Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy After Hospitalization for Acute Heart Failure: Insights From the CONNECT-HF.

Background: Significant gap remains in the implementation of guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) in patients with heart failure after a hospitalization. We aimed to evaluate the use and titration of GDMT at discharge and over a 12-month period after hospital discharge and to identify factors associated with GDMT use and titration.

Methods And Results: The CONNECT-HF (Care Optimization Through Patient and Hospital Engagement Clinical Trial for Heart Failure) trial evaluated the effect of a hospital and postdischarge quality improvement intervention in participants with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.

Trends in Complications Among Patients Undergoing Aortic Valve Replacement in the United States.

Background: The treatment of severe aortic stenosis has evolved considerably since the introduction of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), yet trends in complications for patients undergoing TAVR or surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) at a national level have yet to be evaluated.

Methods And Results: We performed a retrospective cohort study using Medicare data to evaluate temporal trends in complications among beneficiaries, aged ≥65 years, treated with elective isolated transfemoral TAVR or SAVR between 2012 and 2019. The study end point was the occurrence of a major complication (composite outcome) during index and up to 30 days after.

Trends and Disparities in Valvular Heart Disease Mortality in the United States From 1999 to 2020.

Background: Percutaneous heart valve procedures have been increasingly performed over the past decade, yet real-world mortality data on valvular heart disease (VHD) in the United States remain limited.

Methods And Results: We queried the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research database among patients ≥15 years old from 1999 to 2020. VHD and its subtypes were listed as the underlying cause of death.

Trends and Disparities in Cardiovascular Death in Sarcoidosis: A Population-Based Retrospective Study in the United States From 1999 to 2020.

Background: Despite significant cardiac involvement in sarcoidosis, real-world data on death due to cardiovascular disease among patients with sarcoidosis is not well established.

Methods And Results: We queried the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research database for data on patients with sarcoidosis aged ≥25 years from 1999 to 2020. Diseases of the circulatory system except ischemic heart disease were listed as the underlying cause of death, and sarcoidosis was stated as a contributing cause of death.

Risk Prediction in Male Adolescents With Congenital Long QT Syndrome: Implications for Sex-Specific Risk Stratification in Potassium Channel-Mediated Long QT Syndrome.

Background: Sex-specific risk management may improve outcomes in congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS). We recently developed a prediction score for cardiac events (CEs) and life-threatening events (LTEs) in postadolescent women with LQTS. In the present study, we aimed to develop personalized risk estimates for the burden of CEs and LTEs in male adolescents with potassium channel-mediated LQTS.

Factors Associated With Maintenance of an Improved Ejection Fraction: An Echocardiogram-Based Registry Study.

Background Heart failure with improved ejection fraction (EF) is increasingly recognized as a sizable and distinct entity. While the features associated with improvedEF have been explored and new guidelines have emerged, factors associated with sustaining an improved EF over time have not been defined. We aimed to assess factors associated with maintenance of an improved EF in a large real-world patient cohort.