Cardiovascular Diagnosis Research Articles

Changes in CT Attenuation Values of Pericardium Months after Radiotherapy as Surrogates for Later Major Cardiotoxicity

<h3>Purpose/Objective(s)</h3> Radiation-induced pericardial disease (RIPD) can manifest as pericardial swelling, thickening, effusion, fluid or calcification. While mostly asymptomatic or underdetected due to self-limiting nature, RIPD could be a surrogate marker for radiation-induced cardiotoxicity. Pericardial screening is not part of standard of care (SOC) for thoracic cancer patients' radiotherapy (RT). Here, we analyze SOC images in patients treated with thoracic RT for radiographically identifiable pericardial changes. We hypothesize that these changes have potential signatures for predicting late major cardiac events. <h3>Materials/Methods</h3> In this retrospective study, pericardium was manually contoured following standard contouring atlases in 30 locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients (15 females, 15 males) treated with chemoradiation. A 4mm inner wall was generated as the region of interest. Using pre-RT and (average 10-month) post-RT CT scans, we investigated whether changes in pericardium Hounsfield unit (HU) could predict major late cardiac events reported in patients' clinical records. Taking the effect of contrast-enhancement in some scans into account, HU value ranges representing effusion/fluid, normal tissue and calcification were considered as [-10,30], [31,132] and [133,500], respectively. Support vector machine analysis was performed using data from 24 patients with ≤12 months follow-up for training, and data from the remaining 6 patients for testing. Other parameters of interest for late cardiotoxicity were pericardial doses (mean and max), patient age at the time of RT, sex, history of cardiovascular diagnoses, smoking status, diabetes and hypertension. The CT scans were also revisited by a radiologist for verification of the existence of effusion, fluid, calcification or implants. <h3>Results</h3> In the training group, 11 patients, and in the testing group, 1 patient had a reported major cardiotoxicity several years post-RT. In the cohort of 30 patients, median changes, from pre-RT to post-RT, in the volumes of low, mid, and high HU regions were 17, 24 and 27cc, respectively. In the training set, the volumes of [31,132] HU region showed significant reduction (Mann-Whitney non-parametric test) from pre-RT to post-RT in CT scans of the patients with late cardiotoxicity (p=0.049) compared to those without. Also, patient age at the time of RT was a significant predictor of late cardiotoxicity (p=0.008), while mean dose to pericardium showed borderline significance (p = 0.09). Due to the confounding effect of both contrast-enhancement and implants on the higher HU value analysis, the accuracy of the classification model was limited in training group to 92% and in the test group to 67% (total 4 errors in patients with pre-existing calcifications). <h3>Conclusion</h3> Our preliminary study suggests that radiation-induced cardiotoxicity may be modelled based on patient demographic, dosimetric parameters, and detectable changes in pericardium sac HU volumes.

Assessment of Adult Patients with Long COVID Manifestations Suspected as Cardiovascular: A Single-Center Experience.

Background: Persistent symptoms affect a subset of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) survivors. Some of these may be cardiovascular (CV)-related. Objective: To assess the burden of objective CV morbidity among, and to explore the short-term course experienced by, COVID-19 patients with post-infectious symptomatology suspected as CV. Methods: This was a single-center, retrospective analysis of consecutive adult patients with new-onset symptoms believed to be CV following recovery from COVID-19, who had been assessed at a dedicated ‘Cardio’-COVID clinic between June 2020 and June 2021. All participants were followed for 1 year for symptomatic course and the occurrence of new CV diagnoses and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). Results: A total of 96 patients (median age 54 (IQR, 44–64) years, 52 (54%) females) were included in the final analysis. Initial visits occurred within a median of 142 days after the diagnosis of acute COVID. Nearly all (99%) patients experienced a symptomatic acute illness, which was graded as severe in 26 (27%) cases according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) criteria. Long-COVID symptoms included mainly dyspnea and fatigue. While the initial work-up was mostly normal, 45% of the 11 cardiac magnetic resonance studies performed revealed pathologies. New CV diagnoses were made in nine (9%) patients and mainly included myocarditis that later resolved. An abnormal spirometry was the only variable associated with these. No MACE were recorded. Fifty-two (54%) participants felt that their symptoms improved. No association was found between CV morbidity and symptomatic course. Conclusions: In our experience, long-COVID symptoms of presumed CV origin signified actual CV disease in a minority of patients who, irrespective of the final diagnosis, faced a fair 1-year prognosis.

Improvements in sleep quality and fatigue are associated with improvements in functional recovery following hospitalization in older adults.

Poor sleep quality, a frequent problem in older adults, has been shown to be associated with reduced physical function and wellbeing. However, little is known about the relationship between sleep quality and the recovery of physical function following hospitalization. Thus, we conducted this study to examine the association between sleep quality and functional recovery after an acute hospitalization in community dwelling older adults. Older adult patients (N = 23, mean age = 74 ± 9 years) were recruited during an acute hospitalization (average length of stay 3.9 days) with a cardiovascular (56%), pulmonary (22%), or metabolic (13%) admission diagnosis. Objective physical function was measured using the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) and self-reported function was assessed with Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (IADL). Sleep quality was measured using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) global score and Iowa Fatigue Score (IFS). Testing was performed prior to discharge (baseline) and 4-weeks post-discharge (follow-up). Regression models showed PSQI Subjective Sleep Quality change scores from baseline to 4-week follow-up predicted a change in ADL (β = -0.22); PSQI Use of Sleep Medications change scores predicted a change in SPPB Total (β = 1.62) and SPPB Chair Stand (β = 0.63); IFS change scores predicted SPPB Total (β = -0.16) and SPPB Chair Stand performance (β = -0.07) change scores. For older adults, changes in sleep medication use, daytime dysfunction, and fatigue were associated with improvements in functional recovery (including physical performance and independence) from acute hospitalization to 4-week follow-up. These results suggest that interventions focused on improving sleep quality, daytime consequences, and fatigue might help enhance physical functioning following hospitalization. ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT02203656.

Prognostic value of cardiopulmonary exercise testing in a European cohort with cardiovascular risk factors absent of a cardiovascular disease diagnosis

IntroductionCardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is now considered a vital sign. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is the gold-standard assessment of CRF; peak oxygen consumption (VO2) and the minute ventilation/carbon dioxide production (VE/VCO2) slope are considered primary CPET measures of CRF. More work is needed to determine the role of this exercise assessment in the primary care setting. Methods695 subjects (mean age: 62 ± 13 years, body mass index: 28.9 ± 5.3 kg/m2, 375 female and 320 male) underwent CPET using a cycle ergometer. 95% of the cohort had one or more major cardiovascular risk factor (i.e., obesity, smoking, dyslipidemia, hypertension, diabetes); no subject was diagnosed with cardiovascular disease (CVD) at the time of CPET. Subjects were tracked for the composite endpoint of cardiovascular mortality or hospital admission. ResultsMean peak VO2, VE/VCO2 slope and peak respiratory exchange ratio were 17.8 ± 5.8 mlO2•kg−1•min−1, 26.7 ± 4.1, and 1.18 ± 0.13, respectively. There were 42 composite events during the 64 ± 18 month tracking period. Both peak VO2 (Chi-square 16.3, p < 0.001) and the VE/VCO2 slope (Chi-square 14.9, p < 0.001) were significant univariate predictors of the composite endpoint. The VE/VCO2 slope added significant predictive value to peak VO2 and was retained in the multivariate regression (residual Chi-square 7.0, p = 0.008). DiscussionThese results support the prognostic value of CPET prior to a CVD diagnosis. The prognostic value of the VE/VCO2 slope, not commonly the focus of CPET trials in patients with one or more major cardiovascular risk factors but without a confirmed CVD diagnosis, is a particularly novel finding in the current study.

Intracardiac echocardiography Chinese expert consensus.

