Heart Failure

Are coding changes responsible for declines in the 30-day mortality rate for hospital admissions among veterans utilizing Veterans Health Administration medical centers? Which model is more accurate at predicting this measure: a claims-based model or a clinical factor–based model?

By 2030, heart failure—which tops the list of reasons for hospitalization among individuals older than 65 years—could tax the healthcare system $69.8 billion each year. Study results show the success of palliative care at reducing both healthcare costs and hospitalization.

Patients with cardiovascular disease are especially vulnerable to respiratory infections, although uncertainty remains on just what damage COVID-19 can cause in these patients. The flu season is also in full swing, with an estimated 440,000 individuals hospitalized so far in the United States alone, according to the CDC.

Eighty percent of annual costs for heart failure come from hospitalization for the condition, which more than 23 million persons suffer from worldwide, 6.2 million (27%) in the United States alone. These costs are estimated to increase almost 58% between 2012 and 2030, from $30.7 billion to $53 billion.

Barriers to better treatment start with the basic definitions of heart failure. Classifications in use for decades, such as the New York Heart Association system or the left ventricle ejection fraction measure, need an overhaul, and the field should take a precision medicine approach that brings analytics and biomarkers to the cause.

Updated results from the EASEL study show that lower risks of cardiovascular (CV) events, CV death, and CV mortality accompany initiation of canagliflozin, a sodium glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor, in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and high CV risk compared with use of other drugs.

Circulation, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association, just released its fourth annual Go Red for Women issue, in which researchers from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai note the stark disparities in how heart disease manifests in women and men. For women, sudden cardiac death is often the first sign they even have heart disease.

Competing trials are under way that may show that the benefits of SGLT2 inhibitors in heart failure are a class effect.

There are more than 36 million smokers in the United States today, and most (70%) admit they want to quit. Individuals who decide to quit see a smaller risk of heart disease within 1 to 2 years, along with reduced risks of stroke and peripheral vascular disease. However, annual deaths from smoking still exceed 480,000 in the United States, where over 16 million live with smoking-related diseases that include infertility, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

GUARD-AF is an example of the commitment of the BMS, Pfizer Alliance in trying to further the standard of care in patients with atrial fibrillation, said Roland Chen, MD, MS, vice president and head of clinical development for innovative medicines at Bristol-Myers Squibb.

In 2017, heart failure contributed to 1 in 8 deaths. This inability of the heart to function at its optimal level led to an estimated $30.7 billion in annual healthcare costs in 2012, including healthcare services, medicines, and missed work.

The most detailed look ever at data for rosiglitazone, the diabetes drug marketed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) as Avandia, shows the one-time blockbuster significantly raises the overall risk of heart problems or cardiovascular death, calling attention to the need for more transparency in data collection.

Improving recognition of the link between heart failure and diabetes can promote preventive care for at-risk patients, said Javed Butler, MD, MPH, MBA, professor of physiology and chairman for the Department of Medicine at the University of Mississippi.

The drug-shock strategy was more effective for patients experiencing atrial fibrillation for the first time and for patients younger than 70 years, the researchers said.

Heart failure (HF) taxes the American healthcare system by a total of $39.2 billion to $60 billion each year. This amount is expected to increase up to 20% by 2030 and total $70 billion. Worldwide, HF has been diagnosed in 26 million individuals, and this number is rising.

The authors write that the drug's apparent cardioprotective effects in the angiotensin II stressed mice—the decreased fibrosis, reduced inflammation and oxidative stress—all merit further study.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is an abnormal thickening of the heart muscle, with causes that include genetic mutations and myofiber disarray (an abnormal heart muscle cell arrangement). Individuals who have this condition are prone to obesity (body mass index, 25 to

Diabetes Can Break Your Heart is an important initiative that highlights the vital need for heightened education on the link between diabetes and heart failure, especially with American Heart Month looming, said Javed Butler, MD, MPH, MBA, professor of physiology and chairman for the Department of Medicine at the University of Mississippi.

Since 2016, racial and ethnic healthcare disparities have not improved; a new method of "reanimating" hearts from recently deceased donors for transplants is being tested; the new decade prompts concerns about an aging population.

While the number of survivors who had cardiotoxic treatments increased, the doses they received decreased. Radiation exposure fell from 77% in the 1970s to 40% in the 1990s.

The median time to first intravenous therapy for acute heart failure (AHF) is 3.0 hours in North America compared with 1.2 hours in all other regions, in the International Registry to Assess Medical Practice with Longitudinal Observation for Treatment of Heart Failure. Treatment timing and differences may affect outcomes in patients with AHF.

There are multiple ways in which people with diabetes can develop heart failure, which is why heightened awareness through the initiative Diabetes Can Break Your Heart is warranted, said Javed Butler, MD, MPH, MBA, professor of physiology and chairman for the Department of Medicine at the University of Mississippi.

Hospitalizations due to heart failure (HF) were associated with a risk for kidney failure (KF) that was 11.4-times greater compared with patients who did not have cardiovascular disease (CVD). Among a group of CVDs that also included atrial fibrillation, coronary heart disease, and stroke, HF was associated with the highest risk of developing subsequent KF.

Priority review was based on phase 3 results from DAPA-HF, presented in Paris at the European Society of Cardiology and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

In a statement published today by he American Heart Association, researchers provide key resources needed to diagnose and treat fulminant myocarditis successfully.

Patients with acute heart failure often require immediate treatment to restore optimal heart function. The 2 primary methods of revascularization are coronary artery bypass graft and percutaneous coronary intervention, but the preferred strategy for use in these patients requires clarification due to risk.

Social inequalities are created before the onset of the illness, rather than after it, according to researchers.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is an inherited condition in which mutations in genes that encode the sarcomere proteins in the heart cause an abnormal thickening of that muscle, with no known cure. In black patients, HCM is usually diagnosed at a younger age and accompanied by a greater burden of symptomatic heart failure. These patients, however, are not well represented in surveys of the condition, which tend to focus on white patients.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells are lymphocytes genetically engineered to recognize and bind to specific proteins on cancer cells. Studies are currently underway for applications in other fields.

The results are sure to generate interest as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction lacks treatment options, but that could change as results are expected in outcomes trials that are studying sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors in heart failure, both with preserved and reduced ejection fraction.