Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Heart Disease, JAMA, Lung Cancer, Supplements, USPSTF / 30.06.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael J. Barry, M.D Director of the Informed Medical Decisions Program Health Decision Sciences Center Massachusetts General Hospital. Professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School Dr. Barry was appointed as Vice Chair of USPSTF in March 2021. He previously served as a member from January 2017 through December 2020.   MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings? Response: The Task Force looked at the use of vitamin and mineral supplementation specifically for the prevention of heart disease, stroke, and cancer. We found that there is not enough evidence to recommend for or against taking multivitamin supplements, nor the use of single or paired nutrient supplements, to prevent these conditions. However, we do know that you should not take vitamin E or beta-carotene for this purpose. (more…)
Author Interviews, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, NEJM, Vitamin C / 15.06.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: François Lamontagne MD MSc (pharmacology) MSc (CEB) Professor of Medicine at the Université de Sherbrooke Endowed research chair on patient-centred research Dr. Neill Adhikari MDCM, M.Sc. Sunnybrook Research Institute and University of Toronto Toronto, Canada MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: The use of intravenous vitamin C for sepsis has been a hot topic for a few years. It was biologically plausible that vitamin C could reduce organ injury and death by scavenging reactive oxygen species and modulating the immune response to sepsis. It also seemed like an intervention that would be reasonably easy to administer globally should it prove beneficial. On the other hand, no intervention is benign and every aspect of health care should be rigorously studied. Regarding vitamin C, there were strongly held opinions in both camps and this motivated us to design and conduct the LOVIT trial. (more…)
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, JAMA, Mammograms, Medical Imaging, UCSF / 15.06.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Karla Kerlikowske, MD. Professor, Departments of Medicine and Epidemiology/Biostatistics, Cancer Center Program Membership. Breast Oncology UCSF MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) was developed with the expectation it would improve detection of breast cancer in women with dense breasts and decrease false-positive results. DBT is now available at most breast screening centers. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, JAMA, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 10.06.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Marquita W. Lewis-Thames, PhD (she/her/Dr.) Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Social Science Center for Community Health, Member Researcher Assistant Directors of Community Outreach and Engagement, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings?  Response: Incidence, mortality, and survivorship provide a comprehensive description of cancer for a group of people. Differences in cancer incidence and mortality trends by rural-urban status and race and ethnicity are well documented, but urban-rural cancer survivorship trends by race and ethnicity are unknown. To this end, we examined almost 40 years of racial and ethnic differences by rural-urban status for 5-year survival of patients with lung, prostate, breast, and colorectal cancers. Using a nationwide epidemiological assessment of 1975-2011 data from the SEER database, we found that 5-year cancer-specific survival trends increased for all cancer types and race and ethnic groups, regardless of rural or urban status. Generally, rural, and non-Hispanic Black cancer patients had worse survival outcomes than others. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Cost of Health Care, JAMA / 09.06.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Benjamin N. Rome MD Instructor, Harvard Medical School Internal Medicine Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics Brigham and Women’s Hospital MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Manufacturers of brand-name drugs are granted periods, free from direct competition, during which they can set and raise prices as they choose. We found that the prices for newly marketed brand-name drugs increased by 20% per year from 2008 to 2021. In 2020 and 2021, nearly half of new drugs were launched at a price greater than $150,000 per year, compared with 9% of drugs in 2008-2013. These dramatic trends are only partly explained by changes in the types of drugs coming to market. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, NEJM / 09.06.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Daniel Perl MD Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Professor of Pathology at USUHS and Director of the CNRM's Brain Tissue Repository Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Bethesda, Maryland MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a brain disorder that is predominantly seen in individuals who have suffered from repeated impact head trauma, such as occurs in former boxers or American football players.  CTE has very specific alterations in the brain and can only be diagnosed at autopsy.  Some have claimed that, in addition to former contact sport participants, individuals who served in the military and were repeatedly exposed to blast (explosions) are also at increased risk for developing CTE.  However, this claim has been based on a rather small number of anecdotal cases.  The DoD/USU Brain Tissue Repository is the only facility in the world that is exclusively dedicated to the collection and study of donated brain specimens derived from deceased active duty and retired service members.  We used the resources of this facility to examine 225 consecutively collected brain specimens for the presence of CTE.  This would to provide a view of how common CTE was in this setting and, when diagnosed, was the disease correlated with prior blast exposure, participation in contact sports and other forms of head trauma, and with certain forms of symptomatology such as development of PTSD, alcohol/substance abuse, death by suicide, etc. (more…)
Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Diabetes, Heart Disease / 07.06.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: HoJin Shin, BPharm, PhD Postdoctoral Research Fellow Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics Department of Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School Boston, Massachusetts MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: The public health burden of cardiovascular disease has been increasing in people with diabetes along with the burden of diabetes itself.
