Semaglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Obesity without Diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, has been shown to reduce the risk of adverse cardiovascular events in patients with diabetes. Whether semaglutide can reduce cardiovascular risk associated with overweight and obesity in the absence of diabetes is unknown. METHODS: In a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, event-driven superiority trial, we enrolled patients 45 years of age or older who had preexisting cardiovascular disease and a body-mass index (the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) of 27 or greater but no history of diabetes. Patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide at a dose of 2.4 mg or placebo. The primary cardiovascular end point was a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke in a time-to-first-event analysis. Safety was also assessed. RESULTS: A total of 17,604 patients were enrolled; 8803 were assigned to receive semaglutide and 8801 to receive placebo. The mean (±SD) duration of exposure to semaglutide or placebo was 34.2±13.7 months, and the mean duration of follow-up was 39.8±9.4 months. A primary cardiovascular end-point event occurred in 569 of the 8803 patients (6.5%) in the semaglutide group and in 701 of the 8801 patients (8.0%) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% confidence interval, 0.72 to 0.90; P<0.001). Adverse events leading to permanent discontinuation of the trial product occurred in 1461 patients (16.6%) in the semaglutide group and 718 patients (8.2%) in the placebo group (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with preexisting cardiovascular disease and overweight or obesity but without diabetes, weekly subcutaneous semaglutide at a dose of 2.4 mg was superior to placebo in reducing the incidence of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke at a mean follow-up of 39.8 months. (Funded by Novo Nordisk; SELECT ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03574597.).

Obesity, Cardiorenal Comorbidities, and Risk of Hospitalization in Patients With Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction.

OBJECTIVE: To compare clinical features of patients with obesity-related heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) with those of patients with similar body mass index (BMI) but no HF and to examine the association between degree of obesity and risk for hospitalizations. METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of 22,750 adults from a large US electronic health care data set (January 1, 2012, through July 31, 2019), including 4975 with HFpEF. Baseline characteristics were compared between patients with HFpEF and a control group matched on BMI, age, sex, and year of BMI record. Risk of first hospitalization was analyzed in the HFpEF sample with negative binomial and Cox proportional hazards models, adjusted for baseline comorbidities. RESULTS: Compared with controls without HF matched on BMI, age, sex, and year of BMI record, patients with HFpEF displayed worse kidney function, greater estimated plasma volume, and more cardiovascular comorbidities. Within the HFpEF cohort, patients with higher degree of obesity were younger and had fewer concomitant cardiovascular comorbidities than those with lower degree of obesity. The mean number of HF-related hospitalizations increased with higher degree of obesity (9.6 to 15.7/100 patient-years; P=.002), but higher degree of obesity was not associated with increased risk of non-HF-related hospitalizations. CONCLUSION: Among persons with obesity, increasing cardiorenal dysfunction and volume overload differentiate those with HFpEF. Among persons with established HFpEF, those with higher degree of obesity are younger and have fewer cardiovascular comorbidities but display a unique increased risk of HF-related hospitalizations, even as risk for other hospitalizations is not different.

Fungal endocarditis in an extremely low birth weight infant: case report.

Survival rates of premature infants have increased with developing technology and evolving knowledge but late-onset sepsis is more frequent due to prolonged hospitalization periods of these infants. We report the case of an extremely low birth weight premature infant who was admitted with respiratory distress syndrome, developed necrotizing enterocolitis and fungal sepsis with endocarditis by Candida albicans. He was treated with antifungal therapy until fungal vegetation resolved. Fungal sepsis and endocarditis may be an important morbidity in preterm infants; we review the recent literature about the risk factors, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of fungal sepsis in these high risk infants.

Las tasas de supervivencia de los recién nacidos prematuros se han incrementado gracias a los avances tecnológicos y los conocimientos en constante evolución, aunque la sepsis de aparición tardía es más frecuente debido a los períodos prolongados de hospitalización de estos niños. Presentamos el caso de un recién nacido prematuro de extremadamente bajo peso al nacer hospitalizado con síndrome de dificultad respiratoria, enterocolitis necrosante y sepsis fúngica con endocarditis por Candida albicans. Se le administró tratamiento antimicótico hasta que se resolvió la vegetación fúngica. La sepsis y la endocarditis de origen micótico podrían ser una causa de morbilidad significativa en los recién nacidos prematuros. En este artículo revisamos las publicaciones científicas recientes acerca de los factores de riesgo, el diagnóstico, el tratamiento y la prevención de la sepsis fúngica en estos neonatos de alto riesgo.

Endocarditis micótica en un recién nacido de extremadamente bajo peso al nacer: A propósito de un caso / Fungal endocarditis in an extremely low birth weight infant: Case report

Las tasas de supervivencia de los recién nacidos prematuros se han incrementado gracias a los avances tecnológicos y los conocimientos en constante evolución, aunque la sepsis de aparición tardía es más frecuente debido a los períodos prolongados de hospitalización de estos niños. Presentamos el caso de un recién nacido prematuro de extremadamente bajo peso al nacer hospitalizado con síndrome de dificultad respiratoria, enterocolitis necrosante y sepsis fúngica con endocarditis por Candida albicans. Se le administró tratamiento antimicótico hasta que se resolvió la vegetación fúngica. La sepsis y la endocarditis de origen micótico podrían ser una causa de morbilidad significativa en los recién nacidos prematuros. En este artículo revisamos las publicaciones científicas recientes acerca de los factores de riesgo, el diagnóstico, el tratamiento y la prevención de la sepsis fúngica en estos neonatos de alto riesgo.

Survival rates of premature infants have increased with developing technology and evolving knowledge but late-onset sepsis is more frequent due to prolonged hospitalization periods of these infants. We report the case of an extremely low birth weight premature infant who was admitted with respiratory distress syndrome, developed necrotizing enterocolitis and fungal sepsis with endocarditis by Candida albicans. He was treated with antifungal therapy until fungal vegetation resolved. Fungal sepsis and endocarditis may be an important morbidity in preterm infants; we review the recent literature about the risk factors, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of fungal sepsis in these high risk infants.