Primary Prevention

PHILADELPHIA — Insulin resistance and beta-cell failure begin long before a diagnosis of prediabetes and aggressive treatment should begin as early as possible to reduce risk for a variety of complications, according to a speaker.

PHILADELPHIA — Coronary artery calcium scoring is a helpful tool in patients aged 40 years or older whom a decision to start therapy for primary CVD prevention is not obvious, a speaker said at the Heart in Diabetes CME conference.

PHILADELPHIA — CVD trends, particularly for HF, have gotten worse since 2011, and a way to address them may be to focus on health equity and begin prevention early, a speaker said at the Heart in Diabetes CME conference.

Reducing the risk for thrombotic events in patients with antiphospholipid syndrome means striking the proper balance of monitoring and anticoagulation therapy, according to Richard A. Furie, MD, of Northwell Health in New York.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a recommendation statement against the use of beta carotene or vitamin E supplements for the prevention of CVD or cancer.

Women with HF who received an implantable cardioverter defibrillator for primary prevention were less likely to experience first and recurrent life-threatening ventricular tachycardias compared with men, researchers reported.

In a cohort of more than 400,000 patients at high risk for CVD requiring primary prevention, less than half were taking appropriately dosed statins and less than 10% were taking nonstatin lipid-lowering therapies, researchers reported.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has published a final recommendation that advises against the initiation of low-dose aspirin for primary CVD prevention in adults aged 60 years or older, a D-grade recommendation.

WASHINGTON — A higher coronary artery calcium burden may predict incident sudden cardiac death independent of other atherosclerotic CVD risk factors, particularly for primary prevention patients, researchers reported.

In a post hoc subgroup analysis of the ASPREE trial, those taking aspirin before the trial who were assigned placebo did not experience serious benefits or harms, researchers reported.