications involving high blood pressure that develops for the first time during pregnancy and returns to normal after delivery. Approximately 10 to 15% of all women who have given birth have a history of either preeclampsia or gestational hypertension. Previous studies have shown that women with a history of high blood pressure in pregnancy are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease events like heart attack and stroke later in life when compared to women with normal blood pressure in pregnancy. However, what is less clear is to what extent these women are more likely to develop chronic hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol and when these risk factors begin to emerge after pregnancy. We examined this question in a cohort of nearly 60,000 American women who we were able to follow for up to 50 years after their first pregnancy. Previous studies have been limited by small numbers, short follow-up, or a lack of information on shared risk factors, such as pre-pregnancy body mass index, smoking, and family history. This research was conducted within the Nurses’ Health Study II, which collected data on these pre-pregnancy factors in tens of thousands of women over several decades. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA / 28.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dan Blumenthal, MD, MBA Assistant in Medicine, Division of Cardiology Massachusetts General Hospital Instructor in Medicine Harvard Medical School  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Despite dramatic advances in the treatment of cardiovascular disease (CVD) over the past half-century, CVD remains a leading cause of death and health care spending in the United States (US) and worldwide. More than 2000 Americans die of CVD each day, and more than $200 billion dollars is spent on the treatment of CVD each year in the US By 2030, over 40% of the US population is projected to have some form of CVD, at a cost of $1 trillion to the US economy. The tremendous clinical and financial burden of cardiovascular illness has helped motivated policymakers to develop policy tools that have the potential to improve health care quality and curb spending.  Alternative payment models, and specifically bundled payments—lump sum payment for defined episodes of care which typically subsume an inpatient hospitalization and some amount of post-acute care—represent a promising tool for slowing health care spending and improving health care value. Despite broad interest in implementing bundled payments to achieve these aims, our collective understanding of the effects of bundled payments on .cardiovascular disease care quality and spending, and the factors associated with success under this payment model, are limited. Medicare’s Bundled Payments of Care Improvement (BPCI) is an ongoing voluntary, national pilot program evaluating bundled payments for 48 common conditions and procedures, including several common cardiovascular conditions and interventions.   In this study, we compared hospitals that voluntarily signed up for the four most commonly subscribed cardiac bundles—those for acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, and percutaneous coronary intervention—with surrounding control hospitals in order to gain some insight into the factors driving participation, and to assess whether the hospitals participating in these bundles were broadly representative of a diverse set of U.S. acute care hospitals.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA / 25.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Michael Barry MD Director of the Informed Medical Decisions Program Health Decision Sciences Center at Massachusetts General Hospital Physician at Massachusetts General Hospit Professor of Medicine,Harvard Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Cardiovascular disease (CVD), which can lead to heart attack and stroke, causes 1 in 3 deaths among adults in the United States. The Task Force reviewed the latest research on whether adding an electrocardiogram—or ECG, which is a test that records a person's heart activity—to the standard ways we measure CVD risk can help prevent heart attack and stroke in people who do not have symptoms and are generally healthy, as well as people who are already at risk for these conditions. The evidence shows that adding screening with ECG to the ways we already measure CVD risk is unlikely to help prevent heart attack or stroke in people at low risk. It can also cause harms—such as those from follow-on procedures like angiography and angioplasty, which can lead to heart attack, kidney failure, and even death. As a result, the Task Force recommends against screening with ECG for this group. For those who might benefit the most—people who are already at medium or high risk of CVD—there is not enough evidence to say whether or not adding screening with an ECG to standard care helps prevent heart attack and stroke. This is an area where we need more research.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Technology / 22.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kenichi Takahata, Ph.D., P.Eng. Associate Professor Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty of Applied Science University of British Columbia Vancouver, B.C., Canada MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this technology and study?  