In recent years, percutaneous catheter interventions have continuously evolved, becoming an essential strategy for interventional diagnosis and treatment of many structural heart diseases and arrhythmias. Along with the increasing complexity of cardiac interventions comes ever more complex demands for intraoperative imaging. Intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) is well-suited for these requirements with real-time imaging, real-time monitoring for intraoperative complications, and a well-tolerated procedure. As a result, ICE is increasingly used many types of cardiac interventions. Given the lack of relevant guidelines at home and abroad and to promote and standardize the clinical applications of ICE, the members of this panel extensively evaluated relevant research findings, and they developed this consensus document after discussions and correlation with front-line clinical work experience, aiming to provide guidance for clinicians and to further improve interventional cardiovascular diagnosis and treatment procedures.

Socioeconomic status and waiting time in the emergency department for patients with chest pain

Abstract Introduction Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is one of the leading causes of death in the world and timeliness of treatment and diagnosis is of utmost importance to reduce mortality and morbidity. Emergency department (ED) crowding results in longer waiting times and length of stay in the ED and is a globally growing phenomenon with clear negative consequences for patients. Low socioeconomic status (SES) has previously been associated with poor prognosis after ACS, but it remains unclear if treatment and diagnostics in the acute state is a contributing factor. ED length of stay has been linked to crowding and poor patient outcomes whereas mechanisms for generally worse prognosis in low SES remains poorly understood. Purpose To investigate whether SES, measured as disposable income, is associated with ED waiting times among patients with the most common chief complaint in ACS, chest pain. Methods A registry-based cohort study on all 140,388 patients arriving at 14 Swedish emergency departments between 2015 and 2019 with chest pain as their chief complaint registered in the Swedish Emergency Registry (SVAR). Individual-level sociodemographic and clinical data were linked from multiple national registries. The associations between disposable income quintiles and ED length of stay and time to doctor were assessed using multivariable regression models adjusting for age, sex, education, comorbidities (diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, obesity and cardiovascular disease) and ED-visit characteristics (arrival mode, triage level, arrival time (day, evening or night as well as weekday or weekend) and hospital type). Results Median length of stay was 11 minutes (4.4%) longer among patients in the lowest income quintile, 4:04 [hours:minutes] (95% confidence interval [CI] 4:02–4:05), compared to patients in the highest income quintile (3:53, 95% CI 3:52–3:55). Similarly, time to doctor was 6 min (8.7%) longer among patients in the lowest income quintile (1:15 min, 95% CI 1:14–1:16) than patients in the highest income quintile (1:09, 95% CI 1:08–1:10). The associations were independent of adjustment for studied confounders and mediators. Conclusions Among ED chest pain patients, low income was associated with longer length of stay and time to doctor which may impact negatively on patients with serious cardiovascular diagnosis such as ACS. Longer waiting times may delay diagnosis and timely treatment for the individual patient such as anti-ischemic and antithrombotic therapy. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): Supported by grants provided by Region Stockholm (ALF-project)

Long-term non-cardiovascular morbidity risk remains elevated following myocardial infarction: a nationwide cohort study

Abstract Introduction Risk of cardiovascular events following myocardial infarction (MI) is high, and secondary preventive treatment is largely focused on reducing future cardiovascular risk. As gradual implementation of guideline-based treatments successfully leads to improved survival, long-term non-cardiovascular morbidity is likely of rising importance following MI. Purpose To determine the long-term risk of non-cardiovascular morbidity in a contemporary MI population with the aim of informing the need for and scope of prolonged surveillance. Methods We included all patients with a first-time MI in Denmark from 2001–2018 matched on age, sex, and date of discharge with up to 4 general population controls. We used the Aalen-Johansen estimator to estimate 1-year and 5-year risk of non-cardiovascular morbidity with death as a competing risk. Non-cardiovascular morbidity was defined as an in-patient hospital admission for any primary cause excluding cardiovascular diagnoses (International classification of diseases, 10th revision codes: I00–99). We also calculated 2-year and 6-year risks of non-cardiovascular morbidity in a stable population of post-MI patients and matched controls, i.e., participants alive with no hospital admissions for 1 full year following study entry. Finally, we estimated 1-year and 5-year risks of cause-specific non-cardiovascular morbidity. Results A total of 124,072 patients with MI who survived to hospital discharge were matched with 496,277 general population controls. Median age was 68 years and 35.5% were female. The 1-year and 5-year risk of non-cardiovascular morbidity was elevated for patients with MI compared to controls: 38.6% (95% confidence interval: 38.3–38.9) vs 15.3% (15.2–15.4) and 64.8% (64.6–65.1) vs 45.8% (45.7–45.9), respectively (Figure 1). Regarding cause-specific morbidity, risks of respiratory disease, gastrointestinal disease, and infectious disease particularly were high (Figure 2). For example, 1-year risk of infection was 4.5% for patients with MI and 1.8% for controls and 5-year risk of respiratory disease was 16.3% for patients with MI and 9.7% for controls. Furthermore, in the stable population (patients with MI, n=50,144; controls, n=159,467, median age 64 years, 33.0% female), risk of non-cardiovascular morbidity remained elevated at 2 years (17.2% [16.8–17.5] vs 11.3% [11.1–11.5]) and 6 years (49.2% [48.7–49.7] vs 39.8% [39.6–40.1]) post MI (Figure 1). Conclusions Risk of non-cardiovascular morbidity was high in patients following myocardial infarction, particularly for respiratory disease, gastrointestinal disease, and infectious disease. The risk remained elevated during long-term follow up. The study highlights the importance of additional focus on non-CV morbidity to further improve outcomes. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: Foundation. Main funding source(s): Danish Heart Foundation

Patterns and outcomes of cardiovascular emergency department encounters for men and women in the USA

Abstract Aims We described sex-differential disease patterns and outcomes of over 20.6 million cardiovascular emergency department (ED) encounters in the USA. Methods and results We analysed primary cardiovascular encounters from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (between 2016–2018). We grouped the documented cardiovascular diagnoses into 15 disease categories. The sample included 48.7% women; average age was 67 [54,78] years. Men had greater overall baseline co-morbidity burden; however, women had higher rates of obesity, hypertension, and cerebrovascular disease. For women, the most common ED encounters were essential hypertension (16.0%), hypertensive heart or kidney disease (14.1%), and atrial fibrillation (AF)/flutter (10.2%). For men, the most common encounters were hypertensive heart or kidney disease (14.7%), essential hypertension (10.8%), and acute myocardial infarction (AMI, 10.7%). Women were more likely to present with essential hypertension, hypertensive crisis, AF/flutter, supraventricular tachycardia, pulmonary embolism, or ischaemic stroke. Men were more likely to present with AMI or cardiac arrest. In logistic regression models adjusted for baseline covariates, women with intracranial haemorrhage had higher risk of hospitalisation and death. Women with ischaemic stroke had higher risk of hospitalisation and death in ED. Women presenting with pulmonary embolism were less likely to be hospitalised but were more likely to die. Women with aortic aneurysm/dissection had higher risk of hospitalisation and death. Men were more likely to die following presentations with hypertensive heart or kidney disease, AF/flutter, AMI, or cardiac arrest. Conclusion In this large nationally representative sample of cardiovascular ED presentations, we demonstrate significant sex differences in disease distribution, hospitalisation, and death. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None.

Two-Stage CNN Whole Heart Segmentation Combining Image Enhanced Attention Mechanism and Metric Classification.

Accurate segmentation of multiple tissues and organs in cardiac medical imaging is of great value in computer-aided cardiovascular diagnosis. However, it is challenging due to the complex distribution of various tissues and organs in cardiac MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) slices, low discriminative and large spanning organs. To handle these problems, a two-stage CNN (convolutional neural network) segmentation method based on the combination of Log-Gabor filter attention mechanism and metric classification is proposed. The Log-Gabor filterbank is applied to selectively enhance the texture information and contour information of each tissue and organ, and the spatial and channel attention mechanism jointly with the varying kernel size of Log-Gabor filterbank is incorporated into the codec structure to adaptively extract target features of different sizes and focus on the discriminative features in the network. To solve the problem of insufficient segmentation on subtle and adherent edges involving different tissues, a metric classification network is incorporated to finely optimize the hard-to-be-segmented boundaries. The proposed method was tested on cardiac MRI data set to segment 7 cardiac tissues, and the rationality and effectiveness of the method were verified. In comparison to a series of deep learning-based segmentation models, the proposed method achieves competitive performance.

