Yearly Archives: 2020


Leisure Activity Participation Declines before Developing Dementia

A prospective cohort study in Britain suggests that participation in leisure activities declines in the preclinical phase of dementia. The study included 8,280 participants (69% male, 91% white, mean age 55.8), participation in leisure activities (1997–99 assessment), with 18.0-year follow-up, was not associated with dementia (hazard ratio [HR] 0.92) but […]


Insights from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 provides a rules-based synthesis of the available evidence on levels and trends in health outcomes, a diverse set of risk factors, and health system responses. Five key insights that are important for health, social, and economic development strategies […]


More Exercise Better Even in the Elderly

A randomized controlled trial in Norway suggested a lower all-cause mortality trend after high intensity interval training at about 90% of peak heart rate (HIIT) compared with controls and moderate intensity continuous training at about 70% of peak heart rate (MICT) in older adults. The trial included 1567 participants (790 […]


T2D Pancreas Morphology Reversible

A post-hoc analysis of a subset of adult participants in a randomized trial showed that changes in pancreas volume and shape occurred during 2 years of remission of type 2 diabetes (T2D) with weight management intervention. The analysis included 90 T2D participants randomly assigned to a weight management intervention (n=64) […]


Time Course of LDL-C Linked to CVD Risk

A prospective study suggests that incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) event risk depends on the time course of cumulative prior exposure to low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), the younger the age of exposure accumulation, the greater risk increase. The study included 4,958 asymptomatic adults age 18 to 30 years enrolled from 1985 […]


Timing of Menarche/Menopause and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes Linked to CVD Risk

Two studies suggest that reproductive life span and adverse pregnancy outcomes are sex-specific risk factors for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women. One study included 307 855 women from 12 studies. Overall, the mean ages at menarche, menopause, and reproductive life span were 13.0, 50.2, and 37.2 years, respectively. Pooled analyses […]


Drug-Induced Arrhythmias

The American Heart Association just issued a scientific statement for drug-induced arrhythmias. Drugs from many therapeutic classes may cause or ex-acerbate a variety of arrhythmias. Awareness of drugs that may cause arrhythmias and specific arrhythmias that may be drug induced is important. Numerus drugs can prolong the QT interval and […]


Intensive BP Treatment Lowers Risk for Orthostatic Hypotension

A systematic review suggested that Intensive blood pressure (BP)-lowering treatment decreases risk for orthostatic hypotension (OH). OH, before or in the setting of more intensive BP treatment, should not be viewed as a reason to avoid or de-escalate treatment for hypertension. The data were extracted from 5 trials examined BP […]


Atlas on T2D Risk Factors

A meta-analyses and Mendelian randomization study identified causal risk factors for type 2 diabetes (T2D). The study found evidence of causal associations between 34 exposures (19 risk factors and 15 protective factors) and T2D. Insomnia was identified as a novel risk factor (OR 1.17). The other 18 risk factors were […]


Early Rhythm-Control Beat Rate-Control in AF

An international, investigator-initiated, parallel-group, open, blinded-outcome-assessment trial concluded that early rhythm-control therapy was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular (CV) outcomes than usual care among patients with early atrial fibrillation (AF) and CV conditions. A total of 2789 patients who had early AF (diagnosed ≤1 year before enrollment, median […]