In community-dwelling older adults without prior cardiovascular disease (CVD), new or persistent heart stress (HS)—defined by elevated NT-proBNP concentrations over 3 years—was associated with substantially higher risks of CVD and all-cause mortality, whereas HS remission was associated with risks similar to those of individuals who remained HS-free. In the observational […]
In adults aged 75 years or older without a history of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) who were taking statins for primary prevention, discontinuing statin therapy was non-inferior to continuing treatment with respect to 3-year all-cause mortality. In the French multicentre, open-label, phase 3 randomised controlled trial, 1,180 participants were assigned […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
Moderate consumption of naturally caffeinated beverages, particularly coffee, is generally associated with a lower risk of several cardiovascular diseases, whereas high doses of caffeine—such as those found in many energy drinks—may increase cardiovascular risk. Caffeine is one of the world’s most widely consumed psychoactive substances, and its cardiovascular effects vary […]