A Systematic Analysis for Cardiovascular Disease Classification Using Deep Learning

The processing of medical data has profited from automation and contemporary computing breakthroughs, which have given rise to several novel instructional approaches. In both traditional and cutting-edge disciplines, deep learning has emerged as a cutting-edge machine learning paradigm. Deep learning algorithms have developed into supervised, semi-supervised, and unsupervised modes for a variety of real-time applications. The technology has shown to be broadly applicable in image processing, computer vision, medical diagnostics, robotics, and control operation. Deep learning is essential in the field of medical science for recognizing various diseases and solving health issues. The deep learning revolution will significantly alter cardiovascular imaging within the next decade. To ensure that deep learning may meaningfully impact clinical practice, it is crucial for medical practitioners to stay up with these breakthroughs. This evaluation is intended to be a preliminary step in that process. In this study cardiovascular disease diagnosis and classification have been examined using different state-of-the-art deep learning approaches. Deep Neural Networks can be used to improve the classification of heart disease as a whole in a crucial field called heart illness. The classification process can be carried out using a variety of methods, such as DL, KNN, SVM, ANN Nave Bayes, Random Forest, SSD, DNN, and TDNN where DL exhibited maximum accuracy. Although deep learning-based automated cardiovascular classification algorithms have shown highly accurate results, they have not yet been widely used by healthcare professionals.

Automatic view classification of contrast and non-contrast echocardiography.

BackgroundContrast and non-contrast echocardiography are crucial for cardiovascular diagnoses and treatments. Correct view classification is a foundational step for the analysis of cardiac structure and function. View classification from all sequences of a patient is laborious and depends heavily on the sonographer’s experience. In addition, the intra-view variability and the inter-view similarity increase the difficulty in identifying critical views in contrast and non-contrast echocardiography. This study aims to develop a deep residual convolutional neural network (CNN) to automatically identify multiple views of contrast and non-contrast echocardiography, including parasternal left ventricular short axis, apical two, three, and four-chamber views.MethodsThe study retrospectively analyzed a cohort of 855 patients who had undergone left ventricular opacification at the Department of Ultrasound Medicine, Wuhan Union Medical College Hospital from 2013 to 2021, including 70.3% men and 29.7% women aged from 41 to 62 (median age, 53). All datasets were preprocessed to remove sensitive information and 10 frames with equivalent intervals were sampled from each of the original videos. The number of frames in the training, validation, and test datasets were, respectively, 19,370, 2,370, and 2,620 from 9 views, corresponding to 688, 84, and 83 patients. We presented the CNN model to classify echocardiographic views with an initial learning rate of 0.001, and a batch size of 4 for 30 epochs. The learning rate was decayed by a factor of 0.9 per epoch.ResultsOn the test dataset, the overall classification accuracy is 99.1 and 99.5% for contrast and non-contrast echocardiographic views. The average precision, recall, specificity, and F1 score are 96.9, 96.9, 100, and 96.9% for the 9 echocardiographic views.ConclusionsThis study highlights the potential of CNN in the view classification of echocardiograms with and without contrast. It shows promise in improving the workflow of clinical analysis of echocardiography.

Differential Patterns and Outcomes of 20.6 Million Cardiovascular Emergency Department Encounters for Men and Women in the United States

