Heart Disease
31 Jan Atrial Fibrillation: Dabigatran and Risk of Myocardial Infarction
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Professor Gregory Y.H. Lip MD, FRCP
Consultant Cardiologist & Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, Director - Haemostasis Thrombosis & Vascular Biology Unit
Birmingham, United Kingdom
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
[GYHL] In this large-scale nationwide cohort study, we found that switching to dabigatran increased the risk of MI compared to continued warfarin usage in the early period after switching. Caution may be warranted especially when switching prior VKA-experienced patients with atrial fibrillation to dabigatran. This risk was not evident in the warfarin-naïve cohort newly started on dabigatran.
15 Jan Dietary Fiber Intake and Cardiovascular Risk
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prof. Victoria J Burley
Senior Lecturer in Nutritional Epidemiology
School of Food Science and Nutrition
University of Leeds
Biostatistics, University of Leeds, UK
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Prof. Burley: Although it’s been suggested for a long time that foods rich in dietary fiber may protect individuals from having a heart attack or stroke because they lower some of the risk factors for these diseases, trying to determine how much dietary fibre might be beneficial and whether these benefits are apparent in all populations around the world has been less easy to research. Our research at the University of Leeds has pooled the results of published large-scale follow-up studies and has demonstrated a consistent lowering of risk of cardiovascular and coronary heart disease with increasing dietary fiber intake. This dose-response trend suggests that even small additional increments in intake may be beneficial in the long term.
02 Jan CANHEART: Cardiovascular Health Measurement Tool
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Laura Maclagan, MSc. Epidemiologist, Cardiovascular Program ICES Central Toronto, Ontario M4N 3M5 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: We developed the CANHEART health index in order to measure the cardiovascular health of the Canadian population. The index is based on the prevalence of six health factors and behaviours known to be associated with cardiovascular health; being a non-smoker, being physically active, consuming at least 5 fruits and vegetables per day, having a low body mass index (BMI <25 kg/m²) and being free of diabetes and hypertension. The factors were summed to create an index ranging from 0 (worst) to 6 (best/ideal). We found that only 9.4% of Canadian adults age 20 and older met our definition of ideal cardiovascular health. 53.3% of adults were in intermediate cardiovascular health (4-5 healthy behaviours/factors) and 37.3% were in poor cardiovascular health (0-3 healthy behaviours). We found that the cardiovascular health of Canadians was stable over the 2003-2011 study period.31 Dec Atrial Fibrillation: Impact of Kidney Function
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Amitava Banerjee
NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Cardiovascular Medicine
University of Birmingham UK
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
This was the first long-term study in individuals with atrial fibrillation to consider the impact of renal function, as measured by eGFR, on stroke/thromboembolism, mortality and bleeding in the same population concurrently.
Answer: There were three main findings of our study.
- First, patients with worsening renal function had more severe risk factor profiles and had higher rates of stroke/thromboembolism, mortality and bleeding.
- Second, individuals receiving oral anticoagulation had lower rates of stroke/thromboembolism and mortality than those not receiving anticoagulation at all levels of renal function measured by eGFR, suggesting that anticoagulation has benefit in even patients with low eGFR.
- Third, renal function was not an independent predictor of stroke/thromboembolism at 1 year after adjustment for baseline characteristics.
