Highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) has considerably increased the life expectancy of patients infected with HIV. Coronary artery disease is a leading cause of mortality in patients infected with HIV. This is primarily attributed to their increased survival, HAART-induced metabolic derangements, and to HIV itself. The pathophysiology of atherosclerosis in HIV is both multifactorial and complex – involving direct endothelial injury and dysfunction, hypercoagulability, and a significant contribution from traditional cardiac risk factors. The advent of HAART has since heralded a remarkable improvement in outcomes, but at the expense of other unforeseen issues. It is thus of paramount importance to swiftly recognize and manage acute coronary syndromes in HIV-infected patients to attenuate adverse complications, which should translate into improved clinical outcomes.

Objectives This novel, pilot study aimed to assess the estimated prevalence of high on-treatment platelet reactivity (HPR) in Trinidad and Tobago.MethodsPatients (n=40) who were awaiting elective percutaneous coronary intervention on maintenance dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) with aspirin 81 mg daily and clopidogrel 75 mg or loaded at least 48 hours prior were recruited. Platelet reactivity with the VerifyNow P2Y12 assay (Accriva Diagnostics, San Diego, California, USA) was assessed prior to cardiac catheterisation.Results60.7% (17/28) of the South Asian (Indo-Trinidadians) patients had HPR, whereas 14.3% (1/7) of Africans and 40% (2/5) of mixed ethnicity had HPR. There was a significant association between HPR (P2Y12 reaction units >208) and ethnicity with South Asians (Indo-Trinidadians) (OR 5.4; 95% CI 1.18 to 24.66, p=0.029).ConclusionsThis pilot study serves to introduce the preliminary observation that the estimated prevalence of HPR is considerably higher within the heterogeneous population in Trinidad at 50% as compared with predominantly Caucasian studies. Furthermore, the HPR is significantly higher in South Asians (Indo-Trinidadians) (>60% of patients) which has severe clinical repercussions considering the cardiovascular disease pandemic. Clopidogrel may not be a satisfactory or optimal antiplatelet agent in this subgroup, and therefore, another more potent antiplatelet such as ticagrelor should be used instead. Further large-scale studies are imperative to confirm these findings. (Funded by the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine; POINT ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03667066.)

The incidence of left ventricular (LV) thrombi in the setting of an anterior myocardial infarction has declined significantly since the advent of primary percutaneous coronary intervention coupled with contemporary antithrombotic strategies in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarctions (STE-ACS). Despite oral anticoagulation with the currently accepted, standard-of-care vitamin K antagonist, warfarin, major bleeding complications still arise. Rivaroxaban is a novel, direct oral factor X anticoagulant that has several advantageous properties, which can attenuate bleeding risk. We present a case in which a patient successfully underwent a 3-month course of rivaroxaban in addition to his dual antiplatelet regimen of aspirin and ticagrelor for his STE-ACS and LV thrombus with resultant complete dissolution.

Background This study aimed to screen cardiovascular patients for depressive symptoms at a tertiary centre in Trinidad and Tobago; and to determine any significant associations amongst patients’ demographics, comorbidities, and cardiovascular medications with depressive symptoms. Methods In this observational, cross-sectional study, patients (n = 1203) were randomly selected from the cardiology outpatient clinics at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex. After meeting selection criteria, informed consent was obtained, and patients were administered a case report form, which included the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Descriptive analyses included frequency, percentage and summary statistics. Inferential analyses included 95% confidence intervals (CIs), independent sample t-test, Fisher’s exact test, Chi-square test, and multivariate logistic regression. Results The study had a 96% respondent rate, whereby the average age was 62 years old. Slightly less than half were male, and 52.5% were female. Over 90 % of the sample had cardiovascular disease (CVD). One-quarter of the sample had a PHQ-9 score of ≥10, with almost one-fifth having no depressive symptoms. Females, lower levels of education and income were all found to be statistically significant at risk for depressive symptoms (all p-values < 0.001). Comorbidities associated with depressive symptoms included hypertension, prior cerebrovascular events, chronic kidney disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of OR 1.988 (CI 1.414–2.797), OR 1.847 (CI 1.251–2.728), OR 1.872 (CI 1.207–2.902) and OR 1.703 (CI 1.009–2.876) respectively. Only the cardiovascular medication of ticagrelor was found to be significantly associated with depressive symptoms (p-value < 0.001). Conclusions Twenty-five percent of screened cardiovascular patients displayed significant depressive symptoms with a PHQ-9 ≥ 10. This study also highlights the importance of implementing a multidisciplinary approach to managing cardiovascular disease and screening for depressive symptoms in this subpopulation. Further studies are required to validate these findings. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03863262. This trial was retrospectively registered on 20th February 2019.