Improvement in the management of chronic heart failure since the publication of the updated guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology. The Impact-Reco Programme.

Aims: Recent studies have shown that prescription rates and doses of recommended drugs for chronic heart failure (CHF) are not optimal in daily practice. The aim of the Impact-Reco programme was to analyse prescription rates of CHF drugs in stable outpatients with CHF related to left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction in two similar surveys in France.

Methods And Results: The two surveys, which included 1917 and 1974 patients, were performed between September 2004 to March 2005 and September 2005 to May 2006, respectively.

A randomised trial of three counselling strategies for lifestyle changes in patients with hypercholesterolemia treated with ezetimibe on top of statin therapy (TWICE).

Aims: To compare the impact of three patient counselling strategies for lifestyle changes and to assess the safety and efficacy of ezetimibe on top of statin therapy in hypercholesterolemic high risk patients.

Methods: Open, cluster randomized 3-parallel group trial. Physicians were randomized between patient motivation on: diet or physical exercise or both.

Focale: study of systolic and diastolic heart failure in a French elderly population.

Context: The epidemic of heart failure (HF) in France has not been fully investigated and data on both the systolic and diastolic forms are limited.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence, aetiology and treatments of both forms in French patients over 65 with HF (NYHA grade II-IV).

Participants: Cross-sectional study of 446 patients with HF recruited by 273 randomly selected cardiologists in France, with echocardiography and ECG available for central reading.

Serial left ventricular adaptations in world-class professional cyclists: implications for disease screening and follow-up.

Objectives: The purpose of this research was to study long-term left ventricular (LV) adaptations in very-high-level endurance athletes.

Background: Knowledge of cardiac changes in athletes, who are at particularly high risk of sudden cardiac death, is mandatory to detect hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) or dilated (DCM) cardiomyopathy.

Methods: We carried out echocardiographic examinations on 286 cyclists (group A) and 52 matched sedentary volunteers (group C); 148 cyclists participated in the 1995 "Tour de France" race (group A1), 138 in the 1998 race (group A2), and 37 in both (group B).