18 Dec Osteoarthritis: Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: M Mushfiqur Rahman, MSc. PhD candidate School of Population and Public Health University of British Columbia, Statistical Analyst Arthritis Research Centre of Canada 5591 No. 3 Road, Richmond BC, Canada, V6X 2C7; MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Author’s response: Using 18 years of administrative health records from British Columbia, Canada, our aim was to determine whether osteoarthritis increases the risk of cardiovascular disease in a longitudinal study. We also examined the risks of specific cardiovascular conditions such as, myocardial infarction, ischemic heart disease, congestive heart failure, and stroke after adjusting for age, sex, socio-economic status, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and a co-morbidity score. We observed a significant increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, and congestive heart failure among individuals with osteoarthritis compared with age-sex matched non-osteoarthritis individuals. Our data suggests that adult women and men aged 65 years and older with osteoarthritis had higher risks of developing these conditions. The risks were also higher among severe osteoarthritis patients who had undergone total joint replacement surgeries. Men aged between 20-64 years with osteoarthritis did not show higher risks of developing these conditions.22 Nov Coffee: Caffeine Improves Microvascular Endothelial Function
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Masato Tsutsui, MD, PhD, FAHA Professor and Chairman Department of Pharmacology Graduate School of Medicine University of the Ryukyus Okinawa 903-0215, Japan MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Tsutsui: A recent large prospective study reported that coffee consumption is associated with reduced mortality for cardiovascular disease (NEJM 2012). However, its precise mechanisms remain to be clarified. Our double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study demonstrated, for the first time, that caffeine contained in a cup of coffee ameliorates microvascular endothelial function in healthy individuals. These findings may explain, at least in part, the association of coffee consumption with reduced mortality for cardiovascular disease.21 Nov Metabolically healthy obese still at increased risk of diabetes, heart disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Carlos Lorenzo, MD
Department of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center
7703 Floyd Curl Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78229
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Lorenzo: Metabolically healthy obese individuals are at increased risk of developing of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. These findings were demonstrated in men and women and in Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites.
Management of excess weight and any metabolic abnormality appears to be important for all individuals.
Our study is also in agreement with previous studies that indicate that metabolically unhealthy normal weight individuals are at increased risk of developing of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
21 Nov Atrial Fibrillation: Effects of Weight Reduction
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prof. Prashanthan Sanders
Director, Centre for Heart Rhythm Disorders
University of Adelaide | Royal Adelaide Hospital | SAHMRI
NHMRC Practitioner Fellow
Centre for Heart Rhythm Disorders
Department of Cardiology | Royal Adelaide Hospital
Adelaide 5000 | Australia
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: Aggressive treatment of risk factors and weight reduced the symptom burden associated with atrial fibrillation. It is therefore important that in a similar manner to how we treat coronary artery disease, in atrial fibrillation there should be management directed at the reasons why these individuals got AF in the first place.
16 Nov Sleep Quality and Quantity Affects Cardimetabolic Markers in Children
Posted at 11:36h
in Allergies, Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Metabolic Syndrome, Pediatrics, Sleep Disorders, Surgical Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Nina Berentzen
Centre for Nutrition, Prevention and Health Services
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment Bilthoven
The Netherlands
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: This study in 11-12 year old children shows that self-reported characteristics of sleep quality were not associated with blood pressure and HbA1c; and that in girls, but not in boys, some sleep characteristics were associated with anthropometric outcomes (BMI, waist circumference) and cholesterol levels. More specifically, in girls, longer time in bed was associated with lower BMI and waist circumference; having night-time awakenings with higher total cholesterol, going late to bed while rising early with higher total and HDL cholesterol; and feeling sleepy/tired during daytime with lower HDL cholesterol and with higher total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio. We report new findings for daytime outcomes of sleep quality that were not studied before in relation to cardiometabolic risk; e.g. difficulty with getting up in the morning, feeling rested after waking, and feeling sleepy or tired during the day. Our study therefore offers insight not only in characteristics of sleep at night, but also in consequences of sleep during the day.
10 Nov Lipids in Gradeschool Children: Association with Birth Weight
MedicalResearch.com interview with:
Martha Mullett, MD MPH
Neonatology
West Virginia Universty Ped&Neo 1 Medical Center Dr
Morgantown, WV 26506
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Mullett: The unique findings in this study relate to differences in triglycerides (TG) in premature infants and small for gestational age (SGA) infants when in 5th grade, at which time the children are approximately 11 years old. Premature infants have higher triglyceride levels in 5th grade than term infants.(p<.05) This difference appears in those premature infants who become overweight/obese by this age, but this reaches only a trend level. (p=.058) SGA infants who become overweight/obese by 5th grade (BMI ≥ 85th percentile) have TG that are significantly higher than all other 5th grade groups.
