Publications by authors named "Soongu Kwak"
Article Synopsis
- Optimal medical treatment using angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors (ARNI) can improve left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in patients with heart failure with reduced EF (HFrEF), with a significant portion (46.4%) experiencing improvement after one year.
- The study identified several factors affecting outcomes: older age, male sex, and larger heart size predicted persistent HFrEF, while atrial fibrillation and high blood pressure were inversely linked.
- Patients with improved ejection fraction (HFimpEF) had lower rates of all-cause and cardiac mortality compared to those with persistent HFrEF (perHFrEF), suggesting that ARNI therapy leads to better overall outcomes in HFrEF
Article Synopsis
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a condition with different forms and varying risks for sudden cardiac death (SCD), and this study aimed to categorize these forms based on their SCD-related features and outcomes.
- Researchers analyzed data from 1,231 HCM patients and identified three distinct groups: young patients with low SCD risk (Group 1), young patients with high SCD risk (Group 2), and older patients (Group 3) who faced different rates of SCD and other complications.
- The findings suggest that using these clear phenotypes can help better assess risks and manage patients with HCM more effectively.
Article Synopsis
- This study investigates the impact of personality traits on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) using data from over 8,000 individuals followed for up to 13.6 years.
- Key findings indicate that the personality trait of diligence is associated with a lower risk of several types of CVD, suggesting that more conscientious individuals may have better health outcomes.
- Additionally, adopting healthy lifestyle behaviors, such as managing obesity and staying active, can further reduce CVD risk, regardless of one's level of diligence.
Background: Patients with osteoporosis demonstrate increased vascular calcification but the effect of osteoporosis treatments on vascular calcification remains unclear. The present study aimed to examine whether coronary or aortic calcification are influenced by denosumab and alendronic acid treatment.
Methods And Results: In a double-blind randomized controlled SALTIRE2 (Study Investigating the Effect of Drugs Used to Treat Osteoporosis on the Progression of Calcific Aortic Stenosis) trial, patients with aortic stenosis were randomized 2:1:2:1 to denosumab, placebo injection, alendronic acid, or placebo capsule.
Background: Aortic stenosis (AS) is characterized by calcification and fibrosis. The ability to quantify these processes simultaneously has been limited with previous imaging methods.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the aortic valve fibrocalcific volume by computed tomography (CT) angiography in patients with AS, in particular, to assess its reproducibility, association with histology and disease severity, and ability to predict/track progression.
Article Synopsis
- Right ventricular (RV) systolic dysfunction is a key prognostic factor in patients with severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR), yet traditional echocardiography struggles to assess RV function accurately.
- This study examined the effectiveness of speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) in measuring RV function by comparing RV free wall longitudinal strain (RVFWLS) and global longitudinal strain (RVGLS) to RV ejection fraction (RVEF) obtained from cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR).
- Results showed that RVFWLS was the most reliable indicator of RV systolic dysfunction, outperforming RV fractional area change in its ability to discriminate between normal and reduced RV function, indicating STE's potential for better assessment
Background: Meta-analyses of large clinical trials investigating SGLT2 (sodium-glucose cotransporter-2) inhibitors have suggested their protective effects against atrial fibrillation in patients with type 2 diabetes. However, the results were predominantly driven from trials involving dapagliflozin.
Methods And Results: We used a nationwide, population-based cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes who initiated either dapagliflozin or empagliflozin between May 2016 and December 2018.
Background: Previous studies have shown that the clinical expression of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) can be determined by obesity and metabolic syndrome. The present study aimed to investigate the association between triglyceride and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) level, the two dyslipidemia-related components of metabolic syndrome, and the incidence of HCM. We also explored an age-dependent association between them.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Sacubitril acts to inhibit neprilysin and as neprilysin is involved in amyloid-beta degradation in the central nervous system, and there is concern that sacubitril/valsartan may increase the risk of dementia. We aimed to compare the risk of incident dementia associated with sacubitril/valsartan and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs).
Methods: Patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction treated with either sacubitril/valsartan or ARB, identified from the Korean National Health Insurance Service database, were matched in a 1:2 ratio using propensity scores (6789 on sacubitril/valsartan and 13,578 on ARBs) and followed up for incident dementia.
We aimed to investigate sex-specific associations between cardiovascular risk factors and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk using machine learning. We studied 258,279 individuals (132,505 [51.3%] men and 125,774 [48.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFData-driven mortality risk prediction of severe degenerative mitral regurgitation patients undergoing mitral valve surgery.
