Prevalence of high ventricular pacing burden in patients requiring permanent pacemaker post TAVR.

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is occasionally complicated by high degree atrioventricular block (AVB) requiring permanent pacemaker (PPM) placement. Newer valve design, delivery platform evolution, and deployment technique refinement have lowered this risk. Ventricular pacing ≥ 30% has been previously identified as a predictor for worse clinical outcomes in this population.

Dofetilide use is not associated with increased mortality in patients with left ventricular hypertrophy and atrial fibrillation.

Background: Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is common in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), however, many antiarrhythmic drugs (AADs) are contraindicated. US guidelines recommend avoiding pure class III antiarrhythmics such as dofetilide in patients with significant LVH due to concern for an increased risk of death, however, clinical data is lacking. We sought to determine if dofetilide use was associated with increased mortality in patients with LVH.

Does education modify the association between depression and cardiovascular health? (from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey, 2013-14 and 2015-16).

Study Objective: Depression and education have associations with cardiovascular health. We hypothesized educational attainment would modify the association between depression and cardiovascular health.

Design: We used the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ), a validated instrument to categorize individuals as having minimal (0-4), moderate (5-9) or severe (≥10) depression.