Background We describe sex-differential disease patterns and outcomes of >20.6million cardiovascular emergency department encounters in the United States. Methods and Results We analyzed primary cardiovascular encounters from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample between 2016 and 2018. We grouped cardiovascular diagnoses into 15 disease categories. The sample included 48.7% women; median age was 67 (interquartile range, 54-78) years. Men had greater overall baseline comorbidity burden; however, women had higher rates of obesity, hypertension, and cerebrovascular disease. For women, the most common emergency department encounters were essential hypertension (16.0%), hypertensive heart or kidney disease (14.1%), and atrial fibrillation/flutter (10.2%). For men, the most common encounters were hypertensive heart or kidney disease (14.7%), essential hypertension (10.8%), and acute myocardial infarction (10.7%). Women were more likely to present with essential hypertension, hypertensive crisis, atrial fibrillation/flutter, supraventricular tachycardia, pulmonary embolism, or ischemic stroke. Men were more likely to present with acute myocardial infarction or cardiac arrest. In logistic regression models adjusted for baseline covariates, compared with men, women with intracranial hemorrhage had higher risk of hospitalization and death. Women presenting with pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis were less likely to be hospitalized. Women with aortic aneurysm/dissection had higher odds of hospitalization and death. Men were more likely to die following presentations with hypertensive heart or kidney disease, atrial fibrillation/flutter, acute myocardial infarction, or cardiac arrest. Conclusions In this large nationally representative sample of cardiovascular emergency department presentations, we demonstrate significant sex differences in disease distribution, hospitalization, and death.

Pre-Treatment Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction Assessment and Long-Term Cardiovascular Outcomes in Adolescent and Young Adult Lymphoma Survivors.

Purpose: Anthracyclines can cause long-term cardiovascular (CV) morbidity, especially in long-term Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) lymphoma survivors. Pre-treatment left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) evaluation is recommended, although its utility in AYA is not established. We sought to determine the pre-treatment LVEF assessment practices in AYA lymphoma survivors treated with anthracyclines and factors associated with long-term cardiotoxicity. Methods: Through an electronic health records review, we retrospectively identified AYA lymphoma survivors with ≥5 years of follow-up postanthracycline treatment. Pre-treatment and follow-up data were abstracted. CV health conditions were defined as risk factors for CV disease and confirmed CV diagnoses. Survivors who had new CV health conditions at follow-up were compared to those who were not using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results: One hundred fifteen AYA lymphoma survivors met the study criteria. Pre-treatment LVEF assessment did not affect chemotherapy decisions. Survivors with pre-treatment CV evaluation had mean follow-up since diagnosis of 8 ± 3.3 years, while survivors without it had 10.3 ± 4.2 years, p < 0.05. Survivors with pre-treatment LVEF assessment received lower cumulative anthracycline dose (240.4 mg/m2 vs. 280.1 mg/m2, p < 0.05) and fewer cycles of chemotherapy (4.8 ± 1.5 vs. 5.6 ± 1.2, p < 0.05). Body mass index (BMI) category at diagnosis and follow-up, in addition to age were associated with development of new CV health conditions, pre-treatment LVEF evaluation was not. Conclusion: Pre-treatment LVEF assessment for AYA lymphoma survivors does not impact oncologic treatment decisions or development of CV health conditions. It may be more valuable to assess and modify CV risk factors such as BMI for CV disease prevention.

Cardiovascular risk in Danish transgender persons: a matched historical cohort study.

Cardiovascular risk could be increased in transgender persons, but the mechanism is undetermined. The aim of this study was to assess the risk of cardiovascular outcomes in Danish transgender persons compared to controls. The study design was a historical register-based cohort study in Danish transgenders and age-matched controls. The main outcome measure was cardiovascular diagnosis (any CVD) including medicine prescriptions for CVD during 2000-2018. The transgender cohort (n = 2671) included persons with International Classification of Diseases-10 diagnosis code of 'gender identity disorder' (n = 1583) and persons with legal sex change (n = 1088), 1270 were assigned female at birth (AFAB) and 1401 were assigned male at birth (AMAB). Controls (n = 26 710) were matched by age (n = 5 controls of same and n = 5 controls of other birth sex) of the respective transgender. The median (interquartile range) age at study inclusion was 22 (18; 29) years for AFAB and 26 (21; 39) years for AMAB. The mean (s.d.) follow-up time was 4.5 (4.2) years for AFAB and 5.7 (4.8) years for AMAB. The hazard ratio (HR) for any CVD was significantly higher in transgenders vs controls of same and other birth sex, with highest adjusted HR in transgenders AFAB vs control men: 2.20 (95% CI: 1.64;2.95), P < 0.001. Gender-affirming hormone treatment (GAHT) explained part of elevated risk of CVD in transgenders AFAB, whereas GAHT did not contribute to the elevated risk of CVD in transgenders AMAB. The risk of cardiovascular diagnosis was increased in transgenders. The mechanism should be further investigated.

