Surprising Rate Of Recurring Heart Attacks, Strokes Globally

Despite many medicines and other treatments for patients with vascular disease, a large international study shows these patients have a surprisingly high rate of recurring events such as strokes, heart attacks and hospitalizations as well as mortality. Also unexpected: patients in North America (including the U.S.) experienced an above-average rate of these events. Patients in Eastern Europe had the highest rate, and those in Australia and Japan had the lowest.

In Heart Failure Patients Treated With ACE Inhibitor And/or Beta Blocker, Higher Plasma Renin Activity Is Related To Greater Risk Of Mortality

Data confirm that in heart failure patients being treated with ACE inhibitor and/or beta blocker, higher plasma renin activity still predicts greater risk of mortality1. PRA is a measure of the activity of the renin angiotensin system (RAS) which, when chronically activated, can lead to increased blood pressure and organ damage.

FDA Petitioned By Nonagenarian Researcher To Ban Trans Fats

I request to ban trans fats from the American diet." Thus begins a 3,000-word petition to the Food and Drug Administration, the work of a man on a dogged, decades-old crusade to eradicate trans fats from food. Fred Kummerow, a 94-year-old University of Illinois veterinary biosciences professor emeritus who still conducts research on the health effects of trans fats in the diet, filed the petition with the FDA last month.

Edoxaban - Next Generation Oral Anticoagulant To Help Prevent Stroke In Patients With Atrial Fibrillation

Edoxaban, an oral factor Xa inhibitor, is currently being investigated in the pivotal phase III study ENGAGE AF-TIMI 48 (Effective aNticoaGulation with factor xA next GEneration in Atrial Fibrillation) as a potential new treatment for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). The new drug, developed solely by DAIICHI SANKYO, could offer substantial improvements over the current standard of care in thromboembolic disease. In Europe, approximately 4.

Proton Pump Inhibitors Do Not Counteract Benefits Of Antiplatelet Drugs Clopidogrel Or Prasugrel In Patients After An Acute Coronary Syndrome

An article published Online First and in a future edition of The Lancet reports that proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) do not interfere with the clinical benefit of the anticlotting drugs clopidogrel or prasugrel (thienopyridines) in patients after an acute coronary syndrome such as heart attack or unstable angina. PPIs are a commonly prescribed antacid medication. The article is the work of Dr Michelle O'Donoghue, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA, and colleagues.

Trial Reports On New Therapy That Prevents Heart Failure

Patients who had a cardiac resynchronization device combined with a defibrillator (CRT-D) implanted had a 34 percent reduction in their risk of death or heart failure when compared to patients receiving only an implanted cardiac defibrillator (ICD), according to a landmark study published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented today at the European Society of Cardiology Congress (ESC) in Barcelona, Spain.

Eight Out Of 10 People Diagnosed With Heart Disease Consider Their Diagnosis A 'Wake-Up Call'

Your Heart: New Start initiative launched to provide heart patients and their carers with information about nutrition, fitness and medication adherence Eight out of 10 heart patients in an international survey of more than 3,000 patients felt their heart disease diagnosis was a wake-up call to live a healthier lifestyle.