Rheumatoid arthritis and cardiovascular complications during delivery: a United States inpatient analysis.

Background And Aims: Persons with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have an increased risk of obstetric-associated complications, as well as long-term cardiovascular (CV) risk. Hence, the aim was to evaluate the association of RA with acute CV complications during delivery admissions.

Methods: Data from the National Inpatient Sample (2004-2019) were queried utilizing ICD-9 or ICD-10 codes to identify delivery hospitalizations and a diagnosis of RA.

Lp(a) and risk of cardiovascular disease - A review of existing evidence and emerging concepts.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death among adults in the United States. There has been significant advancement in the diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and its underlying risk factors. In certain populations, there remains a significant residual risk despite adequate lowering of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and control of traditional risk factors.

High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol in Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk Assessment: Exploring and Explaining the "U"-Shaped Curve.

Purpose Of Review: Review updates for the association of HDL-cholesterol with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and discuss the approach to incorporating HDL-cholesterol within risk assessment.

Recent Findings: There is a U-shaped relationship between HDL-cholesterol and ASCVD. Both low HDL-cholesterol (< 40 mg/dL in men, < 50 mg/dL in women) and very-high HDL-cholesterol (≥ 80 mg/dL in men) are associated with a higher risk of all-cause and ASCVD mortality, independent from traditional risk factors.

Atherosclerosis in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Purpose Of The Review: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared to the general population, despite most patients being young females, who are not classically considered to be at high risk for cardiovascular disease using traditional risk assessment tools. The purpose of this review is to discuss the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis in SLE and raise awareness of the relationship between SLE and CVD.

Recent Findings: The increased risk of CVD in SLE patients is multifactorial, due to proatherogenic lipid profiles, immune dysregulation and inflammation, side effects of lupus treatment, and microvascular dysfunction.

It Takes a Village: Expanding Women's Cardiovascular Care to Include the Community as well as Cardiovascular and Primary Care Teams.

Purpose Of Review: Our aim is to highlight some of the current issues that prevent women from getting sex-specific and gender-specific cardiovascular care and provide recommendations for new approaches and delivery models to improve cardiovascular care for all women.

Recent Findings: Cardiovascular disease remains the number one cause of death for women in the US. Many women remain unaware of cardiovascular risk factors and many healthcare providers who care for women are also poorly informed and feel ill prepared to assess women for cardiovascular risk.

Socioeconomic characteristics of African American women attending community blood pressure screenings.

Study Objective: To examine the associations of education and income and blood pressure (BP) in a socioeconomically diverse cohort of African-American (AA) women attending community BP screenings.

Design Setting And Participants: This cross-sectional analysis used data from AA women ( = 972) 53 ± 14 years, enrolled between 2015 and 2019 in the 10,000-women hypertension community screening project in the metropolitan Atlanta area. OLS linear regression were used to examine the associations between SES (education and income) and BP after adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI), smoking, and lipids.

Cardiovascular Implications of Immune Disorders in Women.

Immune responses differ between men and women, with women at higher risk of developing chronic autoimmune diseases and having more robust immune responses to many viruses, including HIV and hepatitis C virus. Although immune dysregulation plays a prominent role in chronic systemic inflammation, a key driver in the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), standard ASCVD risk prediction scores underestimate risk in populations with immune disorders, particularly women. This review focuses on the ASCVD implications of immune dysregulation due to disorders with varying global prevalence by sex: autoimmune disorders (female predominant), HIV (male-female equivalent), and hepatitis C virus (male predominant).

Syncope in a Pregnant Woman: Infiltrative Cardiomyopathy and Presumed Cardiac Sarcoidosis.

Cardiac involvement in sarcoidosis is an uncommon manifestation of the disease process. Diagnosis and treatment during pregnancy can be challenging due to life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. We describe a case of a 43-year-old, 21-week pregnant woman who presented after 2 episodes of syncope and was diagnosed with presumed cardiac sarcoidosis.

Life's Simple 7 Approach to Atrial Fibrillation Prevention.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most commonly encountered arrhythmia in clinical practice. It constitutes a major public health problem, with total related annual expenses estimated at $6.65 billion.

Role of Multimodal Cardiac Imaging in Diagnosing a Primary Intimal Sarcoma of the Left Atrial Appendage.

Primary cardiac tumors are rare, and most are benign. Intimal sarcomas are among the rarest of the malignant cardiac tumors; they are aggressive and associated with a poor prognosis. Whereas transesophageal echocardiography has been instrumental in evaluating cardiac masses, other imaging methods, such as cardiac magnetic resonance, have proved invaluable in accurately characterizing these masses.

Hypertension Across a Woman's Life Cycle.

Hypertension accounts for 1 in 5 deaths among American women, posing a greater burden for women than men, and is among their most important risk factors for death and development of cardiovascular and other diseases. Hypertension affects women in all phases of life, with specific characteristics relating to risk factors and management for primary prevention of hypertension in teenage and young adult women; hypertension in pregnancy; hypertension during use of oral contraceptives and assisted reproductive technologies, lactation, menopause, or hormone replacement; hypertension in elderly women; and issues of race and ethnicity. All are detailed in this review, as is information relative to women in clinical trials of hypertension and medication issues.

Diagnosis and risk stratification of women with stable ischemic heart disease.

Although mortality rates for cardiovascular disease are on the decline, it remains the leading cause of death among men and women in the United States. Until recently, more women died of heart disease every year than men. Significant effort has been focused on increasing the awareness of cardiovascular disease among women, but ethnic disparities in awareness still exist.

Current Treatment of Familial Hypercholesterolaemia.

Familial hypercholesterolaemia is an autosomal-dominant disorder associated with mutations in the LDL receptor gene resulting in markedly elevated plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. FH is significantly underrecognised with as many as 1 in 300 having the heterozygous form and 1 in 1 million having the homozygous form of the disease. Early diagnosis and treatment of FH is paramount to reduce the risk of premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and death.

Atrial arrhythmias after lung and heart-lung transplant: effects on short-term mortality and the influence of amiodarone.

Background: The incidence and effect of atrial fibrillation or flutter (AF) after lung transplant are variable. An effect of pharmacologic treatment on outcomes is undetermined.

Methods: One hundred thirty-seven consecutive lung or heart-lung transplant patients were reviewed retrospectively.

Unsuspected recent transmission of tuberculosis among high-risk groups: implications of universal tuberculosis genotyping in its detection.

Background: The initiation of universal genotyping revealed 3 clusters of 19 patients with tuberculosis (TB) in Wisconsin, with no apparent epidemiologic links among most of them. An epidemiologic investigation was conducted to determine whether genotype clustering resulted from recent transmission.

Methods: We conducted additional interviews with patients and reviewed medical records.