Left Ventricular Size and Mortality Risk in Heart Failure

A Chinese nationwide study of 273,921 patients hospitalized with heart failure (HF) found a U-shaped association between left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD) and mortality, with both abnormally small and abnormally large left ventricles independently associated with higher all-cause mortality. Using data from the Chinese Cardiovascular Association Database–Heart Failure Center Registry, […]

Extended-Window Thrombolysis Improves Functional Outcomes After Acute Ischemic Stroke

A systematic review and meta-analysis found that intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) given 4.5 hours or more after acute ischemic stroke onset was associated with better functional outcomes, although it increased the risk of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). The analysis included 14 randomized clinical trials involving 4,174 patients comparing IVT with placebo […]

Central Adiposity Improves Cardiovascular Risk Assessment Beyond BMI

Waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) identified important differences in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk that were not captured by conventional BMI categories, suggesting that central adiposity can reclassify CVD risk across normal weight, overweight, and obesity and provide additional diagnostic and prognostic information. The US Cross-Cohort Collaboration study included […]

Viral Reactivation During Acute COVID-19 and Long COVID

In a US longitudinal multi-omic study of 1,154 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 from the IMPACC cohort, significant reactivation of Herpesviridae and Anelloviridae was common during acute COVID-19, with virus-specific temporal patterns and associations with disease severity, host immune responses, and clinical outcomes. Chronic viral infections are ubiquitous in humans, and […]

Low-Fat Vegan Diet Promotes Weight Loss by Lowering Dietary Energy Density

The secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial found that a low-fat vegan diet reduced dietary energy density by approximately 30%, leading to lower energy intake and greater weight loss without prescribed calorie restriction. The study included 244 adults with overweight who were randomly assigned to either an ad libitum […]

Midlife Vascular Health Linked to Up to 12.6 More Dementia-Free Years

Maintaining optimal vascular health in midlife was associated with up to 12.6 additional years of life free from dementia between ages 55 and 95. The prospective analysis of 12,409 participants from the US Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study followed for a median of 26.3 years, evaluated three major midlife […]

Limiting Sugar in the First 1,000 Days of Life May Reduce Dementia Risk Decades Later

Restricting sugar intake during the first 1,000 days from conception was associated with a lower risk of dementia, delayed disease onset by about 2.5–2.9 years, and better brain health in later life. Using the end of UK sugar rationing in September 1953 as a natural experiment, researchers analyzed 64,737 UK […]

Incidental Coronary Calcium on Routine Chest CT Predicts Future Cardiovascular Risk as Well as Dedicated Heart Scans

Incidental coronary artery calcium (CAC) identified on routine nongated chest CT scans predicts future coronary heart disease (CHD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) events with prognostic performance comparable to dedicated gated cardiac CT, supporting its incorporation into routine clinical practice for cardiovascular risk assessment. This study included 2,472 participants from the […]

Modifiable Cardiovascular Risk Factors Linked to More Vulnerable Coronary Plaques

The burden of modifiable cardiovascular risk factors—not just the total number of risk factors—is strongly associated with greater coronary plaque vulnerability, suggesting that controlling these risk factors may help reduce the development of high-risk plaques. In this US study of 131 patients who underwent 3-vessel optical coherence tomography imaging, researchers […]

Higher TMAO Levels Linked to Greater Risk of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

Higher blood levels of the gut microbiome-derived metabolite trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) were independently associated with an increased risk of developing abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) and experiencing serious AAA-related events in apparently healthy older adults. Researchers measured plasma TMAO levels in 4,442 community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or older from the […]