Cardiology News: February 2021
DMS Cardiovascular news is a curated collection of articles, posts & studies related to general & interventional cardiology, cardiovascular & heart health that I found interesting and may be of help or interest to others. All articles are published on reliable and respected sources cited with links to read the original full article.
Drinks, Drugs and Smokes Spell Early Heart Disease — Amphetamines, cannabis, and cocaine posed the greatest ASCVD risk in the young
16 February, 2021 - MedPageToday
Recreational substance use was associated with early-onset atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) -- with risk especially high in women, according to data from the VA.
Independent predictors of premature ASCVD -- a first event before age 55 for men and 65 for women -- flagged by Salim Virani, MD, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and colleagues included:
- Tobacco use (adjusted OR 1.97, 95% CI 1.94-2.00)
- Alcohol use (adjusted OR 1.50, 95% CI 1.47-1.52)
- Cocaine use (adjusted OR 2.44, 95% CI 2.38-2.50)
- Amphetamine use (adjusted OR 2.74, 95% CI 2.62-2.87)
- Cannabis use (adjusted OR 2.65, 95% CI 2.59-2.71)
- Other drug use (adjusted OR 2.53, 95% CI 2.47-2.59)
Bristol-Myers, Sanofi ordered to pay Hawaii $834 million over Plavix warning label
15 February, 2021 - Reuters
At a glance:
A judge in Hawaii on Monday ordered Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Sanofi SA to pay more than $834 million to the state for failing to warn non-white patients properly of health risks from its blood thinner Plavix.
Judge Dean Ochiai in Honolulu concluded the companies engaged in unfair and deceptive business practices from 1998 to 2010 by failing to change the drug’s label to warn doctors and patients despite knowing some of the risks.
Hawaii Attorney General Clare Connors, whose office sued the companies in 2014, said the ruling “puts the pharmaceutical industry on notice that it will be held accountable for conduct that deceives the public and places profit above safety.”
Bristol-Myers and Sanofi, which produced Plavix in a partnership, in a joint statement vowed to appeal, saying the decision was “unsupported by the law and at odds with the evidence at trial.” They called Plavix safe and effective.
Amgen loses appeal in patent suit against Sanofi/Regeneron’s Praluent. It’s a bummer for Bristol Myers Squibb and Merck, too
12 February, 2021 - ENDPOINTS NEWS
At a glance:
In a coda to a six-year legal fight on the PCSK9 terrain, the US Federal Court of Appeals has ruled that Amgen’s patent claims for PCSK9 antibodies as a class are invalid, handing a win to Sanofi and Regeneron.
The implications, though, may reverberate far beyond Amgen.
The Thousand Oaks, CA-based company, whose Repatha was approved a month after Praluent in 2015, may take comfort in the fact that its sales have consistently eclipsed Sanofi or Regeneron’s, although neither has climbed anywhere near the blockbuster expectations developers and analysts had.
Amgen first took Sanofi and Regeneron to court before those drugs went on the market, seeking to block the sale of Praluent. While a jury and a judge have previously sided with Amgen — going so far as to grant an injunction against Sanofi and Regeneron (a stay was soon issued) — in late 2019, a US judge overturned that verdict and ruled in favor of the heavyweight drug partners. It was a bitter loss for Amgen’s famously aggressive lawyer corps, which has scored high-profile victories such as the megablockbuster case against Novartis’ generics arm Sandoz.
That decision, by the US District Court in Delaware, was upheld in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit...
A comparative analysis of premature heart disease- and cancer-related mortality in women in the USA, 1999–2018
08 February, 2021 - European Heart Journal - Quality of Care & Clinical Outcomes
Safi U Khan, Siva H Yedlapati, Ahmad N Lone, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, Nanette K Wenger, Karol E Watson, Martha Gulati, Allison G Hays, Erin D Michos, A comparative analysis of premature heart disease- and cancer-related mortality in women in the USA, 1999–2018, European Heart Journal - Quality of Care and Clinical Outcomes, 2021;, qcaa099, https://doi.org/10.1093/ehjqcco/qcaa099
Abstract
Aims
To compare premature heart disease- and cancer-related deaths in women in the USA.
Methods and results
We analysed the US national database of death certificates of women aged <65 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research database between 1999 and 2018. We measured annual percentage changes (APCs) in age-adjusted mortality rates (AAMRs) and years of potential life lost per 100 000 persons due to heart disease and cancer. Overall, cancer was a more prevalent cause of premature death compared with heart disease. Between 1999 and 2018, the AAMRs decreased for both cancer (61.9/100 000 to 45.6/100 000) and heart disease (29.2/100 000 to 22.6/100 000). However, while APC in AAMR for cancer declined consistently over time, after an initial decline, APC in AAMR for heart disease increased between 2010 and 2018 [0.53 95% confidence interval (0.18–0.89)], with a significant rise in Midwest, medium/small metros, and rural areas after 2008. Compared with cancer, APC in AAMR for heart disease increased in women aged 25–34 years [2.24 (0.30–4.22); 2013–18) and 55–64 years [0.46 (0.13–0.80); 2009–13], as well as Non-Hispanic (NH) Whites [APC, 0.79 (0.46–1.13); 2009–18] and NH American Indian/Alaskan Native [2.71 (0.59–4.87); 2011–2018]. Consequently, the mortality gap between cancer and heart disease has narrowed from an AAMR of 32.7/100 000 to 23.0/100 000.
Conclusions
The mortality gap between cancer and heart disease is decreasing among women <65 years. Intensive cardiovascular health interventions are required focusing on vulnerable young demographic subgroups and underserved regional areas to meet the American Heart Association’s Impact Goal and Million Hearts Initiative.
Also discussed:
- Comparative trends between cancer and heart disease
- Age adjusted mortality rates
- Regional comparisons
- Cancer and heart disease mortality gap
Pixel phones will be able to read your heart rate with their cameras .
04 February, 2021 - The VergeAt a glance:
The Google Fit app will measure heart and respiratory rate.
Google is adding heart and respiratory rate monitors to the Fit app on Pixel phones this month, and it plans to add them to other Android phones in the future. Both features rely on the smartphone camera: it measures respiratory rate by monitoring the rise and fall of a user’s chest, and heart rate by tracking color change as blood moves through the fingertip.
The features are only intended to let users track overall wellness and cannot evaluate or diagnose medical conditions, the company said.
To measure respiratory rate (the number of breaths someone takes per minute) using the app, users point the phone’s front-facing camera at their head and chest. To measure heart rate, they place their finger over the rear-facing camera.
USPSTF: Still a Hard Pass on Carotid Artery Stenosis Screening
02 February, 2021 - MedPageToday
At a glance:
Carotid artery stenosis screening still can't be recommended in the absence of symptoms, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) concluded.
No "substantial" evidence has turned up in the years since its last D-grade recommendation against screening for asymptomatic adults in 2014, argued the group led by Alex H. Krist, MD, MPH, of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
"Using a reaffirmation process, the USPSTF concludes with moderate certainty that the harms of screening for asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis outweigh the benefits," they wrote in JAMA.
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