Cardiovascular

A Health Affairs analysis showed a wide range of cost-effectiveness estimates for 30 of the most commonly prescribed cardiovascular drugs, suggesting that drug pricing is not consistently aligned with value.

Coverage of our peer-reviewed research and news reporting in the healthcare and mainstream press.

Physician and patient predictors of hyperlipidemia screening and statin prescription at a large, multihospital regional health center based on electronic health record data.

Health plans continue to show interest in expanding outcomes-based contracts, according to an Avalere Health study that also found cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, and oncology represent the most common therapeutic areas to have these contracts.

Sulfonylureas are an older class of type 2 diabetes therapy but remain the most commonly prescribed antidiabetic drug after metformin.

Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are associated with increased prescription costs. Actual practice data show a high switch rate and poor adherence among DOAC initiators that need to be addressed.

Findings from a 10-year research project show that implementing health initiatives at a population level can improve health and reduce the risk of heart disease for an entire community.

Public health messaging has typically focused on the volume of walking not the intensity. This study suggests for those with limited time, a faster pace could make a difference.

The number of US adults who have high blood pressure could grow by as much as 31 million—and the number of adults who will be recommended for antihypertensive treatment could increase by 11 million—if full implementation of the American Heart Association’s 2017 hypertension guideline is reached.

The authors write that these differences among Veterans Affairs (VA) populations could reflect variability across the medical centers in terms of quality of care, adherence to evidence-based treatment and screening guidelines, access to urgent care, posthospitalization care protocols, chronic disease management, and access to specialty care, social work services, and behavioral health care.

This week's announcement comes after cardiologists have spent several years sharing accounts of their difficulty gaining access to PCSK9 inhibitors for their patients.

While cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death among women as well as men, and while both sex and gender differences in CVD and its treatments have been well documented, women continue to be less represented than men in clinical trials of drugs to treat CVD. Among proposed reasons for this phenomenon are the recruitment of younger patients, inclusion criteria that tend to select men, and exclusion criteria that are more common in women.

Huntington disease (HD) is an incurable, inherited neurological disorder caused by the mutant Huntingtin gene, which produces a mutant form of Huntingtin protein (mHTT). In addition to creating the profound neurological impacts of HD, the mHTT protein also impairs other organ systems, and new research, published in Cell Reports, suggests that the protein may play a role in cardiac-related mortality in patients with HD.

Women with a past history of migraine have a 15% higher risk of developing hypertension than those with no history of migraine, according to study findings published in Cephalalgia.

Guidance for primary care physicians prescribing type 2 diabetes therapies comes at an opportune time. A major rift over guidelines for glycemic control has opened between the American College of Physicians, a professional association of internists, and diabetes specialists, including endocrinologists and diabetes educators.

Divorce and socioeconomic status (SES)—measured by disposable income and education—predict patients who survived a heart attack who are at higher risk of a second event.

Papers from The Lancet's Taskforce of Non-Communicable Diseases analyzed the potential health and economic impact of implementing taxes on soda, alcohol, and tobacco to combat the rising rates of the chronic diseases worldwide.

The study compared patients taking semaglutide with those taking placebo and liraglutide, which is approved for treatment of obesity.

Results from the ODYSSEY Outcomes trial for the PCSK9 inhibitor alirocumab were the top news at the meeting.

The report finds a connection between payment reform and hospital use patterns, but that connection may add to the debate that cardiologists have raised over the effect on patients.

Coverage of the 67th Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology.

CVD-REAL, the giant study of real-world evidence comparing sodium glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors with other glucose-lowering drugs to treat type 2 diabetes, found a 49% lower risk of all-cause death and a host of other benefits across 6 new, more diverse countries, the study’s lead author told a packed room Sunday at the 67th Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology in Orlando, Florida.

Coverage of the 67th Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology.

Healthcare reform pledged to do better for patients with heart failure, creating the incentives and team-based approaches these fragile patients need. In some cases, this has happened, but there have also been unintended consequences, according to a panel appearing Sunday at the 67th Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology, being held in Orlando, Florida.

Coverage from the 67th Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology.