Risk of heart failure (HF) has been shown to increase as body mass index (BMI) increases; however, BMI has limitations as an obesity measure. 

Over median follow-up of 13 years, waist-to-height ratio (WtHR) was found to significantly predict incident HF in almost 2,000 individuals in the Malmö Preventive Project. 

WtHR may be a better metric than BMI to identify patients with HF who could benefit from targeted obesity interventions. 

Surgeons from UCLA Health and Keck Medicine of USC have performed the world’s first-in-human bladder transplant. The surgery was successfully completed at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center on May 4, 2025. The procedure was part of a UCLA clinical trial.

Early detection of left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) can identify patients at risk of developing heart failure and yet echocardiography is unavailable for many patients in resource-limited settings. An artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled electrocardiogram (ECG)-based algorithm was investigated as a screening method to detect LVSD in a prospective study of almost 6,000 adult patients who attended healthcare facilities in Kenya. Nearly 1 in 5 participants were found to have LVSD using the AI-ECG algorithm and this method performed well compared with echocardiography.  Larger screening studies with the AI-ECG algorithm are now warranted. 

Cannabidiol – which lacks the psychotropic effects of cannabis – has been shown to have beneficial effects on inflammation in myocarditis and pericarditis models. 

A prospective placebo-controlled trial was conducted with an oral pharmaceutically manufactured (GMP) cannabidiol formulation in patients at high risk of cardiovascular events who were hospitalised for non-critical COVID-19 infection.  

GMP-cannabidiol formulation was well tolerated with a similar low rate of overall and cardiac side effects as placebo, supporting its study in further trials.