People's heart health is unlikely to be affected by two types of industrially processed hard fats widely used in everyday food.

Michael Gotthardt at the Max Delbrück Center and collaborators are developing a drug to treat a common type of heart failure characterized by impaired cardiac filling. In “Cardiovascular Research,” his group and a US team showed the therapy improves cardiac function in a mouse model of the disease. 

A landmark international study led by the University of Zurich has shown that artificial intelligence can assess patient risk for the most common type of heart attack more accurately than existing methods. This could enable doctors to guide more personalized treatment decisions for patients.

About The Study: In this study, major adverse cardiovascular event risk varied significantly by medication class, with most protection achieved with sustained treatment with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) followed by sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2is), sulfonylureas, and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors. The magnitude of benefit of GLP-1RAs over SGLT2is depended on baseline age, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, heart failure, and kidney impairment. These results, along with consideration of cost, availability, and collateral clinical benefits, may inform treatment decisions for adults with type 2 diabetes. 

A new scientific statement published today in the American Heart Association's flagship journal Circulation states that significant differences exist in cardiac rehabilitation access, participation and outcomes for women compared to men.

About The Study: Although the incidence of new-onset atrial fibrillation (AF) after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in this study was higher than previously reported, the AF burden in these patients was very low, especially after 30 days. The very low AF burden questions the current guideline recommendations that long-term oral anticoagulation should be considered in patients with new-onset AF after CABG.

Despite advancements in treatment and prevention, patients with established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) still have particularly high risk of having another heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular event. Drawing on data from tens of thousands of patients from two independent sources, investigators from Mass General Brigham developed and validated new tools for quantifying this “residual risk” in patients with prior myocardial infarction, stroke, coronary artery disease, peripheral arterial disease, transient ischemic attack, or arterial revascularization. The novel scoring tools substantially improved risk discrimination compared with the guidelines-recommended model. Their findings are published in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Amit Khera, M.D., FAHA, director of preventive cardiology and clinical chief of cardiology at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center, will receive the 2025 Chairman’s Award at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions.