Vascular complications and outcomes following transcatheter aortic valve replacement in patients on chronic steroid therapy: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Chronic steroid (CS) therapy was reportedly linked to increased vascular complications following percutaneous coronary intervention. However, its association with vascular complications after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) remained uncertain, with conflicting results being reported. OBJECTIVE: The authors aimed to compare the rate of vascular complications and outcomes between patients with and without CS use after TAVR. METHODS: The authors conducted a comprehensive literature search in PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases from their inception until 18th April 2022 for relevant studies. Endpoints were described according to Valve Academic Research Consortium-2 definitions. Effect sizes were pooled using DerSimonian and Laird random-effects model as risk ratio (RR) with 95% CI. RESULTS: Five studies with 6136 patients undergoing TAVR were included in the analysis. The included studies were published between 2015 and 2022. The mean ages of patients in both study groups were similar, with the CS group averaging 80 years and the nonsteroid group averaging 82 years. Notably, a higher proportion of patients in the CS group were female (56%) compared to the nonsteroid group (54%). CS use was associated with a significantly higher risk of major vascular complications (12.5 vs. 6.7%, RR 2.32, 95% CI: 1.73-3.11, P <0.001), major bleeding (16.8 vs. 13.1%, RR 1.61, 95% CI: 1.27-2.05, P <0.001), and aortic annulus rupture (2.3 vs. 0.6%, RR 4.66, 95% CI: 1.67-13.01, P <0.001). There was no significant difference in terms of minor vascular complications (RR 1.43, 95% CI: 1.00-2.04, P =0.05), in-hospital mortality (2.3 vs. 1.4%, RR 1.86, 95% CI: 0.74-4.70, P =0.19), and 30-day mortality (2.9 vs. 3.1%, RR 1.14, 95% CI: 0.53-2.46, P =0.74) between both groups. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that CS therapy is associated with increased major vascular complications, major bleeding, and annulus rupture following TAVR. Further large multicenter studies or randomized controlled trials are warranted to validate these findings.

Association between heart failure and the incidence of cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Aims: The association between heart failure (HF) patients and the incidence of cancer is not well understood, with conflicting results to date. The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate whether patients with HF have a higher risk of developing cancer. Methods and results: We performed a systematic literature search using PubMed, Embase, and Scopus for relevant articles from inception until 10 December 2022. The primary clinical outcome was the incidence of cancer. Secondary endpoints were the incidence of breast cancer, lung cancer, haematological cancer, colorectal cancer, and prostate cancer. A total of 9 articles with 7 329 706 (515 041 HF vs. 6 814 665 non-HF) patients were involved in the analysis. The mean age of the patients in the HF and the non-HF groups was 69.06 and 66.76 years. The median follow-up duration was 6.7 years. The most common comorbidity among both groups includes diabetes mellitus (27.58 vs. 14.49%) and hypertension (81.46 vs. 57.38%). Patients with HF were associated with a significant increase in the incidence of cancer {hazard ratio [HR], 1.43 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.21-1.68], P < 0.001}, breast cancer [HR, 1.28 (95% CI: 1.09-1.50), P < 0.001], lung cancer [HR, 1.89 (95% CI: 1.25-2.85), P < 0.001], haematological cancer [HR, 1.63 (95% CI: 1.15-2.33), P = 0.01], and colorectal cancer [HR, 1.32 (95% CI: 1.11-1.57), P < 0.001] compared with patients without HF. However, the incidence of prostate cancer was comparable between both groups [HR, 0.97 (95% CI: 0.66-1.43), P = 0.88]. Conclusion: This meta-analysis confirms that the state of HF is associated with a higher risk for incident cancer. These data may aid in raising awareness with physicians that cancer may develop in patients with prevalent heart failure and that early screening and evaluation may be useful in an early diagnosis of cancer.

Percutaneous coronary intervention versus coronary artery bypass grafting among patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Current guidelines have shown the superiority of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) over medical therapy. However, there is a paucity of data evaluating the optimal revascularization strategy in patients with ischemic left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD). Objective: The authors aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes of postpercutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and CABG among patients with LVSD. Methods: The authors performed a systematic literature search using the PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and the Cochrane Libraries for relevant articles from inception until 30 November 2022. Outcomes were reported as pooled odds ratio (OR), and their corresponding 95% CI using STATA (version 17.0, StataCorp). Results: A total of 10 studies with 13 324 patients were included in the analysis. The mean age of patients in PCI was 65.3 years, and 64.1 years in the CABG group. The most common comorbidities included: HTN (80 vs. 78%) and DM (49.2 vs. 49%). The mean follow-up duration was 3.75 years. Compared with CABG, the PCI group had higher odds of all-cause mortality (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.01-1.31, P=0.03), repeat revascularization (OR 3.57, 95% CI 2.56-4.97, P<0.001), MI (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.01-3.86, P=0.048) while the incidence of cardiovascular mortality (OR 1.23, 95% CI 0.98-1.55, P=0.07), stroke (OR 0.73 95% CI: 0.51-1.04, P=0.08), major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (OR 1.36, 95% CI 0.99-1.87, P=0.06), and ventricular tachycardia (OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.22-2.86, P=0.72) was comparable between both the procedures. Conclusion: The results of this meta-analysis suggest that CABG is superior to PCI for patients with LVSD. CABG was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality, repeat revascularization, and incidence of myocardial infarction compared with PCI in patients with LVSD.

Inflammatory bowel disease and associated cardiovascular disease outcomes: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: There is limited and conflicting data available regarding the cardiovascular disease outcomes associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). OBJECTIVE: We aim to perform a systematic review to evaluate the cardiovascular outcomes and mortality associated with IBD patients. METHODS: A systematic literature search has been performed on PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, and Scopus from inception till May 2022 without any language restrictions. RESULTS: A total of 2,029,941 patients were included in the analysis from 16 studies. The mean age of the patients was 45.6 years. More females were found compared with males (57% vs 43%). The most common risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) included smoking (24.19%) and alcohol (4.60%). The most common comorbidities includes hypertension (30%), diabetes mellitus (14.41%), dyslipidemia (18.42%), previous CVD (22%), and renal disease (10%). Among outcomes, all-cause mortality among IBD patients was 1.66%; ulcerative colitis (UC): 15.92%; and Crohn disease (CD): 0.30%. Myocardial Infarction (MI) among IBD patients were 1.47%, UC: 30.96%; and CD: 34.14%. CVD events among IBD patients were 1.95%. Heart failure events among IBD patients were 5.49%, stroke events among IBD patients were 0.95%, UC: 2.63%, and CD: 2.41%, respectively. CONCLUSION: IBD patients are at higher risk for adverse cardiovascular outcomes, especially in women. Although there remains a lack of concrete treatment algorithms and assessment parameters that better characterize IBD risk factors, nutritional modifications and physical activity should be at the forefront of CVD prevention in IBD.

Echocardiographic predictors of presence of cardiac amyloidosis in aortic stenosis.

AIMS: Aortic stenosis (AS) and cardiac amyloidosis (CA) frequently coexist but the diagnosis of CA in AS patients remains a diagnostic challenge. We aim to evaluate the echocardiographic parameters that may aid in the detection of the presence of CA in AS patients. METHOD AND RESULTS: We performed a systematic literature search of electronic databases for peer-reviewed articles from inception until 10 January 2022. Of the 1449 patients included, 160 patients had both AS-CA whereas the remaining 1289 patients had AS-only. The result of our meta-analyses showed that interventricular septal thickness [standardized mean difference (SMD): 0.74, 95% CI: 0.36-1.12, P = 0.0001), relative wall thickness (SMD: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.17-1.30, P < 0.0001), posterior wall thickness (SMD: 0.74, 95% CI 0.51 to 0.97, P = 0.0011), LV mass index (SMD: 1.62, 95% CI: 0.63-2.62, P = 0.0014), E/A ratio (SMD: 4.18, 95% CI: 1.91-6.46, P = 0.0003), and LA dimension (SMD: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.43-1.02, P < 0.0001)] were found to be significantly higher in patients with AS-CA as compared with AS-only patients. In contrast, myocardial contraction fraction (SMD: -2.88, 95% CI: -5.70 to -0.06, P = 0.045), average mitral annular S' (SMD: -1.14, 95% CI: -1.86 to -0.43, P = 0.0017), tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (SMD: -0.36, 95% CI: -0.62 to -0.09, P = 0.0081), and tricuspid annular S' (SMD: -0.77, 95% CI: -1.13 to -0.42, P < 0.0001) were found to be significantly lower in AS-CA patients. CONCLUSION: Parameters based on echocardiography showed great promise in detecting CA in patients with AS. Further studies should explore the optimal cut-offs for these echocardiographic variables for better diagnostic accuracy.