Cardiology Month in Review: May 2022

1. Dapagliflozin Meets Primary Endpoint in Phase 3 DELIVER Trial

• In a May 5 announcement, AstraZeneca disclosed the phase 3 DELIVER trial had met its primary endpoint, with use of dapagliflozin (Farxiga) associated with a statistically significant and clinically meaningful reduction in the primary composite endpoint.
• Announced a little over a month after the release of the ACC/AHA/HFSA 2022 heart failure guidelines, results provide evidence in support of the benefits of SGLT2 inhibitors in HFpEF being a class effect.
  

2. Study Details in Trends of Cardiovascular Death Among Cancer Patients in US Since 1999

• An analysis of data from the CDC’s WONDER database provides an overview of trends in disease-specific cardiovascular causes of mortality among cancer patients in the US since the turn of the century.
• Results of the study suggest IHD was the leading cause of CVD-specific death, but the attributable fraction of deaths from IHD had decreased during the study period while the proportion of deaths attributable to hypertensive disease increased throughout the duration of the study period.
  

3. Hormone Shift in Menopause Contributes to Cardiovascular Risk in Aging Women

• A new study of more than 200 women in Europe suggests hormonal changes during menopause could explain up to 10% of the increase in LDL-C associated with the menopause transition.
• Results of the study suggest the hormonal shift in 17β-oestradiol and FSH levels among women transitioning from perimenopause to early postmenopause was associated with proatherogenic circulating metabolome alterations, with these metabolite shifts were partially ameliorated with HRT.
  

4. Don't Miss a Beat: Interpreting New Heart Failure Guidelines

• The new ACC/AHA/HFSA 2022 heart failure guidelines represent a monumental and historic set of evidence-based recommendations.
• In this episode of Don’t Miss a Beat, hosts Stephen Greene, MD, and Muthiah Vaduganathan, MD, MPH, breakdown the joint guidelines, provide perspective on the recommendations from the viewpoint of practicing cardiologists, and juxtapose the recommendations made in the new guidelines against those made within the ESC 2021 heart failure guidelines.
  

5. American Heart, Stroke Associations Release Updated Guidance for Intracerebral Hemorrhage

• On May 17, the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association released new guidelines for management of intracerebral hemorrhage.
• An 80-page document broken down into 9 sections, the guidelines were created to replace the organizations’ 2015 intracerebral hemorrhage guidelines.

6. Q&A on SCAI's 2022 PFO Guidelines, with Clifford Kavinsky, MD, PhD

• At the start of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) 2022 annual meeting, the SCAI released their first comprehensive guideline for the management of patent foramen ovale.
• To learn more about the recommendations made in the guideline and how they might impact practice, Practical Cardiology reached out to writing group chair Clifford Kavinsky, MD, PhD, to take part in a Q&A on the 15-page document.