  •  Cardiovascular disease affects approximately one-third of the population with type 2 diabetes and accounts for     50%–80% of their mortality
  • 1 in 10 people in the US has diabetes
Since 2008, the US FDA has recommended post-approval cardiovascular outcome trials to ensure the safety of new glucose-lowering drugs responding to this growing burden of cardiovascular disease in type 2 diabetes and the potential increase in cardiovascular risk with certain existing glucose-lowering drugs (e.g., rosiglitazone). Notably, SGLT-2i have demonstrated superiority to placebo in reducing the risk of cardiovascular events, including hospitalization for heart failure. Consequently, beginning in 2018, clinical guidelines in the US have recommended SGLT-2i as a preferred second-line treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. As the paradigm of second-line pharmacological treatment for type 2 diabetes has shifted to include the management of cardiovascular risk in addition to glycemic control, this further raised the question of whether SGLT-2i should be advanced to first-line treatment. Since 2019, SGLT-2i have been recommended as a first-line agent for patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease by the European guidelines (the European Society of Cardiology and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes). In the absence of head-to-head RCTs, non-randomized studies using real-world data could provide information on whether SGLT-2i may have greater cardiovascular benefits over metformin more timely than randomized clinical trials among both patients with and without existing CVD. Therefore, we evaluated the risk for cardiovascular events among adults with T2D who initiated treatment with first-line SGLT-2i versus metformin in clinical practice. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gout, JAMA, Kidney Disease / 06.06.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Csaba P Kovesdy MD FASN Fred Hatch Professor of Medicine Director, Clinical Outcomes and Clinical Trials Program Division of Nephrology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center Nephrology Section Chief, Memphis VA Medical Center Memphis TN, 38163 MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings?  Response: Hyperuricemia has unfavorable metabolic effects and has been associated with higher risk of progressive kidney disease and mortality. Despite this, earlier clinical trials have failed to prove a beneficial impact on kidney disease progression from uric acid lowering therapy in patients with preexisting CKD. The effect of uric acid lowering therapy on the development of new onset CKD in patients with normal kidney function has not been well studied. In our large observational study we did not find a beneficial association between newly initiated uric acid lowering therapy (the majority of which was in the form of allopurinol). On the contrary, uric acid lowering therapy was associated with a slightly higher risk of new onset low eGFR and new onset albuminuria, especially in patients with less elevated baseline serum acid levels. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Nature, Pancreatic, University of Michigan / 03.06.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Imad Shureiqi, MD, MS Professor, Division of Hematology and Oncology Department of Internal Medicine Rogel Cancer Center Ann Arbor, MI, 48109 MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?   Response: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is a highly lethal form of cancer with rising occurrence, and strategies to prevent and treat the disease are urgently needed. Most cases of pancreatic cancer arise from pre-cancerous lesions called pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN); about 55-80% of adults over forty are estimated to have these low-grade pre-cancerous silent pancreatic lesions. But critical factors that promote the progression of pancreatic pre-cancerous lesions to pancreatic cancer remain poorly defined, especially those easy to target. Findings from this publication indicate that people who have silent PanIN pre-cancerous lesions, even those that are low-grade, could increase their risk of PanIN progression into pancreatic cancer by consuming activators of a nuclear lipid receptor called peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-delta (PPARδ). PPARδ activators can be natural substances, such certain fatty acids like palmitic and arachidonic acid in high-fat diets, or synthetic ones, like Cardarine (GW501516). (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Ophthalmology, USPSTF / 02.06.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Katrina Donahue, M.D., M.P.H. Professor and vice chair of research Department of Family Medicine University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Dr. Donohue is a family physician and senior research fellow Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research Dr. Donahue joined the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in January 2020. MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings?  Response: Impaired vision and glaucoma are serious and common conditions facing millions of people nationwide that can affect a person’s independence and quality of life. These recommendations looked at how primary care clinicians can help people who have not noticed any problems with their vision. Unfortunately, there is not enough evidence available to make a recommendation for or against screening adults for glaucoma or older adults for impaired vision in the primary care setting. (more…)
