Cardio Round-up: Menopause Predicts Heart Disease, HYPERION Results; and More

This week’s edition provides news about menopause and the risk for heart disease, data suggesting bad prognosis for untreated aortic stenosis, the HYPERION study results, and a hypertension link with ibrutinib.

Bad Prognosis for Untreated Aortic Stenosis 

Patients with untreated severe aortic stenosis had poor prognosis and survival rates, a new analysis in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology confirms. The study, which included data measured aortic valve mean gradient, peak velocity, and area data from more than 122,000 male patients and more than 118,000 female patients. Patients who had stenosis classified as moderate or severe had significantly increased long-term mortality compared to those without stenosis. “These data confirm that when left untreated, severe aortic stenosis is associated with poor long-term survival,” the researchers wrote in their conclusion.

Early Menopause Predictive of Heart Disease Risk

Women who reach menopause before the age of 50 are at an elevated risk for cardiovascular disease, according to a new analysis published in The Lancet Public Health. The analysis pulled data from over 300,000 female participants. The study suggested that women reaching menopause earlier than the tradition ages of 50 or 51 saw an increased risk for had an elevated risk for cardiovascular disease (the earlier menopause is reached, the higher the risk).  “Women with earlier menopause need close monitoring in clinical practice, and age at menopause might also be considered as an important factor in risk stratification of cardiovascular disease for women,” wrote the authors.

HYPERION: Moderate Therapeutic Hypothermia Yields Benefit

Moderate therapeutic hypothermia at a slightly colder temperature for 24 hours was linked with a higher survival rate in patients with coma resuscitated from nonshockable cardiac arrest, a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine indicates. The results of the HYPERION study, which looked at the application of a moderate therapeutic hypothermia of 33 degrees Celsius for 24 hours in patients with a coma resuscitated from nonshocakable cardiac arrest. The results suggested a survival benefit with the application of the colder hypothermia for 24 hours in these patients.

Ibrutinib Linked with Hypertension

A new study published in the journal Blood found that cancer patients treated with ibrutinib may have a greater risk for hypertension and other cardiovascular problems. The study included ovre 500 patients with B-cell malignancies undergoing treatment with ibrutinib and evaluated for incident hypertension (systolic blood pressure cutoff 130 mm Hg). The results suggested that patients taking ibrutinib had an uptick in hypertension as well. “Overall, both the magnitude and level of hypertension that developed was higher than previously thought and appears to portend a higher risk of other cardiac events,” the researchers wrote.