CardioExchange Archive

June 7th, 2011

Scans or Scams? ProPublica Investigates Heart Check America

Larry Husten, PHD

ProPublica, the nonprofit public interest journalism site, has once again focused on a heart-related topic (for previous ProPublica reports see our stories here and here). This time journalist Marshall Allen reports the results of a detailed investigation of Heart Check America, a chain of imaging centers featuring electron-beam CT calcium scans. The story begins with an […]

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June 6th, 2011

Smoking Found to Be ‘Potent’ Risk Factor for Symptomatic PAD in Women

Larry Husten, PHD

The latest report on the 40,000 women enrolled in the Women’s Health Study provides further demonstration that smoking is a “potent” risk factor for symptomatic peripheral artery disease. The paper, by David Conen and colleagues, appears in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Here are the age-adjusted incidence rates per 1000 person-years of follow-up: never smoked: 0.12 former […]

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May 27th, 2011

AIM-HIGH Halted: A Death Knell for the HDL Hypothesis? Six Experts Weigh In

CardioExchange Editors, Staff

Earlier this week, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute stopped the randomized clinical trial known as AIM-HIGH (Atherothrombosis Intervention in Metabolic Syndrome with Low HDL/High Triglycerides: Impact on Global Health). It had been designed to test the addition of high-dose, extended-release niacin to statins in people who were at risk for cardiovascular events, had well-controlled […]

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May 26th, 2011

NHLBI Stops the AIM-HIGH Trial of Niacin

Larry Husten, PHD

The AIM-HIGH (Atherothrombosis Intervention in Metabolic Syndrome with Low HDL/High Triglycerides: Impact on Global Health) trial of niacin has been stopped early by the NHLBI. The trial was designed to test the addition of high-dose, extended-release niacin to statins in people at risk for CV events who had well-controlled LDL but low HDL and elevated […]

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May 19th, 2011

FDA Panel Delivers Mixed Verdict on Trilipix (Fenofibrate)

Larry Husten, PHD

The FDA’s Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee delivered a mixed verdict on fenofibrate (Trilipix, Abbott). On the one hand, the panel agreed unanimously that the FDA should require Abbott to perform a large clinical trial in high-risk patients with elevated triglyceride levels and low HDL levels who nevertheless have achieved target LDL cholesterol levels […]

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May 18th, 2011

FDA Announces Details of Severe New Restrictions on Rosiglitazone

Larry Husten, PHD

The FDA has announced the details of the updated REMS (risk evaluation and mitigation strategy) for rosiglitazone, the embattled and highly controversial diabetes drug. The new REMS will sharply restrict access to and distribution of drugs containing rosiglitazone (Avandia, Avandamet, Avandaryl). In order for physicians to prescribe and for patients to receive rosiglitazone, they will need […]

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May 17th, 2011

FDA Reviewers Scrutinize ACCORD and Trilipix

Larry Husten, PHD

The FDA has released the agenda, questions, roster, and briefing materials for Thursday’s meeting of the Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee in which the ACCORD trial and the fate of Abbott’s Trilipix (fenofibric acid) will be discussed. The key questions on which the advisory committee members will be asked to vote are: Should the FDA require […]

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May 10th, 2011

Short-Term NSAID Use Linked to Increased CV Risk

Larry Husten, PHD

Short-term use of NSAIDs, including diclofenac, is associated with increased cardiovascular risk, according to a very large study published online in Circulation. Danish researchers used a national registry to study more than 83,000 patients who were admitted to the hospital for a first MI from 1997 to 2006. Some 42% of the patients received NSAIDs during […]

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May 3rd, 2011

Study Challenges Efforts to Lower Salt in the General Population

Larry Husten, PHD

A new study challenges the conventional wisdom that lowering salt intake in the general population will result in fewer cardiovascular events. In a paper in JAMA, Katarzyna Stolarz-Skrzypek and colleagues report the results of the study, in which they followed 3,681 European people without cardiovascular disease after measuring their blood pressure and urinary sodium excretion. After […]

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May 2nd, 2011

Standard Guidelines Compared with Individualized Guidelines

Larry Husten, PHD

Should patients be treated by standard guidelines, or should guidelines be individualized for patients? In a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, David Eddy and colleagues used data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study to calculate and compare the expected benefit from hypertension treatment based on JNC 7 guidelines with the […]

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