CardioExchange Archive

March 17th, 2011

Meta-Analysis Suggests Worse Outcomes For Rosiglitazone Compared To Pioglitazone

Larry Husten, PHD

There are no long-term trials directly comparing rosiglitazone and pioglitazone. In an article published in BMJ, Yoon Kong Loke and colleagues performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of 16 observational studies with more than 800,000 thiazolidinedione users in an attempt to assess the relative cardiovascular effects of the two drugs. When compared with pioglitazone, rosiglitazone […]

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March 17th, 2011

Small Study May Help Revive Hope for Stem Cell Therapy

Larry Husten, PHD

Stem cell therapy may help reverse long-term damage after MI, according to a small, preliminary study by a group led by Joshua Hare published in Circulation: Research. Eight patients with LV dysfunction after MI received injections of autologous bone marrow progenitor cells in the LV scar and surrounding area. At one year, as assessed by […]

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March 15th, 2011

Quitting Smoking Shortly Before Surgery: Is It Safe?

Larry Husten, PHD

Quitting smoking soon before surgery is safe, according to a new meta-analysis published in Archives of Internal Medicine. In response to fears that people who stopped smoking within 8 weeks prior to surgery may have had worse outcomes, Katie Myers and colleagues analyzed data from 9 studies and found no association with postoperative complications. The […]

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March 14th, 2011

The Common Thread Among Top-Performing Hospitals

Leslie Curry, PhD, MPH

A qualitative study just published in the Annals of Internal Medicine outlines some important distinctions between hospitals that have the lowest AMI mortality rates in the U.S and those that have the highest. The key factor? A supportive organizational culture. Here, study investigator Leslie Curry, PhD, MPH walks us through what that means and how […]

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March 14th, 2011

AHA Offers Qualified Endorsement of Weight-Loss Surgery

Larry Husten, PHD

For the first time, the AHA has offered a qualified endorsement of bariatric surgery. The scientific statement, published in Circulation, states that bariatric surgery is a relatively safe procedure that can lead to long-term weight loss and significantly improve health in appropriately selected obese patients who have been unable to lose weight nonsurgically. But, said Paul […]

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March 10th, 2011

Howard Bauchner to Replace Catherine DeAngelis as JAMA Editor

Larry Husten, PHD

The AMA announced today that Howard Bauchner will become the next editor-in-chief of JAMA. Bauchner will replace Catherine DeAngelis, who has been the editor for the past 11 years. Bauchner, a professor of pediatrics and community health sciences at Boston University Schools of Medicine, is currently the editor-in-chief of the Archives of Disease in Childhood. […]

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March 7th, 2011

Meta-Analysis Finds Mediterranean Diet Helps Fight Metabolic Syndrome

Larry Husten, PHD

The Mediterranean diet may be a potent weapon in the battle to halt the growth of metabolic syndrome (MS), a new meta-analysis suggests. Christina-Maria Kastorini and colleagues performed a meta-analysis on 50 studies including nearly 535,000 participants. In their paper in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, they report that adherence to the Mediterranean […]

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March 3rd, 2011

5-Year Followup of ACCORD: Still No Support For Intensive Glucose Lowering

Larry Husten, PHD

Long-term followup of the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) trial has once again failed to support routine intensive glucose lowering in high-risk type 2 diabetics. In 2008, as reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, the intensive glucose-lowering regimen (target glycated hemoglobin level of <6%) was terminated early after an increase in mortality was […]

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March 2nd, 2011

A DOSE of Reality: The Challenges of Comparing Effectiveness

Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM

An ideal paper for your next journal club — “Diuretic Strategies in Patients with Acute Decompensated Heart Failure” — was just published in NEJM, by the NHLBI Heart Failure Clinical Research Network.  In this study (called DOSE), patients hospitalized with heart failure were randomized to receive different diuretic regimens based on dose and mode of […]

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March 2nd, 2011

FDA Finds No Increased Risk For MI With Abacavir

Larry Husten, PHD

An ongoing safety review by the FDA of the antiviral medication abacavir found no evidence for an increased risk for MI associated with the drug. The FDA said an increased risk for MI with abacavir had been seen in several observational studies and one randomized controlled trial (RCT), but not in other RCTs or in […]

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