IMPORTANCE Mobile applications (apps) may help improve hypertension self-management. OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of an artificial intelligence smartphone coaching app to promote home monitoring and hypertension-related behaviors on systolic blood pressure level compared with a blood pressure tracking app. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This was a 2-group, open, randomized clinical trial.

Background-Cardiac rehabilitation is an important component of recovery from coronary events but uptake and adherence to such programmes are below the recommended levels. This aim is to update a previous non-Cochrane systematic review which examined interventions that may potentially improve cardiac patient uptake and adherence in rehabilitation or its components and concluded that there is insufficient evidence to make specific recommendations.

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There is uncertainty whether current strategies for providing CVD risk scores affect CVD events. Providing CVD risk scores may slightly reduce CVD risk factor levels and may increase preventive medication prescribing in higher-risk people without evidence of harm. There were multiple study limitations in the identified studies and substantial heterogeneity in the interventions, outcomes, and analyses, so readers should interpret results with caution. New models for implementing and evaluating CVD risk scores in adequately powered studies are needed to define the role of applying CVD risk scores in primary CVD prevention.

There is some evidence to suggest that interventions to increase the uptake of cardiac rehabilitation can be effective. Few practice recommendations for increasing adherence to cardiac rehabilitation can be made at this time. Interventions targeting patient identified barriers may increase the likelihood of success. Further high quality research is needed.

These data provide context of specific risk factor levels and groups of individuals who are likely to have 10-year ASCVD risk estimates ≥7.5%. Age continues to be a major driver of risk, which highlights the importance of the clinician-patient discussion before statin therapy is initiated.

The Million Hearts Initiative has a goal of preventing 1 million heart attacks and strokes—the leading causes of mortality—through several public health and healthcare strategies by 2017. The American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology support the program. The Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Model was developed by Million Hearts and the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services as a strategy to asses a value-based payment approach toward reduction in 10-year predicted risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) by implementing cardiovascular preventive strategies to manage the “ABCS” (aspirin therapy in appropriate patients, blood pressure control, cholesterol management, and smoking cessation). The purpose of this special report is to describe the development and intended use of the Million Hearts Longitudinal ASCVD Risk Assessment Tool. The Million Hearts Tool reinforces and builds on the “2013 ACC/AHA Guideline on the Assessment of Cardiovascular Risk” by allowing clinicians to estimate baseline and updated 10-year ASCVD risk estimates for primary prevention patients adhering to the appropriate ABCS over time, alone or in combination. The tool provides updated risk estimates based on evidence from high-quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the ABCS therapies. This novel approach to personalized estimation of benefits from risk-reducing therapies in primary prevention may help target therapies to those in whom they will provide the greatest benefit, and serves as the basis for a Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services program designed to evaluate the Million Hearts Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Model.

Importance The Million Hearts initiative emphasizes the “ABCS” - aspirin, blood pressure control, cholesterol management, and smoking cessation. Evidence for the effects of drugs used to achieve the ABCS has not been comprehensively synthesized in primary atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) prevention. Objective To compare the efficacy and safety of aspirin, blood pressure-lowering therapy, statin, and tobacco cessation drugs on fatal and non-fatal ASCVD outcomes in primary ASCVD prevention. Evidence Review Structured search of the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), Health Technology Assessment Database (HTA), MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PROSPERO International Prospective Systematic Review Trial Register to identify systematic reviews published from January 1, 2005, to June 17, 2015, that reported the effect of aspirin, BP-lowering therapy, statin, or tobacco cessation drugs on ASCVD events in individuals without prevalent ASCVD. Additional studies were identified by searching the reference lists of included systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and health technology assessment reports. Reviews were selected according to predefined criteria and appraised formethodologic quality using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) tool (range, 0–11). Studies were independently reviewed for key participant and intervention characteristics. Outcomes that were meta-analyzed in each included review were extracted. Qualitative synthesis was performed, and data were analyzed from July 2 to August 13, 2015. Findings From a total of 1967 reports, 35 systematic reviews of randomized clinical trials were identified, including 15 reviews of aspirin, 4 reviews of BP-lowering therapy, 12 reviews of statins, and 4 reviews of tobacco cessation drugs. Methodologic quality varied, but 30 reviews had AMSTAR ratings of 5 or higher. Compared with placebo, aspirin (relative risk [RR], 0.90; 95%CI, 0.85–0.96) and statins (RR, 0.75; 95%CI, 0.70–0.81) reduced the risk for ASCVD. Compared with placebo, BP-lowering therapy reduced the risk for coronary heart disease (RR, 0.84; 95%CI, 0.79–0.90) and stroke (RR, 0.64; 95%CI, 0.56–0.73). Tobacco cessation drugs increased the odds of continued abstinence at 6 months (odds ratio range, 1.82 [95%CI, 1.60–2.06] to 2.88 [95%CI, 2.40–3.47]), but the direct effects on ASCVD were poorly reported. Aspirin increased the risk for major bleeding (RR, 1.54; 95%CI, 1.30–1.82), and statins did not increase overall risk for adverse effects (RR, 1.00; 95%CI, 0.97–1.03). Adverse effects of BP-lowering therapy and tobacco cessation drugs were poorly reported. Conclusions and Relevance This overview demonstrates high quality evidence to support aspirin, blood pressure-lowering therapy, and statins for primary ASCVD prevention and tobacco cessation drugs for smoking cessation. Treatment effects of each drug can be used to enrich clinician-patient discussions in primary ASCVD prevention.