Author Interviews, Education, Fertility, JAMA / 20.05.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kathryn S. Smith, BS M.D. Candidate, Class of 2023 Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago, Illinois MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study  Response: There are studies that show women in medicine do not achieve promotion at the same rate as men and that only a minority of women are in the upper levels of leadership such as Department Chairs and Medical School Deans. Since peak fertility coincides with peak career building years, we wanted to explore themes related to career advancement, physician burnout and ultimately whether women were being held back from their potential by the burden of fertility, family building, childcare, and household responsibilities. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Education, Health Care Systems, Sleep Disorders / 20.05.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Matthew D Weaver M.P.H., Ph.D. Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders Departments of Medicine and Neurology Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston, Massachusetts MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: The name “resident” stems from the historical practice of resident-physicians residing in hospitals as part of their training. Even after that practice abated, it was common for resident physicians to work 36 consecutive hours followed by 12 or fewer hours of rest. In 1989, the state of New York restricted resident physicians to work no more than 24 consecutive hours and no more than 80 hours per week as part of collective intervention to improve patient safety. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) then followed in 2003 by limiting work hours to an average of 80 per week over a month and no more than 30 consecutive hours of work. Evidence accumulated demonstrating an association between shifts lasting ≥24 hours and adverse resident and patient safety. As a result, the Institute of Medicine convened a review and report on the issue, ultimately concluding that no resident should work more than 16 consecutive hours without sleep. This recommendation, combined with evidence following the 2003 rules, led the ACGME to issue new rules in 2011 that limited first-year resident physicians to work no more than 16 consecutive hours. Our study compares resident-reported patient safety outcomes before and after this 2011 policy change. (more…)
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, JACC, Weight Research / 18.05.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Amy Kirkham, PhD Assistant Professor of Clinical Cardiovascular Health Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education University of Toronto Affiliate Scientist at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: Women who have had a breast cancer diagnosis are at least two-fold and often higher risk of cardiovascular or heart disease compared to women without a history of breast cancer. Older age, higher body mass index, and receipt of chemotherapy treatment that can injure the heart are risk factors for cardiovascular death after a breast cancer diagnosis. Time-restricted eating is a type of intermittent fasting that appears to be easy to follow and to improve some measures of metabolic health but has not been studied in populations with a cancer history. Time-restricted eating simply involves consuming all calorie intake within a specific time window, commonly 8 hours, like between 12 and 8 pm, and then only consuming water or black coffee outside of those hours. We enrolled breast cancer survivors who were aged 60 or older, had an overweight or obese mass index, and were finished chemotherapy treatment in a single-arm trial of time-restricted eating for 8 weeks. We asked participants to restrict their calorie intake between 12 and 8 pm from Monday to Friday with no restrictions on weekend and no further instructions on what to eat. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JACC, Statins / 17.05.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Raffaele Bugiardini, UNIBO Professor & MD Clinical cardiologist Full Professor of Cardiology at the University of Bologna MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: Questions about the evidence base for primary prevention with statins continue to emerge from many quarters. It has been argued that prior estimates of statin effects were mainly based on information from both individuals with and without pre-existing cardiovascular disease, which may overestimate the true benefits of statins. Some investigators attempted to quantify the impact of statins on outcomes of women versus men and reported significantly different effect estimates. Others have questioned the benefits of statins in adults 76 years and older as this age group was poorly represented in the randomized trials for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. There is little or no information on concomitant preventive medications in prior work. Thus, how large is the incremental benefit of statin, added to other standard preventive interventions? and is cholesterol a reliable surrogate endpoint to guide prevention of cardiovascular disease? (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 16.05.