Effectiveness of Virtual Care Team Guided Management of Hospitalized Patients with HFrEF by Ethnicity.

Background: IMPLEMENT-HF demonstrated a virtual team-based care strategy was safe and improved prescription of guideline directed medical therapy (GDMT) in hospitalized patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). We evaluated differences in efficacy and safety outcomes by ethnicity in IMPLEMENT-HF.

Methods: IMPLEMENT-HF evaluated a provider-facing virtual team-based care strategy vs.

Optimal Stopping Ages for Colorectal Cancer Screening.

Importance: Prior studies have shown that the benefits, harms, and costs of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening at older ages are associated with a patient's sex, health, and screening history. However, these studies were hypothetical exercises and not directly informed by data on CRC risk.

Objective: To identify the optimal stopping ages for CRC screening by sex, comorbidity, and screening history from a cost-effectiveness perspective.

Clinical and research applications of natural language processing for heart failure.

Natural language processing (NLP) is a burgeoning field of machine learning/artificial intelligence that focuses on the computational processing of human language. Researchers and clinicians are using NLP methods to advance the field of medicine in general and in heart failure (HF), in particular, by processing vast amounts of previously untapped semi-structured and unstructured textual data in electronic health records. NLP has several applications to clinical research, including dramatically improving processes for cohort assembly, disease phenotyping, and outcome ascertainment, among others.

Pediatric Patients With Acute Flaccid Myelitis: Long-term Respiratory and Neurologic Outcomes.

Background: Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), an infection-mediated neurologic condition, may be accompanied by respiratory failure and subsequent variable recovery. This study assessed and provided prescriptive data on long-term respiratory and neurologic outcomes according to respiratory status at the time of presentation.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study using a large, single-payer healthcare database to identify children 1-18 years old, diagnosed with AFM between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2019.

Associations of frailty with survival, hospitalization, functional decline, and toxicity among older adults with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Introduction: Among older adults with cancer receiving chemotherapy, frailty indices predict OS and toxicity. Given the increased use of immunotherapy and targeted therapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (aNSCLC), we evaluated frailty and Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) among older adults with aNSCLC receiving chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and/or targeted therapy.

Methods: Patients aged ≥ 65 with aNSCLC starting systemic therapy with non-curative intent underwent geriatric assessments over 6 months.

Electronic Nudge Letters to Increase Influenza Vaccination Uptake in Younger and Middle-Aged Individuals With Diabetes.

Background: Despite evidence demonstrating that influenza vaccination is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality in individuals with diabetes mellitus (DM), vaccine uptake remains suboptimal.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of electronically delivered nudges on influenza vaccine uptake according to the presence of DM status versus other chronic diseases.

Methods: NUDGE-FLU-CHRONIC was a nationwide, randomized, pragmatic implementation trial among younger and middle-aged (18-64 years) Danish citizens with chronic disease during the 2023/2024 influenza season.

The Association of Echocardiographically Measured Donor Left Ventricular Mass and 1-Year Outcomes After Heart Transplantation.

Background: Donor-recipient heart size matching is crucial in heart transplantation; however, the often-used predicted heart mass (PHM) ratio may be inaccurate in the setting of obesity.

Objectives: In this study, the authors sought to investigate the association between echocardiographically measured donor left ventricular mass (LVM) for heart size matching and the risk of the primary 1-year composite outcome of death or retransplantation.

Methods: The Donor Heart Study was a prospective, multicenter, observational cohort study that collected echocardiograms from brain-dead donors.

Overcoming therapeutic inertia in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes: Protocol of a randomized, quality improvement trial.

Therapeutic inertia, the delay in the appropriate initiation and intensification of recommended therapies, is a major contributor to the lack of improvement in type 2 diabetes outcomes over the past decade. Therapeutic inertia during the period following diagnosis, when improvements in glycemic control can have lasting benefits, is often overlooked. Technology and team-based care approaches can effectively address therapeutic inertia.

Outcome Factors for Women Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement.

Women with severe aortic stenosis undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) have a higher burden of symptoms, are older at the time of the TAVR procedure, and have unique anatomic features that increase the periprocedural risk. However, long-term outcomes including mortality are favorable for women compared with men. Careful attention is needed in considering the vascular access route and choice of valve platform to mitigate complications.

Decision Support Intervention and Anticoagulation for Emergency Department Atrial Fibrillation: The O'CAFÉ Stepped-Wedge Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Oral anticoagulation for adults with atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter (AFF) who are at elevated stroke risk reduces the incidence of ischemic stroke but remains underused. Efforts to increase anticoagulation initiation on emergency department (ED) discharge have yielded conflicting results.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a multipronged intervention supporting anticoagulation initiation for eligible adult ED patients.

Hypertensive Blood Pressure in Adolescent Females With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

Introduction: Polycystic ovary syndrome is associated with hypertension in women, but few population studies have examined findings among adolescents. This retrospective study examines PCOS and hypertensive blood pressure in a large adolescent population receiving routine healthcare.

Methods: Among females aged 13-17 years who had a well-child visit with systolic/diastolic blood pressure measured in a Northern California healthcare system (2013-2019), the outcome of hypertensive blood pressure (≥130/80 mmHg) was examined.

Oral Antibiotic Use in Adulthood and Risk of Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer: A Case-Control Study.

Background And Aims: Prior antibiotic use may be a factor in the rising incidence of colorectal cancer seen in those under 50 years of age (early-onset colorectal cancer [EOCRC]); however, the few studies to examine this link have reported conflicting results. Therefore, we evaluated the association between oral antibiotic use in adulthood and EOCRC in a large integrated healthcare system in the United States.

Methods: A population-based nested case-control study was conducted among Kaiser Permanente Northern California patients 18-49 years of age diagnosed with EOCRC (adenocarcinoma of the colon or rectum) in 1998-2020 who had ≥2 years of continuous pharmacy benefit prior to diagnosis.

Survival Outcomes Among Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma in a Large Integrated US Health System.

Importance: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the leading oncologic cause of death among patients with cirrhosis, but large studies examining mortality trends are lacking.

Objective: To evaluate survival among patients with HCC in one of the largest integrated health care systems in the US.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This retrospective cohort study included 3441 adult patients who received a diagnosis of HCC between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2019, with end of follow-up on December 31, 2020.

Modulating energy metabolism to treat non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy? Insights from IMPROVE-HCM.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common genetic heart disease worldwide and may present with or without dynamic left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (LVOTO). Significant advances have been made in the management of obstructive HCM. On the other hand, despite their significant symptomatic burden, patients with non-obstructive HCM (nHCM) (i.