Association Between Insomnia, Stress Events, and Other Psychosocial Factors and Incident Atrial Fibrillation in Postmenopausal Women: Insights From the Women's Health Initiative.

Background The association between psychosocial factors and atrial fibrillation (AF) is poorly understood. Methods and Results Postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative were retrospectively analyzed to identify incident AF in relation to a panel of validated psychosocial exposure variables, as assessed by multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression and hierarchical cluster analysis. Among the 83 736 women included, the average age was 63.

Socioeconomic Burden of Rising Methamphetamine-Associated Heart Failure Hospitalizations in California From 2008 to 2018.

Background: Methamphetamine-associated cardiomyopathy/heart failure (MethHF) is an increasingly recognized disease entity in the context of a rising methamphetamine (meth) epidemic that most severely impacts the western United States. Using heart failure (HF) hospitalization data from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, this study aimed to assess trend and disease burden of MethHF in California.

Methods: Adult patients (≥18 years old) with HF as primary hospitalization diagnosis between 2008 and 2018 were included in this study.

Comparison of Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Patients With Reversible Versus Persistent Methamphetamine-Associated Cardiomyopathy.

Anecdotal cases of reversible methamphetamine-associated cardiomyopathy (rMAC) have been reported, but not well understood. This study sought to determine the clinical characteristics, outcomes and predictors of reversibility among patients with rMAC as compared with patients with persistent MAC (pMAC). We retrospectively studied adult MAC patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤40% at a single center between 2004 and 2018.

Clinical Characteristics and Outcome of Methamphetamine-Associated Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension and Dilated Cardiomyopathy.

Objectives: This study sought to characterize patients with methamphetamine-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension (MA-PAH) and cardiomyopathy (MA-CMP), to compare with MA controls (MA-CTL), users with structurally normal hearts, with the aim of identifying risk factors for these conditions.

Background: MA-PAH and MA-CMP are 2 poorly understood cardiac complications in MA users.

Methods: We retrospectively studied the clinical characteristics and outcomes of 50 MA-PAH, 296 MA-CMP, and 356 MA-CTL patients, whom we evaluated between 2010 and 2017.

A Clinical Score for Predicting Atrial Fibrillation in Patients with Cryptogenic Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack.

Objectives: Detection of atrial fibrillation (AF) in post-cryptogenic stroke (CS) or transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients carries important therapeutic implications.

Methods: To risk stratify CS/TIA patients for later development of AF, we conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from 1995 to 2015 in the Stanford Translational Research Integrated Database Environment (STRIDE).

Results: Of the 9,589 adult patients (age ≥40 years) with CS/TIA included, 482 (5%) patients developed AF post CS/TIA.

Frequency and Associated Clinical Features of Functional Tricuspid Regurgitation in Patients With Chronic Atrial Fibrillation.

Significant functional tricuspid regurgitation (TR) can develop in some but not all patients with chronic atrial fibrillation (AF). This study sought to identify factors likely to be involved in determining the severity of TR in patients with chronic AF. In this retrospective cohort study of adult patients referred for transthoracic echocardiography for evaluation of AF between 2004 and 2015, we identified 170 patients with chronic AF in the absence of structural or known coronary heart disease.

Suppression of calcium-induced repolarization heterogeneity as a mechanism of nitroglycerin's antiarrhythmic action.

This study examined whether the antifibrillatory action of nitroglycerin (NTG) is attributable to reduction in calcium-induced heterogeneity of repolarization independent of autonomic and coronary vasodilatory influences. The effects of intrapericardial (IPC) NTG on coronary blood flow, contractility, repolarization, and arrhythmia susceptibility were measured in anesthetized pigs (N = 43). Autonomic influences were minimized by vagotomy and beta-adrenergic blockade (metoprolol, 1.

Potent antifibrillatory effects of intrapericardial nitroglycerin in the ischemic porcine heart.

Objectives: We investigated the antiarrhythmic effects of intrapericardial nitroglycerin (NTG) during acute myocardial ischemia in the porcine heart.

Background: Nitroglycerin is a nitric oxide donor that exerts potent effects on the cardiovascular system. Intrapericardial administration allows investigation of pharmacologic actions on cardiac tissue in an in vivo system while minimizing the confounding influences of systemic effects.