Eur Heart J Cardiovasc Imaging
August 2023
Aims: The outcomes of mitral valve replacement/repair (MVR) in severe degenerative mitral regurgitation (MR) patients depend on various risk factors. We aimed to develop a risk prediction model for post-MVR mortality in severe degenerative MR patients using machine learning.
Methods And Results: Consecutive severe degenerative MR patients undergoing MVR were analysed (n = 1521; 70% training/30% test sets).
Background: Little is known about the determinants and outcomes of significant atrial functional tricuspid regurgitation (AFTR).
Objectives: The authors aimed to identify risk factors for significant TR in relation to atrial fibrillation-flutter (AF-AFL) and assess its prognostic implications.
Methods: The authors retrospectively studied patients with mild TR with follow-up echocardiography examinations.
Objectives: Patients with mitral regurgitation (MR) may be heterogeneous with different risk profiles. We aimed to identify distinct phenogroups of patients with severe primary MR and investigate their long-term prognosis after mitral valve (MV) surgery.
Methods: The retrospective cohort of patients with severe primary MR undergoing MV surgery (derivation, n=1629; validation, n=692) was analysed.
Objective: To analyze the relationship between time-serial changes in insulin resistance and renal outcomes.
Research Design And Methods: A prospective cohort of subjects from the general population without chronic kidney disease (CKD) underwent a biennial checkup for 12 years (n = 5,347). The 12-year duration was divided into a 6-year exposure period, where distinct HOMA for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) trajectories were identified using latent variable mixture modeling, followed by a 6-year event accrual period, from which the renal outcome data were analyzed.
Background: It remains unclear whether the cardiovascular consequences of arterial stiffness differ by sex. This study aimed to investigate the sex-specific association of brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) with adverse cardiac remodeling and cardiovascular outcome.
Method: We studied 11 767 patients (57.
Background: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is increasingly used for risk stratification in aortic stenosis (AS). However, the relative prognostic power of CMR markers and their respective thresholds remains undefined.
Objectives: Using machine learning, the study aimed to identify prognostically important CMR markers in AS and their thresholds of mortality.
We aimed to investigate the sex differences in associations of diabetes mellitus (DM) with echocardiographic phenotypes and clinical outcomes of heart failure (HF). We studied 4,180 patients admitted for acute HF between 2009 and 2016 (median follow-up, 31.7 months) whose left ventricular global longitudinal strain (LV-GLS) data were available.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) is simple and convenient, its usefulness as an initial screening test for hypertensive patients is not well-known. This study aimed to investigate the association of baPWV with left ventricular (LV) geometry and diastolic function in treatment-naive hypertensive patients. A total of 202 untreated hypertensive patients (mean age, 62 years; males, 51.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImpact of age on coronary artery plaque progression and clinical outcome: A PARADIGM substudy.
J Cardiovasc Comput Tomogr
July 2021
Background: The association of age with coronary plaque dynamics is not well characterized by coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA).
Methods: From a multinational registry of patients who underwent serial CCTA, 1153 subjects (61 ± 5 years old, 61.1% male) were analyzed.
Objectives: Recommendations on physical activity (PA) for adults with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) are not well established. We investigated the association of PA intensity with mortality in the general adult HCM population.
Methods: A nationwide population-based cohort of individuals with HCM who underwent health check-ups including questionnaires on PA levels were identified from the years 2009 to 2016 in the National Health Insurance Service database.
Background: Heart failure (HF) and cancer are currently two leading causes of mortality, and sometimes coexist. However, the relationship between them is not completely elucidated. We aimed to investigate whether patients with HF are predisposed to cancer development using the large Korean National Health Insurance claims database.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There is a lack of studies investigating the heterogeneity of patients with aortic stenosis (AS). We explored whether cluster analysis identifies distinct subgroups with different prognostic significances in AS.
Methods: Newly diagnosed patients with moderate or severe AS were prospectively enrolled between 2013 and 2016 (n=398, mean 71 years, 55% male).
Background: Although percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been the mainstay of revascularization strategy for significant coronary artery disease, future cancer risk after PCI has never been explored. We aimed to investigate the risk of incident cancer in patients undergoing PCI for the first time.
Methods: We studied 125,613 patients who underwent the first PCI between 2010 and 2015 without a prior history of cancer.
Background: It remains unknown whether the noninvasive evaluation of the degree of amyloid deposition in the myocardium can predict the prognosis of patients with light chain (AL) cardiac amyloidosis.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that C-Pittsburgh B compound positron emission tomography (C-PiB PET) is useful for prognostication of AL cardiac amyloidosis by noninvasively imaging the myocardial AL amyloid deposition.
Methods: This study consecutively enrolled 41 chemotherapy-naïve AL cardiac amyloidosis patients.