Cardiac MRI Findings in Male Patients with Acute Myocarditis in the Presence or Absence of COVID-19 Vaccination.

By comparing phenotypic clinical characteristics and cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) findings in 14 patients with COVID-19 mRNA vaccine-associated myocarditis to 14 patients with acute myocarditis from other causes, we found that patients with COVID-19 vaccination- associated acute myocarditis have higher left ventricular ejection fraction, higher left ventricular global circumferential and radial strain, and less involvement of late gadolinium enhancement in the septal segments with less involvement of midmyocardial pattern of late gadolinium enhancement, compared to patients with acute myocarditis from other causes.

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance findings in young adult patients with acute myocarditis following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination: a case series.

BACKGROUND: Messenger RNA (mRNA) coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine are known to cause minor side effects at the injection site and mild global systemic symptoms in first 24-48 h. Recently published case series have reported a possible association between acute myocarditis and COVID-19 vaccination, predominantly in young males. METHODS: We report a case series of 5 young male patients with cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR)-confirmed acute myocarditis within 72 h after receiving a dose of an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine. RESULTS: Our case series suggests that myocarditis in this setting is characterized by myocardial edema and late gadolinium enhancement in the lateral wall of the left ventricular (LV) myocardium, reduced global LV longitudinal strain, and preserved LV ejection fraction. All patients in our series remained clinically stable during a relatively short inpatient hospital stay. CONCLUSIONS: In conjunction with other recently published case series and national vaccine safety surveillance data, this case series suggests a possible association between acute myocarditis and COVID-19 vaccination in young males and highlights a potential pattern in accompanying CMR abnormalities.

Demographic Pattern and Mortality Risk Factors for Prescription Opioid Overdose Hospitalizations: Results From Nationwide Inpatient Sample Analysis.

Objectives To explore the demographic patterns of hospitalizations related to prescription opioid overdose (POD) and evaluate the mortality risk of association in POD inpatients. Methodology We conducted a cross-sectional study using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample of 184,711 POD inpatients. A binomial logistic regression model was used to evaluate the odds ratio (OR) of association for mortality risk due to comorbidities (substance use disorders (SUD) and medical complications) in POD inpatients. Results POD inpatients were majorly females (54.1%), older adults aged 51-75 years (48.5%), whites (81.5%), and from lower household income quartet (32.8%). The most prevalent comorbid SUD among POD inpatients was alcohol (15.7%), followed by cannabis (5.7%), cocaine (4.2%), and amphetamine (1.8%). Comorbid alcohol use disorders had a minimally increased association with mortality but were not statistically significant (OR = 1.036; P = 0.438). POD in patients with cardiac arrest had the highest risk of mortality (OR = 103.423; P < 0.001), followed by shock (OR = 15.367; P < 0.001), coma (OR = 13.427; P < 0.001), and respiratory failure (OR = 12.051; P < 0.001). Conclusions Our study indicates that the hospitalizations related to POD were more prevalent among females, elders between 51 and 75 years of age, whites, and those in the lower household income quartet. The prevalence of prescription opioid use and the hospitalization related to POD remains a significant public health issue. POD inpatients with medical complications were at a higher risk of mortality than with comorbid SUD.

Mediterranean, DASH, and Alternate Healthy Eating Index Dietary Patterns and Risk of Death in the Physicians' Health Study.

OBJECTIVE: Our primary objective was to examine the associations of the Mediterranean (MED), the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), and the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) diet with total mortality. Our secondary objective was to examine the association of these three dietary patterns with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer mortality. RESEARCH: Design and Methods: We prospectively studied 15,768 men from the Physicians' Health Study who completed a semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire. Scores from each dietary pattern were divided into quintiles. Multivariable Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratio's (95% confidence intervals) of mortality. RESULTS: At baseline, average age was 65.9 ± 8.9 years. There were 1763 deaths, including 488 CVD deaths and 589 cancer deaths. All diet scores were inversely associated with risk for all-cause mortality: Hazard ratios (95% CI) of all-cause mortality from lowest to highest quintile for MED diet were 1.0 (reference), 0.85 (0.73-0.98), 0.80 (0.69-0.93), 0.77 (0.66-0.90), and 0.68 (0.58-0.79); corresponding values were 1.0 (reference), 0.96 (0.82-1.12), 0.95 (0.82-1.11), 0.88 (0.75-1.04), and 0.83 (0.71-0.99) for DASH diet and 1.0 (reference), 0.88 (0.77-1.02), 0.82 (0.71-0.95), 0.69 (0.59, 0.81), and 0.56 (0.47-0.67) for AHEI diet, after adjusting for age, energy, smoking, exercise, BMI, hypertension, coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes, and atrial fibrillation. For cause-specific mortality, MED and AHEI scores were inversely associated with lower risk for CVD mortality, whereas AHEI and MED scores were inversely associated with lower risk for cancer mortality. CONCLUSION: Within this cohort of male physicians, AHEI, MED, and DASH scores were each inversely associated with mortality from all causes.

Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption and Calcified Atherosclerotic Plaques in the Coronary Arteries: The NHLBI Family Heart Study.

BACKGROUND: Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake is associated with higher risk of weight gain, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and cardiovascular mortality. However, the association of SSB with subclinical atherosclerosis in the general population is unknown. OBJECTIVE: Our primary objective was to investigate the association between SSB intake and prevalence of atherosclerotic plaque in the coronary arteries in The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Family Heart Study. METHODS: We studied 1991 participants of the NHLBI Family Heart Study without known coronary heart disease. Intake of SSB was assessed through a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Coronary artery calcium (CAC) was measured by cardiac Computed Tomography (CT) and prevalent CAC was defined as an Agatston score ≥100. We used generalized estimating equations to calculate adjusted prevalence ratios of CAC. A sensitivity analysis was also performed at different ranges of cut points for CAC. RESULTS: Mean age and body mass index (BMI) were 55.0 years and 29.5 kg/m2, respectively, and 60% were female. In analysis adjusted for age, sex, BMI, smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, energy intake, and field center, higher SSB consumption was not associated with higher prevalence of CAC [prevalence ratio (95% confidence interval) of: 1.0 (reference), 1.36 (0.70-2.63), 1.69 (0.93-3.09), 1.21 (0.69-2.12), 1.05 (0.60-1.84), and 1.58 (0.85-2.94) for SSB consumption of almost never, 1-3/month, 1/week, 2-6/week, 1/day, and ≥2/day, respectively (p for linear trend 0.32)]. In a sensitivity analysis, there was no evidence of association between SSB and prevalent CAC when different CAC cut points of 0, 50, 150, 200, and 300 were used. CONCLUSIONS: These data do not provide evidence for an association between SSB consumption and prevalent CAC in adult men and women.

Serial sodium values and adverse outcomes in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of our study is to examine whether serial measurements of serum sodium values after diagnosis identify a higher-risk subset of patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. METHODS: We identified 50,932 subjects with HFpEF with 759,577 recorded sNa measurements (mean age 72 ±â€¯11 years) using a validated algorithm in the VA national database from 2002 to 2012. We examined the association of repeated measures of sNa with mortality using a multivariable Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: After a median follow-up of 2.9 years (IQR: 1.2-5.4), 19,011 deaths occurred. After adjusting for age, sex, race, BMI, glomerular filtration rate, potassium, coronary artery disease, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, atrial fibrillation, pulmonary disease, diabetes, anemia, and medications, we found J-shaped associations of serum sodium with mortality. HRs for all-cause mortality were 2.48 (95% CI: 2.38-2.60) for the sNA 115.00-133.99 category; and 1.40 (95% CI: 1.35-1.46) for the sNA 143.00-175.00 category compared to the 137.01-140.99 category (ref). We used generalized estimating equation-based negative binomial regression to compute the incidence density ratios (IDR) to examine days hospitalized for heart failure and for all causes. There were a total of 1,275,614 days of all-cause hospitalization and 104,006 days of heart-failure hospitalization. The IDRs for the lowest sNA group were 2.03 (95% CI: 1.90-2.18) for all-cause hospitalization and 1.73 (95% CI: 1.39-2.16) for heart-failure hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that monitoring of serum sodium values during longitudinal follow-up can identify HFpEF patients at risk of adverse outcomes.

Development and validation of a heart failure with preserved ejection fraction cohort using electronic medical records.

BACKGROUND: Heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) comprises nearly half of prevalent HF, yet is challenging to curate in a large database of electronic medical records (EMR) since it requires both accurate HF diagnosis and left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) values to be consistently ≥50%. METHODS: We used the national Veterans Affairs EMR to curate a cohort of HFpEF patients from 2002 to 2014. EF values were extracted from clinical documents utilizing natural language processing and an iterative approach was used to refine the algorithm for verification of clinical HFpEF. The final algorithm utilized the following inclusion criteria: any International Classification of Diseases-9 (ICD-9) code of HF (428.xx); all recorded EF ≥50%; and either B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) or aminoterminal pro-BNP (NT-proBNP) values recorded OR diuretic use within one month of diagnosis of HF. Validation of the algorithm was performed by 3 independent reviewers doing manual chart review of 100 HFpEF cases and 100 controls. RESULTS: We established a HFpEF cohort of 80,248 patients (out of a total 1,155,376 patients with the ICD-9 diagnosis of HF). Mean age was 72 years; 96% were males and 12% were African-Americans. Validation analysis of the HFpEF algorithm had a sensitivity of 88%, specificity of 96%, positive predictive value of 96%, and a negative predictive value of 87% to identify HFpEF cases. CONCLUSION: We developed a sensitive, highly specific algorithm for detecting HFpEF in a large national database. This approach may be applicable to other large EMR databases to identify HFpEF patients.

