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 was […]

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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 authors […]

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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 Poirier, […]

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March 10th, 2011

Obesity and Cardiovascular Risk: Does Size Matter?

Larry Husten, PHD

A very large new study finds that obesity — no matter how it is calculated — is not an important independent predictor of cardiovascular disease. A report from the Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration published online in the Lancet analyzed individual records from more than 220,000 people without known cardiovascular disease and found that none of the […]

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March 10th, 2011

Olmesartan Helps Prevent Microalbuminuria, But a Troubling Question Persists

Larry Husten, PHD

Olmesartan can help prevent progression to microalbuminuria in type 2 diabetics, according to results of the ROADMAP (Randomized Olmesartan and Diabetes Microalbuminuria Prevention) trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine. But the positive result was partially offset by the troubling finding of a small but significant increase in fatal cardiovascular events. Type 2 diabetics […]

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March 8th, 2011

European Study Suggests HDL May Protect Against Colon Cancer

Larry Husten, PHD

In the largest study to date examining the relationship between lipids and colorectal cancer (CRC), a European study has found a strong inverse relationship between HDL cholesterol and colon cancer. Previous smaller studies investigating the relationship had been inconclusive. In a paper published in Gut, Fränzel JB van Duijnhoven and colleagues report on a nested case-control study […]

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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 4th, 2011

Legislating CVD Screening Tests in Texas

Amit Khera, MD, MSc

Imaging tests for cardiovascular risk assessment hold great promise.  Both coronary artery calcium (CAC) scanning and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) testing have been shown in multiple prospective studies to predict cardiovascular outcomes and, more recently, to improve risk reclassification based upon the Framingham Risk Score.  Coupled with frustrations about the performance of the Framingham Risk […]

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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 1st, 2011

CV Patients Without Hypertension Benefit From Antihypertensive Therapy

Larry Husten, PHD

A new study suggests that patients with CV disease who do not have hypertension may nevertheless benefit from antihypertensive therapy. In a study published in JAMA, Angela Thompson and colleagues performed a meta-analysis of 25 trials including 64,162 patients with CV disease or a risk factor equivalent and without hypertension. Compared to controls, patients who received […]

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