Social Determinants of Health and Cardiologist Involvement in the Care of Adults Hospitalized for Heart Failure.

Importance: Involvement of a cardiologist in the care of adults during a hospitalization for heart failure (HF) is associated with reduced rates of in-hospital mortality and hospital readmission. However, not all patients see a cardiologist when they are hospitalized for HF.

Objective: To determine whether social determinants of health (SDOH) are associated with cardiologist involvement in the management of adults hospitalized for HF.

How do we define high and low dose intensity of heart failure medications: a scoping review.

Background: Older adults with heart failure often experience adverse drug events with high doses of heart failure medications. Recognizing whether a patient is on a high or low dose intensity heart failure medication can be helpful for daily practice, since it could potentially guide the physician on which symptoms to look for, whether from overdosing or underdosing. However, the current guideline does not provide sufficient information about the dose intensity below the target dose.

Social Determinants of Health and Cardiologist Involvement in the Care of Adults Hospitalized for Heart Failure.

Introduction: The involvement of a cardiologist in the care of adults during a hospitalization for heart failure (HF) is associated with reduced rates of in-hospital mortality and hospital readmission. However, not all patients see a cardiologist when they are hospitalized for HF. Since reasons for this are not entirely clear, we sought to determine whether social determinants of health (SDOH) are associated with cardiologist involvement in the management of adults hospitalized for HF.

Real-world safety of neurohormonal antagonist initiation among older adults following a heart failure hospitalization.

Aims: To optimize guideline-directed medical therapy for heart failure, patients may require the initiation of multiple neurohormonal antagonists (NHAs) during and following hospitalization. The safety of this approach for older adults is not well established.

Methods And Results: We conducted an observational cohort study of 207 223 Medicare beneficiaries discharged home following a hospitalization for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) (2008-2015).

Association of healthy lifestyle and all-cause mortality according to medication burden.

Background: Healthy lifestyle is associated with reduced all-cause mortality, but it is not known whether this association persists for individuals with high medication burden. We examined the association between healthy lifestyle behaviors and all-cause mortality across different degrees of polypharmacy.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of 20,417 adults aged ≥45 years from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) cohort study.

Feasibility and acceptability of a text message intervention used as an adjunct tool by WIC breastfeeding peer counsellors: The LATCH pilot.

Breastfeeding rates among mothers in the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) are lower than for other mothers in the United States. The objective of this study was to test the acceptability and feasibility of the Lactation Advice thru Texting Can Help intervention. Mothers were enrolled at 18-30 weeks gestation from two WIC breastfeeding peer counselling (PC) programmes if they intended to breastfeed and had unlimited text messaging, more than fifth-grade literacy level, and fluency in English or Spanish.

Rapid and Highly Accurate Prediction of Poor Loop Diuretic Natriuretic Response in Patients With Heart Failure.

Background: Removal of excess sodium and fluid is a primary therapeutic objective in acute decompensated heart failure and commonly monitored with fluid balance and weight loss. However, these parameters are frequently inaccurate or not collected and require a delay of several hours after diuretic administration before they are available. Accessible tools for rapid and accurate prediction of diuretic response are needed.