The Impact of COVID-19 on Mortality and Clinical Characteristics in Hospitalized Patients With Peripheral Artery Disease in the Year 2020 in Germany.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic developed its full destructive capacity in 2020. This retrospective study aimed to examine the effects of COVID-19 on the mortality and the clinical characteristics in PAD patients with COVID-19 compared to PAD patients without COVID-19.

Methods And Results: Data derived from a German nationwide register of the year 2020 which encompassed all hospitalized patients with PAD ( = 173.

Weakness of lower limb muscle in symptomatic peripheral artery disease with media sclerosis detected by ultrasound shear wave elastography.

Symptomatic peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is difficult to non-invasively diagnose in the presence of calcified, media sclerotic arteries that are incompressible by blood pressure cuffs. Standard ankle-brachial index (ABI) measurements in these PAD patients are very often not helpful. Shear wave elastography (SWE) is a modern ultrasound technique to detect peripheral muscle stiffness changes i.

Use and Outcomes of Acute Treatment Strategies in Patients with Severe Aortic Valve Stenosis.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the acute treatment of patients with severe aortic valve stenosis in Germany.

Methods And Results: Three treatment strategies in 11,027 patients acutely admitted due to aortic valve stenosis were compared from 2014 until 2018 using German nationwide records: The annual number of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures (1,294 to 1,827) and balloon valvuloplasty (BV only) procedures (170 to 233) in patients acutely admitted increased, but surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) procedures decreased (426 to 316). In comparison to BV only patients (mean age 81.

Symptom patterns and clinical outcomes in women versus men with systolic heart failure and depression.

Background: Depression is more common in females than in males and is 3-5 times more prevalent in patients with heart failure (HF) than in the general population. The 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) is a validated depression screening instrument; higher sum-scores predict adverse clinical outcomes. Sex- and gender differences in PHQ-9 symptom profile, diagnostic and prognostic properties, and impact on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) have not been comprehensively studied in HF patients.

[Depression and heart failure - a dangerous combination].

Depression is common in heart failure and associated with impaired quality of life. It impacts adversely on clinical outcomes. Both diseases are widespread in the general population with increasing prevalence and treatment costs.

Comparative potential of the 2-item versus the 9-item patient health questionnaire to predict death or rehospitalization in heart failure.

Background: Depression is common in heart failure and associated with adverse clinical outcomes. We investigated the potential of the 2-item patient health questionnaire (PHQ-2) versus that of the 9-item version (PHQ-9) to predict death or rehospitalization.

Methods And Results: Participants of the Interdisciplinary Network for Heart Failure program were eligible, if they completed the PHQ-9 during baseline assessment.