Anita Deswal

..However, systematic evaluation of racial differences in both the quality of care and outcomes is needed in the outpatient setting, where most patients with HF are treated and where care may be more fragmented...

..By reducing cardiac fibrosis, aldosterone antagonists have the potential to be beneficial in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF)...

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..Studies that further our understanding of mechanisms underlying diastolic dysfunction and diastolic HF will provide potential new targets for development of effective therapies for these conditions...

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..Similar data are not available for a heart failure (HF) population. This study sought to determine the prevalence of the MetS and its effect on mortality in a HF population...

..68, 95% confidence interval 1.26 to 2.25, p <0.001). In conclusion, in patients with HF and preserved LVEF, diabetes is associated with significantly increased risk of developing adverse HF outcomes...

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..Thus, background beta-blocker therapy appears to be protective against the potential harmful effects of alpha(1)-adrenergic antagonist therapy in patients with HF...

..This review will examine the potential benefits of statins in HF patients with ischemic and nonischemic cardiomyopathy as well as potential concerns regarding the use of statins in these patients...

..These comorbid factors should be given important consideration when evaluating the risks and benefits of CABG...

..This study sought to examine the relationship between thiazolidinedione (TZD) use and outcomes in ambulatory patients with diabetes and heart failure (HF)...

..We sought to compare the association between metformin use and clinical outcomes in a cohort of ambulatory patients with diabetes and established HF...

..However, it is not known whether there is a ceiling beyond which high SBP has a detrimental effect. Thus, our aim was to assess the linearity of association between SBP and mortality...

..We aimed to examine whether the observed improvement in LVEF following carvedilol treatment is due to changes in intrinsic myocardial contractility beyond changes in LV chamber size or loading conditions...

..We sought to compare the relationship between absolute and relative changes in BNP with future clinical events, and whether serial BNP measurements add prognostic information in patients treated for decompensated HF...

..This underscores the importance of evaluating other agents for the treatment of patients who have HF-PEF...

..Depression and anxiety are common in heart failure, but the prevalence, incidence, and relationship of these conditions to health service use and mortality remains uncertain...

..This review will focus on the emerging role of inflammatory biomarkers, including pro-inflammatory cytokines, C-reactive protein, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate in patients with HF...

..However, it is unknown whether sizes of cardiac chambers acutely change during HF therapy and whether these changes are associated with favorable clinical outcomes...

..This review highlights the currently available data on the epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of asymptomatic LV systolic dysfunction...

..Despite this, most multivariate predictive models for heart failure mortality have predictive accuracies characterized by a C-statistic (area under the receiver operating curve) of ≈0.74...

..Obesity is considered as an independent risk factor for development of heart failure (HF); however, its role in the progression of HF independent of atherosclerotic heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes is not well described...

..We examined recent temporal patterns of beta-blocker utilization in HF with systolic dysfunction at hospital discharge and over 2-year follow-up...

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..The effect of the time of the academic year on cardiac surgical outcomes is unknown...

..Therefore, there exists an urgent need to develop effective treatment strategies specifically for patients with HF-PEF. Recently completed and ongoing research in the treatment of HF-PEF is reviewed in this article...

..Readers of clinical trial results must be vigilant for nonprotocol-driven research and understand that the results from these programs are at best exploratory and cannot be used to answer scientific questions...

..Clinical trials that have their prospective analysis plan altered are difficult to interpret...

..This study was designed to examine the relationship between glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1C) and adverse outcomes in diabetic patients with established heart failure (HF)...

..These findings may partly account for better long-term survival after hospitalization in black patients compared with white patients...

..We review the rationale for existing heart failure therapies and discuss the reasoning behind the development of some emerging therapies...

..This article examines the rationale and role of ARBs in the treatment of patients with heart failure on the basis of evidence from clinical trials...

..The aim of this prospective study was to examine the prevalence, recognition, and treatment of depression and anxiety in ambulatory patients with heart failure...

..In congestive heart failure (CHF), a low body temperature at hospital admission predicts in-hospital mortality. We hypothesized that a postdischarge reduction in body temperature predicts early CHF rehospitalization and death...

..These changes in MMP/TIMP levels likely reflect the progression and/or acceleration of the LV remodeling process in CHF. Thus serial measurements of plasma MMP/TIMP levels may hold diagnostic/prognostic significance in CHF patients...

..Attempts should be made to up titrate patients to target doses of ACE inhibitors that have been used in clinical trials, if tolerated...