Wearables As An Aid To Cardiovascular Diagnosis In A Runner

Wearables As An Aid To Cardiovascular Diagnosis In A Runner

The relationship between anxiety sensitivity and clinical outcomes in cardiac rehabilitation: A scoping review

BackgroundDespite well-established efficacy for patients with a cardiovascular diagnosis or event, exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation program participation and completion has remained alarmingly low due to both system-level barriers and patient-level factors. Patient mental health, particularly depression, is now recognized as significantly associated with reduced enrollment, participation, attendance, and completion of a cardiac rehabilitation program. More recently, anxiety sensitivity has emerged as an independent construct, related to but distinct from both depression and anxiety. Anxiety sensitivity has been reported to be adversely associated with participation in exercise and, thus, may be important for patients in cardiac rehabilitation. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to conduct a scoping review to summarize the evidence for associations between anxiety sensitivity and cardiovascular disease risk factors, exercise, and clinical outcomes in cardiac rehabilitation. MethodsA formal scoping review, following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, was undertaken. Searches of MEDLINE, Web of Science, CINAHL, PSYCINFO, and Scopus databases were conducted, supplemented by hand searches; studies published through December of 2020 were included. The initial screening was based on titles and abstracts and the second stage of screening was based on full text examination. ResultsThe final search results included 28 studies. Studies reported statistically significant associations between anxiety sensitivity and exercise, cardiovascular disease, and participation in cardiac rehabilitation. Many studies, however, were conducted in non-clinical, community-based populations; there were few studies conducted in cardiovascular disease and cardiac rehabilitation clinical patient populations. Additionally, significant gaps remain in our understanding of the sex-based differences in the complex relationships between anxiety sensitivity, exercise and cardiac rehabilitation. ConclusionMore research is needed to understand specific associations between anxiety sensitivity and clinical outcomes among clinical cardiovascular disease patients and participants in cardiac rehabilitation programs. Treatment of anxiety sensitivity to optimize clinical outcomes in cardiac rehabilitation programs should be investigated in future studies.

P05-04 Physical activity level and sedentary time prior to cardiac ward admission among patients with cardiovascular disease and its association to all-cause mortality

BackgroundLow physical activity (PA) level and high sedentary time (SED) have been associated to cardiovascular (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Routinely assessing the PA-level of patients being admitted to hospital has been proposed. The aim was to explore PA-level and SED among patients prior to cardiac ward admission and whether this can predict all-cause mortality.MethodsA longitudinal observational study of patients with ischemic heart disease, heart failure, cardiac arrhythmia, valvular heart disorder and inflammatory heart diseases treated on cardiac wards (2015-2016) in Stockholm, Sweden. Data on PA-levels and SED prior to admission were collected by validated questionnaires during inpatient care. PA level a regular week was calculated by an index (3-19 points) including everyday PA and exercise. The cut-off of insufficiently physically active was set to > 9 points. Individuals' reporting ≥7 hours of sitting a normal day were categorised as high SED. Differences in PA-level and SED between different diagnose groups were explored by Benjamini-Hochberg procedure. The associations between PA-level and SED with all-cause mortality were analysed using cox regressions, adjusting for age, sex, diagnosis group, education level, disposable income, smoking status, alcohol consumption and eating habits.ResultsAmong 1148 patients with CVD, approximately 56% were considered as insufficiently physically active (>9 points). In addition, approximately half the study population were categorized as high SED (≥7 hours per day). There were differences in PA-level and SED between the various cardiovascular diagnoses, with individuals with heart failure and valvular heart disorder being in general more inactive and having higher levels of SED. A total of 200 deaths occurred during a median follow-up time of 2.6 years. The mortality was higher among those categorised as insufficiently physically active (HR 1.49, 95% CI 1.08-2.07) or high SED (HR 1.79, 95% CI 1.32-2.43) compared to those reporting sufficient PA and low SED, respectively.ConclusionA high amount reported insufficient PA and a high amount of SED preceding hospitalisation. There was an association between PA (negatively) and SED (positively) with all-cause mortality among patients with CVD. This highlights the prognostic value of assessing patients' PA-level and SED in clinical practice.