Prognostic Significance of Baseline Serum Sodium in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between serum sodium at the time of diagnosis and long term clinical outcomes in a large national cohort of patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied 25 440 patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction treated at Veterans Affairs medical centers across the United States between 2002 and 2012. Serum sodium at the time of heart failure diagnosis was analyzed as a continuous variable and in categories as follows: low (115.00-134.99 mmol/L), low-normal (135.00-137.99 mmol/L), referent group (138.00-140.99 mmol/L), high normal (141.00-143.99 mmol/L), and high (144.00-160.00 mmol/L). Multivariable Cox regression and negative binomial regression were performed to estimate hazard ratios (95% confidence interval [CI]) and incidence density ratios (95% CI) for the associations of serum sodium with mortality and hospitalizations (heart failure and all-cause), respectively. The average age of patients was 70.8 years, 96.2% were male, and 14% were black. Compared with the referent group, low, low-normal, and high sodium values were associated with 36% (95% CI, 28%-44%), 6% (95% CI, 1%-12%), and 9% (95% CI, 1%-17%) higher risk of all-cause mortality, respectively. Low and low-normal serum sodium were associated with 48% (95% CI, 10%-100%) and 38% (95% CI, 8%-77%) higher risk of number of days of heart failure hospitalizations per year, and with 44% (95% CI, 32%-56%) and 18% (95% CI, 10%-27%) higher risk of number of days of all-cause hospitalizations per year, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Both elevated and reduced serum sodium, including values currently considered within normal range, are associated with adverse outcomes in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Adherence to healthy lifestyle factors and risk of death in men with diabetes mellitus: The Physicians' Health Study.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: The relationship between healthy lifestyle factors and mortality in people with type 2 diabetes is unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine whether healthy lifestyle factors are associated with mortality in people with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: We prospectively studied 1163 men with type 2 diabetes from the Physicians' Health Study. Lifestyle factors consisted of currently not smoking, moderate drinking (1-2 drinks/day), vigorous exercise (1+/week), BMI < 25 kg/m2, and being in the top 2 quintiles of the alternate healthy eating index-2010 (AHEI-2010). Multivariate Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) of mortality. RESULTS: At baseline, average age was 69 years and mean follow up was 9 years. About 22% of study participants had ≤1 healthy lifestyle factor, 37% had two, 29% had three, and 12% had four or more healthy lifestyle factors. An inverse relationship was found between the number of lifestyle factors and total mortality. Compared with participants who had ≤1 healthy lifestyle factor, the risk of death was 42% (95% CI; 19%-58%) lower for those with two healthy lifestyle factors, 41% (95% CI; 18%-58%) lower for those with three, and 44% (95% CI; 12%-64%) lower for those with 4 or more healthy lifestyle factors. CONCLUSION: Adherence to modifiable healthy lifestyle factors is associated with a lower risk of death among adult men with type 2 diabetes. Our study emphasizes the importance of educating individuals with diabetes to adhere to healthy lifestyle factors.

Coffee consumption and calcified atherosclerotic plaques in the coronary arteries: The NHLBI Family Heart Study.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: While a recent meta-analysis of prospective studies reported that coffee consumption is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality, limited and inconsistent data are available on the relation of coffee intake with subclinical disease. Thus, the aim of the present study was to see the association of coffee consumption with the prevalence of atherosclerotic plaque in the coronary arteries in NHLBI Family Heart Study. METHODS: In a cross-sectional design, we studied 1929 participants of the NHLBI Family Heart Study without known coronary heart disease. Coffee consumption was assessed by a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire and coronary-artery calcium (CAC) was measured by cardiac computed tomography. We defined prevalent CAC as an Agatston score of ≥100 and used generalized estimating equations to calculate prevalence ratios of CAC as well as a sensitivity analysis at a range of cutpoints for CAC. RESULTS: Mean age was 56.7 years and 59% of the study subjects were female. In adjusted analysis for age, sex, BMI, smoking, alcohol, physical activity, field center, and energy intake, prevalence ratio (95% CI) for CAC was 1.0 (reference), 0.92 (0.57-1.49), 1.34 (0.86-2.08), 1.30 (0.84-2.02), and 0.99 (0.60-1.64) for coffee consumption of almost never, <1/day, 1/day, 2-3/day, and ≥4 cups/day, respectively. In a sensitivity analysis, there was no evidence of association between coffee consumption and prevalent CAC when CAC cut points of 0, 50, 150, 200, and 300 were used. CONCLUSIONS: These data do not provide evidence for an association between coffee consumption and prevalent CAC in adult men and women.

Retinopathy predicts progression of fasting plasma glucose: An Early Diabetes Intervention Program (EDIP) analysis.

BACKGROUND: Retinopathy is increasingly recognized in prediabetic populations, and may herald increased risk of metabolic worsening. The Early Diabetes Intervention Program (EDIP) evaluated worsening of glycemia in screen-detected Type 2 diabetes, following participants for up to 5years. Here we have evaluated whether the presence of retinopathy at the time of detection of diabetes was associated with accelerated progression of glycemia. METHODS: We prospectively studied 194 participants from EDIP with available baseline retinal photographs. Retinopathy was determined at baseline using 7-field fundus photography and defined as an Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study Scale grading score of ≥20. RESULTS: At baseline, 12% of participants had classical retinal lesions indicating retinopathy. In univariate Cox proportional hazard analysis, the presence of retinopathy at baseline was associated with a doubled risk of progression of fasting plasma glucose (HR 2.02; 95% CI 1.05-3.89). The retinopathy effect was robust to individual adjustment for age and glucose, the most potent determinants of progression in EDIP. CONCLUSION: Retinopathy was associated with increased risk of progression of fasting plasma glucose among adults with screen-detected, early diabetes. Early detection of retinopathy may help individualize more aggressive therapy to prevent progressive metabolic worsening in early diabetes.

Efficacy of spinal cord stimulation as an adjunct therapy for chronic refractory angina pectoris.

INTRODUCTION: Patients with chronic refractory angina whose symptoms are not controlled with conventional therapies have a poor quality of life. Adjunctive therapies, such as spinal cord stimulation (SCS) may be considered in these cases. We sought to examine whether SCS is associated with changes in exercise capacity and angina severity in these patients. METHODS: We searched Pubmed, Medline and other databases until December 2015. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed risk of bias. Exercise capacity included exercise duration and rate pressure product, determined via an exercise test. Angina severity included daily angina frequency and nitrate consumption. RESULTS: A total of 518 participants (1048.25 person-years of follow-up), from 14 studies met our inclusion criteria. The mean age was 66.8years and 68.5% were men. SCS implant duration ranged from 3weeks to 5years (median: 6months). Using random effects meta-analysis, we found that SCS was associated with a higher exercise duration (1.90min, 95% CI 1.71, 2.06) and lower angina severity, 1.55 less daily angina episodes, (95% CI -1.75, -1.33), 1.54 less daily nitrates consumed, (95% CI -1.81, -1.26), and a 22 points higher SF-36 angina frequency score (95% CI 10.76, 32.81; p<0.0001) on follow-up. The change in rate pressure product was not significant. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis suggests that SCS, as an adjunct therapy to medical management, may be associated with a longer exercise duration and lower angina frequency and nitrate consumption in patients with chronic refractory angina pectoris who are not candidates for percutaneous intervention or revascularization.

Profound defects in ß-cell function in screen-detected type 2 diabetes are not improved with glucose-lowering treatment in the Early Diabetes Intervention Program (EDIP).

BACKGROUND: Few studies have measured the ability of interventions to affect declining ß-cell function in screen-detected type 2 diabetes. The Early Diabetes Intervention Programme (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01470937) was a randomized study based on the hypothesis that improving postprandial glucose excursions with acarbose would slow the progression of fasting hyperglycaemia in screen-detected type 2 diabetes. In the Early Diabetes Intervention Programme, the effect of acarbose plus lifestyle advice on progression of fasting hyperglycaemia over a 5-year period was not greater than that of placebo. However, there was an early glucose-lowering effect of the trial. The objective of the current secondary analysis was to describe ß-cell function changes in response to glucose lowering. METHODS: Participants were overweight adult subjects with screen-detected type 2 diabetes. ß-cell function was measured using hyperglycaemic clamps and oral glucose tolerance testing. The primary outcome was the change in ß-cell function from baseline to year 1, the time point where the maximal glucose-lowering effect was seen. RESULTS: At baseline, participants exhibited markedly impaired first-phase insulin response. Despite significant reductions in weight, fasting plasma glucose (PG) and 2-h PG, there was no clinically significant improvement in the first-phase insulin response. Late-phase insulin responses declined despite beneficial glycaemic effects of interventions. CONCLUSIONS: Insulin secretion is already severely impaired in early, screen-detected type 2 diabetes. Effective glucose-lowering intervention with acarbose was not sufficient to improve insulin secretion or halt the decline of ß-cell function.

