Articles related to HEART FAILURE (HF)

Key practice-changing points from the latest guidelines: • 1st line therapy is sacubitril plus valsartan, as this combination increases survival and reduces hospitalizations versus ACE inhibitors and ARBs.• ACE inhibitors should be used only in patients who cannot tolerate sacubitril-valsartan, and ARBs used only in those who cannot tolerate either the 1st- or 2nd-line recommended therapies.• Patients whose ejection fraction increases to more than 40% under therapy should continue to receive therapy.

Social isolation and loneliness were linked to a 17% to 19% increased risk of developing incipient heart failure, respectively. The analysis included 464,773 participants from the U.K. Biobank, followed for a median of 12.3 years.

In this commentary, the editor-in-chief of CCJM considers what is known, and what is still mystery about how the heart and kidneys are modified during chronic heart failure, and discusses how much of our therapy remains empiric and experience-based.

Palliative care (PC) can help reduce emergency department use, hospitalizations, and symptom burden across a spectrum of diseases. To assist clinicians in keeping their expertise current, the authors reviewed and summarized the top PC articles of 2020. The analysis included 28 PC intervention trials for heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and dementia.

Although many studies have claimed that moderate alcohol consumption and drinks such as red wine can be healthy for the human heart, a new study presented at the European Society of Cardiology 2022 meeting takes a contrarian viewpoint and draws a link between alcohol consumption and heart failure in people with hypertension, diabetes, or obesity.

A new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine looks at the link between cardiovascular disease among adults with type 2 diabetes, which might be more prevalent than previously thought. This study compares cardiovascular outcomes in patients taking first line metformin vs. SGLT-2 inhibitors, based on claims data over a 7-year period. SGLT-2 inhibitor use was associated with lower rates of hospitalization for heart failure and all cause mortality. Rates for MI and stroke were similar for the two treatments.