Italian Association of Hospital Cardiologists Position Paper 'Gender discrepancy: time to implement gender-based clinical management'.

It has been well assessed that women have been widely under-represented in cardiovascular clinical trials. Moreover, a significant discrepancy in pharmacological and interventional strategies has been reported. Therefore, poor outcomes and more significant mortality have been shown in many diseases. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic differences in drug metabolism have also been described so that effectiveness could be different according to sex. However, awareness about the gender gap remains too scarce. Consequently, gender-specific guidelines are lacking, and the need for a sex-specific approach has become more evident in the last few years. This paper aims to evaluate different therapeutic approaches to managing the most common women's diseases.

[Gender discrepancy: time to implement gender-based clinical management]. / Position paper ANMCO: Differenze di genere nell'approccio farmacologico cardiovascolare.

It is well established that gender strongly influences cardiovascular risk factors, playing a crucial role in cardiovascular prevention, clinical pathways, diagnostic approach and treatment. Beyond the sex, which is a biological factor, gender entails a socio-cultural condition that impacts access and quality of care due to structural and institutional barriers. However, despite its great importance, this issue has not been adequately covered. Indeed sex and gender differences scarcely impact the clinical approach, creating a lot of disparities in care and outcomes of patients. Therefore, it becomes essential to increase the awareness of the importance of sex and gender influences on cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, new strategies for reducing disparities should be developed. Importantly, these differences should be taken into account in guideline recommendations. In this regard, it is crucial to include a greater number of women in clinical trials, since they are currently underrepresented. Furthermore, more women should be involved as member of international boards in order to develop recommendations and guidelines with more attention to this important topic.The aim of this ANMCO position paper is to shed light on gender differences concerning many cardiovascular drugs in order to encourage a more personalized therapeutic approach.

[Gender cardiology: focus on clinical and pathophysiological peculiarities in women with long COVID syndrome]. / Cardiologia di genere: il punto su peculiarità cliniche e fisiopatologiche nelle donne nel long COVID.

Long COVID is a clinical syndrome characterized by the persistence or development of symptoms due to COVID-19 at least 12 weeks after initial infection. More than 200 different symptoms have been ascribed to long COVID, the most common being fatigue, shortness of breath, and muscle weakness. Women have a three-fold higher risk of being diagnosed with long COVID, and the symptoms more often described are persistent weakness, chest pain, altered smell and taste, palpitations or muscle pain, as well as neurological, gastrointestinal and rheumatologic symptoms. Long COVID features are influenced by immune function, endothelial dysfunction and sex hormones. Moreover, it leads to systemic dysfunction, so various therapeutic strategies have been explored and still different trials are ongoing, mainly regarding anticoagulation and immuno-modulators. Nowadays the most quoted interventions are focused rehabilitation programs and pharmacological selected treatments in specifical cases. The aim of this review will be focusing the clinical and pathophysiological sex-related peculiarities to understand the different long COVID phenotypes and possibly address a better tailored approach and treatment.

[ANMCO Position paper: Cardiovascular disease in women - prevention, diagnosis, treatment and organization of care]. / Position paper ANMCO: Malattie cardiovascolari nella donna ­ prevenzione, diagnosi, terapia e organizzazione delle cure.

Cardiovascular diseases are still the main cause of death among women despite the improvements in treatment and prognosis achieved in the last 30 years of research. The determinant factors and causes have not been completely identified but the role of "gender" is now recognized. It is well known that women tend to develop cardiovascular disease at an older age than men, and have a high probability of manifesting atypical symptoms not often recognized. Other factors may also co-exist in women, which may favor the onset of specific cardiac diseases such as those with a sex-specific etiology (differential effects of estrogens, pregnancy pathologies, etc.) and those with a different gender expression of specific and prevalent risk factors, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases and cancer. Whether the gender differences observed in cardiovascular outcomes are influenced by real biological differences remains a matter of debate.This ANMCO position paper aims at providing the state of the research on this topic, with particular attention to the diagnostic aspects and to care organization.

Decline of Admission for Acute Coronary Syndromes and Acute Cardiovascular Conditions during COVID-19 Pandemic in Veneto Region.

Background: The present study aimed to examine longitudinal trends in hospitalizations for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, by reviewing the data from 13 hospitals of the Veneto Region, in the north-east of Italy. Methods: We performed a multicenter, retrospective analysis including all the consecutive patients presenting with ACS and other acute cardiovascular (CV) conditions (defined as heart failure, arrhythmias, cardiac arrest and venous thromboembolism) hospitalized in 13 different hospitals of the Veneto Region covering a population of 2,554,818 inhabitants, during the first (between 15 March 2020 and 30 April 2020) and second (between 15 November 2020 and 30 December 2020) COVID-19 pandemic waves (the 2020 cohort). Data were compared with those obtained at the same time-windows of years 2018 and 2019 (the historical cohorts). Results: Compared to the historical cohorts, a significant decrease in the number of ACS cases was observed in 2020 (−27.3%, p = 0.01 and −32%, p < 0.001, comparing 2018 versus 2020 and 2019 and 2020, respectively). The proportion of patients hospitalized for acute CV conditions decreased during the first and second wave COVID-19 pandemic when compared to the historical cohorts (−36.5%, p < 0.001 and −40.6%, p < 0.001, comparing 2018 versus 2020 and 2019 and 2020, respectively). Pearson's correlation evidenced a significant inverse relationship between the number of COVID-19 cases and both ACS hospital admissions (r = −0.881, p = 0.005) and hospitalizations for acute CV conditions (r = −0.738, p = 0.01), respectively. Conclusions: The decrease in hospitalizations for ACS and other acute CV conditions will strongly affect future patients' management since undiagnosed nonfatal CV events represent a source of increased (and unknown) CV morbidity and mortality.

Takotsubo Syndrome during COVID-19 Pandemic in the Veneto Region, Italy.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the public health measures of social distancing, the freedom limitations, quarantine, and the enforced homeworking under the lockdown period, as well as medical causes including COVID-19 infection per se, may have caused major emotional distress, especially in the most vulnerable patients. We aimed to evaluate the variations in the number of admissions due to Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Veneto region. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed and analyzed the number of admissions because of TTS in 13 Divisions of Cardiology located in the Veneto region, the northeastern area of Italy, covering a population of more than 2.5 million inhabitants, during the two major pandemic waves of COVID-19 (the first between 15 March and 30 April 2020 and the second between 15 November and 30 December 2020) that occurred in 2020. Results: In total, 807 acute coronary syndromes were admitted in the 13 enrolling hospitals. Among these, 3.9% had TTS. Compared to the corresponding 2018 and 2019 time periods, we observed a significant increase in the number of TTS cases (+15.6%, p = 0.03 and +12.5%, p = 0.04, comparing 2018 to 2020 and 2019 to 2020, respectively). Geographical distribution of the TTS cases reflected the broad spread of the SARS-CoV-2 infection with a significant direct relationship between TTS incidence and the number of COVID-19 infections according to Pearson's correlation (r = 0.798, p < 0.001). Conclusions: The higher incidence of TTS during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic waves, especially in the areas that were hit hardest in terms of morbidity and mortality by the SARS-CoV-2 infection, suggest a strong direct and/or indirect role of COVID-19 in the pathogenesis of TTS.

Intensive cardiac care unit admission trends during the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy: a multi-center study.

A significant decline in the admission to intensive cardiac care unit (ICCU) has been noted in Italy during the COVID-19 outbreak. Previous studies have provided data on clinical features and outcome of these patients, but information is still incomplete. In this multicenter study conducted in six ICCUs, we enrolled consecutive adult patients admitted to ICCU in three specific time intervals: from February 8 to March 9, 2020 [before national lockdown (pre-LD)], from March 10 to April 9, 2020 [during the first period of national lockdown (in-LD)] and from May 18 to June 17, 2020 [soon after the end of all containment measures (after-LD)]. Compared to pre-LD, in-LD was associated with a significant drop in the admission to ICCU for all causes (- 35%) and acute coronary syndrome (ACS; - 49%), with a rebound soon after-LD. The in-LD reduction was greater for women (- 49%) and NSTEMI (- 61%) compared to men (- 28%) and STEMI (- 33%). Length-of-stay, and in-hospital mortality did not show any significant change from to pre-LD to in-LD in the whole population as well as in the ACS group. This study confirms a notable reduction in the admissions to ICCUs from pre-LD to in-LD followed by an increment in the admission rates after-LD. These data strongly suggest that people, particularly women and patients with NSTEMI, are reluctant to seek medical care during lockdown, possibly due to the fear of viral infection. Such a phenomenon, however, was not associated with a rise in mortality among patients who get hospitalization.

A Rare Case of Aortic Valve Thrombosis in Patient with Idiopathic Hypereosinophilic Syndrome.

Idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) is characterized by persistent eosinophilia and eosinophil-mediated organ-system damage. Cardiac thrombosis and thromboembolic complications represent common causes of morbidity and mortality and usually involve cardiac ventricles or mitral and prosthetic valves, while the involvement of the aortic valve is extremely rare in HES. Here we report peculiar multimodality images of an atypical case of extended thrombosis of the aortic valve, complicated by myocardial ischemia and asymptomatic cerebral ischemia, likely due to thrombus embolization, occurring in a 48-year-old man with HES. Prompt anticoagulant and steroid therapy lead to rapid and complete resolution of the thrombotic lesions, allowing preserving the native valve and preventing further embolic events.

Left ventricular apical ballooning syndrome in men: a case series.

OBJECTIVES: Apical ballooning syndrome usually involves elderly women. We reported the profile of this syndrome in men. METHODS: We identified 54 consecutive patients with the syndrome: among them, seven were men (13%, group M) and 47 were women (87%, group F). RESULTS: Men were younger than women (group M 61.7 years vs. group F 72.8 years, median age, P < 0.01) and emotional triggers predominated in women ( group M 14.3% vs. group F 44.7%, P = 0.01) compared with physiological ones which were more frequent in men (group M 42.9% vs. group F 19.1%, P = 0.02). At onset, men were more compromised than women (group M 42.9% vs. group F 6.4%, P = 0.004). At the median follow-up of 18.5 months, more men died than women (group M 28.6% vs. group F 8.5%, P = NS), but only women had cardiac-related deaths (group M 0% vs. group F 6.4%, P = NS). Cardiac outcome was similar in both groups (group M 14.3% vs. group F 23.4%, P = NS). Left ventricular ejection fraction increased in both sexes from 41% to more than 56% (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: In this small case series, left ventricular apical ballooning syndrome showed similar features in both sexes. However, men seemed to be more affected at younger age, presented more physiological triggers and more compromised clinical status at admission. Despite this, cardiac outcome was good in both sexes.

Percutaneous coronary intervention for unprotected left main disease in very high risk patients: safety of drug-eluting stents.

Percutaneous treatment of unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) stenosis using drug-eluting stents (DES) has been suggested as the best approach for patients who are poor surgical candidates. Some concerns have recently been raised regarding the risk of stent thrombosis following DES implantation. This study was performed in order to evaluate the safety of DES, as compared to bare metal stents (BMS), for ULMCA stenosis treatment in very high risk patients with a high likelihood of stent thrombosis. Forty-two consecutive patients were treated with either BMS (20) or DES (22) for ULMCA critical stenosis. Inclusion criteria were: ST elevation myocardial infarction, non-ST elevation myocardial infarction, cardiogenic shock, or logistic European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation ≥ 13%. At 1 year, one case of late thrombosis and three cases of restenosis were reported in the BMS group and none in the DES group, leading to a significantly inferior rate of target lesion revascularization (20.0 vs. 0%, p = 0.048) and major adverse cardiac events (65.0 vs. 19%, p = 0.004). DES placement for ULMCA stenosis also appears to be a safe therapeutic choice in very high-risk patients, as it provides the benefit of a reduction in restenosis without increasing the risk of early or late stent thrombosis.

Prevalence, functional impact, and mortality of atrial fibrillation in an older Italian population (from the Pro.V.A. study).

The prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) is increasing in older patients faster than that of any other arrhythmia. AF is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Data on AF in European populations are scarce. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and potential predictors of AF and to assess its impact on physical function and mortality in a representative sample of an Italian population >or=65 years of age. One thousand five hundred ninety-nine participants in the Pro.V.A. study, an observational cohort study of Italian subjects >or=65 years old, were assessed for health status, disability, and presence of AF at baseline and at a 4-year follow-up visit. After weighting, prevalence of AF at baseline was 7.4% and increased with advancing age. In subjects with AF, prevalences of stroke, coronary heart disease, peripheral artery disease, cognitive impairment, and physical disability were significantly higher (p <0.01) than in those without AF. In patients with AF, 34% had heart failure compared to 5.3% of those without AF (p <0.0001). In multivariate logistic regression, heart failure was associated with a fivefold risk of AF (odds ratio 5.09, 95% confidence interval 3.20 to 8.11). In Cox analysis, AF was an independent risk factor for mortality. After adjustment for potential confounders, the hazard ratio for mortality associated with AF was 1.47 (95% confidence interval 1.08 to 1.99). In conclusion, in subjects >or=65 years old, AF is strongly associated with heart failure, is an independent risk factor for mortality, and, in the presence of physical disability, could be considered a severity measurement of disability.