Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming heart failure (HF) management, offering advances from early risk prediction to treatment and continuous monitoring. A recent review led by Professor Yi-Da Tang highlights how AI integrates electronic health records, multimodal imaging, and wearable technologies to enable personalized HF care. While challenges in generalizability, interpretability, and reliability remain, ongoing innovation and validation efforts are expected to accelerate clinical translation and improve outcomes for HF patients.

Heart failure presents a growing public health problem both in Estonia and across Europe. At the same time, its timely detection is often challenging. Together with international colleagues, Laura Lõo,  Junior Research Fellow of Public Health at the University of Tartu, has developed new models that help identify disease risk even before symptoms appear. 

Kyoto, Japan -- A team of researchers at Kyoto University have demonstrated that the chaotic component of heartbeat variability is uniquely sensitive to cognitive brain activity. Conventional hear rate variability, HRV, indices show no consistent response, whereas chaos-based measures reveal clear and reproducible changes, providing a new non-invasive indicator of brain-heart interaction.

HRV is widely used as an indicator of autonomic nervous system function. However, its ability to reflect higher-order brain activity has remained unclear. In this study, the researchers applied nonlinear analysis and chaos theory to examine heartbeat dynamics under cognitive load.

The researchers had participants perform cognitive tasks designed to engage higher-order brain functions. They then analyzed heartbeat signals using both conventional HRV indices -- such as time-domain and frequency-domain measures -- and chaos-based metrics derived from nonlinear dynamics.

A novel study has revealed a link between extreme weather and the risk of cardiovascular disease among middle-aged and older adults in 157 Chinese cities. Based on a city’s climate and location, exposure to extreme heat, cold, and precipitation each increases the risk of heart disease. The findings of the study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier, provide evidence for policymakers across different regions to develop targeted strategies protecting vulnerable populations during extreme climate events.

Researchers have created heart monitoring sensors that conform to the skin, are comfortable, and can be worn while people are moving. With performance comparable to sensors already on the market, the new technology can be made using existing manufacturing processes.

A University of Texas at Arlington researcher is leading a new study that investigates cardio-sarcopenia—the combined loss of heart and muscle health in aging adults.