Secondary prevention and follow-up of patients with ACS and not-at-target LDL: An Italian real-world retro-prospective analysis by the inertia group.

Background: In patients with recent ACS, the latest ESC/EAS guidelines for management of dyslipidaemia recommend intensification of LDL--lowering therapy

Objective: Report a real-world picture of lipid-lowering therapy prescribed and cholesterol targets achieved in post-ACS patients before and after a specific educational program.

Methods: Retrospective data collection prior to the educational course and prospective data collection after the course of consecutive very high-risk patients with ACS admitted in 2020 in 13 Italian cardiology departments, and with a non-target LDL-C level at discharge.

Results: Data from 336 patients were included, 229 in the retrospective phase and 107 in the post-course prospective phase.

Persistence on apixaban in atrial fibrillation patients: a retrospective multicentre study.

Aims: Real-world data on treatment persistence, safety and effectiveness of non-Vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) play an important role in the assessment of risks and benefits of these drugs. Our aim was to evaluate persistence on treatment, incidence of major bleeding and incidence of a composite endpoint of major events, including all-cause death, myocardial infarction, stroke and systemic thromboembolism, during treatment with apixaban in a cohort of patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF).

Methods: In this multicentre retrospective observational study, we retrieved data from medical records of five Italian hospitals on patients with a diagnosis of NVAF who initiated apixaban between 1 January 2014 and 31 March 2016 and had a first subsequent visit at the same hospital.

Mediterranean diet adherence and synergy with acute myocardial infarction and its determinants: A multicenter case-control study in Italy.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in Western countries. The possible synergistic effect of poor adherence to a Mediterranean diet (MD) and other risk factors for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) such as hypertension, cholesterol, ever smoker, BMI> 25, diabetes, has not been deeply studied.

Design: Case-control study.

Prognostic factors in severe pulmonary hypertension patients who need parenteral prostanoid therapy: the impact of late referral.

Background: Oral drugs have made the treatment of pulmonary hypertension (PH) feasible in non-expert centers, which could delay patient access to prostanoid therapy.

Methods: Fifty-seven consecutive patients with precapillary PH received a prostanoid in our center. Data at prostanoid initiation included modality of center referral, medical history, New York Heart Association [NYHA] class, exercise capacity, echocardiographic parameters, and hemodynamics.

Venous endotelin-1 (ET-1) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) plasma levels during 6-month bosentan treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Objective: Bosentan, an endothelin (ET) ETA-ETB receptors antagonist, is an effective therapy for idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and for PAH related to connective tissue disease (CTD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the behaviour of ET-1 and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) venous plasma levels during a 6-month dual ET-1 receptor blockade and the potential influence of baseline ET-1 venous plasma levels on the clinical efficacy of bosentan.

Setting And Patients: Twenty-five patients with PAH (idiopathic n=16, CTD n=9) in WHO functional class II-III were included in this study.