Cardiology Today’s top articles in February

Cardiology Today compiled a list of the top 5 stories posted to Healio.com/Cardiology in February.

This month, our readers were most interested in the increase in mortality rates caused by high BP, the class I recall of certain Medtronic implantable cardiac defibrillators, the risk for hypertension among racial and ethnic groups, the link between breast cancer treatment and CVD risk, MI rates among women and men, and much more.

AHA: Mortality from uncontrolled BP rises; CVD leading cause of death in US

The rate of deaths caused by high BP increased by 10.5% from 2005 to 2015, and the actual number of deaths attributable to high BP increased by 37.5%, according to the American Heart Association’s 2018 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Update.

According to the report, hypertension affected nearly one-third of the world’s adult population in 2010.

FDA categorizes recall of ICDs, CRT-Ds as class I

The FDA announced it has identified a recall of certain implantable cardiac defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators made by Medtronic as class I, the most serious kind.

According to an alert by the agency, Medtronic began the recall in January due to a defect in the devices’ manufacturing process which could lead to an error preventing electrical shock delivery.

Risk for high BP elevated in many racial, ethnic groups

Patients who were African-American, Asian, American Indian/Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders had an increased risk for hypertension compared with those who were white or Hispanic regardless of weight category, neighborhood status or education level, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Hypertension.

“[The study] does document how highly prevalent hypertension is across all race/ethnicities, with Hispanics having the lowest prevalence, and even statistically significantly lower than whites overall and across weight and neighborhood education categories,” Deborah Rohm Young, PhD, director of behavioral research in the department of research and evaluation at Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena, said in an interview.

CVD risk may increase with breast cancer treatment

Current breast cancer treatment negatively affects CV health and may lead to CVD, including HF and left ventricular dysfunction, according to a scientific statement from the American Heart Association published in Circulation.

In the United States, breast cancer affects an estimated 3.32 million women, and an estimated 47.8 million women are affected by CVD, according to the scientific statement.

Acute MI symptoms similar among men, women

Symptoms of acute MI, including chest pain, were similar among men and women, according to new results published in the Go Red for Women issue of Circulation.

Although previous studies have suggested that women are less likely to experience chest pain associated with acute MI, the results of the VIRGO study suggest that the rates for men and women are closer than previously reported.