News and views

We are delighted to announce a partnership between the British Journal of Cardiology (BJC) and the British Society for Heart Failure (BSH)....

New perspectives in heart failure management and the development of the multidisciplinary workforce was the focus of the 23rd Annual Autumn Meeting of The British Society for Heart Failure (BSH) ‘2020 vision for heart failure’. Held on 26th–27th November 2020, the meeting was hosted for the first time in a virtual space, which resembled the traditional home of the conference, the QE II Centre in London. Dr Alexandra Abel reports selected highlights from the meeting....

Variations in surgical technique for permanent pacemaker implantation in West Midlands Dear Sirs, Around 34,000 permanent pacemakers are implanted in England annually.1 With an increasingly ageing population, the rate of implantation is rising at an estimated rate of 4.7% per decade.2 However, there are no standardised guidelines on the surgical techniques for permanent pacemaker insertion. This has led to variability in practice among cardiologists across the country....

Women face a 20% increased risk of developing heart failure or dying within five years after their first severe heart attack compared with men, according to new US research published in Circulation (DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.120.048015). In addition, women were more likely than men to be older and have a more complicated medical history at the time of their heart attacks....

AstraZeneca’s sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2 inhibitor) dapagliflozin has been approved in the European Union (EU) for the treatment of symptomatic chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction in adults with and without type 2 diabetes....

The number of specialist heart failure nurses should be increased from one to four for every 100,000 people to meet the growing demand from a rising number of heart failure cases, according to a new report from the Alliance for Heart Failure....

We report with great sadness, the deaths of two very distinguished cardiologists: Professors Peter Sleight (Oxford University) and Anthony (Tony) Gershlick (University of Leicester). Their contributions to cardiovascular medicine have been immense and they will be greatly missed. Our sincere condolences go to their families and many friends and colleagues....

A study from Argentina has assessed the effectiveness of sacubitril-valsartan in patients with cancer therapy-related cardiac dysfunction (CTRCD) treated in cardio-oncology units (DOI: 10.1186/s40959-020-00078-4). The study was carried out in 635 breast cancer patients. Some 51 patients developed CTRCD, and of these, 28 were available for analysis. Most of the patients were women and treated with doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide or trastuzumab/pertuzumab....

Results from phase 3 studies with Inclisiran, a potential first-in-class small interfering RNA (siRNA) agent, have shown that it is well-tolerated and provides effective and sustained reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) when used in addition to other lipid-lowering therapies regardless of patients’ age and gender....

Obesity in the UK is on the up. Prevalence of obesity is higher in more deprived communities, and it is linked to a range of health conditions – as well as increasing a person’s risk from COVID-19. The pandemic has moved tackling obesity higher up the government’s agenda....