09 Nov Cardiovascular Risk: Effects of High Dose Calcium Tablets
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Joshua Lewis, Ph.D
Raine Foundation / Alan Robson Fellow
Bone and Vascular Research Group
School of Medicine and Pharmacology
University of Western Australia
Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes
Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital
Hospital Avenue, Nedlands 6009
www.boneandvascularresearch.org.au
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Lewis: The paper reports the findings from an ancillary study of the effects of 1200 mg per day of calcium supplementation on a major predictor of heart disease risk, carotid artery intima-medial thickness and atherosclerosis. The principle study was a large five-year double blind randomized controlled trial of calcium supplements or a placebo. After 3 years of calcium supplementation or placebo measures of carotid artery intima-medial thickness were identical in the placebo and calcium treated patients. Atherosclerotic plaque was reduced in calcium treated patients when analysed as total calcium intake. These findings argue strongly against an adverse effect of high dose calcium tablets on cardiovascular risk.
05 Nov Atrial Fibrillation Increases Risk of Heart Attack
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Elsayed Z Soliman MD, MSc, MS, FAHA, FACC
Director, Epidemiological Cardiology Research Center (EPICARE)
Wake Forest School of Medicine
Medical Center Blvs, Winston Salem, NC 27157
Atrial Fibrillation and the Risk of Myocardial Infarction
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Soliman: Using data from the REGARDS study, one of the largest US cohorts, we examined the risk of incident myocardial infarction (MI) associated with atrial fibrillation (AF). Overall, AF was associated with almost double the risk of MI. When we adjusted for common cardiovascular risk factors and potential confounders, the risk remained significantly high; about 70% increased risk. When we looked at women, men, blacks, and whites separately, we found significant differences between races and sex. AF in women and blacks was associated with more than double the risk of MI. This compares to less than 50% increased risk of heart attack associated with AF in men and whites . So AF is basically bad for all, but the risk of MI associated with AF is more pronounced in women and blacks.
01 Nov Epicardial Fat, Fatty Liver Linked
MedicalResearh.com Interview with:
Gianluca Iacobellis MD PhD
Professor of Clinical Medicine
Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine,
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Iacobellis: Our study suggests that epicardial fat, the fat pad in direct contiguity to the heart, is a good predictor of liver steatosis in obese subjects
30 Oct Rheumatoid Arthritis and Increased Risk of Heart Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Eric Matteson, M.D.
Rheumatology Chair
Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the studies?
Dr. Matteson: “The main finding is that patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis have a higher risk of heart disease. Further, women who experience early menopause also have a higher risk of heart disease.”
29 Oct Rheumatoid Arthritis: Heart Disease and Biologics
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lotta Ljung, MD, PhD Umeå University, Umeå and Karolinska Institute Stockholm, Sweden MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Ljung: In this observational study we observed a lower risk of acute coronary syndromes in a cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) exposed to tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) compared with the risk among patients without this exposure. The adjusted relative risk (HR) was 0.73-0.82 among TNFi exposed patients compared with the biologics-naive RA cohort, depending on the time frame evaluated, which can be concluded as a moderately lower risk. Compared with the risk in the general population, the risk in RA patients was higher, whether exposed to TNFi or not.28 Oct Diabetes and Heart Attack Mortality in Women
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Marcin Sadowski Świętokrzyskie Cardiology Center, Kielce, Poland MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Sadowski: In multivariable analysis, diabetes was an independent risk factor of in-hospital and 1-year mortality in women treated for STEMI. In women with STEMI and diabetes one-year mortality was significantly lower in those treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention than in those on optimal medical therapy. Early and long-term prognoses after STEMI were the worst in diabetic women, compared with non-diabetic women and diabetic men.22 Oct Omega-3 Fatty Acids: MI Risk in Diabetic, Non-Diabetic Patients with CAD
MedicalResearch.com Interview wit: Elin Strand
Researcher, Department of Clinical Science University of Bergen, Norway MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of this study? Answer: The main findings in this prospective observational cohort study among patients with established coronary artery disease were that a very high intake of omega-3 fatty acids was associated with a reduced risk of acute myocardial infarction in patients with diabetes, but with an increased risk of fatal acute myocardial infarction and with lower glycosylated hemoglobin in those without impaired glucose metabolism.18 Oct Atrial Fibrillation: Risks of Renal, Stroke,Thrombotic Events after Ablation
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. med. Jelena Kornej
Department of Electrophysiology, Heart Center, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany & University of Birmingham Centre for Cardiovascular Sciences, City Hospital,
Birmingham, United Kingdom
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: The main finding of our analysis was that thromboembolic events after atrial fibrillation (AF) catheter ablation are rare, but all three stroke risk stratification scores, i.e. CHADS2, CHA2DS2-VASc, and R2CHADS2 were associated with thromboembolic risk in anticoagulated population. Furthermore, patients with AF recurrences had increased risk for thromboembolic complications.
