Journal of the American College of Cardiology
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J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. · Mar 2014
ReviewFrailty assessment in the cardiovascular care of older adults.
Due to the aging and increasingly complex nature of our patients, frailty has become a high-priority theme in cardiovascular medicine. Despite the recognition of frailty as a pivotal element in the evaluation of older adults with cardiovascular disease (CVD), there has yet to be a road map to facilitate its adoption in routine clinical practice. Thus, we sought to synthesize the existing body of evidence and offer a perspective on how to integrate frailty into clinical practice. ⋯ Frailty contributes valuable prognostic insights incremental to existing risk models and assists clinicians in defining optimal care pathways for their patients. Interventions designed to improve outcomes in frail elders with CVD such as multidisciplinary cardiac rehabilitation are being actively tested. Ultimately, frailty should not be viewed as a reason to withhold care but rather as a means of delivering it in a more patient-centered fashion.
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J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. · Mar 2014
Multicenter StudyBody mass index and mortality in acutely decompensated heart failure across the world: a global obesity paradox.
This study sought to define the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and mortality in heart failure (HF) across the world and to identify specific groups in whom BMI may differentially mediate risk. ⋯ A lower BMI is associated with age, disease severity, and a higher risk of death in acute decompensated HF. The "obesity paradox" is confined to older persons, with decreased cardiac function, less cardiometabolic illness, and recent-onset HF, suggesting that aging, HF severity/chronicity, and metabolism may explain the obesity paradox.
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J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. · Mar 2014
ReviewTranscatheter therapies for mitral regurgitation: a professional society overview from the American College of Cardiology, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions Foundation, and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons.