CardioExchange Archive

November 16th, 2011

AHA Lessons on Emotions and Heart Disease: Depressing Data but Hopeful Trends

Amit Shah, MD, MSCR

Several Cardiology Fellows who are attending AHA.11 this week are blogging together on CardioExchange.  The Fellows include Revathi Balakrishnan, Eiman Jahangir, John Ryan (moderator), and Amit Shah. Read the previous post here. Check back often to learn about the biggest buzz in Orlando. The many studies and sessions devoted to depression and heart disease at AHA — […]

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August 29th, 2011

Shortfalls in Secondary Prevention Particularly Acute in Poor Countries

Larry Husten, PHD

It shouldn’t come as a surprise, but an international epidemiological study shows large shortfalls in the use of established drugs for secondary prevention. The shortfalls are dramatically acute in poor countries, said Salim Yusuf, who presented the results of the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study at the ESC in Paris on Sunday. The paper […]

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June 25th, 2011

Diabetes Growth Termed a Rising Global Hazard

Larry Husten, PHD

In 2008, some 347 million people in the world had diabetes, more than twice the 153 million in 1980, according to estimates contained in a report in the Lancet from the Global Burden of Metabolic Risk Factors of Chronic Diseases Collaborating Group. The paper appears in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association. Throughout  the world […]

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February 24th, 2011

Study Probes BMI-Associated Risk in Asia

Larry Husten, PHD

The association between BMI and the risk of death in Asia is mostly similar to that seen in people of European origin, but there may be some important differences between populations, suggesting that being underweight may be a more potent risk factor than being overweight in Asia. In a large pooled analysis including more than […]

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February 23rd, 2011

Air Pollution and Cocaine Among MI Triggers Analyzed in Lancet Study

Larry Husten, PHD

Air pollution is a weak cause of MI, increasing risk by only 5%, but because so many people are exposed to polluted air the population effect is quite large. By contrast, cocaine increases MI risk by 23 times, but does not have nearly as large an effect on the population. These are two of the […]

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February 17th, 2011

Quarter of U.S. Adults 45 and Older Taking Statins

Larry Husten, PHD

One-quarter of U.S. adults age 45 and older are taking statins, and one-half of men ages 65 to 74 are taking these drugs, according to the CDC’s annual report on trends in health statistics. From 1988 to 1994, only 2% of adults age 45 and older were taking statins. High cholesterol levels have been declining, according to […]

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January 24th, 2011

AHA Estimates Cost of Heart Disease Will Triple by 2030

Larry Husten, PHD

The American Heart Association (AHA) is projecting that the cost to treat heart disease in the U.S. will triple by 2030, from $273 billion today to $818 billion. The AHA policy statement is published in Circulation. The AHA estimates that the incidence of stroke and heart failure will each  grow by about 25% by 2030. “These estimates don’t […]

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December 15th, 2010

Heart Disease and Stroke in 2011: Mortality Continues to Decline, but Overall Burden Remains High

Larry Husten, PHD

From 1997 to 2007, the death rate from heart disease declined 27.8% and the death rate from stroke declined 44.8%. But inpatient cardiovascular operations and procedures increased during the same period by 27%, and heart disease and stroke cost $286 billion in 2007, more than any other diagnostic group. These are some of the most […]

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September 9th, 2010

Protective Effect of Education Only Occurs in High-Income Countries

Larry Husten, PHD

The well-known cardiovascular protective effect of education only occurs in high-income countries (HICs), according to a new report from the REACH registry appearing in Circulation. A striking finding was that highly educated women were more likely than their less educated counterparts to smoke in both affluent countries and less affluent countries. The authors point out that […]

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August 11th, 2010

Colder Outdoor Temperatures Linked to Increase in MIs

Larry Husten, PHD

Researchers in the U.K. used data from 84,000 MI hospitalizations to assess the relationship between the risk for MI and ambient temperature. In their report in the British Medical Journal, Krishnan Bhaskaran and colleagues found no change in risk associated with higher temperatures, but observed a significant 2% increase in the risk for MI associated […]

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