In a large randomized trial, atorvastatin 40 mg daily significantly reduced major cardiovascular events by 30% among community-dwelling adults aged 70 years or older without prior cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or dementia, but it did not significantly prolong disability-free survival over a median follow-up of 5.9 years. The double-blind, placebo-controlled trial […]
In patients with symptomatic nonobstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), aficamten significantly improved exercise capacity and patient-reported health status compared with placebo at 36 weeks. In this phase 3 multinational, double-blind trial, 517 adults were randomly assigned to receive aficamten or placebo for up to 72 weeks. At week 36, the Kansas […]
In patients with atrial fibrillation at intermediate risk for stroke, direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC) therapy significantly reduced the 24-month risk of a composite of stroke, systemic embolism, major bleeding, or cardiovascular death compared with no anticoagulation. In the Korean multicenter, open-label, adjudicator-masked randomized trial, 1,803 patients with a CHA₂DS₂-VASc score […]
The recombinant shingles vaccine was associated with a 9% reduction in overall cardiovascular burden over 7 years among adults aged 60 years or older, based on a natural experiment that reduced confounding from existing studies comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. Researchers compared adults vaccinated immediately before versus immediately after the […]
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 […]