Response: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one cause of mortality globally. One of the most common and proven treatments for CVD is stenting. Millions of stents are implanted annually worldwide. However, the most common complication called in-stent restenosis, re-narrowing of stented arteries, still poses a significant risk to patients. To address the current lack of diagnostic technology to detect restenosis at its early stage, we are developing “smart” stents equipped with microscale sensors and wireless interface to enable continuous monitoring of restenosis through the implanted stent. This electrically active stent functions as a radio-frequency wireless pressure transducer to track local hemodynamic changes upon a re-narrowing condition. We have reported a new smart stent that has been engineered to fulfill clinical needs for the implant, including its applicability to current stenting procedure and tools, while offering self-sensing and wireless communication functions upon implantation. The stent here has been designed to function not only as a typical mechanical scaffold but also as an electrical inductor or antenna. To construct the device, the custom-designed implantable capacitive pressure sensor chip, which we developed using medical-grade stainless steel, are laser-microwelded on the inductive antenna stent, or “stentenna”, made of the same alloy. This forms a resonant circuit with the stentenna, whose resonant frequency represents the local blood pressure applied to the device and can be wirelessly interrogated using an external antenna placed on the skin. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Sexual Health / 22.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Billy A. Caceres, PhD, RN, AGPCNP-BC NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing New York, NY 10010 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Although current evidence, primarily based on self-reported data, suggests gay and bisexual men report higher rates of cardiovascular risk factors (such as poor mental health and tobacco use) than heterosexual men, few studies have examined heart disease risk in this population. This study is one of the few studies to examine heart disease risk in gay and bisexual men using biological measures. Using data from a nationally representative sample we identified higher rates of mental distress, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes among bisexual men compared to exclusively heterosexual men after adjusting for traditional risk factors (demographic characteristics, mental distress, and health behaviors). We also included men who identified as heterosexual but report a history of same-sex sexual behavior. Gay and heterosexual-identified men who have sex with men displayed similar risk profiles to exclusively heterosexual men. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA, Lipids / 21.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Stephen Burgess PhD Programme Leader at the Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit University of Cambridge MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Lipoprotein(a) is a lipoprotein subclass, and an important biomarker for coronary heart disease. As a clinical biomarker, it has a similar story to LDL-cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol), in that it is thought to be a causal risk factor for coronary heart disease, and so is a potential target for drug development. However, while drugs that lower LDL-cholesterol, such as statins, have been successful in reducing coronary heart disease risk, drugs that lower lipoprotein(a) have not as yet been successful. New drugs are currently in development that specifically target lipoprotein(a) and can lower lipoprotein(a) concentrations by 80-90%. We performed this study to investigate whether these drugs are likely to be successful in reducing coronary heart disease risk. We compared individuals with naturally-occurring genetic variants that predispose them to a higher or lower lifetime concentration of lipoprotein(a) as a way of mimicking a randomized controlled trial. This approach has previously been undertaken for other biomarkers, including LDL-cholesterol. We found that having 10mg/dL lower genetically-predicted concentration of lipoprotein(a) was associated with a 5.8% reduction in coronary heart disease risk. However, associations between genetically-predicted LDL-cholesterol and coronary heart disease risk are quantitatively much stronger than the proportional effect of LDL-cholesterol lowering on coronary heart disease risk as estimated by statin trials. This is because differences in genetic variants reflect lifelong changes in LDL-cholesterol, whereas statin trials only lower LDL-cholesterol for a few years. Hence, using the ratio between the genetic and trial estimates for LDL-cholesterol, we estimate that lowering lipoprotein(a) by 10mg/dL in a short-term clinical trial would only reduce coronary heart disease risk by 2.7%. To obtain the same reduction in coronary heart disease risk of around 20% as observed in statin trials, lipoprotein(a) would have to be lowered by around 100mg/dL. This explains why previous trials of less specific and less potent lipoprotein(a)-lowering drugs have failed to demonstrate benefit. (more…)
