CVD prevention key focus of upcoming congress

Cardiology Today and Healio.com/Cardiology will provide live coverage of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology’s Congress on Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, beginning on Friday, Sept. 16.

The 3-day conference is focused on the wide spectrum of CVD prevention, from talks on access to PCSK9 inhibitors to dietary counseling to CV implications of erectile dysfunction and testosterone deficiency. Attendees will gain real-world perspective on how to translate current atherosclerotic CVD prevention research into effective treatment strategies for clinical practice.

The annual congress in Boca Raton, Florida, will provide relevant information and updates for everyone involved in the prevention of CVD, from cardiologists and endocrinologists to pharmacists and registered nurses. The congress attracts “a very diverse audience,” Seth J. Baum, MD, FASPC, FACC, FACPM, FAHA, FNLA, president elect of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology, told Cardiology Today. Baum is also medical director of Women’s Preventive Cardiology at the Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health and Wellness Institute at Boca Raton Regional Hospital; affiliate associate professor of clinical biomedical science in the department of integrated medicines at Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine; and founder and chief medical officer of Excel Medical Clinical Trials, LLC.

Seth J. Baum

The American Society for Preventive Cardiology (ASPC) was founded in 1975, with members including physicians, educators and frequent recipients of the NHLBI Preventive Cardiology Academic Award. In recent years, however, the focus of the ASPC has shifted from “an insular organization of academic experts to one with a focused vision of the interdisciplinary value it can bring to the broader healthcare and scientific community,” according to the society’s website. The society represents “the increasingly multidisciplinary group of healthcare providers ... along with researchers and industry representatives who share an interest in and passion for preventive cardiology.”

The program for the 2016 congress targets that multidisciplinary audience. In an interview with Cardiology Today, Baum highlighted several sessions of interest.

On Sept. 16, Michael Koren, MD, will discuss interpretation of clinical trials and provide insight on how to follow the literature. “The assumption is that physicians know how to interpret trials, when in fact we don’t always know how to,” Baum said. “Because there are so many clinical trials being done and since the burden is on [health care professionals] to read these trials and quickly come to a conclusion, we need someone with tremendous expertise, like Dr. Koren, to tell us what we really need to look at.”

The following day, Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, DrPH, dean of the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, will address a new way to think about dietary fat. “The fact is that we’ve been wrong so often about our interpretation of data relating to dietary fat. There are differences among the fats; it is a very complex area,” Baum said. “Dr. Mozaffarian will help us understand what we can learn from diet studies, as well as what we actually don’t know, even if we think we do know it.”

Dariush Mozaffarian

Another interesting topic in the area of CVD prevention is the link between diabetes and heart disease. Peter W.F. Wilson, MD, professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at Emory University School of Medicine, will focus his talk on the blurring division between diabetes and heart disease. “Recent trial data, such as from the EMPA-REG OUTCOME study, have shown us that some diabetes medications may have CV benefit,” Baum said. Further, many cardiologists are playing an increasing role in the management of diabetes, and many endocrinologists and internal medicine physicians and other health care professionals are playing a larger role in the management of heart disease.

Marc P. Bonaca, MD, PhD, a CV medicine specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School, will highlight the variety of options for treating patients with antiplatelet therapy. “This is a confusing area for many of us, with multiple antiplatelet agents,” Baum said. “Questions include: When do you stop dual antiplatelet therapy? How do you manage a patient with atrial fibrillation with a recent stent?”

Marc P. Bonaca

A special addition to the 2016 congress program is a town hall forum that will focus on barriers to access of PCSK9 inhibitors. The event will bring together representatives of the ASPC, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the American College of Cardiology, the FH Foundation and the National Lipid Association to address patients’ limited access to PCSK9 inhibitors. These leaders and other attendees of the town hall forum will discuss this issue and raise awareness about existing barriers and options to increase access to PCSK9 inhibitors.

In addition to these sessions, the program will feature talks on management of venous thromboembolism, biomarkers and treatment options for HF, diagnosis of coronary artery dissection, coronary artery calcification and more. The full program can be viewed at www.aspconline.org.

In addition, presentations from the congress can be streamed live and on demand after the event. Visit the ASPC website for more information.

“I hope attendees come away from this meeting with expanded knowledge about the diversity of CVD prevention, what’s in the pipeline, what we have available now and what will be in our armamentarium down the road. Our goal is for attendees to be better able to approach their current patients and future patients in a more comprehensive fashion to help prevent atherosclerotic CVD.”

Disclosure: Baum is president elect of the ASPC.