Tag Archives: Genetics

What is the future of cardiovascular health? NHS Medical Director Professor Sir Stephen Powis opened the conference by outlining the growing need to provide high quality cardiovascular care. With a quarter of deaths in England attributable to cardiovascular disease and a wider cost to the economy of £15.8 billion per year,1 there is an urgent need for innovative care pathways and new technologies. He showcased virtual wards as one example of innovation, with over 100,000 patients having been managed remotely in 2022.2 In Liverpool, a Telehealth team has successfully utilised a medical monitoring app to manage patients at home, leading to a 1

Introduction Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a global epidemic with changing demographics that poses a huge challenge for the health and economy of all nations and ethnicities. Ethnicity is defined in terms of a culture of people in a given geographic region, including their language, heritage, religion and customs.1 South Asians constitute about 1.6 billion people from the countries of the Indian subcontinent, this includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.2 Over 37 million ethnic South Asian diaspora live across every continent.3 Prevalence of diabetes in South Asians According to the International D

ENGAGE AF-TIMI 48: success for edoxaban in AF The new factor Xa inhibitor, edoxaban (Daiichi-Sankyo), was as effective in preventing strokes and safer than warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) in the ENGAGE AF-TIMI 48 trial. The ENGAGE AF-TIMI 48 (Effective AnticoaGulation with Factor XA Next Generation in Atrial Fibrillation – Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction 48) trial included more than 21,000 AF patients from 46 countries who were randomised to edoxaban at one of two doses (60 mg or 30 mg per day) or warfarin. Results (table 1) showed that both edoxaban doses were associated with significantly less major bleeding than

Bureaucracy The mortality rate for heart failure remains unchanged with 11.6% of heart failure (HF) admissions dying as inpatients, and 33% mortality at around one year, according to the most recent data from the National Heart Failure Audit.  This was presented to the meeting by Professor Theresa McDonagh (King’s College Hospital, London). Data collection continues to improve with 85% of NHS trusts submitting data over the preceding 12 month period, she said.  Access to cardiology services was associated with improved outcomes and a higher usage of evidence-based therapy and subsequent access to outpatient HF services. The likely challen

Risk calculation Dr Peter Brindle, the Research and Development Director and GP at the Bristol Primary Care Trust, lit the spark by taking the first lecture spot. With the title Advances and Controversies in CVD Risk Estimation he was stepping into the lions’ den. Earlier in the year H·E·A·R·T UK welcomed the continued use of well-established and validated risk calculation tools within the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) lipid modification guideline and had endorsed the guideline group’s decision not to recommend more novel experimental approaches. So the delegates were keen to hear Dr Brindle announce the

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