February 2025 Dispatch for the CV Team

Every month, Section Editor L.A. McKeown curates a roundup of recent news beyond our regular TCTMD coverage, with tidbits from journals and medical meetings around the globe that are of special interest to heart teams and allied cardiovascular professionals.

Patients with ACS deemed to be at intermediate or high frailty risk are less likely to undergo echocardiography, angiography, or revascularization but more likely to experience death and major adverse cardiovascular events compared with those having low frailty risk, a British study of over 576,000 patients published in the European Heart Journal suggests. Revascularization was associated with better survival at 1 and 5 years in those with intermediate- or high-risk frailty, which the authors say points toward the need for better understanding of how to evaluate frailty in candidates for intervention.

Non‐Hispanic Black, non‐Hispanic Asian, and Hispanic patients diagnosed with valvular heart disease (VHD) are overall younger and have a higher burden of comorbidities than white patients, research from the Bronx-Valve Registry shows. “Appropriate resources and strategies need to be implemented to minimize racial and ethnic disparities and promote equity in VHD diagnosis and cardiovascular risk factor management,” the study’s authors say in the paper published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

In older adults, a poor sense of smell may hint at future stroke and underlying stroke pathologies, according to data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. Writing in Stroke, researchers say the results from a single olfactory test were predictive over a 9.6-year follow-up period and warrant further investigation into how the inability to smell “may impair one’s diet, lifestyle, and mental health, gradually weakening their resilience and eventually leading to adverse cardiovascular and health conditions.”

In response to a flurry of actions taken by the Trump administration toward diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, gender/sexual identities, and information on federal websites, as well as the pausing of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a viewpoint article in JAMA reflects on how the healthcare and public policy sectors should respond. “In the end, politicians and the public are free to ignore medical advice and pursue policies that compromise health and safety, and they likely will, but this does not relieve the profession of its responsibility to make the dangers clear,” notes Steven H. Woolf, MD, MPH (Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond).

Ten or more hours a day of sedentary behavior is associated with increased risk of heart failure and CV-related death, according to a study from the UK Biobank published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Replacing sitting time with other activities reduced the excess CV risk conferred by sedentary behavior even among people who were already reporting daily moderate to vigorous physical activity.

A survey of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer fellows-in-training (FITs) and early-career cardiologists published in JACC: Advances sheds light on their experiences in the workplace. Despite reporting significant instances of negative behaviors, mistreatment, or bullying, the majority of respondents reported high job satisfaction. Many pointed, however, to a lack of sexual and gender minority health content during their training that hinders the delivery of culturally competent care for LGBTQ+ patients.

Despite concerns that noise might negatively impact blood pressure readings that are taken in stores or other public spaces as part of open health screenings, a study published in Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that there is minimal difference between those readings and the ones obtained in office-based settings. The findings were similar across different subgroups of adults and support the reasonable use of BP screening in public spaces, investigators say.

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools may provide an answer for speeding up enrollment in some clinical trials, researchers conclude in JAMA. A generative AI tool not only combed through notes, medications, electronic health records, and other pieces of information needed to assess suitability for a HF trial faster than research staff who screened patients manually, but also yielded a higher rate of eligible patients.

Discontinuing or not prescribing anticoagulants in older patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) can increase their risk for stroke, MI, and death, a study of more than 20,000 patients suggests. Reporting in Heart, the researchers say in those older AF patients who were on an anticoagulant, apixaban was associated with a decreased risk of nonmajor bleeding compared with warfarin, while rivaroxaban was associated with higher risks of major and nonmajor bleeding.

News Highlights From TCTMD:

AEDs, Like Fire Extinguishers, Should Be in Every School, Say Experts

Questioning the KCCQ: Experts Debate Its Validity as QoL Metric

Hypertensive Disorders in Pregnancy Tied to Future Atrial Fibrillation

More Excess Bleeding Seen With Rivaroxaban vs Other NOACs and Aspirin

Tirzepatide Helps in HFpEF Across Spectrum of Obesity Severity