Medicine and: a blog about everything medicine.

This study aimed to compare the performance of short-term (10-year) and long-term (30-year) atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk prediction tools in young adults and evaluate the incidence of ASCVD associated with predicted short-term and long-term risk. The study included 414,260 young adults aged 18 to 39 years from a US integrated health care system and…

The Cardiovascular Abnormalities and Brain Lesions study aimed to investigate the association between left atrial strain (LAε) and left atrial strain rate (LASR) with ischemic stroke in older adults. The study was conducted from 2005 to 2010 and included 806 participants aged 55 years or older without prior history of stroke or atrial fibrillation. Annual…

This study aimed to assess the effects of a personalized, moderately accelerated backup heart rate compared to the standard rate of 60 beats per minute in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) who have preexisting pacemaker systems. The study enrolled 107 participants from the University of Vermont Medical Center pacemaker clinic and…

This study evaluated the impact of weight loss and weight fluctuation on rhythm control in obese individuals with atrial fibrillation (AF). The study included 355 patients with AF who were offered weight management. Weight loss was categorized into three groups, with group 1 having a loss of ≥ 10%, group 2 having a loss of…

This is a clinical trial of a drug called Baxdrostat on patients with treatment-resistant hypertension. The difference in the change in systolic blood pressure between the 2-mg group and the placebo group was −11.0 mm Hg (95% confidence interval [CI], −16.4 to −5.5; P<0.001), and the difference in this change between the 1-mg group and the…

This is a post-hoc analysis of the ASPREE clinical trial that aimed to determine the relationship between high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels and fracture risk in healthy older adults. The study used data from 16,703 Australians and 2,411 US participants aged ≥70 and ≥65 years respectively, who were free from cardiovascular disease, dementia, physical disability,…

This is a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial in the Netherlands, which assigned patients with an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest to receive extracorporeal CPR or conventional CPR (standard advanced cardiac life support). The primary outcome was survival with a favorable neurologic outcome, defined as a Cerebral Performance Category score of 1 or 2 at 30 days. The…

In this study, 1000 patients with severe aortic stenosis and low surgical risk were randomly assigned to either undergo TAVR (transcatheter aortic-valve replacement) with a balloon-expandable valve or surgery. The primary outcome was a composite of death, stroke, or rehospitalization at 1 year. The study found that TAVR resulted in a lower rate of the…

The EMPA-KIDNEY trial was a study that evaluated the effects of empagliflozin, a medication, on patients with chronic kidney disease who are at risk for disease progression. The study enrolled 6609 patients who were randomly assigned to receive empagliflozin or matching placebo. The study found that empagliflozin therapy led to a lower risk of progression…

High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a condition in which the force of blood against the walls of the arteries is too high. The exact cause of hypertension is not always known, but it is often associated with factors such as obesity, physical inactivity, smoking, stress, high salt intake, and a family history…