Journal of the American Heart Association

ObjectiveTo examine whether the association between smoking status and cardiovascular (CV) mortality differs by arterial stiffness, assessed by pulse pressure index (PPI), among U.S. adults without baseline cardiovascular disease (CVD). MethodsUsing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005-2016, we analyzed 16,605 adults aged 40-79 years without baseline CVD, with mortality follow-up through December 31, 2019. PPI was calculated as (systolic blood pressure [S...

Background-Blockers (ABs) are the most commonly prescribed medications for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a highly prevalent condition. Although the ALLHAT raised concerns about cardiovascular (CV) safety of nonselective ABs for the treatment of hypertension, the comparative CV risk profile of selective 1A-adrenergic receptor (1A-AR) antagonists for BPH remains unclear. MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study using the TriNetX federated research network (158 million patients acros...

BackgroundAmong patients with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), higher concentrations of high sensitivity troponin T (hs-cTnT) are associated with larger MI size and predict a worse prognosis. In the 2467 patient CELEBRATE trial, a single subcutaneous injection of the short-acting glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor blocker antagonist zalunfiban at first medical contact significantly improved the primary outcome including clinical endpoints. In this study, we assessed the impact of ...

IntroductionPregnancy is a critical test of womens cardiovascular risk. Structural factors may influence long-term cardiovascular health beyond individual, social experiences. We examined associations of neighborhood-level deprivation and individual-level social vulnerability (SV) during pregnancy with postpartum blood pressure (BP). MethodsThis secondary analysis of a prospective cohort study used data from 3,728 nulliparous women in the nuMoM2b-HHS cohort followed from early pregnancy to 2-7 ...

BackgroundPatients with repaired coarctation of the aorta (CoAo) remain at risk for left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) even in the absence of hypertension. Alterations in wave reflection and the timing of reflected pressure waves may contribute to ventricular remodeling beyond pressure load alone. MethodsWe performed a cross-sectional analysis of patients with repaired CoAo. Office and ambulatory blood pressure (ABPM), non-invasive central hemodynamics, and echocardiographic indices of left ven...

BackgroundElevated resting heart rate is associated with increased mortality, but the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Subclinical myocardial injury (SCMI), defined by a Cardiac Infarction/Injury Score (CIIS) [≥]10, represents silent cardiac damage that predicts poor cardiovascular (CV) outcomes and may partially explain this association. MethodsWe analyzed 7,152 participants from NHANES III who underwent ECG recording and were free of cardiovascular disease. Heart rate ...

Background and AimsDespite advances in reperfusion and medical therapy, survivors of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) remain at risk for adverse left ventricular remodeling (LVR), a precursor to heart failure. Building on prior work outlining 12-month biomarker trajectories linked to early ventricular dysfunction, we aimed to assess whether these circulating biomarkers predict long-term adverse LVR. MethodsWe prospectively enrolled 155 patients experiencing their first AMI. Clinical, biochemic...

ObjectiveTo define contemporary medium and long term survival and durability outcomes after elective fenestrated and branched endovascular aortic repair (F/BEVAR) for complex abdominal and thoracoabdominal aneurysms and to assess the certainty of the available evidence. Data SourcesMEDLINE, Embase and the Cochrane Library were searched from January 2000 to February 2026, supplemented by citation screening. Review MethodsPublished Kaplan Meier time-to-event data were digitised and reconstructed...

BackgroundEmbolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS) is associated with a high risk of recurrence. However, randomized trials have not shown superiority of anticoagulation over aspirin in unselected patients. Atrial cardiomyopathy (AtCM) may identify a high-risk ESUS phenotype. We investigated whether multimodal AtCM markers distinguish ESUS from controls and predict adverse clinical outcomes. MethodsIn this prospective single-center study, consecutive ESUS patients and age- and sex-matched c...

BackgroundInflammation plays a key role in atrial fibrillation (AF) pathogenesis. The empirical dietary inflammatory potential (EDIP) score predicts circulating inflammatory biomarkers and adverse cardiac outcomes, but its association with incident AF is unclear. This study aimed to examine the relationship between EDIP score and AF risk. MethodsParticipants from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) free of baseline AF who completed a validated food frequency questionnaire were includ...

