Computer-assisted medical history taking prior to patient consultation in the outpatient care setting: a prospective pilot project.

Background: Feeding patients' self-reported medical history into the diagnostic care process may accelerate workflows in clinical routine.

Methods: We prospectively piloted a novel medical history documentation system in a German cardiological outpatient practice and evaluated its feasibility and perceived usefulness. Based on a generic software that allows to record structured information, a customized solution for the cooperating practice was developed and implemented.

Functional versus morphological assessment of vascular age in patients with coronary heart disease.

Communicating cardiovascular risk based on individual vascular age (VA) is a well acknowledged concept in patient education and disease prevention. VA may be derived functionally, e.g.

Prevalence and determinants of the precursor stages of heart failure: results from the population-based STAAB cohort study.

Aims: Prevention of heart failure relies on the early identification and control of risk factors. We aimed to identify the frequency and characteristics of individuals at risk of heart failure in the general population.

Methods And Results: We report cross-sectional data from the prospective Characteristics and Course of Heart Failure Stages A-B and Determinants of Progression (STAAB) cohort study investigating a representative sample of residents of Würzburg, Germany.

Establishing a cardiac training group for patients with heart failure: the "HIP-in-Würzburg" study.

Background: Exercise training in heart failure (HF) is recommended but not routinely offered, because of logistic and safety-related reasons. In 2020, the German Society for Prevention&Rehabilitation and the German Society for Cardiology requested establishing dedicated "HF training groups." Here, we aimed to implement and evaluate the feasibility and safety of one of the first HF training groups in Germany.

Speckle tracking derived reference values of myocardial deformation and impact of cardiovascular risk factors - Results from the population-based STAAB cohort study.

Aims: We aimed to provide reference values for speckle-tracking derived systolic and diastolic myocardial deformation markers, and to determine their relation with age, sex, and cardiovascular risk factors.

Methods And Results: The Characteristics and Course of Heart Failure STAges A/B and Determinants of Progression (STAAB) cohort study recruited a representative sample of the population of Würzburg, Germany, aged 30-79 years. In a sample of 1818 participants (52% female, mean age 54±12 years) global longitudinal peak systolic strain (GL-PSS, n = 1218), systolic (GL-SSR, n = 1506), and early (GL-EDSR, n = 1506) and late diastolic strain rates (GL-LDSR, n = 1500) were derived from 2D speckle tracking analysis.

Segment-specific association of carotid-intima-media thickness with cardiovascular risk factors - findings from the STAAB cohort study.

Background: The guideline recommendation to not measure carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) for cardiovascular risk prediction is based on the assessment of just one single carotid segment. We evaluated whether there is a segment-specific association between different measurement locations of CIMT and cardiovascular risk factors.

Methods: Subjects from the population-based STAAB cohort study comprising subjects aged 30 to 79 years of the general population from Würzburg, Germany, were investigated.

The omega-3 index in patients with heart failure: A prospective cohort study.

Background: Epidemiologic studies on the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in heart failure are scarce, while one large intervention trial demonstrated a modest benefit.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis from the Interdisciplinary Network Heart Failure (INH) program. Patients hospitalized for systolic heart failure were enrolled and followed for 36 months.

Impact of acquisition and interpretation on total inter-observer variability in echocardiography: results from the quality assurance program of the STAAB cohort study.

Variability related to image acquisition and interpretation is an important issue of echocardiography in clinical trials. Nevertheless, there is no broadly accepted standard method for quality assessment of echocardiography in clinical research reports. We present analyses based on the echocardiography quality-assurance program of the ongoing STAAB cohort study (characteristics and course of heart failure stages A-B and determinants of progression).

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging findings in 20-year survivors of mediastinal radiotherapy for Hodgkin's disease.

Purpose: The recognition of the true prevalence of cardiac toxicity after mediastinal radiotherapy requires very long follow-up and a precise diagnostic procedure. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) permits excellent quantification of cardiac function and identification of localized myocardial defects and has now been applied to a group of 20-year Hodgkin's disease survivors.

Methods And Materials: Of 143 patients treated with anterior mediastinal radiotherapy (cobalt-60, median prescribed dose 40 Gy) for Hodgkin's disease between 1978 and 1985, all 53 survivors were invited for cardiac MRI.