Stroke is the second cause of death worldwide. Atrial fibrillation is the most common clinically relevant cardiac arrhythmia in Europe, affecting approximately 1.5-2% of the general population.1 Prevalence is estimated to double in the next 50 years as the population ages.
Culture
The findings were presented at the ESC Congress today by Ms Stina Jakobsson from Sweden. They reveal that reperfusion therapy and secondary prevention drugs produced the decline and brought stroke risk after AMI closer to that of non-diabetics.
With a growing incidence of cardiovascular disease in Asia, lifestyle modification such as weight loss and routine exercise plays an important role in early primary cardiovascular disease prevention. While it is widely known that patients with cardiovascular conditions will benefit from participating in a structured cardiac rehabilitation programme, particularly in a convenient and affordable community-based setting, there is no published data that showed the effectiveness of such a programme in the Asian population to date.
Recent research, by Dr Selvaraj Velayutham published in a forthcoming issue of The Economic and Labour Relations Review, published by SAGE, details the exploitation of Indian immigrant workers in Australia on 457 visas.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Tuesday 3 September 2013: Low BMI is a risk factor for CVD in hypertensive patients with diabetes, according to research presented at the ESC Congress today by Dr Takanori Nagahiro from Japan. The findings provide evidence for an obesity paradox in hypertensive patients with glucose intolerance.
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands – An emergency department strategy that uses two biomarkers to triage patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS) can increase the rate of early, safe hospital discharge, according to results of the Biomarkers in Cardiology 8 (BIC-8) trial.
Boston –Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have developed a risk score calculation that can help predict which patients with rhabdomyolysis (a condition that occurs due to muscle damage) may be at risk for the severe complication of kidney failure or death. This research will publish online September 2, 2013 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
LOS ANGELES — The common refrain about health care is that it's a broken system. A new joint program between the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Southern California (USC), demonstrates a way to mend the system with a new patient-centered program that is getting raves from patients, as well as the residents and nurses who provide their care. Results from the program are highlighted in a study being released in September.
Sydney, Australia: The amount of raw materials needed to sustain the economies of developed countries is significantly greater than presently used indicators suggest, a new Australian study has revealed.
Using a new modelling tool and more comprehensive indicators, researchers were able to map the flow of raw materials across the world economy with unprecedented accuracy to determine the true "material footprint" of 186 countries over a two-decade period (from 1990 to 2008).
Use of bioprosthetic heart valves has dramatically increased (from 18% in 1991 to 59% in 2003), mainly in older patients with comorbidities. This is due to the increased risk of bleeding complications associated with lifelong use of anticoagulation for mechanical prostheses.
Dr Sherif said: "Earlier studies on the impact of gender on outcome after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) have had conflicting results. A Canadian study reported in 641 consecutive patients that female sex is associated with a better long-term and short-term survival after TAVI.1 An Italian study of 305 high risk patients found no gender differences in composite safety and efficacy endpoints at 30 days and one year after TAVI."2
Bicuspid aortic valve (BV) is the most common congenital valvular abnormality, occurring in 1-2% of the general population. Two of the aortic valvular leaflets fuse during development resulting in a valve that is bicuspid instead of the normal tricuspid configuration. BV is associated with increased mechanical stress which predisposes to calcification and development of aortic stenosis which narrows the opening of the aortic valve.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Monday 2 September 2013: Metabolically healthy women have the same cardiovascular disease risk regardless of their BMI, according to research presented at the ESC Congress today by Dr Søren Skøtt Andersen and Dr Michelle Schmiegelow from Denmark. The findings in more than 260,000 subjects suggest that obese women have a window of opportunity to lose weight and avoid developing a metabolic disorder, which would increase their CVD risk.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Monday 2 September 2013 : Pacemakers implanted for slow heart rhythm restore life expectancy to normal levels, reveals research presented at ESC Congress 2013 today by Dr Erik O. Udo from the Netherlands. The findings provide a new reference point for the prognosis of modern pacemaker patients.
Hamilton, ON (September 2, 2013) – Despite living with the highest risk factors for heart disease, people in high income countries suffer less from serious cardiovascular disease, says an international study by the global PURE (Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology ) collaboration and led by McMaster University researchers.
At the same time, the study found that people in low income countries, although living with fewer risk factors for heart disease, have a higher incidence of serious cardiovascular disease including death.