November 17th, 2014
IMPROVE-IT Meets Endpoint and Demonstrates Real But Modest Clinical Benefit for Ezetimibe
Larry Husten, PHD
After all the waiting and all the controversy it turned out to be pretty simple. The IMPROVE-IT trial did what it set out to do and reached its primary endpoint. The benefit wasn’t very big or impressive but it will be enough to put to rest concerns that ezetimibe might have been an expensive placebo […]
November 12th, 2014
Newly Identified Mutations Act Like a Lifetime of Treatment with Ezetimibe
Larry Husten, PHD
A very large genetic study published in the New England Journal of Medicine offers compelling evidence in support of a central role for LDL cholesterol in coronary heart disease. In a series of studies analyzing blood samples from nearly 100,000 people, Sekar Kathiresan and colleagues identified 15 rare mutations that block the activity of a single gene — […]
November 12th, 2014
Popular Diets Achieve Only Modest Long-Term Weight Loss
Larry Husten, PHD
Four of the most popular current weight loss diets produce at best only modest long-term benefits, a new study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes shows. The study also found few significant differences across the four diets, offering little hope that any one diet can produce a serious dent in the obesity epidemic. Mark Eisenberg and […]
November 7th, 2014
What You Need to Know About IMPROVE-IT
Larry Husten, PHD
The IMPROVE-IT trial will be big news when its results are finally presented on November 17 during the annual meeting of the American Heart Association. The results of the trial — underway for nearly a decade — have been long and eagerly awaited by everyone interested in cardiovascular medicine. The trial could impact the future sales of a key Merck drug, ezetimibe; because it is […]
November 4th, 2014
Nonobstructive Coronary Artery Disease Linked to Elevated Risk
Larry Husten, PHD
A large number of people who undergo elective coronary angiography are found to have nonobstructive coronary artery disease, and these patients have significantly increased risk for myocardial infarction and death, according to a retrospective study published in JAMA. Thomas Maddox and colleagues analyzed data from nearly 38,000 elective angiography patients in the VA health system. More than […]
November 3rd, 2014
AF Patients at Increased Risk for Silent Strokes
Larry Husten, PHD
The increased risk of stroke in people with atrial fibrillation (AF) is well known, and this stroke risk is, of course, linked to an increased risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. Less well known is that people with AF have an increased risk for cognitive impairment independent of their stroke risk. Now a new study […]
November 3rd, 2014
Economic Study Finds VTE Prophylaxis with Low-Molecular-Weight Heparin Cost Effective
Larry Husten, PHD
Critically ill patients in the hospital are at high risk for developing venous thromboembolism (VTE). The 2011 PROTECT trial compared the two most common drug strategies used to prevent VTE — unfractionated heparin (UFH) and dalteparin, a low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) — and found no difference between the two groups in the primary endpoint of the trial, leg deep-vein thrombosis. But […]
October 27th, 2014
Traditional CVD Risk Factors Mediate Between Lifestyle Factors and Cardiovascular Risk in Women
Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM
Nina Paynter discusses her case-cohort study comparing lifestyle-based with traditional cardiovascular disease prediction among women in the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study.
October 26th, 2014
Genetic Study Suggests Possible Causal Role for LDL in Aortic Valve Disease
Larry Husten, PHD
Although LDL is an important risk factor for aortic valve disease, the precise role it plays has been uncertain. Lipid-lowering therapy in people with established aortic valve disease has not been shown to be beneficial. Now, however, a new genetic study published in JAMA suggests that LDL cholesterol may in fact cause an increase in aortic […]
October 23rd, 2014
The Survival Benefits of Physical Activity: Moderate vs. Vigorous Intensity
Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM
Eric Shiroma discusses his research group’s study of the relative survival benefits of moderate- versus vigorous-intensity physical activity.
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