18 Oct Heart Failure Care in Patients Admitted for Other Diagnoses
Posted at 11:23h
in Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Hospital Readmissions, JACC, Outcomes & Safety
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Saul Blecker, MD, MHS
Department of Population Health, NYU School of Medicine
Department of Medicine, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Blecker: Inpatient quality of care has focused primarily on patients with acute heart failure, commonly identified by principal discharge diagnosis code. However, patients with heart failure are commonly hospitalized for other causes and should benefit from many of the same treatments.
We found that in our sample, as compared to patients with a principal diagnosis of heart failure, heart failure patients hospitalized with a non–heart failure diagnosis had lower rates of guideline-concordant care, including assessment of left ventricular function and prescription for an ACE inhibitor or ARB, at time of discharge. This is important as our study suggests that these therapies were associated with reduced mortality for patients hospitalized with heart failure, regardless of the reason for hospitalization.
16 Oct Cancer Risk from Imaging Radiation in Ischemic Heart Disease
MedicalResearch.com:
Prof. Dr. Gunnar Brix
Division of Medical and Occupational Radiation Protection
Federal Office for Radiation Protection
Institut für Med. Strahlenhygiene
85764 Neuherberg
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: We investigated the cumulative radiation exposure and cancer risk of more than 1200 patients with ischemic heart diseases (IHD) from diagnostic and therapeutic imaging procedures performed 3 month before and 12 month after the date of diagnosis. The major findings were:
- 87% of patient exposure resulted from heart catheter procedures.
- The average cumulative effective dose was 13.3 mSv in males and 10.3 mSv in females. The highest dose was nearly 100 mSv.
- The estimated average attributable life-time risk of male and female patients to develop a radiation-induced cancer in their remaining life was 0.09 % and 0.07 %, respectively. This correspond to 1 excess cancer in about 1100 male and 1400 female IHD patients. The highest risk was 0.9 %.
- The effective dose is inadequate to characterize individual radiation risks, since neither the age nor the sex of the patient is taken into account. According to our results, cancer risks can vary by a factor of more than 10 for comparable values of the effective dose.
14 Oct HDL Function: Improved with Strength Training, Even in Overweight
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Christian K. Roberts Exercise and Metabolic Disease Research Laboratory, Translational Sciences Section, School of Nursing University of California, Los Angeles, CA MedicalResearch.com: How would you best summarize the main findings/results of this study? Answer: Our main finding was that HDL functioned better in its antioxidant role in subjects who participated in resistance exercise training (i.e. weight training) a minimum of 4 days a week, regardless of their weight—one group was lean (BMI <25) and the other overweight/obese (BMI >27) —than those who didn’t exercise (overweight, BMI >27, and untrained). In addition, HDL had similar effectiveness as an antioxidant in the overweight-trained group as in the as lean-trained group. Although indices of weight were associated with dysfunctional HDL, differences in fitness may be a better measure of who has healthier functioning HDL.14 Oct Bisphosphonates: Risks of AFib and Stroke
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Abhishek Sharma, M.B.B.S.
Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: Evidence from RCT's and observational studies suggests a significantly increased risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) requiring hospitalization, but no increase in risk of stroke or cardiovascular mortality with the use of bisphosphonate.
11 Oct Cardiovascular Disease: Declining Mortality, Increasing Costs and Disability
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Ankur Pandya PhD
Assistant Professor of Public Health in the Division of Health Policy
Department of Public Health at Weill Cornell Medical College
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Pandya: Our study looked at the impact of some of the future risk factors for cardiovascular disease in the United States. Using nine National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey waves from 1973 to 2010 we forecasted disease risk and prevalence from 2015 to 2030. We found that despite continued improvements in the disease’s treatment and declining smoking rates, increasing obesity rates, the aging population, and declining mortality from the disease should cause a rise in health care costs, disability, and reductions in the quality of life associated with increased disease prevalence.
