The rise and fall of a social support intervention feasibility trial targeting loneliness in patients with cardiac disease - lessons learned and future perspectives.

BACKGROUND: One of the psychosocial factors recognized for its positive impact on health outcomes among patients with heart disease, is social support provided by network members. However, an increasing number of patients report to experience loneliness. This study addresses the gap in research on the feasibility of an individually structured social support intervention targeting patients treated for cardiac disease who experience loneliness. METHOD: A feasibility trial of a 6-month social support intervention targeted patients treated for cardiac disease who experienced loneliness. The intervention involved providing the patient with an informal caregiver, either a person from the patient's social network or a peer, in the long-term rehabilitation phase. Furthermore, the intervention included nurse consultations and motivational text messages. Feasibility was assessed in terms of acceptability and adherence. RESULTS: During October 2022-July 2023, n = 464 patients were screened for loneliness and 28 (6.0%) screened positive of which 17 (60.7%) accepted to be contacted and receive additional information about the social support intervention. Of these, 2 (11.8%) accepted participation. The low recruitment rate did not meet the predetermined acceptability criterion of 25%. CONCLUSION: This individually structured social support intervention targeting patients treated for cardiac disease who experience loneliness was non-feasible. The study highlights the complexities of engaging lonely patients in a social support intervention program and contributes with valuable insights for future research aiming to develop effective social support interventions tailored to the needs of cardiac patients who experience loneliness. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial is registered on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05503810) 18.08.2022.

Cardiovascular mortality after bilateral oophorectomy: a prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: Bilateral oophorectomy permanently reduces endogenous estrogen exposure and may increase cardiovascular mortality in women. This study aimed to investigate the association between bilateral oophorectomy and cardiovascular mortality and whether this association was conditional on hysterectomy or on the use of hormone therapy at the time of study entry. METHODS: A prospective cohort study of 25,338 female nurses aged ≥ 45 years within the Danish Nurse Cohort. Nurses were enrolled in 1993 or 1999 and followed until death, emigration, or end of follow-up on December 31, 2018, whichever came first. Exposure was bilateral oophorectomy. Outcome was cardiovascular mortality. Associations were estimated using Poisson regression models with log person-years as the offset. RESULTS: A total of 2,040 (8.1%) participants underwent bilateral oophorectomy. During a mean follow-up of 21.2 (SD: 5.6) years, 772 (3.0%) nurses died from cardiovascular disease. In adjusted analyses, a 31% higher rate of cardiovascular mortality was observed after bilateral oophorectomy (aMRR 1.31; 95% CI, 0.88-1.96) compared with women who retained their ovaries. No evidence of effect modification by use of hormone therapy at baseline or by hysterectomy on the association between bilateral oophorectomy and cardiovascular mortality was observed. CONCLUSION: Bilateral oophorectomy may be associated with cardiovascular mortality in women, but the estimate was not statistically significant. Additionally, we were unable to make firm conclusions regarding the possible modifying role of hormone therapy and hysterectomy on this potential association. Additional studies are needed to replicate this work.