Researchers enrolled 5,000 patients across the Mass General Brigham health system in Boston, Massachusetts in a remote, cholesterol and blood pressure management program utilizing care navigators and pharmacists, supported by specialists and using specialist-designed algorithms to initiate and adjust medications. Participants who completed the cholesterol program achieved a 52 mg/dl (42%) reduction in LDL cholesterol levels. Participants who completed the blood pressure program saw an average systolic and diastolic blood pressure reduction compared to baseline of 14mmHg and 6mmHg, respectively.

Heart failure patients who listened to pre-recorded audio messages of support and guidance were 27% less likely to return to the emergency department one-month after discharge. At 90-days after hospital discharge, the odds of all-cause death and heart failure death decreased by 43% and 48%, respectively, among those who received the audio card. Consistent messages over time may lead to better behaviors in diet, activity and medication therapy for patients discharged from the hospital with heart failure.

Nearly half of patients who received support through a patient engagement tool prior to a cardiology clinic visit had a positive change in their medication therapy compared to less than a third among patients who did not receive the engagement tool. The most common medication change was to increase the dose of generic medications already prescribed.

A high-dose, trivalent influenza vaccine was no more effective than the standard-dose quadrivalent vaccine at reducing the risk of death or hospitalization for heart or lung-related causes among patients with heart disease. While overall there were few serious side effects in both vaccine groups, those who received the high-dose vaccine had more injection-related side effects such as pain, swelling and muscle aches.

A national COVID-19 cardiovascular disease registry was established on April 3, 2020, by staff and volunteers of the American Heart Association to collect and provide generalizable insights on patients hospitalized with the novel coronavirus and to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the heart.

Patients who suffered a 'warning stroke' were less likely to have another stroke or die within 30 days if treated with a combination of aspirin and a newer blood thinner, ticagrelor. Researchers say that for patients with minor stroke treated within 24 hours of symptom onset, clinicians should consider the combination of ticagrelor plus aspirin to prevent a subsequent stroke.

Results of a large, international clinical trial on the novel medication finerenone indicate it reduced the rate of death, heart attack, stroke and hospitalization for heart failure among patients with chronic kidney disease and Type 2 diabetes. Finerenone helped patients with chronic conditions improve their heart health, regardless of if they had a history of cardiovascular disease.

Sotagliflozin - a type of medication known as an SGLT2 inhibitor primarily prescribed for Type 2 diabetes - reduces the risk of adverse cardiovascular events for patients with diabetes and kidney disease. Researchers say the results of this randomized clinical trial provide evidence that SGLT2 inhibitors should be part of the standard of care for people with Type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease.

Short bursts of physical exercise induce changes in the body's levels of metabolites that correlate to, and may help gauge, an individual's cardiometabolic, cardiovascular and long-term health, a study by Massachusetts General Hospital has found. Approximately 12 minutes of acute cardiopulmonary exercise impacted more than 80% of circulating metabolites, including pathways linked to a range of favorable health outcomes, thus identifying potential mechanisms that could contribute to a better understanding of cardiometabolic benefits of exercise.

There appears to be a high rate of unrecognized atrial fibrillation in the month following heart surgery among people who have an increased risk of stroke, even when atrial fibrillation was not detected immediately following surgery. When high-risk patients wore a heart monitor 24-hours a day for 30 days after heart surgery, atrial fibrillation was detected ten times more often than in patients who were not monitored continuously.