American Heart Association

Data from a new study indicate that trauma is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease in sexual minority women, suggesting it should be screened for as a risk factor in this population.

Investigators have found an association between opioid use and cardiovascular mortality.

Since they were first approved for patient care more than a year ago PCSK9 inhibitors have shown to be a powerful tool in the fight against dangerously high cholesterol levels. However, there are still challenges standing in the way of them being made more widely available.

The annual American Heart Association Scientific Sessions were filled with a wide range of presentations made in New Orleans. It was the late breaking news that made the most impact for those in attendance as they look to the future of cardiac care.

As the American Heart Association wrapped up another successful conference in New Orleans, each of the approximately 18,000 providers in attendance was bringing home something new to their practices or optimism for new treatments to come in the future.

Novel oral anticoagulants have made treatment of many patients considerably easier over the past few years. Finding ways to apply that to veterans can help a patient population deserving of high quality health care.

Much like civilians, military veterans have trouble maintaining safe levels with warfarin treatment.

Among a large sample of Veterans Affairs health care patients with peripheral artery disease, researchers found African Americans were 43% more likely to lose a limb to amputation--and it is likely not because of socioeconomic or behavioral factors.

When patients leave the waiting room of their provider, their concerns can go with them. With the help of social media channels like Facebook and Twitter, those concerns can be addressed while information is shared in a new and effective manner.

Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans 11 years ago. A physician and colleagues documented "Post Katrina Stress Disorder" tells how he came to do the study, and what the disaster was like for him.

If statins are good and PCSK9 inhibitors are better, how good will a combination be? Researchers reported today in a study called GLAGOV.

With more than 10,000 providers from around the world converging on the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions, lessons from the event can be implemented as soon as the next day or show promise of work to come in the future.

The treatment of cardiovascular disease for men may be ahead of where it is for women, but there is a concerted effort to bring the two into a more balanced measure.

A lot is yet to be determined about the potential benefits of precision medicine in cardiology. As that field develops, there will also be questions about the varying benefits for men and women.

A PCSK9 inhibitor that reduces cholesterol by RNA interference instead of the monoclonal antibody approach appears effective and holds the promise of fewer injections and lower cost, researchers said today.

Praluent has been studied at a variety of levels and, now that it's been approved, there has been more insight on its benefits and risks.

With statins being a common treatment option to help patients reduce their cholesterol levels, the still relatively newly approved PCSK9 inhibitors have proven a valuable tool. However, they are not enough to help eliminate concerns about cardiac care and cholesterol.

Doctors prescribing Praluent for their patients have two dosing options to choose from. Studies on the treatment option have shown that the safety profile for both are good for patients.

In just over a year, Praluent has shown benefits in helping patients lower their cholesterol level. Despite the progress, there have also been some challenges.

Researchers who evaluated adverse events in a large sample of patients taking NSAIDs for arthritis came to a surprising conclusion: celecoxib is the safest of three drugs studied.

Left ventricular assist devices are usually associated with keeping patients alive while they wait for a heart transplant. Using the devices with aggressive drug therapy enabled some patients to recover heart function and forgo the pumps.

One of the biggest challenges cardiologists face is treating patients with atrial fibrillation who are undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention, particularly when it comes to prescribing anticoagulants.

An analysis of thousands of patients in Germany taken from a national registry found interventional procedures more dangerous than surgery for severe symptomatic aortic valve stenosis. But there may have been confounding factors.

For doctors concerned about cardiovascular disease in patients, there have been some lingering questions about the best medications to prescribe.

A study comparing whether certain heart patients did better with bilateral arterial grafts than single grafts had the surprising result of finding no benefit at five years.

Systemic atherosclerosis causes peripheral artery disease, and these patients are at risk of cardiovascular death and stroke.

AHA President Steven Houser opens the AHA Scientific Sessions 2016 with a moving talk on his father's premature death from heart disease.

Patients taken statins who survived heart attacks lived longer than those who did not take the drugs, a Taiwan research team found.

Using marijuana may double the risk of stress cardiomyopathy, researchers found.

The mysterious sudden deaths of apparently healthy people, some young and engaged in sports, could be explained by mutations uncovered by a Canada research team.