Publications by authors named "Rita A Dale"

Importance: Among patients younger than 21 years of age, the optimal duration of anticoagulant therapy for venous thromboembolism is unknown.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that a 6-week duration of anticoagulant therapy for provoked venous thromboembolism is noninferior to a conventional 3-month therapy duration in patients younger than 21 years of age.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Randomized clinical trial involving 417 patients younger than 21 years of age with acute, provoked venous thromboembolism enrolled at 42 centers in 5 countries from 2008-2021.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has been associated with significant risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), arterial thromboembolism (ATE), and mortality particularly among hospitalized patients with critical illness and elevated D-dimer (Dd) levels. Conflicting data have yet to elucidate optimal thromboprophylaxis dosing. HEP-COVID (NCT04401293) is a phase 3, multicenter, pragmatic, prospective, randomized, pseudo-blinded, active control trial to evaluate efficacy and safety of therapeutic-dose low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) versus prophylactic-/intermediate-dose LMWH or unfractionated heparin (UFH) for prevention of a primary efficacy composite outcome of VTE, ATE, and all-cause mortality 30 ± 2 days post-enrollment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Premature ventricular complexes (PVCs) and ventricular tachycardia (VT) are associated with persistent symptoms and ventricular dysfunction. Approved medical therapies have undesirable side effects and proarrhythmic liability. Ranolazine is a novel antianginal that preferentially blocks the late sodium current.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Microalbuminuria is one of the strongest predictors of both adverse renal and cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Although measurement of urinary albumin excretion (UAE) is widely recommended, limited data are available to suggest that reducing UAE translates into a reduction in long-term cardiovascular mortality, particularly among patients without overt nephropathy, who constitute most patients with type 2 diabetes worldwide. We assessed whether changes in the UAE at 1 year were associated with cardiovascular mortality in 393 patients with hypertension and type 2 diabetes during a 10-year period.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD), statins may improve the symptoms of claudication. The Intermittent Claudication Proof of Principle (ICPOP) study tested the hypothesis that the combination of extended release niacin plus lovastatin would improve exercise performance in patients with PAD and claudication compared with a diet intervention. A phase 3 double-blind, parallel-group, multi-center, 28-week multi-national study evaluated subjects with a history of claudication who had an ankle-brachial index (ABI) < or = 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of rifalazil, an antibiotic targeting Chlamydia pneumoniae, in improving peak walking time for patients with symptomatic peripheral artery disease.
  • A total of 297 patients were randomly assigned to receive either rifalazil or a placebo, with assessments made 180 days after starting treatment.
  • The results indicated that rifalazil did not significantly enhance peak walking time or quality of life compared to placebo, with both groups showing similar improvements.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Point-of-care (POC) lipid testing is increasingly used in community- and office-based practice. Two analyzers commonly used in the US are CardioChek PA and Cholestech LDX. Both directly measure total cholesterol (TC) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), mandatory values in calculating a Framingham Risk Score (FRS).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Heart rate recovery (HRR) immediately after peak exercise has utility as a predictor of all-cause mortality. However, a prognostic role for HRR has not been specifically evaluated in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), nor has an association between HRR and cardiovascular (CV) events been documented. This study investigated whether HRR is predictive of all-cause mortality, CV mortality, and CV events in asymptomatic patients with T2DM.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Therapy with 3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl Co-enzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins) improve outcomes in a broad spectrum of patients with hyperlipidemia. However, effective therapy requires ongoing medication adherence; restrictive pharmacy policies may represent a barrier to successful adherence, particularly among vulnerable patients. In this study we sought to assess the relationship between the quantity of statin dispensed by the pharmacy with patient adherence and total cholesterol.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF