Spending on Cardiovascular Disease and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in the United States: 1996 to 2016.

BACKGROUND: Spending on cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular risk factors (cardiovascular spending) accounts for a significant portion of overall US health care spending. Our objective was to describe US adult cardiovascular spending patterns in 2016, changes from 1996 to 2016, and factors associated with changes over time. METHODS: We extracted information on adult cardiovascular spending from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation's disease expenditure project, which combines data on insurance claims, emergency department and ambulatory care visits, inpatient and nursing care facility stays, and drug prescriptions to estimate >85% of all US health care spending. Cardiovascular spending (2016 US dollars) was stratified by age, sex, type of care, payer, and cardiovascular cause. Time trend and decomposition analyses quantified contributions of epidemiology, service price and intensity (spending per unit of utilization, eg, spending per inpatient bed-day), and population growth and aging to the increase in cardiovascular spending from 1996 to 2016. RESULTS: Adult cardiovascular spending increased from $212 billion in 1996 to $320 billion in 2016, a period when the US population increased by >52 million people, and median age increased from 33.2 to 36.9 years. Over this period, public insurance was responsible for the majority of cardiovascular spending (54%), followed by private insurance (37%) and out-of-pocket spending (9%). Health services for ischemic heart disease ($80 billion) and hypertension ($71 billion) led to the most spending in 2016. Increased spending between 1996 and 2016 was primarily driven by treatment of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and atrial fibrillation/flutter, for which spending rose by $42 billion, $18 billion, and $16 billion, respectively. Increasing service price and intensity alone were associated with a 51%, or $88 billion, cardiovascular spending increase from 1996 to 2016, whereas changes in disease prevalence were associated with a 37%, or $36 billion, spending reduction over the same period, after taking into account population growth and population aging. CONCLUSIONS: US adult cardiovascular spending increased by >$100 billion from 1996 to 2016. Policies tailored to control service price and intensity and preferentially reimburse higher quality care could help counteract future spending increases caused by population aging and growth.

Who is who in cardiovascular research? What a review of Nobel Prize nominations reveals about scientific trends.

BACKGROUND: Since 1901, at least 15 scholars who contributed to cardiovascular research have received a Nobel prize in physiology or medicine. METHODS: Using the Nobel nomination database (nobelprize.org), which contains 5950 nominations in the accessible period from 1901 to 1953 in physiology or medicine, we listed all international nominees who contributed to cardiovascular research. We subsequently collected nomination letters and jury reports of the prime candidates from the archive of the Nobel Committee in Sweden to identify shortlisted candidates. RESULTS: The five most frequently nominated researchers with cardiovascular connections from 1901 to 1953 were, in descending order, the surgeon René Leriche (1879-1955) (FR) with a total of 79 nominations, the physiologist and 1924 Nobel laureate Willem Einthoven (1860-1927) (NL) (31 nominations), the surgeon Alfred Blalock (1899-1964) (US) (29 nominations), the pharmacologist and 1936 Nobel laureate Otto Loewi (1873-1961) (DE, AT, US) (27 nominations) and the paediatric cardiologist Helen Taussig (1898-1986) (US) (24 nominations). The research of these scholars merely hints at the width of topics brought up by nominators ranging from the physiological and pathological basics to the diagnosis and (surgical) interventions of diseases such as heart malformation or hypertension. CONCLUSION: We argue that an analysis of Nobel Prize nominations can reconstruct important scientific trends within cardiovascular research during the first half of the twentieth century.

Achados ao ecocardiograma transtorácico em pacientes hospitalizados com COVID- 19: resultados do registro brasileiro de ecocardiografia durante a pandemia de COVID-19 (ECOVID) / Transthoracic echocardiography findings of hospitalized patients with COVID-19: results from the brazilian echocardiography registry during the COVID-19 Pandemic (ECOVID)

Fundamento: A ecocardiografia transtorácica (ETT) pode desempenhar um papel crucial na avaliação das manifestações cardíacas da COVID-19. Objetivo: Nosso objetivo foi relatar a prevalência das principais anormalidades ecocardiográficas em pacientes hospitalizados com COVID-19. Métodos: Realizou-se estudo observacional multicêntrico prospectivo com pacientes com COVID-19 submetidos a ETT durante a internação. Pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca prévia, doença arterial coronariana ou fibrilação atrial foram classificados como portadores de doença cardiovascular (DCV) prévia. Foram coletados dados clínicos e ecocardiográficos da estrutura e da função cardíaca. Resultados: Avaliamos 310 pacientes com COVID-19, com 62±16 anos de idade, 61% homens, 53% com hipertensão arterial, 33% com diabetes e 23% com DCV prévia. No total, 65% dos pacientes necessitaram de suporte em unidade de terapia intensiva. As alterações ecocardiográficas mais prevalentes foram hipertrofia do ventrículo esquerdo (VE) (29%), hipertensão pulmonar (25%), disfunção sistólida do VE (16,5%), disfunção sistólica do ventrículo direito (VD) (15,9%), disfunção diastólica do VE grau II/III (11%) e alteração da contratilidade regional do VE (11%). Derrame pericárdico foi incomum (7%). Hipertrofia do VE (25 vs. 45%, p=0,001), disfunção sistólica do VE (11 vs. 36%, p<0,001), alterações da contratilidade regional (6 vs. 29%, p<0,001), disfunção diastólica do VE grau II/III (9 vs. 19%, p=0,03) e hipertensão pulmonar (22 vs. 36%, p=0,019) foram menos comuns nos pacientes sem do que com DCV prévia. A disfunção sistólica do VD mostrou-se semelhante em pacientes sem e com DCV prévia (13 vs. 25%, p=0,07). Conclusões: Entre os pacientes hospitalizados com COVID-19, os achados ecocardiográficos anormais foram comuns, porém menos encontrados naqueles sem DCV. A disfunção sistólica do VD pareceu afetar de forma semelhante pacientes com e sem DCV prévia. (AU)

