Heart Health

This news channel includes content on cardiovascular disease prevention, cardiac risk stratification, diagnosis, screening programs, and management of major risk factors that include diabetes, hypertension, diet, life style, cholesterol, obesity, ethnicity and socio-economic disparities.
 

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Black barbershop intervention continues to reduce blood pressure at 1 year

The impressive blood pressure reductions seen among hypertensive black men participating in a barbershop-based intervention were sustained through one year, according to a follow-up study published Dec. 17 in Circulation.

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FOURIER analysis: Evolocumab lowers LDL cholesterol in most patients

A recent analysis of last year’s FOURIER trial has found evolocumab, a PCSK9 inhibitor developed to treat hyperlipidemia, can robustly reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in patients without any major concern for individual-level variability in response.

Patients’ BMI history predicts their future CVD risk

Questioning older patients about their weight earlier in life could be a low-tech, low-cost way to better predict a person’s future risk of heart disease, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

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Foot, leg amputations increasing among diabetics in US

After years of decline, amputations are increasing among diabetic patients in the U.S., Reuters reported.

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‘Alexa, what’s my blood pressure?’: Amazon’s solution to home BP monitoring

Amazon has teamed up with product developer Omron Healthcare to integrate its Alexa voice assistant with Omron’s family of blood pressure monitors, CNBC reported. The move is expected to help heart patients better manage their BP.

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25% of diabetics skimp on insulin because of cost

As insulin prices in the U.S. continue to surge, lower-income diabetics are struggling to afford a drug their life depends on, researchers report in a JAMA Internal Medicine study published Dec. 3.

Ambulatory BP monitoring deemed cost-effective in most scenarios

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) is cost-saving across nearly all age groups, regardless of whether patients are found to have hypertension on the initial screening, according to a study published in Hypertension.

Mylan expands valsartan recall to all unexpired lots in US

Mylan Pharmaceuticals expanded its voluntary drug recall to include all unexpired valsartan-containing products in the U.S., the FDA announced Dec. 4. The action joins a host of other recalls over the last few months related to carcinogenic impurities being found in angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs), a class of medications used to treat hypertension and heart failure.