09 Oct Patients With Coronary Stents: Adverse Cardiac Events Following Noncardiac Surgery
MedicalResearch.com Interview with
Dr. Mary T Hawn MD
Center for Surgical, Medical Acute Care Research and Transitions (C-SMART), Birmingham Veterans Administration Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama
Section of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Department of Surgery
University of Alabama at Birmingham
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Hawn: The risk of adverse perioperative cardiac events is elevated in patients with recent coronary stenting, but the risk does not differ by stent type and stabilizes for surgery more than 6 months following stenting.
08 Oct Ovarian Cancer and Cardiovascular Comorbidity
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Anil K. Sood MD
Department of Gynecologic Oncology
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Unit 1362, PO Box 301439, Houston, TX, 77030
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Sood: For women with newly diagnosed ovarian cancer, high heart rate at diagnosis (tachycardia), venous thromboembolism (VTE) occurring after diagnosis and pulmonary hypertension post-diagnosis are independently related to reduced survival after controlling for tumor stage, grade, and extent of cytoreduction. Women with tachycardia lived an average of 4.0 years after diagnosis compared with 5.9 years for women without tachycardia, a 32% reduction in duration of survival. Patients who experienced VTE lived a median 4.1 years after diagnosis, compared with 6.4 yrs for patients who did not experience VTE.
03 Oct Initiatives to Improve Cardiac Arrest Management
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Mads Wissenberg, MD
Department of Cardiology
Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen
Niels Andersens Vej 65
2900 Hellerup, Denmark Post 635
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: Our main findings from this nationwide study are that during a 10-year period where several national initiatives were taken to increase bystander CPR and improve advanced care, bystander CPR increased more than a two-fold from 21 % in 2001 to 45% in 2010. In the same period survival on arrival at the hospital increased more than a two-fold from 8% in 2001 to 22% in 2010, and 30-day survival more than a three-fold from 3.5% in 2001 to 11% in 2010.
30 Sep SPECT MPI to Predict Heart Attacks: Stress Agents Regadenoson vs Adenosine
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Afshin Farzaneh-Far, M.D.
University of Illinois at Chicago
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: Traditionally SPECT MPI has been performed with adenosine which has a
significant body of published prognostic data.
Regadenoson is a selective A2A receptor agonist and is now the stress
agent most widely used in the United States. Unlike adenosine, regadenoson
is given as a bolus rather than as an infusion, simplifying the testing
protocol and is better-tolerated.
However, despite increasing use of regadenoson, there is very limited data
on risk prediction using this agent.
This study showed that the ability of SPECT MPI to predict heart attacks
and death is the same for the new stress agent Regadenoson as it is for
the old agent Adenosine.
25 Sep Myocardial Fat Content : Effects of Age and Aerobic Fitness
Posted at 00:46h
in Author Interviews, Case Western, Exercise - Fitness, Heart Disease, UT Southwestern
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Satyam Sarma MD
Assistant Instructor, Cardiology
University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center
Inst. for Exercise and Environmental Medicine
7232 Greenville Ave. Dallas TX 75231
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Sarma: The main findings of our study were that as we age or live a sedentary lifestyle, fat tends to accumulate in the muscle of the heart. The accumulation of myocardial lipids were linked to abnormalities in diastolic function. With increasing levels of fat, the left ventricle became less distensible and had impaired tissue relaxation.
24 Sep Severe Aortic Stenosis: Flow-Gradient Patterns after Aortic Valve Replacement
Posted at 23:16h
in Heart Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Mackram Eleid, MD
Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and Internal Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Eleid: Our study investigated the characteristics, outcomes and impact of aortic valve replacement in a large series of 1704 patients with severe aortic stenosis (aortic valve area < 1 cm2) and preserved ejection fraction (EF > 50%) according to the flow-gradient classification that incorporates both stroke volume index and mean aortic valve gradient. The primary findings were that patients with low flow, low gradient AS have lower survival than other flow-gradient patterns (a 3.2-fold increase risk of mortality compared to normal flow, low gradient), and their survival is improved with aortic valve replacement. Conversely, patients with normal flow and low gradient had a favorable survival with medical management, suggesting a less advanced stage of disease compared to the other groups. Additionally, a novel observation from this study is that patients with low flow had a higher prevalence of atrial fibrillation and previous heart failure events compared to other groups.