CardioExchange Archive

August 24th, 2011

Ambulatory BP Monitoring Gains NICE Recommendation in UK

Larry Husten, PHD

Ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) monitoring is receiving a strong endorsement in the UK from NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence). The recommendation is based on a cost-effectiveness study published in the Lancet. Kate Lovibond and colleagues found that compared with additional measurements in the clinic or home measurements, ABP monitoring was highly cost-effective in patients 40 […]

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August 23rd, 2011

William Kannel, Former Framingham Heart Study Director, Dead at 87

Larry Husten, PHD

William Kannel, the cardiovascular epidemiologist who helped find most of the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease during his lifelong association with the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), died on Saturday at the age of 87. Indeed, Kannel coined the term “risk factor” in a 1961 article in Annals of Internal Medicine. Kannel “made the courageous decision […]

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August 23rd, 2011

Door-to-Balloon Time Closes In On 1 Hour

Larry Husten, PHD

The door-to-balloon (D2B) time has fallen substantially since the launch of the D2B Alliance campaign in 2006, according to a new report in Circulation. Harlan Krumholz (editor-in-chief of CardioExchange) and colleagues analyzed data reported to CMS from the beginning of 2005 through September 2010. D2B dropped from 96 minutes in 2005 to 64 minutes in the first 9 months of […]

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August 22nd, 2011

CNN, ABC, and NBC Dumb Down the News About CV Screening

Larry Husten, PHD

An analysis of recent health news coverage in the mainstream media: “Exit complexity. Enter stupidity.”

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August 19th, 2011

Is Coronary Calcium Better Than CRP for Predicting CV Events?

Larry Husten, PHD

A new study suggests that people with low LDL levels and high CRP levels may benefit from coronary artery calcium (CAC) scans to identify those who are most likely to benefit from statin therapy. In a paper published in the Lancet, Michael Blaha and colleagues analyzed data from 950 people enrolled in the Multi-Ethnic Study […]

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August 17th, 2011

Details of Updated U.K. Heart Failure Guidelines Raise Some Eyebrows

Larry Husten, PHD

Although the updated heart failure guidelines from the U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) are broadly consistent with similar guidelines from Europe and the U.S., outside experts are questioning several key details of the update. A summary of the new guidelines has been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, along with […]

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August 16th, 2011

Meta-analysis: Beta-Blockers May Be Less Effective in U.S. Than Elsewhere

Larry Husten, PHD

Beta-blockers may not be as effective in the U.S. as in the rest of the world, according to a meta-analysis published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Christopher O’Connor and colleagues analyzed data on patients enrolled in the MERIT-HF, COPERNICUS, CIBIS-II (which did not enroll U.S. patients) and BEST trials. Some 4,200 […]

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August 15th, 2011

Bare Metal Stents: The Next New Thing?

Larry Husten, PHD

Although drug-eluting stents (DES) have largely supplanted bare metal stents (BMS) in clinical practice, a new study published in Circulation suggests that using these devices in all patients may represent an inefficient use of healthcare resources. Lakshmi Venkitachalam and colleagues analyzed data from 10,144 PCI patients enrolled in the Evaluation of Drug Eluting Stents and […]

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August 11th, 2011

Danger of Cigarettes Greater in Women Than in Men

Larry Husten, PHD

Compared with men, women have a significant 25% increase in risk for coronary heart disease caused by cigarettes, according to a large meta-analysis published in the Lancet. Rachel Huxley and Mark Woodward analyzed data from 2.4 million participants in studies that adjusted for cardiovascular risk factors and found that the female-to-male relative risk ratio (RRR) of […]

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August 10th, 2011

Rivaroxaban Compared with Warfarin in 14,000 AF Patients

Larry Husten, PHD

In ROCKET AF (Rivaroxaban Once Daily Oral Direct Factor Xa Inhibition Compared with Vitamin K Antagonism for Prevention of Stroke and Embolism Trial in Atrial Fibrillation), researchers tested rivaroxaban (20 mg/day) against warfarin in 14,264 patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF). The results of the trial, which were first presented last November at the American […]

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