September 17th, 2012
Resuming Warfarin After a GI Bleed: Benefits Appear to Outweigh the Risks
Nicholas Downing, MD
Many patients who’ve had a warfarin-associated gastrointestinal bleed can safely resume warfarin therapy soon after the bleeding event, according to an industry-funded, retrospective study in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers identified some 440 adults who experienced a GI bleed while taking warfarin; nearly 60% either stayed on warfarin continuously or resumed treatment within about […]
September 17th, 2012
Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: September 17th
Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP
This week’s topics include surgical vs. lifestyle treatment for type-2 diabetes, omega-3 fatty-acid supplementation and the risk for major CVD events, FAME 2, using high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T for one-hour rule-out or rule-in of acute MI, and the timing of acute MI in patients having total hip or knee replacement.
September 13th, 2012
Meta-Analysis Links Stress at Work and Heart Disease
Larry Husten, PHD
A new study in the Lancet provides the best evidence yet that work-related stress and, in particular, job strain — “the combination of high job demands and low control at work” — plays a small but important role in causing heart disease. In order to address the limitations of previous studies on this topic, including […]
September 13th, 2012
A Manhattan Project to End the Obesity Epidemic
Larry Husten, PHD
A newly launched nonprofit organization, the Nutrition Science Initiative, will try to find an answer to the question, “What should we eat to be healthy?” Called NuSI (pronounced “new see”) for short, the organization is nothing if not ambitious: its goal is to seek “the end of fad diets and high obesity rates.” NuSI’s founders are Gary Taubes and Peter Attia. Taubes […]
September 12th, 2012
Study Predicts Renal Denervation Will Be Cost-Effective in Resistant Hypertension
Larry Husten, PHD
Renal denervation (RDN) for resistant hypertension may be cost-effective and may provide long-term clinical benefits, according to a new analysis published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Benjamin Geisler and colleagues developed a model to predict the impact of the Medtronic Symplicity RDN system in patients with resistant hypertension. Over 10 years, according […]
September 11th, 2012
Advertising That Falls Short — Part 1: Omega-3 Fatty-Acid Supplements
Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM
What is the role of a clinician in putting misleading ads in context for patients?
September 11th, 2012
More Evidence That Omega-3 Supplements Don’t Work
Larry Husten, PHD
Once again researchers have failed to find any clinical benefit for omega-3 supplements. In a new meta-analysis and systematic review published in JAMA, Evangelos Rizos and colleagues analyzed 20 randomized controlled trials including 68,680 patients and found no significant effect on any of the endpoints: all-cause mortality: relative risk (RR) 0.96, CI 0.91 – 1.02 cardiac death: […]
September 11th, 2012
Updated Rhythm Device Guidelines Clarify and Expand CRT Criteria
Larry Husten, PHD
A newly released update of 2008 guidelines for device-based therapy of cardiac arrhythmias contains some much-needed clarification about indications for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). The document was developed jointly by the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, and the Heart Rhythm Society. Highlights of the documents include: The Class 1 recommendation for CRT for […]
September 10th, 2012
Antihypertensive Use Among Pregnant Women on the Rise
Larry Husten, PHD
Growing numbers of pregnant women are taking antihypertensive drugs that may harm themselves or their babies, according to a new study published in Hypertension. Brian Bateman and colleagues analyzed Medicaid data on more than 1.1 million pregnant women from 2000 to 2007. Overall, 4.4% of the women received antihypertensive medications at some point during their pregnancy. […]
September 10th, 2012
Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: September 10th
Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP
This week’s topics include the safety risks of drugs that have gone through the FDA’s expedited approval program, a Framingham Heart Study paper on aortic stiffness in the elderly, and using CMR to detect previously undetected MI in older adults.