Updated cardiovascular health guidelines were released today by the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC). The guidelines are designed to provide primary care physicians with evidence-based expert guidance on cholesterol, obesity, risk assessment, and healthy lifestyle. The new guidelines reinforce many of the same messages from previous guidelines, but also…
After Long Wait, Updated US Cardiovascular Guidelines Now Emphasize Risk Instead Of Targets
November 12, 2013 by 1 Comment
New Insights Into Surgery Versus Stents For Diabetics With Multivessel Disease
October 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Last year the large NHLBI FREEDOM trial demonstrated that bypass surgery was superior to PCI when treating diabetic patients who have multivessel coronary disease. CABG resulted in significant reductions in death and MI, but this was offset slightly by a higher rate of stroke in the CABG group. Now a new report from FREEDOM published in JAMA suggests that…
Long Terms Study Results Offer Broad Perspective On Hormone Replacement Therapy For Women
October 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
More than a decade ago the NHLBI’s Women’s Health Initiative trials overturned the conventional wisdom that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for menopausal women helped protect women from a broad spectrum of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease. The findings caused dramatic reductions in the use of HRT but important questions remained, many involving the age or time since…
The Guidelines Are Dead. Long Live The Guidelines.
August 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Following last month’s surprising announcement that the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute would no longer issue guidelines, leaders of the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology have now announced that are “officially assuming the joint governance, management and public distribution” of the enormously influential cardiovascular prevention guidelines, including the much-delayed and much-anticipated hypertension and cholesterol guidelines (formerly…
Funding For Landmark Framingham Heart Study Slashed By $4 Million
July 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment
One of the most important studies in the history of medicine will be sharply curtailed as a result of the federal budget cuts. The landmark Framingham Heart Study (FHS) has been told by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) that it will lose $4 million of its funding. The cut represents 40% of its…
Cardiology Goes Better With Coke
July 23, 2013 by 3 Comments
At the bottom of this post I’ve reprinted an email cardiologists are receiving from the American College of Cardiology. See the bottom of the message for the disclosure that Coca Cola is paying for this educational program. I don’t have much to say about this though I wonder what the faculty of this program will…
Hypertension And Cholesterol Guidelines Delayed Again As NHLBI Gets Out Of The Guidelines Business
June 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) will no longer issue guidelines, including the much-delayed and much-anticipated hypertension (JNC 8) and cholesterol (ATP IV) guidelines. Instead, the NHLBI will perform systematic evidence reviews that other organizations, including the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, will use as a resource for their own guidelines….
Controversial NIH Chelation Trial Published In JAMA
March 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Final results of the troubled NIH-sponsored TACT trial testing chelation therapy for coronary disease have now been published in JAMA. Last November, when the preliminary results were presented at the American Heart Association meeting, the positive finding in favor of chelation therapy surprised many observers, though the investigators and senior AHA representatives expressed considerable caution about the proper…
NHLBI Announces 7000 Patient Trial Testing Inflammation Hypothesis
August 22, 2012 by 2 Comments
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has announced the launch of a large clinical trial testing the inflammation hypothesis. Paul Ridker is the principal investigator of the trial, which will be known as the Cardiovascular Inflammation Reduction Trial (CIRT). CIRT will enroll 7,000 patients who are stable following a heart attack but are at high…
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