Background: Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) may play a crucial role in the evaluation of cardiac manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Objective: We aimed to report the prevalence of the main echocardiographic abnormalities of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Methods: We performed a prospective multicenter observational study in patients with COVID-19 who underwent TTE during hospitalization. Patients with pre-existing heart failure, coronary artery disease, or atrial fibrillation were categorized as having previous cardiovascular disease (CVD). Clinical and echocardiographic data about cardiac structure and function were collected. Results: We evaluated 310 patients with COVID-19 (mean age, 62±16 years; 61% men; 53% with arterial hypertension; 33% with diabetes; and 23% with previous CVD). Overall, 65% of the patients required intensive care unit support. The most prevalent echocardiographic abnormalities were LV hypertrophy (29%), pulmonary hypertension (25%), left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction (16.5%), right ventricular (RV) systolic dysfunction (15.9%), grade II/III LV diastolic dysfunction (11%), and LV regional wall motion abnormality (11%). Pericardial effusion was uncommon (7% of cases). LV hypertrophy (25% vs. 45%, p=0.001), LV systolic dysfunction (11% vs. 36%, p<0.001), regional wall motion abnormalities (6% vs. 29%, p<0.001), grade II/III LV diastolic dysfunction (9% vs. 19%, p=0.03), and pulmonary hypertension (22% vs. 36%, p=0.019) were less common in patients without previous CVD. RV systolic dysfunction occurred at similar frequencies in patients with versus without previous CVD (13% vs. 25%, p=0.07). Conclusions: Among patients hospitalized with COVID-19, abnormal echocardiographic findings were common, but less so among those without previous CVD. RV systolic dysfunction appeared to affect similar proportions of patients with versus without previous CVD. (AU)

Adolf Eugen Fick (1829-1901) - The Man Behind the Cardiac Output Equation.

Adolf Fick was a German physiologist, born in Kassel in 1829, who studied medicine at the University of Marburg and graduated in 1851. He worked first in Zurich and then in Wurzburg. Most of his studies were based on physics and mathematics, and deep analysis, and only later were proven by experiments. Fick's name in physics is associated to the laws of diffusion of solutions, and in medicine to the principle of cardiac output calculation. In 1855, he proposed Fick's laws on gas diffusion. In 1870, he devised Fick's principle, which allows the measurement of cardiac output and calculations of intracardiac shunts from the arteriovenous oxygen difference. The method was later generalized to the Fick principle, according to which the flow of an indicator taken up or released by an organ corresponds to the difference between the indicator flows in the inflow and outflow tracts. Fick invented several devices most of them aimed to improve precision in his physiologic experiments. In 1868, he invented the plethysmograph, for recording the speed of blood in the human artery. In 1888, the tonometer for measuring from outside the hydrostatic pressure inside the eyeball. After 3 decades as Professor in Wurzburg, he retired. Fick died at Blankenberge, Belgium in 1901 age 71 years old.

CMR publications from China of the last more than 30 years.

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is a non-invasive imaging technology, gradually playing an irreplaceable role in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. This review demonstrates the progress and research highlights of Chinese CMR publications of the last more than 30 years. At initial stage (1988 to 1997), CMR was introduced to evaluate cardiac anatomy, blood flow and ventricular function roughly in China. In the development stage (1998-2007), CMR began to play an important role in the diagnosis of cardiovascular and pericardial disease with the emergence of new techniques, such as myocardial perfusion imaging and magnetic resonance angiography. Since 2008, the development of CMR in China has reached a prosperous period. Cardiovascular disease can be both qualitatively and quantitatively assessment by CMR "one-stop" multi-parameter imaging, including the morphology, function, myocardial perfusion, tissue characteristics, metabolism and even the microstructure of myocardial fibers, which provides comprehensive assessment of the severity, risk stratification and prognosis of cardiovascular disease. Although CMR in China developed very rapidly in recent years, China still needs to put more efforts in CMR research and make greater contributions to the development of CMR in the world.