Cardiology

We assessed preoperative cardiac physiology using echocardiography in patients undergoing cardiac surgery to identify predictors of postoperative atrial fibrillation. Subjects with enlarged left atrial volume had a 5-fold greater risk of postoperative atrial fibrillation, independent of age and other risk factors, than those without enlarged left atrial volume. Left atrial volume appears to be a powerful tool to stratify patients according to risk before surgery and to effectively target preventive therapy.

Atrial fibrillation that occurs after cardiac surgery remains a source of increased morbidity and prolonged length of hospital stay.

Diabetes and inflammation influence the development of atherosclerosis. We performed a study that showed the inflammatory markers high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 were lowered with the use of fenofibrate, simvastatin, and combination therapy. The anti-inflammatory effects were most pronounced among patients with elevated baseline inflammatory markers. Combination therapy significantly altered lipid concentrations and exerted a greater positive effect on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides than monotherapy with either drug.

The principal finding of this study is that among patients with type II diabetes and mixed dyslipidemia, treatment with simvastatin, fenofibrate, or their combination was associated with reductions in inflammatory biomarkers high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2).

In patients with lone paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) and normal cardiac function, in the absence of hypertension, myocardial infarction, and cardiac insufficiency, perindopril (Aceon) or losartan (Cozaar) and low-dose amiodarone (Cordarone) therapy are more effective in preventing recurrence of AF than low-dose amiodarone alone. Adding losartan or perindopril to amiodarone therapy can inhibit left atrial enlargement.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia, accounting for approximately one third of all patient discharges with arrhythmia as the principal diagnosis and the greatest number of hospitalization days for arrhythmia each year.

The ability to diagnose coronary artery disease (CAD) in women may be limited by the sensitivity and specificity of symptoms as well as of noninvasive testing. The choice of which test should be performed to evaluate the presence of CAD in women remains controversial. Currently American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology guidelines recommend initial evaluation with exercise electrocardiogram (ECG) testing. In a meta-analysis of 3721 women, however, exercise ECG had a sensitivity of 61% and a specificity of 70%1 as compared to 68% sensitivity and 77% specificity in men.

We evaluated the association between medication nonadherence and outcomes among subjects with diabetes mellitus. Nonadherent subjects had higher blood pressure, glycosylated hemoglobin, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. In addition, there was an association between medication nonadherence and an increased risk of all-cause hospitalization and all-cause mortality. These findings suggest that interventions are needed to increase medication adherence so that patients can realize the full benefit of prescribed therapies.

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease for which nonadherence to therapy is frequent.

We examined data from a large cohort of subjects with atrial fibrillation to determine whether men and women had different risks for atrial fibrillation-related thromboembolism. Women with atrial fibrillation who were not taking warfarin had a 60% higher rate of stroke than did men, independent of other clinical risk factors for stroke. When taking warfarin, both women and men had significant reductions in stroke risk without differences by sex in the rates of bleeding complications. These findings support the addition of female sex to traditional stroke risk stratification schemes for assisting in antithrombotic decision making for patients with atrial fibrillation.

More than 15 years ago, atrial fibrillation was shown to be an independent risk factor for ischemic stroke in the Framingham study.

The epidemiologic finding that women with heart failure have better overall survival than men may be because of the higher prevalence of diastolic heart failure or heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HF-PEF) among women.

Heart failure in the United States affects 4.9 million people, of whom 2.5 million are women.

We performed a whole-country study using linked health care records in Finland and showed that stable angina as the initial symptomatic manifestation of coronary disease occurs as frequently in women as it does in men. Among easily recognized subgroups, the absolute rates of prognostic outcomes were similarly high in women and men.

Each municipality in Finland is responsible for arranging health care for its inhabitants.

A 65-year-old woman with a history of anxiety disorder, dyslipidemia, and recently diagnosed celiac sprue was transferred to the heart center after presenting to a peripheral community hospital with marked fatigue, progressively worsening dyspnea on exertion, and bilateral lower extremity swelling with associated bilateral arm tingling.

Despite advances in echocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging, and the ability to perform an endomyocardial biopsy, the underlying etiology of nonischemic left ventricular (LV) dysfunction often eludes clinical detection.

Postpartum cardiomyopathy is a serious disorder that can present from the third trimester to up to 5 months after pregnancy. Although spontaneous resolution of cardiac function occurs in more than half of patients (over a period of 6-12 months), the balance is left with persistent cardiac dysfunction. Cardiac dysfunction results in signs and symptoms of left heart failure, formation of apical or left ventricular thrombi, and arrhythmias and requires management similar to that in patients with nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy.