Meta-Analysis for Sociology - A Measure-Driven Approach.

Meta-analytic methods are becoming increasingly important in sociological research. In this article we present an approach for meta-analysis which is especially helpful for sociologists. Conventional approaches to meta-analysis often prioritize "concept-driven" literature searches.

The psychosocial context impacts medication adherence after acute coronary syndrome.

Background: Depression is associated with poor adherence to medications and worse prognosis in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

Purpose: To determine whether cognitive, behavioral, and/or psychosocial vulnerabilities for depression explain the association between depression and medication adherence among ACS patients.

Methods: One hundred sixty-nine ACS patients who agreed to have their aspirin adherence measured using an electronic pill bottle for 3 months were enrolled within 1 week of hospitalization.

Relationship between premature ventricular complexes and depressive symptoms in non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome.

Aims: Depression is a recognized risk marker for mortality among acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients. We hypothesized that ventricular arrhythmia detected by inpatient telemetry monitoring is more frequent among ACS patients with elevated depressive symptoms compared to those without depressive symptoms.

Methods And Results: We analysed data from patients enrolled in a prospective observational study of depression in ACS.

The 'perfect storm' and acute coronary syndrome onset: do psychosocial factors play a role?

The revolution in cardiac care over the past two decades, characterized by emergent revascularization, drug eluting stents, anti-platelet medications, and advanced imaging has had little impact on overall ACS recurrence, or ACS prevention. The "Perfect Storm" refers to a confluence of events and processes, including atherosclerotic plaque, coronary flow dynamics, hemostatic and fibrinolytic function, metabolic and inflammatory conditions, neurohormonal dysregulation, and environmental events that give rise to, and result in an ACS event. In this article we illustrate the limits of the traditional main effect research model, giving a brief description of the current state of knowledge regarding the development of atherosclerotic plaque and the rupturing of these plaques that defines an ACS event.

Centralized, stepped, patient preference-based treatment for patients with post-acute coronary syndrome depression: CODIACS vanguard randomized controlled trial.

Importance: Controversy remains about whether depression can be successfully managed after acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and the costs and benefits of doing so.

Objective: To determine the effects of providing post-ACS depression care on depressive symptoms and health care costs.

Design: Multicenter randomized controlled trial.

Relation of patients living without a partner or spouse to being physically active after acute coronary syndromes (from the PULSE accelerometry substudy).

Living alone is associated with adverse outcomes after acute coronary syndromes (ACS). One potential mediator of the relation between partner status and outcomes after ACS is physical activity. To evaluate the association of partner status with physical activity after ACS, data from 107 participants enrolled in the Prescription Use, Lifestyle, and Stress Evaluation (PULSE) study, a prospective observational study of post-ACS patients, were analyzed.

Relation between leukocyte telomere length and incident coronary heart disease events (from the 1995 Canadian Nova Scotia Health Survey).

Leukocyte telomere length has been proposed as a biomarker of cellular aging and atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to determine whether leukocyte telomere length is independently associated with incident coronary heart disease (CHD) in the general population. Telomere length was measured using a polymerase chain reaction method for participants enrolled in the 1995 Nova Scotia Health Survey (NSHS95; n = 1,917).

Loci influencing blood pressure identified using a cardiovascular gene-centric array.

Blood pressure (BP) is a heritable determinant of risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). To investigate genetic associations with systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and pulse pressure (PP), we genotyped ∼50 000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that capture variation in ∼2100 candidate genes for cardiovascular phenotypes in 61 619 individuals of European ancestry from cohort studies in the USA and Europe. We identified novel associations between rs347591 and SBP (chromosome 3p25.

Depressive symptoms and cardiovascular health by the American Heart Association's definition in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study.

Background: Depressive symptoms are associated with increased incident and recurrent cardiovascular events. In 2010, the American Heart Association published the Life's Simple 7, a metric for assessing cardiovascular health as measured by 4 health behaviors (smoking, physical activity, body mass index, diet) and 3 biological measures (cholesterol, blood pressure, glucose). The association between depressive symptoms and the Life's Simple 7 has not yet been explored.

Behavioral mechanisms, elevated depressive symptoms, and the risk for myocardial infarction or death in individuals with coronary heart disease: the REGARDS (Reason for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke) study.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine whether behavioral mechanisms explain the association between depressive symptoms and myocardial infarction (MI) or death in individuals with coronary heart disease (CHD).

Background: Depressive symptoms are associated with increased morbidity and mortality in individuals with CHD, but it is unclear how much behavioral mechanisms contribute to this association.

Methods: The study included 4,676 participants with a history of CHD.

Depression and coronary heart disease.

There are exciting findings in the field of depression and coronary heart disease. Whether diagnosed or simply self-reported, depression continues to mark very high risk for a recurrent acute coronary syndrome or for death in patients with coronary heart disease. Many intriguing mechanisms have been posited to be implicated in the association between depression and heart disease, and randomized controlled trials of depression treatment are beginning to delineate the types of depression management strategies that may benefit the many coronary heart disease patients with depression.

Emotional triggers in myocardial infarction: do they matter?

Considerable excitement and interest have arisen recently concerning the role that acute emotional triggers may play in precipitating a myocardial infarction (MI). Observational studies have found repeatedly that patients report excessive anger, anxiety, sadness, grief, or acute stress immediately prior to onset of MI, and recent meta-analyses summarizing these findings reported strong associations between MI occurrence and many of these acute emotions. However, it is unclear whether and through what mechanisms acute emotional triggers might influence MI, and whether there is any clinical utility in knowing if or how emotions trigger MI.

Depressive symptoms are not associated with leukocyte telomere length: findings from the Nova Scotia Health Survey (NSHS95), a population-based study.

Background: Premature shortening of leukocyte telomere length has been proposed as a novel mechanism by which depression may confer increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events. Prior studies demonstrating associations of depression and depressive symptoms with shorter leukocyte telomere length were small, included selected psychiatric outpatients, were based on convenience samples, and/or adjusted for a limited number of possible confounding factors.

Methods And Findings: We examined the associations of depressive symptoms, probable depressive disorder, and specific depressive symptom clusters, as assessed by the Center for Epidemiological Studies--Depression (CES-D) scale, with leukocyte telomere length, measured by using a real-time PCR method, in 2,225 apparently healthy participants from the 1995 Nova Scotia Health Survey population-based study.

Global Psychological Distress and Risk of Atrial Fibrillation Among Women: The Women's Health Study.

Background: Symptoms of psychological distress and depression have been associated with risk of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Their relationship with atrial arrhythmias, however, is less well studied.

Methods And Results: We sought to assess the long-term relations between psychological distress and risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) in the Women's Health Study of female health professionals.

Depression is associated with longer emergency department length of stay in acute coronary syndrome patients.

Background: Patient demographic characteristics have been associated with longer emergency department (ED) treatment times, but the influence of psychosocial characteristics has not been assessed. We evaluated whether depression was associated with greater ED length of stay (LOS) in non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and unstable angina (UA) patients presenting to a large metropolitan academic medical center.

Methods: We calculated ED LOS for NSTEMI or UA patients enrolled an observational cohort study by taking the difference between ED triage time in the medical record and time of transfer to an inpatient bed from standardized transfer documentation forms.

Epidemiology and Management of Depression Following Coronary Heart Disease Diagnosis in Women.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) and depression are both highly prevalent in women. Importantly, depression is associated with significantly elevated morbidity and mortality in women with CHD. There are intriguing speculations about biological mechanisms underlying this association, such as endothelial dysfunction, subclinical atherosclerosis, inflammation, and autonomic dysregulation.

The effect of enhanced depression care on adherence to risk-reducing behaviors after acute coronary syndromes: findings from the COPES trial.

Background: The presence of depression after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is associated with worse prognosis and lower adherence to risk-reducing behaviors. We reported earlier that an enhanced depression care intervention reduces depression symptoms and major adverse cardiac events. This study evaluates the impact of the depression intervention on health behavior and blood pressure control.

Large-scale gene-centric meta-analysis across 32 studies identifies multiple lipid loci.

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified many SNPs underlying variations in plasma-lipid levels. We explore whether additional loci associated with plasma-lipid phenotypes, such as high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), total cholesterol (TC), and triglycerides (TGs), can be identified by a dense gene-centric approach. Our meta-analysis of 32 studies in 66,240 individuals of European ancestry was based on the custom ∼50,000 SNP genotyping array (the ITMAT-Broad-CARe array) covering ∼2,000 candidate genes.

Gender differences in calls to 9-1-1 during an acute coronary syndrome.

Calling 911 during acute coronary syndromes (ACS) decreases time to treatment and may improve prognosis. Women may have more atypical ACS symptoms compared to men, but few data are available on differences in gender and ACS symptoms in calling 911. In this study, patient interviews and structured chart reviews were conducted to determine gender differences in calling 911.