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Susannah G. Rowe, MD, MPH Office of Equity, Vitality and Inclusion Boston University Medical Group Boston Medical Center Boston University School of Medicine Boston, Massachusetts MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: We wanted to learn how frequently mistreatment occurs for clinicians at work and how it impacts their occupational well-being. We began to see more anecdotal reports of workplace mistreatment of clinicians even before the pandemic. In the extraordinarily stressful environment we are currently experiencing, with people feeling exhausted and emotionally threadbare on some level, the problem appears to be growing. We also predicted that the burden of mistreatment would not borne be equally. It has often been said that we are all in the same storm but in different boats – some of us are riding out the storm in comfortable ocean liners, while others are paddling in canoes without life jackets. What we are learning, though, is that we are not in fact experiencing the same storm. For example, the increasing intolerance and erosion of public civility we have seen in recent years might show up as minor annoyances for some of us, and actual threats of violence for others depending in large part on our gender and racialized identities. Our relationship to privilege and oppression affects our experiences, creating protections or additional burdens, so when studying clinician occupational well-being, it seemed important to consider how these disparities play out in the workplace.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Boehringer Ingelheim, NEJM, Pulmonary Disease / 15.05.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Luca Richeldi MD PhD Chair and Head, Division of Pulmonary Medicine Gemelli University Hospital - IRCCS Catholic University of the Sacred Heart Rome MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Would you briefly explain the condition of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis? Response: As you may know, Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive, irreversible lung disease with high mortality. IPF is one of the more common forms of progressive fibrosing interstitial lung diseases and its symptoms of IPF include breathlessness during activity, a dry and persistent cough, chest discomfort, fatigue and weakness. IPF is considered a “rare” disease, but it affects more than 3 million people worldwide. Currently, there are two approved antifibrotic drugs that slow, but do not stop, the progression of fibrosis. Therefore, there is a need for additional treatments that can be used alone or with existing antifibrotic therapies. Pre-clinical research indicated that phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibition is associated with anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic effects that may be beneficial in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. In this Phase 2, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, we investigated the efficacy and safety of BI 1015550, an oral preferential inhibitor of the PDE4B subtype, in patients with IPF. Patients were randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to receive BI 1015550 at a dose of 18 mg twice daily or placebo. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, JAMA, NIH, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 05.05.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Megan Clarke, Ph.D., M.H.S., Earl Stadtman Investigator Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics National Cancer Institute MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study? 
  • Through our prior work, we have demonstrated that uterine cancer incidence rates have been significantly increasing in the U.S. from 2003 to 2015 and that these increases were primarily driven by rising rates of aggressive (non-endometrioid) subtypes of this cancer. We observed that rates of these aggressive cancers increased among all women and were more than twice as high among Non-Hispanic Black women compared to other racial and ethnic groups. Factors explaining these trends, as well as the disproportionately higher rates of these aggressive subtypes among non-Hispanic Black women, remain unclear, in part because risk factors are poorly understood.
  • In addition to differences in incidence rates by race and ethnicity, we have also observed strong disparities in our prior studies, with Non-Hispanic Black women having substantially lower 5-year survival, regardless of subtype or stage at diagnosis, compared to other racial and ethnic populations.
  • The next logical step, and the focus of the current study, was to evaluate how increases in the incidence of aggressive, non-endometrioid uterine cancer affects racial disparities and rates of death from uterine cancer.
