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Mind-Body Approaches in Heart Failure Prevention
Abstract The impact of stress and depression on outcomes in patient with cardiovascular disease, including heart failure, is now well recognized and provides clear evidence for the importance of the mind-body connection. Ongoing research has identified physiologic pathways that govern these interactions that accordingly constitute targets for preventive therapies. A variety of non-pharmacologic practices and interventions that affect the mind-body axis have been preliminarily tested in patients with heart failure. Further development of these interventions may provide new cost-effective approaches to au...
Source: Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports - January 20, 2016 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research

Primary Prevention of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease in Women
Abstract Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among women. Despite improvements in cardiovascular disease prevention efforts, there remain gaps in cardiovascular disease awareness among women, as well as age and racial disparities in ASCVD outcomes for women. Disparity also exists in the impact the traditional risk factors confer on ASCVD risk between women and men, with smoking and diabetes both resulting in stronger relative risks in women compared to men. Additionally there are risk factors that are unique to women (such as pregnancy-related f...
Source: Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports - December 29, 2015 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research

Shared Decision-Making in Older Persons with Cardiovascular Disease
Abstract Shared decision-making (SDM) promotes patient-centered care by fostering partnerships between clinicians and patients that ensure that clinical decisions reflect the patient’s goals, values, and preferences. Shared decision-making is particularly important when treatments involve trade-offs that can be considered differently by individual patients. These trade-offs are often present for older adults with cardiovascular disease, who face an array of potential health care decisions relating to medication treatment, revascularization procedures, valve replacement, and device-based therapies. Giv...
Source: Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports - October 30, 2015 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research

Pregnancy and Heart Disease Updates: Current Knowledge and Future Directions
Abstract Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among pregnant women and causes significant maternal and fetal morbidity. Pregnant women may have known cardiac disease, such as prosthetic heart valves, while others develop new complications, such as myocardial ischemia or cardiomyopathy. Tools for predicting the risk of adverse cardiac events during pregnancy exist. Data from international registries will improve our ability to accurately assess risks and manage and counsel patients. This review will also address the following: (1) Myocardial infarctions that occur during or after pregnanc...
Source: Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports - October 10, 2015 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research

Erectile Dysfunction: an Early Sign of Cardiovascular Disease
Abstract Identification of vasculogenic erectile dysfunction (ED) should be used to focus preventive efforts on reducing the risk of future cardiovascular events. For younger men 40 to 60 years old believed to have predominantly vasculogenic ED, we recommend an algorithm for further assessment of cardiovascular disease modified from the 2013 American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) risk assessment guidelines. We propose that all men with confirmed vasculogenic ED and no overt cardiovascular disease symptoms undergo noninvasive evaluation using a coronary artery calcium (CAC...
Source: Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports - October 10, 2015 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research

The Application of Frailty to the Modern Cardiac Risk Assessment: a Case-Based Review
Abstract Cardiac risk assessment in aging patients poses a significant challenge to the practicing clinician, particularly when evaluating the use of invasive procedures. Frailty is a valuable risk marker that has been associated with worse outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease, heart failure, and aortic stenosis. Integrating the available frailty studies into cardiac risk assessments can help improve shared decision-making between physicians and their patients. In this review, we provide an up-to-date, case-based appraisal of the available clinical trial data focusing on the impact of frail...
Source: Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports - October 7, 2015 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research

The Hunt for Low-Frequency Alleles Predisposing to Type 2 Diabetes and Related Cardiovascular Risk Factors
Abstract Research into the genetic basis of cardiovascular-related diseases is moving at an extremely fast pace. Developments in technology such as whole-genome sequencing and massive resources of DNA collected from hundreds of thousands of people mean scientists have an unprecedented ability to discover the genetic variation that predisposes to disease. Before 2007, very little was known about the variation in the human DNA sequence and its influence on common diseases. We now know of hundreds of common variants that influence LDL cholesterol levels, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and heart disease to n...
Source: Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports - September 14, 2015 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research

Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Weight Loss and CVD Risk Management
Abstract Obesity affects more than one third of US adults and is a major cause of preventable morbidity and mortality, primarily from cardiovascular disease. Traditional behavioral interventions for weight loss typically focus on diet and exercise habits and often give little attention to the role of stress and emotions in the initiation and maintenance of unhealthy behaviors, which may account for their modest results and considerable variability in outcomes. Stress eating and emotional eating are increasingly recognized as important targets of weight loss interventions. Mindfulness-based interventions...
Source: Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports - August 28, 2015 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research

