Scholars World Heart Congress

Patients with HIV have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), in particular, a high risk for heart failure (HF )  and stroke, according to results published in  the Journal of the American Heart Association . The study included participants with HIV (n=19,798) and age- and sex-matched controls without HIV (n=59,302) from the MarketScan Commercial and Medicare databases from 2009 to 2015. The researchers used validated algorithms to identify incidence of  CVDs , including myocardial infarction (MI), HF, atrial fibrillation (AF), peripheral artery disease, stroke, and CVD-related hospitalization. They used adjusted Cox models to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs of CVD endpoints. After a mean follow-up of 20 months, the researchers identified 154 MIs (46 among participants with HIV and 108 among controls), 223 cases of HF (116 among participants with HIV and 107 among controls), 93 strokes (46 among participants with HIV and 47 among controls), 397...

Smoking is killing 17 Australians a day from stroke, heart attack, and other cardiovascular conditions, according to a large-scale Australian study. ‘A population almost twice the size of Port Douglas is being wiped out in Australia each year, with smoking causing more than 6400 cardiovascular deaths, including from heart attack and stroke.’   That is Professor Emily Banks from the ANU National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, lead author of the world-first study.   Published in  BMC medicine , the study utilised health information from 188,167 cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer-free people who joined the Sax Institute’s 45 and Up Study. They were monitored for up to 36 different types of CVD over seven years, making the study the first research to trace the effects of smoking on the entire cardiovascular system.   ‘That includes investigating the risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, heart muscle disease, rhythm proble...

It is natural for a person's memory and thinking abilities, or cognitive function, to wane as they age — even if they are in good health. However, the rate of cognitive decline can speed up if they experience heart attack or angina, according to new research. Studies that have explored the links between circulation problems and cognitive decline have tended to focus on conditions that affect the blood supply to the brain, such as   stroke . Few of these earlier studies, however, have looked at the long-term links between incident coronary heart disease (CHD), such as heart attack and angina, and cognitive decline. The recent  Journal of the American College of Cardiology  study is unique; it tracked cognitive decline both before and after incident CHD. "Incident CHD," its authors conclude, "is associated with accelerated cognitive decline after, but not before, the event." They suggest that the findings highlight the long-term rela...

A HEART attack happens when there is a sudden loss of blood flow to part of the heart muscle. Most heart attacks happen when the inside of one or more of the coronary arteries becomes narrowed due to the gradual build up of fatty deposits known as atheroma. In the UK there are more than 100,000 hospital admissions each year due to heart attacks. Could a simple blood test help doctors predict the risk of heart attacks in people? If a piece of fatty material breaks off, a blood clot could form which tries to repair the damage to the artery wall. The blood clot could block the coronary artery, causing part of the heart muscle to be starved of blood and oxygen and this is when a heart attack occurs. An incredible 1.4 million people alive in the UK today have survived a heart attack. Death rates from coronary heart disease are the highest in areas of great deprivation and 42,000 people died prematurely from cardiovascular disease. New  research   suggest that by ...

A new 31-year study of 30,000 American adults found for each additional one-and-a-half large eggs eaten per day, there was a 17 per cent higher risk of cardiovascular disease. Professor Katherine Tucker, of the University of Massachusetts Lowell, said: “Even for people on  healthy diets , the harmful effect of higher intake of eggs and cholesterol was consistent.” She added that although eggs do contain beneficial nutrients "I recommend people avoid eating three-egg omelettes every day. "Nutrition is all about moderation and balance. This is a strong study because the modelling adjusted for factors such as the quality of the diet." "Eggs, specially the yolk, are a major source of dietary cholesterol - a large egg of 50g contains approximately 186 mg of cholesterol. The study analysed data of 29,615 American adults with a mean age of 51.6. The participants from six separate cohorts in the Lifetime Risk Pooling Project were assessed for a period ...

Hundreds of under-75s have died from stroke and heart disease in Morecambe Bay in recent years, new figures show. It comes after a British Heart Foundation report revealed deaths from cardiovascular diseases in the UK among under-75s have risen for the first time in more than 40 years. Public Health England data shows 363 people under the age of 75 in the NHS Morecambe Bay CCG area died from heart disease between 2015 and 2017, the latest period for which data is available. It means a death rate of 37 in every 100,000 for the area, which is a 19% reduction on the death rate in 2011-13. This is an improvement on the previous six-year period - when the mortality rate dropped by 15% - and bucks the national trend. Likewise, 141 people died from stroke in 2015-17 - a death rate of 14 in 100,000. This is an 11% drop from 2011-13, compared to -4% over the previous six years. The BHF also says historic reductions in mortality rates have “slowed to a near standstill”. ...

A study published in the  International Journal of Hematology  found that the incidence of cerebrovascular disease (CVD) was approximately 10 times higher in patients after  allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) compared with the general Taiwanese population. Moreover, CVD was associated with the number of high-dose cytarabine courses given. The researchers retrospectively evaluated clinical data from adult patients who underwent HSCT at an Asian tertiary medical center between January 2003 and December 2015. The study aimed to estimate CVD incidence, identify associated host-related and transplant procedure-related risk factors, and measure clinical outcomes (overall survival [OS] and disease-free survival [DFS]). Data from 459 adult allogeneic HSCT recipients were assessed. Of this patient cohort, 4.4% (20/459) developed post-transplant CVD, 2.4% (11/459) had intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), and 2.2% (10/459) had cerebrovascular infarction. Media...

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have demonstrated that stem cells derived from the placenta known as Cdx2 cells can regenerate healthy heart cells after heart attacks in animal models. The findings, published in the May 20 issue of  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences  ( PNAS ), may represent a novel treatment for regenerating the heart and other organs. "Cdx2 cells have historically been thought to only generate the placenta in early embryonic development, but never before were shown to have the ability to regenerate other organs, which is why this is so exciting. These findings may also pave the way to regenerative therapy of other organs besides the heart," said principal investigator Hina Chaudhry, MD, Director of Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "They almost seem like a super-charged population of stem cells, in that they can target the site of an injury and travel direct...

OAK BROOK, Ill. - The thickness of the coronary artery wall as measured by MRI is an independent marker for heart disease in women, according to a study published in the journal  Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging . Previous research has found limitations in cardiovascular risk assessment for women. For instance, there is evidence that the commonly used Framingham Risk Score, which provides estimates of cardiovascular disease risk based on age, sex and other factors, underestimates the chance of heart attacks and other cardiovascular events in asymptomatic women. Imaging tools like coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) tend to be used in patients with symptoms or more advanced cardiovascular disease, but are not recommended for liberal use in risk assessment among the general population with no cardiac symptoms. Recently, cardiac MRI has emerged as a promising tool for early detection of coronary artery disease. MRI can detect thickening in the walls of the arteries,...

PEOPLE who have had a flu or pneumonia may be six times more likely to suffer from a heart attack or stroke in the days after an infection. Who is at risk and how can this be prevented? Heart  and circulatory diseases cause more than a quarter of all deaths in the UK which means 170,000 deaths each year. There are more than 100,000 hospital admissions each year due to heart attacks which makes it one every five minutes. They worrying statistics are made worse by recent studies which suggest that respiratory infections are thought to increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. In a study at the European Respiratory Society, funded by the the Academy of Medical Sciences, found that several different organisms that cause respiratory infections also increase heart attack and strokes. In a  study  at the European Respiratory Society, funded by the the Academy of Medical Sciences, found that several different organisms that cause respiratory infections also increase ...