Prehospital stroke mimics in the Stockholm Stroke Triage System.

IntroductionIn 2017, Stockholm implemented a new prehospital stroke triage system (SSTS) directing patients with a likely indication for thrombectomy to the regional comprehensive stroke center (CSC) based on symptom severity and teleconsultation with a physician. In Stockholm, 44% of patients with prehospital code stroke have stroke mimics. Inadvertent triage of stroke mimics to the CSC could lead to inappropriate resource utilization.AimsTo compare the characteristics between (1) triage-positive stroke mimics and stroke (TP mimics and TP stroke) and (2) triage-negative stroke mimics and stroke (TN mimics and TN stroke) and to (3) compare the distribution of stroke mimic diagnoses between triage-positive and triage-negative cases.MethodsThis prospective observational study collected data from October 2017 to October 2018, including 2,905 patients with suspected stroke who were transported by code-stroke ambulance to a Stockholm regional hospital. Patients directed to the CSC were defined as triage-positive. Those directed to the nearest stroke center were defined as triage-negative.ResultsCompared to individuals with TP stroke (n = 268), those with TP mimics (n = 55, median 64 vs. 75 years, P < 0.001) were younger and had lower NIHSS score (median 7 vs. 15, P < 0.001). Similarly, those with TN mimics (n = 1,221) were younger than those with TN stroke (n = 1,361, median 73 vs. 78 years, P < 0.001) and had lower NIHSS scores (median 2 vs. 4, P < 0.001). Functional paresis was more common in those with TP mimics than in those with TN mimics, 18/55 (32.7%) vs. 82/1,221 (6.7%), P < 0.001. Systemic infection was less common in those with TP mimics than in those with TN mimics, 1/55 (1.8%) vs. 160/1,221 (13.1%), P < 0.011. There was a trend toward “syncope, hypotension, or other cardiovascular diagnosis” being less common in those with TP mimics than in those with TN mimics, 1/55 (1.8%) vs. 118/1,221 (9.7%), P < 0.055.ConclusionsIn the SSTS, those with triage-positive and triage-negative stroke mimics were younger and had less severe symptoms than patients with stroke. All patients with TP mimics who had hemiparesis but overall exhibited less severe symptoms against true stroke but more severe symptoms than those with TN mimics were triaged to the nearest hospital. Over-triage of functional paresis to the CSC was relatively common. Meanwhile, a large majority of cases with minor symptoms caused by stroke mimics was triaged correctly by the SSTS to the nearest stroke center.

A novel attentional deep neural network-based assessment method for ECG quality

ECG quality assessment is of great significance to reduce false alarms in automatic arrhythmia and other cardiovascular diseases diagnoses and reduce the workload of clinicians. Recently, developing an automatic noise rejection algorithm attracts much attention. Nowadays, many researchers have applied deep learning (DL) algorithms into evaluating ECG quality. However, traditional DL approaches improve model accuracy but cannot show the concerned area of ECG signals during detection process. Hence, this paper presents dual attentional convolutional long short-term memory neural network (DAC-LSTM) to evaluate ECG quality. Firstly, convolutional and bidirectional long short-term memory layers are utilized for acquiring numerous deep features from ECG recordings. And then, for enhancing model interpretability, dual-layer attention mechanisms, including channel-based attention mechanism and time-based attention mechanism, are built to visually show the attention of the model to different leads and different periods on the multi-leads ECG signals. Finally, compared with baseline models and the existing methods, DAC-LSTM achieves 76.47% of specificity, 97.59% of sensitivity, and 94.0% of accuracy, especially improving 3.35% accuracy on average and 4.27% sensitivity on average on the commonly used ECG dataset. Generally, DAC-LSTM achieves competitive and interpretable performance and has the potential for practical ECG quality assessment.

Achieving Diagnostic Equity in Cardiovascular Disease

This Viewpoint delineates the 4 elements of racial, ethnic, and sex-related bias and provides recommendations to advance health equity in cardiovascular diagnosis.