(more…)
Author Interviews, Nature, Neurology / 05.05.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Juan Piantino, M.D., MCR Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Division of Neurology, School of Medicine Director, Inpatient Child Neurology Oregon Health Sciences University  MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?    Response: Astronauts are exposed to several stressors during spaceflight, including radiation, lack of gravity, and sleep deprivation. The effects of those stressors on the brain remain unknown. Is it safe to travel to space? For how long can humans survive in space? What are the effects of spending months under zero gravity? With more extended missions, and an increased number of civilians traveling to space, there is increased interest in understanding what happens to our brains when we leave earth. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA / 04.05.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Gbenga Ogedegbe, MD, MPH Dr. Adolph & Margaret Berger Professor of Population Health Director, Division of Health & Behavior Director Center for Healthful Behavior Change Department of Population Health NYU Langone Health NYU School of Medicine Member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings? Response: Heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of mortality in the United States, accounting for more than one in four deaths. Taking a daily aspirin may help prevent a first heart attack or stroke in some people, but it can also cause some harm, like internal bleeding. The decision on whether or not to start taking a daily aspirin should be based primarily on age, but cardiovascular disease risk, a person’s chances of bleeding, and other factors should also be taken into account. (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, JAMA, OBGYNE / 04.05.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Richard McManus MA PhD MBBS FRCGP FRCP Professor of Primary Care Dr. McManus chairs the Blood Pressure Monitoring Working Party of the British Hypertension Society Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences  MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: About one in ten people who are pregnant develop high blood pressure and almost half of these go onto to have pre-eclampsia. Many pregnant women and individuals are already measuring their own blood pressure – well over half of those with high blood pressure in a recent large survey in the UK but until recently there were no data to support this. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Hearing Loss, JAMA / 04.05.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Archelle Georgiou, MD Chief Health Officer for Starkey Starkey Hearing Technologies Eden Prairie, Minnesota MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: In August 2021, Starkey introduced a vaccination incentive program for employees in the U.S. to provide education on COVID-19 and encourage vaccinations. The program encouraged employees to watch and acknowledge online educational information and report their vaccination status. Those fully vaccinated and who submitted proof of vaccination by September 2021, including employees who were vaccinated prior to the incentive announcement, received $1,000.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, JAMA, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Radiology / 27.04.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Leticia Nogueira, PhD, MPH Senior Principal Scientist, Health Services Research American Cancer Society, Inc. Kennesaw, GA 30144 MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) can deliver higher dose of radiation to the tumor with less damage to surrounding healthy cells. Therefore, PBT is potentially superior to photon-based radiation therapy to treat tumors with complex anatomy, surrounded by sensitive tissues, or for treating childhood cancer (where long-term side effects of radiation therapy are a main concern). However, PBT can cost twice as much as photon-based radiation therapy.  (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Fertility, Heart Disease / 27.04.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Pensée Wu, MBChB, MD(Res) Senior Lecturer, Honorary Consultant Obstetrician Subspecialist in Maternal Fetal Medicine School of Medicine, Keele University Staffordshire, UK MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We looked at outcomes in pregnancies conceived with assisted reproductive technology and compared those with pregnancies that were conceived naturally. Using a hospital admissions database in the U.S. called the National inpatient sample between 2008 and 2016, we included >100,000 pregnancies conceived with assisted reproductive technology and 34 million naturally conceived pregnancies. We found that women with assisted reproductive technology-conceived pregnancies had doubled the risk of acute kidney injury and arrhythmias (irregular heart beats). These women also had a 1-3-1.6-fold risk of preterm birth, Caesarean delivery and placental abruption (placenta separating from the womb). We concluded that women should be informed of these risks during pre-pregnancy counselling.  (more…)
