Obesity and the paradox of mortality and heart failure hospitalization in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Background: Limited data exist on the association of obesity with both hospitalization and mortality in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), especially in the real-world ambulatory setting. We hypothesized that increasing body-mass index (BMI) in ambulatory heart failure with preserved ejection fraction would have a protective effect on these patients leading to decreased mortality and hospitalizations.

Methods: We studied the relationship between BMI and the time to all-cause mortality, time to heart failure (HF) hospitalization, and time to all-cause hospitalization over a 2-year follow-up in a national cohort of 2501 ambulatory HFpEF patients at 153 Veterans Affairs medical centers.

Progression to stage 3 and 4 chronic kidney disease and risk factor stratification following endovascular aortic aneurysm repair.

Background: Risk of progression to various stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD) after endovascular aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) is unknown. This study estimates progression rates to stage 3 and 4 CKD after EVAR and identifies potential predictors for progression.

Methods: EVAR cases (2006-2012) were retrospectively reviewed.

Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease: a Risk Factor or a Risk Marker?

In the USA, 69 % of adults are either overweight or obese and 35 % are obese. Obesity is associated with an increased incidence of various cardiovascular disorders. Obesity is a risk marker for cardiovascular disease, in that it is associated with a much higher prevalence of comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome, which then increase the risk for cardiovascular disease.

Common carotid artery peak systolic velocity ratio predicts high-grade common carotid stenosis.

Objective: Screening for common carotid artery (CCA) stenosis with duplex ultrasound (DUS) velocity criteria alone can be limited by within-patient and between-patients hemodynamic variability. This study aimed to evaluate inter-CCA velocity ratio criteria to predict high-grade CCA stenosis.

Methods: This was a retrospective review of consecutive patients who underwent computed tomography angiography and DUS peak systolic velocity (PSV) measurements of bilateral CCAs, independently recorded, between 2008 and 2014.