Effect of graduated compression stockings on venous blood velocity in supine resting hospitalized patients.

The effects of graduated compression stockings (GCSs) on venous blood velocity were measured in 26 hospitalized medical patients while supine at rest. Peak blood velocity in the right femoral vein was 21.6 cm/s without GCS and 23.0 cm/s with GCS [not significant (NS)]. Peak blood velocity in the right popliteal vein was 12.5 cm/s without GCS and 15.0 cm/s with GCS (NS). Mean blood velocity in the right femoral vein did not increase significantly with GCS, but mean blood velocity in the right popliteal vein increased marginally from 5.0 cm/s to 5.8 cm/s (P = .05). Among 11 patients with venous insufficiency (refilling time ≤19 s), neither peak nor mean blood velocity in the femoral or popliteal veins increased significantly with GCS. In conclusion, thigh-length GCS in hospitalized patients had little or no effect on popliteal or femoral vein blood velocity while supine at rest, irrespective of whether the patients had venous insufficiency.

Electrocardiogram in pneumonia.

Findings on electrocardiogram may hint that pulmonary embolism (PE) is present when interpreted in the proper context and lead to definitive imaging tests. However, it would be useful to know if electrocardiographic (ECG) abnormalities also occur in patients with pneumonia and whether these are similar to ECG changes with PE. The purpose of this investigation was to determine ECG findings in patients with pneumonia. We retrospectively evaluated 62 adults discharged with a diagnosis of pneumonia who had no previous cardiopulmonary disease and had electrocardiogram obtained during hospitalization. The most prevalent ECG abnormality, other than sinus tachycardia, was minor nonspecific ST-segment or T-wave changes occurring in 13 of 62 (21%). Right atrial enlargement occurred in 4 of 62 (6.5%). QRS abnormalities were observed in 24 of 62 (39%). Right-axis deviation and S(1)S(2)S(3) were the most prevalent QRS abnormalities, which occurred in 6 of 62 (9.7%). Complete right bundle branch block and S(1)Q(3)T(3) pattern occurred in 3 of 62 (4.8%). ECG abnormalities that were not present within 1 month previously or abnormalities that disappeared within 1 month included left-axis deviation, right-axis deviation, right atrial enlargement, right ventricular hypertrophy, S(1)S(2)S(3), S(1)Q(3)T(3), low-voltage QRS complexes, and nonspecific ST-segment or T-wave abnormalities. In conclusion, electrocardiogram in patients with pneumonia often shows QRS abnormalities or nonspecific ST-segment or T-wave changes. ECG findings are similar to ECG abnormalities in PE and electrocardiogram cannot assist in the differential diagnosis.

Successful recruitment of healthy African American men to genomic studies from high-volume community health fairs: implications for future genomic research in minority populations.

BACKGROUND: Study of genomic data obtained from patient biospecimens is frequent in research of subjects with prostate and other epithelial malignancies. Understanding of the characteristics of healthy men who participate in genomic research is limited. METHODS: Patients were identified through the Prostate Cancer Genetic Risk Evaluation of SNPs Study and the Indiana University Cancer Biomarker Study, 2 population-based biomarker and cohort studies. Between 2006 and 2010, healthy Caucasian (n = 774) and healthy African American (n = 381) men were recruited and enrolled at high-volume free community health fairs. Each participant completed a demographic questionnaire and provided a blood sample for genomic research investigations. Frequency differences between demographic features of healthy African American and Caucasian men were compared and analyzed by 2-sample t test and multivariate logistic regression after adjusting potential confounding variables with significance at the P < .05 level. Features examined included: age, body mass index (BMI), income, education, marital status, tobacco, alcohol, family history, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, and prior prostate cancer screening history. RESULTS: Significant differences between healthy Caucasian and African American men participating in genomic research included: marital status (married, 69% Caucasian vs 46% African American, P< < .001), mean age (years, 58 Caucasian vs 54 African American, P < .001), mean BMI (kg/m(2), 30.9 Caucasian vs 32.3 African American, P = .004), annual income (P = .038), education (P = .002), and mean PSA (ng/mL, 1.2 Caucasian vs 2.0 African American, P = .005). CONCLUSIONS: Significant demographic differences exist between healthy Caucasian and African American men choosing to participate in genomic research. These differences may be important in designing genomic research study recruitment strategies.