Why Children Smoke in 2015 and Prospects for Stopping Them: a Review of Current Literature
Abstract This paper is a review of the current research from 2014 to early 2015 on why children smoke and ways of preventing them from starting. Tobacco use is a major preventable reason for mortality worldwide. We reviewed articles from PsycInfo and PubMed with key words, resulting in 245 articles. After the examining of these articles, 76 articles were used in the final review. The commonly reported results for risk factors in the articles reported for adolescent smoking including parental/family/peer influences, depression symptoms, other substance use, stress/negative life events, and low academic p...
Source: Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports - August 26, 2015 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research

Preventing Heart Failure with Exercise Training
Abstract Within the past few decades, the syndrome of heart failure (HF) was recognized as an emerging epidemic and in recent investigations has been distinguished as a major public health problem. Alarming epidemiological data further expound the important need for HF prevention research and programs. There has been recent interest regarding the utility of exercise training in the prevention and treatment of risk factors associated with HF development and progression, such as hypertension (HTN), coronary heart disease (CHD)/myocardial infarction (MI), and obesity. Physical fitness (PF), including muscu...
Source: Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports - August 25, 2015 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research

The X-Factor: Global Impact of Women in the Awareness and Management of Coronary Artery Disease
Abstract Heart disease is the #1 killer of women and a major contributor to morbidity and disability. This statement cannot be repeated enough and is often neglected. In 2008, there were 9,127,416 cardiovascular deaths in women worldwide, accounting for 33.2 % of all deaths in women. Coronary artery disease (CAD) differs in symptom presentation, diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes in women compared to men. We have made great strides in diagnosing and managing cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women. However, this progress continues to be overshadowed by the improvements made on the understanding and manag...
Source: Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports - August 22, 2015 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research

Is Passive Smoking Exposure in Early Life a Risk Factor for Future Cardiovascular Disease?
Abstract Thanks to the foresight of researchers in the 1970s and 1980s in establishing large cohorts of children to investigate the origins of cardiovascular disease (CVD), we now have the ability to understand the impact childhood smoking exposure, among other pediatric exposures, has on later-life cardiovascular (CV) health. The age of the participants in these large prospective cohorts is still prohibitive in that researchers can only consider pre-clinical markers of CV pathology. Despite this, cohorts from multiple countries have reported consistent findings concerning the adverse CV impact childhoo...
Source: Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports - August 1, 2015 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research

Management of Hypertension in the Elderly
Abstract Recommendations for the management of hypertension in the elderly are largely consistent with the exception of the 2013 Joint National Committee (JNC) 8 guidelines that recommend lowering systolic blood pressure (SBP) in persons aged ≥60 years to <150 mmHg if they do not have diabetes mellitus or chronic kidney disease. In contrast, I concur with the minority view from JNC 8 which recommends a SBP goal in these persons aged 60 to 79 years of <140 mmHg. This view is consistent with the 2011 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) guidelines that also recom...
Source: Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports - July 9, 2015 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research

Targeting Preclinical Diastolic Dysfunction to Prevent Heart Failure: Contemporary Insights
Abstract Diastolic dysfunction encompasses both those who are asymptomatic and those who have heart failure symptoms. Preclinical diastolic dysfunction (PDD), defined as diastolic dysfunction with preserved ejection fraction (EF) without the presence of heart failure symptoms, is prevalent and may progress to heart failure with preserved EF (HFpEF). While the causative factors of HFpEF are multifactorial, targeting PDD and its associated comorbidities prior to development of symptoms can reduce development of heart failure. Diabetes, coronary artery disease, hypertension, and renal dysfunction are targe...
Source: Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports - June 23, 2015 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research

Acute Coronary Syndrome: Current Diagnosis and Management in Women
Abstract Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death for women in the USA. While it is clear that gender-specific differences in presentation, pathophysiology, and outcomes exist among men and women presenting with acute coronary syndromes (ACS), efforts to better understand and to improve recognition and outcomes for women with ACS continue. Past studies have shown differences in age, presentation, comorbidities, extent of disease, management, and outcomes for women presenting with ACS compared with men. This review will highlight these differences and provide current knowledge regarding ...
Source: Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports - June 21, 2015 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research