Aging, Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Genetic Research, Nature / 20.04.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael B. Miller, MD, PhD Instructor, Harvard Medical School Department of Pathology Brigham and Women's Hospital MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study? Would you explain what is meant by somatic genetic changes and how they might occur?  Response: Changes, also called mutations, in the DNA sequence of genes can be passed from parents to their children, and explain why many diseases run in families. This kind of DNA change is called a germline mutation and is present in every cell in a person’s body. Gene mutations can also occur in a subset of cells of a person, in which case they are called somatic mutations. Somatic mutations are well known as a cause of cancer, and recent research has found that somatic mutations can also happen in non-cancerous cells that appear otherwise normal. Recent studies have even found that somatic mutations are present in neurons, cells in the brain that transmit electrical signals and play an important role in how the brain functions. Furthermore, in neurons, somatic mutations increase with age, so we set out to understand if somatic mutations might be playing a role in age-related brain diseases like Alzheimer’s. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Fertility, Heart Disease, JACC / 19.04.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Emily Lau, MD, MPH Cardiologist Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School Director, Menopause, Hormones & Cardiovascular Disease Clinic Massachusetts General Hospital MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings? Response: Emerging data suggest that a woman’s reproductive history influences her future risk of heart disease. Infertility is a reproductive risk factor that affects ~14% of women but has not been rigorously studied with respect to its relationship with cardiovascular disease risk. We studied over 38,000 women enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative and found that infertility was associated with greater risk of heart failure. In particular, we found that the association was driven by greater risk of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, a form of heart failure that is far more common among women. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Cancer Research, Genetic Research, Nature / 18.04.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jason Vassy, MD, MPH Brigham and Women's Hospital Division of General Internal Medicine & Primary Care Brigham’s Precision Population Health at Ariadne Labs and VA Boston  MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?    Response: A person’s risk of developing diseases such as type 2 diabetes or breast cancer may be influenced by thousands of genetic differences, the effects of which can be combined to derive a single score, often called a polygenic risk score (PRS). PRS might be useful to help patients and their physicians make tailored decisions about their health care, but several challenges to the clinical implementation of PRS remain. Most importantly, most PRS are less accurate in individuals of non-European descent, since most genomic research to date has been conducted in European populations. Another key challenge is that physicians and patients will need support to understand polygenic risk score and use them to make medical decisions. Clinical guidelines do not yet exist to help a physician know whether and how they should treat a patient with a high-risk score differently than an average-risk patient. We designed the Genomic Medicine at VA (GenoVA) Study to address some of these challenges. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cleveland Clinic, Diabetes, JACC, Surgical Research, Weight Research / 14.04.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Amgad Mentias, MD MS FACC FESC Assistant Professor, CCLCM Section of Clinical Cardiology, Heart and Vascular Institute. Cleveland, OH 44195Amgad Mentias, MD MS FACC FESC Assistant Professor, CCLCM Section of Clinical Cardiology, Heart and Vascular Institute. Cleveland, OH 44195  MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?    Response:  There is evidence that bariatric or weight loss surgery can decrease the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death in young and middle age patients with obesity and diabetes. However, the evidence is less clear for older patients and patients without diabetes. There is also no long-term data on outcomes of bariatric surgery in the Medicare beneficiaries. So, in our study, we aimed to report long-term outcomes of bariatric surgery from a contemporary nationwide cohort from the US, while also looking into outcomes in patients older than 65 years, and patients without type 2 diabetes specifically. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Mental Health Research, Pediatrics, Social Issues / 13.04.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Regina Triplett, M.D., M.S. Developmental Neuroscience Post-Doctoral Research Scholar Department of Neurology Washington University in St. Louis, MO  MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings?  Response: This is an ongoing, longitudinal, prospective study of 399 pairs of mothers studied throughout pregnancy and their infants, designed to investigate exposure to early life adversity (prenatal poverty and stress) on infant brain development and behavior in early childhood. We examined measures of maternal socioeconomic status including neighborhood factors and stress/mental health during pregnancy in relation to data from infant brain MRI scans conducted in the first weeks after birth. We found that poverty during pregnancy is associated with reduced size and folding of infant brains. We found these associations across the whole brain and not specific to one region. (more…)