Cardio Round-up: Kids Need More Cardiorespiratory Fitness; Chocolate and the Heart; and More

More than Half of Kids in U.S. Lack Adequate Cardiorespiratory Fitness

“Cardiorespiratory fitness is crucial for good heart and overall health both in childhood and as children become adults,” said Geetha Raghuveer, MD, MPH, chair of the writing committee for this new American Heart Association scientific statement, and a cardiologist at Children’s Mercy Hospital and professor of pediatrics at the University of Missouri, both in Kansas City, Missouri, in a press release. “We’ve got to get kids moving and engaged in regular physical activity, such as in any sports they enjoy. The best activity is the activity a child or teen likes and that is sustained for a longer period. The habits they learn when they’re young will directly benefit their health as they become adults.”

https://www.docwirenews.com/cardiology/cardiorespiratory-fitness-lacking-in-more-than-60-percent-of-youth/

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Ablation for AFib Benefits Heart Failure Patients, Too

This study included data from the National Readmissions Database, with data on 749,776 patients with HF identified. Of those, 2,204 underwent ablation and 747,572 received medical therapy. The authors propensity-matched patients to balance baseline clinical characteristics, and compared 30-day readmission rates, causes, predictors, and costs of 30-day readmissions. According to the results, 30-day readmissions were lower for patients treated with catheter ablation in both unmatched and matched cohorts (16.8% vs. 20.1%, P<0.001) compared to those receiving medical therapy (16.8% vs. 18.8%, P=0.020). The authors reported that ablation was associated with a reduction in the risk for readmission compared to medical therapy (OR=0.86; 95% CI, 0.77 to 0.97).

https://www.docwirenews.com/docwire-pick/catheter-ablation-heart-failure-patients-benefits-cost-savings/

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Social Determinants of Health and Stroke

Researchers looking at how these determinants, and particularly the clustering of social determinants within on person, impact stroke risk included more than 27,000 participants from the REGARDS study in this analysis. According to the results, 1,470 stroke events were reported during the mean follow-up of 9.5 years. The researchers, after analysis, identified seven (out of 10) social determinants of health associated with increased stroke risk: race, education, income, zip code poverty, health insurance, social isolation, and residence in one of the 10 lowest-ranked states for public health infrastructure.

https://www.docwirenews.com/cardiology/social-determinants-of-health-disadvantaged-stroke-risk/

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Chocolate Consumption Linked with Lower Risk for Coronary Artery Disease

The study, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, was a meta-analysis that included six prospective studies with a mean follow-up of almost nine years (8.7 years). The combined study population consisted of 336,289 individuals that had a combined 21,777 diseases (14,043 cases of CAD, 4,667 myocardial infarctions, 2,735 cerebrovascular accidents and 322 cases of heart failure).  the authors reported that consumption of chocolate more than once per week or more than 3.5 times per month was associated with a reduction in the risk for CAD.  “Chocolate consumption more than one time per week or more than 3.5 times per month is probably associated with a decreased risk for CAD,” the authors wrote.

https://www.docwirenews.com/docwire-pick/cardiology-picks/chocolate-consumption-coronary-artery-disease-risk-meta-analysis/

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