Author Interviews, Emergency Care, Heart Disease, JACC, Medical Imaging / 21.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jeffrey M. Levsky, M.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Radiology Associate Professor, Department of Medicine (Cardiology) Albert Einstein College of Medicine Montefiore Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Millions of Americans are evaluated each year for acute chest pain in the Emergency Department.  There are multiple modalities that can be used to triage these patients and there have only been a few studies comparing different imaging methods. We chose to study Stress Echocardiography and Coronary CT Angiography, two exams that have not been compared directly in this population.  We found that Stress Echocardiography was able to discharge a higher proportion of patients in a shorter amount of time as compared to Coronary CTA.  (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Heart Disease / 21.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Thomas Hadberg Lynge MD The Department of Cardiology The Heart Centre, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Denmark MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Congenital heart defects are common and affect ≈0.8% of all live births. Despite substantially improve survival over the past decades, morbidity and mortality remain significant, in particular among patients with complex congenital heart defects. This decreased life expectancy is in part explained by an increased risk of sudden cardiac death among people with congenital heart defects. However, the incidence of sudden cardiac death among people with congenital heart defects is largely unknown in an unselected and nationwide setting. Sudden cardiac death can occur both at rest and during exercise and it is well-known that exercise is associated with an increased risk of sudden cardiac death during activity. Fear of sudden cardiac death has led to restrictions of physical activity among patients with congenital heart defects and these patients have lower levels of physical activity compared with healthy peers. Appropriate counseling of these patients requires estimates on risk of sudden cardiac death in relation to physical activity. Nationwide fetal ultrasound screening was implemented in Denmark in 2005 and this together with improved surgical and medical treatment during the study period, is likely to have changed the epidemiology of sudden cardiac death in people with congenital heart defects. It was therefore also an important aim of the study to examine temporal changes in sudden cardiac death in people with congenital heart defects. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Heart Disease, JACC / 20.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Martin J Holzmann MD, PhD Functional Area of Emergency Medicine Department of Internal Medicine, Solna, Karolinska Institutet Stockholm, Sweden MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We wanted to investigate how the introduction of the new high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) assay affected incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) use of coronary angiography, cardiac revascularizations, and prognosis in patients with myocardial infarction. We found that the incidence of MI increased by approximately 5%, with no change in mortality, but with an 11% reduced risk of reinfarctions, and a small increase in coronary angiographies, and cardiac revascularizations by 16%, and 13%, respectively.  (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Gout, Heart Disease, Rheumatology / 18.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Gout in my foot” by vagawi  is licensed under CC BY 2.0Seoyoung C. Kim, MD, ScD, MSCE Associate Professor of Medicine Division of Pharmacoepidemiology & Pharmacoeconomics Division of Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Since patients with gout are at an increased risk of cardiovascular events, we wanted to examine comparative cardiovascular safety of the two most commonly used urate-lowering drugs – febuxostat and allopurinol. Using claims data from US Medicare, we conducted a cohort study of 24,936 febuxostat initiators PS-matched to 74,808 allopurinol initiators. We found the risk of the primary cardiovascular endpoint (MI or stroke) was similar between the two groups. Analyses on secondary endpoints as well as all-cause mortality showed similar findings except that febuxostat was associated with a modestly reduced risk of heart failure exacerbation among patients with preexisting heart failure. In our sensitivity analysis, the risk of all-cause mortality associated with long-term use of febuxostat v. allopurinol appears to be increased but statistically not significant. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Heart Disease, Smoking, Tobacco, Tobacco Research / 14.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “fathers day” by James Simkins is licensed under CC BY 2.0Jessica L. Fetterman, PhD Assistant Professor of Medicine Boston University School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: In our study, we studied endothelial cells, the cells that line the inside of the blood vessels. We collected endothelial cells from smokers both who use menthol and non-menthol cigarettes are impaired compared to non-smokers and we could make the non-smoker cells look like the endothelial cells of smokers by treating with menthol or eugenol (provides a clove spice-flavoring). To test a wider variety of commonly used flavoring additives, we treated cultured (outside of the body in a dish) endothelial cells with some of the most commonly used flavoring additives in tobacco products and at different concentrations/doses. We then evaluated the effects of flavoring additives by looking at measures of cell death, oxidative stress, inflammation, and the ability of the cells to produce nitric oxide, a cardio-protective chemical made by endothelial cells that is lost when the cells become damaged. We found that the flavoring additives used in tobacco products like e-cigarettes are toxic to the cells that line the blood vessels (endothelial cells). Our works suggests that the flavoring additives used in tobacco products may be harmful to the cardiovascular system. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Lipids, Statins / 14.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Fatima Rodriguez, MD, MPH Division of Cardiovascular Medicine Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-5406, MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Individuals with LDL-cholesterol levels above 190mg/dL are often underdiagnosed and undertreated, yet remain at high-risk of cardiovascular disease. In a national sample of veterans, we identified over 60,000 patients who met criteria for uncontrolled, severe hypercholesterolemia based on an index LDL-C value ≥190mg/dL. We found that only half of these high-risk patients are being treated with statins, and less than 10% are on high-intensity statin therapy as recommended by the 2013 ACC/AHA guidelines. We also found that both older and younger patients were less likely to be treated with statins. Women were less likely to be treated with statins, whereas minority groups and those with a diagnosis of hypertension were more likely to be treated. Disparities in use of statins were also noted by geographic region and hospital teaching status. (more…)
Author Interviews, Duke, Heart Disease, JAMA, Lipids, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Statins / 14.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael G. Nanna, MD Fellow, Division of Cardiology Duke University Medical Center Durham, NC MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We know that African Americans are at higher risk for cardiovascular disease than white patients. We also know that African American individuals have been less likely to receive statin therapy compared to white individuals in the past. However, the reasons underlying these racial differences in statin treatment are poorly understood. We set out to determine if African American individuals in contemporary practice are treated less aggressively than whites and, if so, we wanted to investigate potential reasons why this might be the case. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, OBGYNE / 11.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sandra T. Davidge, PhD, FCAHS Executive Director, Women and Children's Health Research Institute Canada Research Chair in Maternal and Perinatal Cardiovascular Health Professor, Depts. of Ob/Gyn and Physiology University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta Canada MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: This research contributes to the growing body of literature that developmental programming of adult onset cardiovascular disease originates in the womb. Our study is among the first to discover that maternal age may be considered a ‘prenatal stress’ in certain circumstances. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Occupational Health / 08.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Eleonor Fransson, PhD Associate Professor in Epidemiology Department of Natural Sciences and Biomedicine School of Health and Welfare JÖNKÖPING UNIVERSITY MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Atrial fibrillation is a very common heart rhythm disorder affecting a large number of people in the population, but there is limited knowledge about risk factors for the disease. This is especially true when it comes to the role of occupational factors. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? Response: We found that work stress measured as job strain, that is, a combination of having high psychological job demands and low control over the work situation, was associated with almost 50% increased risk of atrial fibrillation. When we combined the results from our study with two previously published studies on the same topic, we found that work stress was associated with 37% increased risk. (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Heart Disease, JAMA / 02.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jiang He, MD, PhD Joseph S. Copes Chair of Epidemiology, Professor School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine Tulane University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?   Response: The 2017 American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association hypertension guideline recommended lower blood pressure cut points for initiating antihypertensive medication and treatment goals than the previous hypertension guideline. We estimated the prevalence of hypertension and the proportion of the US adult population recommended for antihypertensive treatment according to the 2017 hypertension guideline. More importantly, we estimated the risk reductions of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality, as well as increases in adverse events, assuming the entire US adult population achieved the 2017 guideline-recommended systolic blood pressure treatment goals of less than 130 mmHg. Our study indicated the prevalence of hypertension was 45.4%, representing 105 million US adults with hypertension, according to the 2017 hypertension guideline. In addition, the proportion of individuals recommended for antihypertensive treatment was 35.9% or 83 million US adults. Based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, antihypertensive clinical trials, and US population-based cohort studies, we estimated 610 thousand cardiovascular disease events and 334 thousand total deaths could be prevented annually in the US population if the 2017 hypertension guideline systolic blood pressure treatment goals were achieved in the entire US population. Compared to full implementation of the previous hypertension guideline, we estimated the 2017 hypertension guideline recommendations would reduce an additional 340 thousand cardiovascular disease events and 156 thousand deaths per year in the US. Implementing the 2017 hypertension guideline was estimated to increase 62 thousand hypotension, 32 thousand syncope, 31 thousand electrolyte abnormality, and 79 thousand acute kidney injury or kidney failure events. These analyses indicated implementing the 2017 hypertension guideline would significantly increase the proportion of US adults recommended for antihypertensive treatment and further reduce cardiovascular disease events and all-cause mortality, but might increase the number of adverse events in the US population. (more…)
Author Interviews, Duke, Education, Heart Disease, JAMA / 01.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Pamela S. Douglas, MD, MACC, FASE, FAHA Ursula Geller Professor of Research in Cardiovascular Disease Duke University School of Medicine Durham, NC 27715     MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: For any profession to succeed, it needs to attract top talent. We surveyed internal medicine residents to find out what they valued most in their professional development, how they perceived cardiology as field and how these two areas are associated with  their choosing a career in cardiology or another specialty. We found that trainees were seeking careers that had stable hours, were family friendly and female friendly, while they perceived cardiology to  have adverse work conditions, interfere with family life and to not be diverse. We were able to predict career choice with 89-97% accuracy from these responses; the predictors are mix of things that attract to cardiology and those that are deterrents. For men, the attractors outnumber the deterrents, for women its just the opposite. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Lancet, Metabolic Syndrome, Weight Research / 01.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Nathalie Eckel, MSc German Diabetes Center Düsseldorf, Germany  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?  Response: Obesity is associated with metabolic disorders such as diabetes, high blood pressure and hypercholesterolemia, and with a higher risk of cardiovacular disease compared to normal weight. However, there is also the phenomenon of the so-called "metabolically healthy obesity" and "metabolically unhealthy normal-weight". So far it has been unclear how metabolic risk factors change over time in metabolically healthy people depending on body weight and what cardiovascular disease risk results from this. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA, Surgical Research / 01.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Harindra C. Wijeysundera MD PhD FRCPC FCCS FAHA Director of Research, Division of Cardiology, Schulich Heart Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Senior Scientist, Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI) Associate Professor, Dept. of Medicine & Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto Adjunct Senior Scientist, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) Toronto, ON, Canada MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: One of the most common complications post TAVR is the need for a permanent pacemaker.  It is unclear if the need for a pacemaker is associated with long term adverse outcomes. Using a population level registry of all TAVR procedures in ontario, canada, we found that pacemakers were required in ~15% of cases.  Requiring a pacemaker was associated with worse long term outcomes, including death, readmission to hospital and emergency room visits.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JACC, Supplements / 31.05.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Pills Vitamins Macro April 22, 2012 4” by Steven Depolo is licensed under CC BY 2.0David J.A. Jenkins, MD, PhD, DSc Professor and Canada Research Chair in Nutrition and Metabolism Department of Nutritional Sciences University of Toronto  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The study was requested by the editor of JACC (Dr. Valentin Fuster) due to the widespread use of vitamin and mineral supplementation by the public and the requirement to know if there were any benefits or harms for cardiovascular disease. Our study was a follow-up to the US Preventive Services Task Force 2013 recommendations. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Red Meat / 31.05.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “mmmm Meat” by Glen MacLarty is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Jyrki Virtanen, PhD Adjunct professor of nutritional epidemiology Heli Virtanen, MSc University of Eastern Finland Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition Kuopio, Finland  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Previous studies have found that animal sources of protein may have an adverse impact on the risk of cardiovascular diseases, like myocardial infarct, whereas plant sources of protein have had an opposite impact. In this study we investigated that how protein intake from different dietary sources is associated with developing heart failure in men during the study’s follow-up. During the mean follow-up time of about 22 years, 334 men developed heart failure. The main finding of the study was that higher protein intake was associated with a moderately higher risk of heart failure and the findings were similar with protein from most dietary sources, although the association was stronger with protein from animal sources. Only protein from fish and eggs were not associated with the risk in our study. (more…)