Background Cardiovascular disease burden and treatment patterns among patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) in the United States remain poorly described. In 2013, the FH Foundation launched the Cascade Screening for Awareness and Detection (CASCADE) of FH Registry to address this knowledge gap. Methods and Results We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 1295 adults with heterozygous FH enrolled in the CASCADE-FH Registry from 11 US lipid clinics. Median age at initiation of lipid-lowering therapy was 39 years, and median age at FH diagnosis was 47 years. Prevalent coronary heart disease was reported in 36% of patients, and 61% exhibited 1 or more modifiable risk factors. Median untreated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was 239 mg/dL. At enrollment, median LDL-C was 141 mg/dL; 42% of patients were taking high-intensity statin therapy and 45% received >1 LDL-lowering medication. Among FH patients receiving LDL-lowering medication(s), 25% achieved an LDL-C <100 mg/dL and 41% achieved a ≥50% LDL-C reduction. Factors associated with prevalent coronary heart disease included diabetes mellitus (adjusted odds ratio 1.74; 95% confidence interval 1.08–2.82) and hypertension (2.48; 1.92–3.21). Factors associated with a ≥50% LDL-C reduction from untreated levels included high-intensity statin use (7.33; 1.86–28.86) and use of >1 LDL-lowering medication (1.80; 1.34–2.41). Conclusions FH patients in the CASCADE-FH Registry are diagnosed late in life and often do not achieve adequate LDL-C lowering, despite a high prevalence of coronary heart disease and risk factors. These findings highlight the need for earlier diagnosis of FH and initiation of lipid-lowering therapy, more consistent use of guideline-recommended LDL-lowering therapy, and comprehensive management of traditional coronary heart disease risk factors.

Importance While there is increasing emphasis on incorporating patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) in routine care for heart failure (HF) patients, how best to interpret longitudinally collected PROMs is unknown. Objective To examine the strength of association between a prior, a current or change in Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) scores with death and hospitalization in patients with preserved (HFpEF) and reduced (HFrEF) ejection fractions. Design, Setting, and Participants Secondary analyses of the TOPCAT trial of 1,372 patients with HFpEF and the HF-ACTION trial that included 1,669 patients with HFrEF. Exposure Prior, current and change in KCCQ Overall Summary scores (KCCQ-os) in 5-points increments (higher scores = better health status) Main Outcomes and Measures Time to cardiovascular death/first HF hospitalization (primary outcome) and all-cause death (secondary outcome). Results Each 5-point difference in prior or current KCCQ-os scores were associated with a 6%-9% and 6%-8% lower risk for subsequent cardiovascular death/first HF hospitalization in patients with HFpEF and HFrEF in unadjusted analyses (all P<0.001). Results were similar for change in KCCQ-os. In models with the prior and current KCCQ-os, only the current KCCQ-os was significantly associated with 10% and 7% lower risk/5 points for subsequent cardiovascular death/first HF hospitalization in patients with HFpEF and HFrEF, respectively (all P<0.001). Similar results were observed when the current and Δ KCCQ-os were considered together, when adjusted for important patient and treatment characteristics, when including 3 sequential KCCQ-os scores and when examining all-cause death as the outcome. Conclusions and Relevance In serial health status evaluations of HF patients, the most recent score was most strongly associated with subsequent death and cardiovascular hospitalization in HFpEF and HFrEF. Measuring serial PROMs in the clinical care of patients with HF can provide an updated assessment of prognosis. Trial Registration URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: TOPCAT (NCT00094302) and HF-ACTION (NCT00047437)

Elevated total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides in midlife were associated with greater 20-year cognitive decline.

Adoption of the 2013 ACC/AHA Cholesterol Management Guideline in cardiology practices was modest. Timely interventions are needed to improve guideline-concordant practice to reduce the burden of ASCVD.

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Compared to controls, individuals with obesity and MS had increased fasting and postprandial monocyte lipid accumulation and activation.

Objectives The purpose of this study was to assess the frequency of very late stent thrombosis (VLST) after stenting with bare-metal stents (BMS) and drug-eluting stents (DES) for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Background Stent thrombosis occurs more frequently after stenting for STEMI than after elective stenting, but there are little data regarding VLST. Methods Consecutive patients (n = 1,463) who underwent stenting for STEMI were prospectively enrolled in our database. BMS were implanted exclusively from 1995 to 2002, and DES and BMS were implanted from 2003 to 2009. Follow-up was obtained at 1 to 15 years. Results Bare-metal stent patients (n = 1,095) were older and had more shock, whereas DES patients (n = 368) had more diabetes and smaller vessels. Stent thrombosis occurred in 107 patients, of which 42 were VLST (>1 year). Stent thrombosis continued to increase to at least 11 years with BMS and to at least 4.5 years with DES. Stent thrombosis rates with BMS versus DES were similar at 1 year (5.1% and 4.0%, respectively) but increased more with DES after the first year (1.9%/year vs. 0.6%/year, respectively). Landmark analysis (>1 year) found DES had a higher frequency of VLST (p < 0.001) and reinfarction (p = 0.003). Drug-eluting stent was the only significant independent predictor of VLST (hazard ratio: 3.79, 95% confidence interval: 1.64 to 8.79, p = 0.002). Conclusions Very late stent thrombosis after primary PCI for STEMI occurs with relatively high frequency to at least 11 years with BMS and to at least 4.5 years with DES. Very late stent thrombosis and reinfarction (>1 year) were more frequent with DES. New strategies are needed to manage this problem.

Background: The burgeoning rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is posing serious challenges in resource constrained health facilities of Nepal. The main objective of this study was to assess the readiness of health facilities for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) services in Nepal. Methods: This study utilized data from the Nepal Health Facility Survey 2015. General readiness of 940 health facilities along with disease specific readiness for CVDs, diabetes, and CRDs were assessed using the Service Availability and Readiness Assessment manual of the World Health Organization. Health facilities were categorized into public and private facilities. Results: Out of a total of 940 health facilities assessed, private facilities showed higher availability of items of general service readiness except for standard precautions for infection prevention, compared to public facilities. The multivariable adjusted regression coefficients for CVDs (β = 2.87, 95%CI: 2.42-3.39), diabetes (β =3.02, 95%CI: 2.03-4.49), and CRDs (β = 15.95, 95%CI: 4.61-55.13) at private facilities were higher than the public facilities. Health facilities located in the hills had a higher readiness index for CVDs (β = 1.99, 95%CI: 1.02-1.39). Service readiness for CVDs (β = 1.13, 95%CI: 1.04-1.23) and diabetes (β = 1.78, 95%CI: 1.23-2.59) were higher in the urban municipalities than in rural municipalities. Finally, disease-related services readiness index was sub-optimal with some degree of variation at the province level in Nepal. Compared to province 1, province 2 (β = 0.83, 95%CI: 0.73-0.95) had lower, and province 4 (β =1.24, 95%CI: 1.07-1.43) and province 5 (β =1.17, 95%CI: 1.02-1.34) had higher readiness index for CVDs.