Farxiga OK'd for All EF; Older Donor Hearts; Cardiologist Arrested for Deaths

FDA gave expanded approval to the SGLT-2 inhibitor dapagliflozin (Farxiga) for preventing cardiovascular death, heart failure hospitalization, and urgent heart failure visits in all patients with heart failure regardless of ejection fraction, AstraZeneca announced.

Based on the EMPEROR trials, empagliflozin (Jardiance) consistently reduced heart failure events across the spectrum of chronic kidney disease. (Journal of the American College of Cardiology)

In a large Spanish study of the prognostic values of clinic and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure assessment, night-time systolic blood pressure emerged as having the strongest ties to all-cause mortality and cardiovascular death over a decade. (The Lancet)

People who spend at least 30 minutes a week talking on their cell phones tend to have a greater risk of new-onset hypertension over the next 12 years. (European Heart Journal Digital Health)

In the Million Veteran Program, adding polygenic risk scores slightly improved risk stratification for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. (JAMA Cardiology)

Priced at $250 a test, bundled genetic screening for Lynch syndrome, hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, and familial hypercholesterolemia would be cost-effective in adults under 40. (Annals of Internal Medicine)

The American Heart Association highlighted the cardiovascular research disparities across Asian ethnic subgroups in the U.S. and urged better risk estimation for these populations. (Circulation)

Elevated systemic levels of cytokines and other immune features are a signature of patients who developed myocarditis from SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination. (Science Immunology)

Outside COVID-19, antithrombotics had no impact on all-cause mortality in critically ill people with infectious diseases, a meta-analysis found. (International Journal of Cardiology)

Endovascular therapy for stroke in the very late window (>24 hours) was supported by a meta-analysis of seven studies. (JAMA Network Open)

Survival was not affected for transplant recipients in their 70s who received hearts from donors ages 50 and up in an observational study with implications for expanding the organ donor pool. (Annals of Thoracic Surgery)

The first in-utero embolization repair of vein of Galen malformation in the brain occurred at 34 weeks and 2 days gestational age. The baby was born requiring no heart failure medication and no further surgical repair of the malformation. (Stroke)

A nationwide survey found gaps in secondary cardiovascular prevention therapy utilization and physical activity among cancer patients. (European Journal of Preventive Cardiology)

The decongestive response to acetazolamide was magnified in heart failure patients with elevated bicarbonate levels in a subanalysis of the ADVOR trial. (European Heart Journal)

A higher cardio-ankle vascular index, indicating greater arterial stiffness, predicted postoperative atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery. (European Heart Journal Open)

A diagnosis of Brugada syndrome was associated with new-onset depression or anxiety among one in six people within 5 years. (EP Europace)

Scientists looked at how dexamethasone and betamethasone affect the developing cardiovascular system in a chicken egg model. (FASEB Journal)

A Berlin cardiologist was arrested after it was determined that two ICU patients who died under his care had received unjustifiably high doses of a sedative. (Reuters)

Comment