Dyslipidemia

Disproven medical theories and practices can be slow to change, and nowhere is this truer than in the field of clinical nutrition.

Cardiovascular risk related to severity of inflammation, but not associated with disease duration

Data from a large cohort of Swedish men suggest that regular vigorous exercise starting around age 30 may increase the risk of atrial fibrillation, particularly among those who stop exercising later in life.

Patients with type 2 diabetes and inadequate glycemic control treated with dapagliflozin plus metformin and sulfonylurea experienced sustained improvements in HbA1c, fasting plasma glucose, weight loss, and systolic blood pressure over 52 weeks.

Patients between the ages of 55 and 80 with type 2 diabetes treated with canagliflozin for more than 100 weeks experienced significant reductions in HbA1C, fasting plasma glucose, bodyweight, and systolic blood pressure.

Although patients who would have been considered high risk 10 years ago can now successfully undergo percutaneous cardiac intervention, those with severe sclerotic lesions in the ascending aorta still present a challenge to surgeons.

Severe coronary calcification is an independent predictor of worse prognosis in obstructive coronary artery disease patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

Prebiotics and probiotics have been discussed frequently in the media for supposedly improving overall health, especially diseases related to the gut. However, the evidence on the efficacy and use of these dietary supplements is rather complicated.

After studying an Amish population, researchers at the University of Maryland Medical Center have discovered a mutation in a fat-storage gene that increases a patient's risk for type 2 diabetes.

A new study indicates that treating hyperlipidemia, glucose intolerance, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and other risk factors associated with atrial fibrillation can dramatically reduce the burden of the disease or eliminate it entirely.

AstraZeneca's Epanova (omega-3-carboxylic acids) was approved by the FDA for the treatment of adults with severe hypertriglyceridemia; two new studies support the concept that there can be too much of a good thing when it comes to exercise; and the FDA has issued a new statement recommending against the use of aspirin to prevent a first heart attack or stroke in people with no history of cardiovascular disease.

This meta-analysis attempts to definitively answer questions about the role of anger in cardiovascular events.

Patients with psoriatic arthritis may be at increased risk for cardiovascular disease, so physicians must carefully weigh the pros and cons of treatment with corticosteroids and other proatherogenic drugs.

Current dietary guidelines promoting high consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids and low consumption of total saturated fats are not clearly supported by the medical literature.

A hypertriglyceridemia drug from AstraZeneca has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

In this edition of Clinical Forum, we asked Cardiology Review editorial board members and an invited guest to comment on the controversial new cholesterol guidelines and risk calculator issued by the American Heart Association (AHA) and American College of Cardiology (ACC) in November 2013.

A review of the relationship between body mass index, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality.

Study results show testosterone therapy reduces total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides while boosting high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

The ACC/AHA cholesterol guideline can be a powerful tool for making multifactorial measures of cardiovascular disease risk assessment, particularly in African American populations, but clinicians should be aware of its limitations.

Several studies have shown good results with Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and laparoscopic gastric banding when combined with lifestyle modifications in severely overweight patients with type 2 diabetes.

It is worrisome that "high-impact" data read by most healthcare providers and then further interpreted and distributed by lay news organizations may have funder bias.

To produce the greatest impact from the implementation of the new American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association guidelines for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD), physicians should counsel patients on the benefits and risks of medication intervention to prevent CVD, but also explain the absolute necessity of regular exercise and abstention from tobacco use.

Darapladib, a novel agent targeting an enzyme known to be associated with increased instability of atherosclerotic plaque, failed to show real-world benefit in a large global trial examining mortality and coronary outcomes.

Study results presented at ACC.14 show treatment with PCSK9 inhibitor evolocumab significantly reduces LDL-cholesterol levels in patients with hypercholesterolemia.

A developmental drug lowered low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in patients with type 2 diabetes and hypercholesterolemia.

Thomas Dayspring, MD, FACP, FNLA, NCMP, discusses the promises and pitfalls of the 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Guideline on the Treatment of Blood Cholesterol to Reduce Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Risk in Adults.

Medical researchers have suggested that dairy products protect against metabolic syndrome (MetS), decreasing the risk of diabetes, heart disease, altered glucose homeostasis, and dyslipidemia.

Regular consumption of white fish may reduce the cholesterol concentration, waist circumference, and blood pressure components of metabolic syndrome.

The nutritionally skewed "Western" diet relies on processed foods that foster obesity and may even promote autoimmune diseases.

The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis study examined the association of coronary artery calcium volume and density with incident cardiovascular events.