December 2014

Several trials have been conducted, and many more are yet to be completed, that have the goal of addressing whether intensive blood glucose control and intensive blood pressure (BP) control have any long-term benefit on all-cause mortality and major cardiovascular events. Contradictory data have been published with respect to the short- and long-term benefits of aggressive BP and blood glucose control versus conventional treatments for BP and glucose control. This review presents the main points of some of the important trials to date on this subject.

Air pollution should be viewed as one of several major modifiable risk factors in the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease.

This issue of Cardiology Review discusses many important articles and viewpoints that I am sure you will find quite useful.

Each year, the American Heart Association's (AHA's) Scientific Sessions is the organization's largest yearly gathering of healthcare professionals and researchers in the field of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Providing 5 days of comprehensive education with more than 4000 presentations by world leaders in cardiovascular disease, the AHA 2014 Scientific Sessions featured the results of landmark and long-awaited clinical trials.

Worsening renal function over time is associated with poorer outcomes in patients with acute and chronic HF. Although this association is established in patients with reduced ejection fraction, there are no data about the relationship between WRF and outcomes in HF patients with preserved ejection fraction.

It is generally accepted that drug-eluting stents (DES) decrease the risk of restenosis in native coronary arteries compared with bare metal stents. However, the overall safety and benefit of DES implantation, including long-term benefits, in saphenous vein bypass grafts remains the subject, at least to some extent, of continued evaluation.

A recent study has generated a great deal of excitement because Dutch researchers reported that a new intra-arterial treatment greatly improves the prognosis for people with acute ischemic stroke caused by a proximal intracranial arterial occlusion of the anterior circulation.

Is degree of diffuse myocardial fibrosis associated with severity of diastolic dysfunction in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction?

Drug therapy is recognized as an effective way to lower lipids and control hypertension, and for its effect on reducing the incidence of myocardial infarction. However, the impact of personal habits, such as eating, drinking, smoking, and exercise, on the incidence of coronary heart disease without reliance on prescription medications and their potential side effects may be less well established.

Although digoxin has a very long clinical history, no randomized controlled trial has evaluated the use of digoxin for atrial fibrillation (AF). Therefore, the evidence for its use in AF is based on post hoc analyses of RCTs or on findings from observational studies. Several studies have shown the association of digoxin use with increased mortality rates. However, other studies have reported the opposite conclusions, and it remains controversial whether digoxin use is associated with increased mortality in patients with AF.

As of January 5, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recognizes interventional cardiology as its own distinct physician specialty.

While various behavioral and pharmacologic agents have proven to be effective and safe for continued smoking cessation, a combination of varenicline and nicotine replacement (NRT) with transdermal patches has not been shown definitively to be more efficacious than varenicline alone. In the framework of a randomized clinical trial (RCT), the present study evaluates whether a combination of varenicline with NRT improved smoking cessation rates and abstinence duration compared with varenicline alone.