CardioExchange Archive

March 22nd, 2012

Uncertainty Over the Clinical Importance of the Diabetes Risk of Diuretics and Statins

Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM

With all of the hullaballoo about statins and diabetes last week I wanted to point out a paper that was published online this week in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. This study examined the long-term effects of incident diabetes on cardiovascular outcomes in patients enrolled in ALLHAT. As you may remember, this trial included more […]

---

March 19th, 2012

Questions Raised About Antiplatelet Therapy in Chronic Kidney Disease

Larry Husten, PHD

Many people develop chronic kidney disease (CKD) as they grow older, and many people with CKD take antiplatelet agents to prevent cardiovascular events. However, the efficacy of antiplatelet therapy in CKD has not been examined, despite the fact that people with CKD are more likely to die from nonatherosclerotic conditions and are more likely to […]

---

March 19th, 2012

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: Week of March 19th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week’s topics include percutaneous PFO closure and dabigatran risks.

---

March 16th, 2012

Helping Patients Understand the Statins Controversy

Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM

After the Topol op-ed in the New York Times last week I began to get a lot of inquiries about the safety of statins. At the beginning of his piece he emphasizes that our use of statins could cause a “sharp increase in the incidence of Type 2 diabetes.” At the end, he states emphatically that “the […]

---

March 15th, 2012

Strongest Evidence to Date for Causative Role of Inflammation in Heart Disease

Larry Husten, PHD

Two large new meta-analyses published in the Lancet provide the first strong evidence demonstrating a cause-effect relationship between a specific inflammatory protein and the development of coronary heart disease (CHD). Both studies illuminate the role of interleukin-6 receptor (IL6R) by focusing on the common Asp358Ala variant of the IL6R gene. The variant is known to dampen the inflammatory effect […]

---

March 15th, 2012

Hospital Readmission Calculator? There’s an App for That!

Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM

Want to calculate the risk of readmission for MI, heart failure, or pneumonia? There’s an App for that!

---

March 13th, 2012

Prominent Japanese Cardiologist Accused of Scientific Misconduct

Larry Husten, PHD

Following accusations by independent bloggers in Japan and Germany, the American Heart Association (AHA) has issued an Expression of Concern about five papers published in AHA journals co-authored by Hiroaki Matsubara, a prominent cardiologist and researcher at Kyoto Prefectural University in Japan. In addition to his many papers exploring the basic science of the renin-angiotensin system, Matsubara was the […]

---

March 13th, 2012

Join CardioExchange for Cocktails — and Reduce Your Board Prep Anxieties!

CardioExchange Editors, Staff

Join our get together in Chicago and learn about board exam and MOC prep!

---

March 13th, 2012

Cause for Concern: Heart Disease and Breast Cancer in Young Women

Aakriti Gupta, MD

For ages, myocardial infarction (MI) has been dismissed as an ‘old man’s disease’. However, not only is it one of the leading causes of mortality in old women, it also afflicts a sizeable proportion of young women. Data from the American Heart Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that more than 10,000 […]

---

March 12th, 2012

Bad News for Red Meat Lovers

Larry Husten, PHD

New results from studies following more than 120,000 health care professionals link red meat consumption to higher mortality, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. In a paper published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, An Pan and colleagues report findings from up to 22 years of observation among 37,698 men enrolled in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and […]

---