Top in cardiology: Elevated BP in young athletes; private equity expanding

Young athletes are at risk for prehypertension and hypertension, and the prevalence varies depending on race, sex and sports played, according to data presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Care of the Athletic Heart conference.

Researchers reported that approximately 40% of young athletes evaluated in the single-visit screening program had prehypertension or hypertension. Patients who played more than one sport or identified as an “other” ethnicity were more likely to have hypertension. Further, males were more likely to have stage I and stage II hypertension compared with females.

“Despite being perceived as a generally healthy population, young athletes are not immune to heart disease, including elevated blood pressure,” Aneeq Malik, MD, an internal medicine physician at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles and medical director of the Saving Hearts Foundation, who presented the findings, said in a press release. “The findings emphasize that screening for hypertension should be a routine part of sports physicals and that confirmatory testing is needed to accurately diagnose the condition.”

It was the top story in cardiology last week.

In another top story, data show that private equity firms acquired hundreds of cardiology clinics in the later years of the COVID pandemic, especially those located in wealthier communities.

Read these and more top stories in cardiology below:

High blood pressure common in young athletes at single-visit screening event

More than 40% of young athletes who participated in a single-visit screening program had prehypertension or hypertension, according to data presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Care of the Athletic Heart conference. Read more.

Hundreds of private equity-acquired cardiology sites emerged from the pandemic

Hundreds of private equity acquisitions of cardiology clinics occurred in the later years of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the wealthiest of U.S. communities, researchers reported. Read more.

Week of cuffless, continuous BP monitoring may improve hypertension management

With use of a cuffless BP device, 1 week of continuous monitoring was enough to accurately identify the majority of patients’ time in target range, which may improve management of hypertension, researchers reported. Read more.

Statin use when not indicated for certain strokes could cause adverse events

Statin initiation in patients with stroke etiologies not indicated for secondary prevention with statin therapy could hypothetically cause thousands of adverse events every year, according to a new meta-analysis published in Stroke. Read more.

FDA designates recall of display used with LV assist system as class I

Abbott issued a recall and correction for its left ventricular assist system monitor due to atypical behavior of the device screen that may cause unintentional pump stop. Read more.