Cardio Round-up: County-level Factors for CVD Linked with Race and Ethnicity; and More

Time changes things, and this study looked at the changes in medical therapy over time for patients who underwent first revascularization for symptomatic peripheral artery disease (PAD). The analysis, published in Circulation, included data on more than 32,000 participants who underwent revascularization for symptomatic PAD from 2000 to 2016. According to the analysis results, the cumulative use of medication increased between 2000 and 2004, and from 2013 to 2016, respectively. “Despite increases in age and comorbidity, medical prevention of adverse events improved substantially over time, particularly in the first part of the study period and among patients who used medications chronically; in contrast, initiating treatment after revascularization increased modestly among treatment-naïve patients,” the authors wrote in the study.

A study in the Journal of the American Heart Association reveals relationships between county-level factors associated with cardiovascular disease, and race/ethnicity. The authors identified almost 660,000 cardiovascular disease-related deaths among non-Hispanic White individuals, 49,493 deaths among Hispanic/Latino individuals, and 100,475 deaths among non-Hispanic black individuals. The highest mean-adjusted age-adjusted mortality rate occurred in non-Hispanic blacks, and the highest rates were seen in the Southern U.S. “This study’s greatest value is that it informs the understanding of cardiovascular population health and the numerous factors that play a role in cardiovascular health,” a coauthor said in a press statement.

Polynesian ancestry, according to a new study in PLoS Genetics, may be associated with an increased risk for obesity, as well as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Unique genetic variants linked to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease biomarkers were associated with increased odds of developing the conditions in a population of about 4,000 native Hawaiians from the Multiethnic Cohort Study. “Our results suggest future studies could identify population-specific genetic susceptibility factors that may elucidate underlying biological mechanisms and [reduce] the disparity in disease risks in Polynesian populations,” the authors wrote.

Testosterone therapy was not linked with improved vascular function, according to a new study published in Hypertension. The skinny: Increased flow-mediated dilation percentage was seen with exercise training in the study, while testosterone had no impact on flow-mediated dilation, nor was it additive to exercise. “While we conclude that exercise improves vascular function in middle-to-older aged men with low-normal testosterone levels, caution should be applied when prescribing testosterone if the primary aim is improvement in artery function and health,” the authors wrote.