Post-Pandemic OHCA Survival Down; Vitamin D Supplements & BP; Varipulse PFA Approved

Rates of survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) have not fully bounced back since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to research disseminated by the American Heart Association (AHA).

Meanwhile, the odds of bystander CPR being performed on both women and men increased when 911 operators provided instructions, says another abstract from AHA.

Vitamin D supplements, whether taken at 600 IU/day or 3,750 IU/day for a year, were tied to lower blood pressure (BP) in a randomized trial of ambulatory older overweight individuals. (Journal of the Endocrine Society)

Obesity appeared to be protective against mortality associated with high NT-proBNP in patients without heart failure or coronary artery disease, in another possible example of the obesity paradox. (Clinical Cardiology)

Transient exposure to small particulate matter from landscape fires was tied to increases in cardiovascular disease on a population level. (Nature Communications)

Pregnant women are at risk of aortic events from the gestational period to 1-year postpartum. (European Heart Journal)

Aortic stenosis was associated with a distinct genetic profile unlike that of coronary artery disease, according to a genome-wide association study. (JAMA Cardiology)

Genetics also seemed to play a role in post-stroke epilepsy. (Stroke)

People with large mitral annuli were able to receive hybrid transcatheter mitral valve replacement. (Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions)

FDA approved the Varipulse pulsed field ablation (PFA) platform for drug refractory paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, Johnson & Johnson announced.

The SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin (Farxiga) may have some potential antiarrhythmic benefit in some patients with cardiovascular implantable electronic devices. (Scientific Reports)

There is room for improvement regarding the use of intraoperative His bundle mapping to reduce postoperative atrioventricular blocks requiring pacemakers during complex biventricular congenital heart disease repair. (Journal of the American College of Cardiology)

People with IgG4-related disease showed frequent myocardial tissue abnormalities on cardiac MRI. (Heart)

A diagnosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction often hinges on body position during invasive exercise right heart catheterization. (Circulation: Heart Failure)

Natural language processing models accurately assigned heart failure patients their New York Heart Association symptom class based on clinical notes. (JAMA Network Open)

A new device coating, engineered to prevent clot formation, showed promising results in lab and animal studies. (Nature Materials)