BACKGROUNDVisceral adipose tissue (VAT) has been associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality. However, the comparative performance of VAT-related clinical surrogates remains poorly characterized. OBJECTIVESTo evaluate the performance of seven VAT-related clinical surrogates for predicting CVD and cause-specific CVD mortality. METHODSWe analyzed data from the Mexico City Prospective Cohort, a population-based prospective cohort study, with baseline recruitmetn between 1998 - 2004 and...

Background and AimSedentary lifestyle and obesity are considered to be significant risk factors that create a pathway for the appearance of the sedentary cardiac phenotype consisting of cardiac atrophy, myocardial stiffening, and altered haemodynamics. Although exercise training has the potential to reverse this detrimental process, the literature data on the magnitude of improvements and the certainty of evidence are inconsistent. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the ...

BackgroundEvolocumab promotes coronary plaque regression in patients with coronary artery disease, but little is known regarding carotid plaques (CP). This study aimed to evaluate the impact of evolocumab on top of lipid-lowering therapy (ELLT) on carotid morphological stabilization (MS) and plaque regression (PR) compared to lipid-lowering therapy (LLT) alone. MethodsAsymptomatic patients with internal carotid stenosis[≥]50% and LDL-C[≥]100 mg/dL were randomized to ELLT or LLT and monito...

BackgroundElevated resting heart rate (HR) and atrial cardiopathy are each linked to higher mortality risk, yet their interrelationship and joint prognostic value remain unclear. MethodsWe analyzed 7,326 adults (mean age 59 {+/-} 13 years) without cardiovascular disease from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey with available electrocardiograms. Atrial cardiopathy was defined by electrocardiogram as abnormal P-wave axis or deep terminal P-wave negativity in V1. Multivariab...

BackgroundScreening for atherosclerosis focuses on identifying Standard Modifiable Risk Factors (SMuRFs), including diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, and smoking. PurposeTo compare the extracardiac thoracoabdominal atherosclerotic plaque burden, as measured by computed tomography angiography (CTA), among heart transplant candidates with ischemic or non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM, NICM), and evaluate potential associations between plaque burden and SMuRFs. MethodsThis retrospective stu...

BackgroundBoth acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and acute myocarditis are characterised by cardiac troponin release as a marker of cardiomyocyte injury. While peak troponin is widely accepted as a surrogate marker for infarct size in AMI, its relationship with myocardial injury in acute myocarditis is unclear. This study aimed to quantify and compare the association between peak high-sensitivity cardiac troponin and cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) exten...

BackgroundAdvances in wearable devices and machine-learning-based ECG analysis enable highly accurate detection of atrial fibrillation (AF) outside traditional clinical settings, leading to increasing identification of asymptomatic AF. However, the prognostic significance of AI-detected asymptomatic AF and its implications for downstream cardiovascular risk remain unclear. In contrast to clinically diagnosed AF, evidence guiding risk stratification and further evaluation in this population is li...

BackgroundIn patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and stable coronary artery disease beyond 1 year after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), oral anticoagulant monotherapy is guideline-recommended; however, its efficacy and safety in patients with complex PCI remain uncertain. MethodsWe conducted a post-hoc analysis of the randomized ADAPT AF-DES trial comparing NOAC monotherapy versus NOAC plus clopidogrel in AF patients [≥]12 months after second- or third-generation drug-eluting st...

We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials evaluating glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) versus placebo in adults with heart failure (HF), searching PubMed, Cochrane CENTRAL, and ClinicalTrials.gov through February 2026. The primary outcome was the composite of cardiovascular death and first HF hospitalization. Random-effects meta-analysis used restricted maximum likelihood estimation with Hartung-Knapp-Sidik-Jonkman adjustment. We inclu...

BackgroundAcute myocarditis is typically self-limiting and resolves spontaneously in most cases. However, ventricular arrhythmias (VA) complications, which may be life-threatening are associated with higher rates of in-hospital complications and mortality. Catheter ablation is occasionally required for acute myocarditis associated ventricular tachycardia (VT), but data on its procedural use and outcomes, in this setting, remain limited. We aimed to determine the prevalence of VA among patients h...