CardioExchange Archive

August 13th, 2012

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: August 13th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week’s topics include using existing data for new research; normal weight, diabetes, and non-CVD death; cholesterol levels in U.S. kids; statins and diabetes; HDL-C and MI protection; statin treatment; hypertension treatment; clopidogrel and PPIs; and an analysis behind the “innovation crisis” of the pharmaceutical industry.

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June 1st, 2012

Reality Check: Stop Exercising and Eat Chocolate?

Larry Husten, PHD

Two recent studies may add value to the academic literature, but what’s their public health value?

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May 22nd, 2012

Studies Probe Effect of CPAP and Sleep Apnea on Hypertension

Larry Husten, PHD

Two studies published in JAMA provide additional, but not surprising, information about the relationship between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and hypertension — and the role of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). In the first study, Ferran Barbé and colleagues randomized 725 people with OSA but no daytime sleepiness to either CPAP or no active treatment. After a median […]

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January 24th, 2012

Black Tea Found to Lower Blood Pressure

Larry Husten, PHD

A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine provides the best evidence yet that drinking black tea can lower blood pressure. Jonathan M. Hodgson and colleagues randomized 95 regular tea drinkers to 3 cups per day of either black tea (containing 429 mg of polyphenols and 96 mg of caffeine) or placebo. At 3 and 6 […]

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January 17th, 2012

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Weekly Review: Week of January 16th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week’s topics include acute MI and potassium levels, cardiac arrest during long-distance running, the anticoagulant idrabiotaparinux, and managing hypertension in the very elderly.

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December 20th, 2011

22 Years Later, Study Shows Life-Prolonging Effect of Antihypertensive Therapy

Larry Husten, PHD

After more than 20 years, the benefits of antihypertensive therapy are still evident, according to a new paper published in JAMA. John Kostis and colleagues performed a 22-year follow-up study on patients enrolled between 1985 and 1988 in the Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Program (SHEP) trial. In 1991, SHEP found that low-dose chlorthalidone in 4736 elderly patients with isolated […]

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October 19th, 2011

First-Trimester Hypertension, Not ACE Inhibitors, Linked to Birth Defects

Larry Husten, PHD

Although the teratogenic properties of ACE inhibitors in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy are well-documented, the effects of their use in the first trimester have been unclear. Now a study suggests that hypertension itself, rather than ACE inhibitors or other antihypertensive drugs, is the likely cause of an increased risk for birth defects […]

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August 24th, 2011

Ambulatory BP Monitoring Gains NICE Recommendation in UK

Larry Husten, PHD

Ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) monitoring is receiving a strong endorsement in the UK from NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence). The recommendation is based on a cost-effectiveness study published in the Lancet. Kate Lovibond and colleagues found that compared with additional measurements in the clinic or home measurements, ABP monitoring was highly cost-effective in patients 40 […]

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July 27th, 2011

Mixed Results for New Implantable Device to Treat Resistant Hypertension

Larry Husten, PHD

A phase III trial has yielded mixed results for an experimental implantable device that uses baroreflex activation therapy (BAT) to treat resistant hypertension. The article on the manufacturer-funded Rheos Pivotal Trial, by John Bisognano and colleagues, has been published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The Rheos device was implanted in 265 […]

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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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