Hospitals participating in a quality improvement program were 7.3 times more likely to administer IV alteplase within one hour of a stroke patient’s arrival in 2017 versus 2008, according to a study published Dec. 17 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

Regardless of a woman’s smoking status, her BMI or whether she has any cardiovascular comorbidities, giving birth to at least one child raises her risk of developing heart disease or stroke by 16 percent, according to research out of Tongji Medical College in Wuhan, China.

The severity of left ventricular dysfunction at baseline didn’t appear to impact survival after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in a substudy of patients with low-flow, low-gradient (LFLG) aortic stenosis, suggesting TAVR is an acceptable treatment in this high-risk population.

Outpatient centers across three states may have upcoded patients from stable angina to unstable angina to mask their use of inappropriate percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), according to a report published Dec. 17 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Popular anti-diabetes drug metformin could have positive implications for heart failure patients, too, according to a recent study that found the medication reduced left ventricular stiffness in mice with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

A Singapore-based research team is cautioning diabetics to be mindful of what apps, if any, they’re using to manage their condition after an analysis found the majority of such aids lack the ability to effectively monitor a patient’s diet, activity, medications, glucose and insulin.

White women—but not black women—between the ages of 65 and 74 carried a lower risk of stroke than their male counterparts in a U.S. study, suggesting gender-specific protections against stroke vanish earlier among blacks.

General Electric (GE) has filed the paperwork for an initial public offering (IPO) for its healthcare unit, GE Healthcare, according to numerous sources familiar with the ongoing situation. The offering is expected to take place by the middle of 2019.

Low-dose vaginal estrogen therapy—a treatment used to relieve genital and urinary discomfort in women during menopause—isn’t associated with an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease or cancer, researchers reported in Menopause Dec. 17.

Patients who receive heart surgery experience minimal changes to their memory up to two years after their operations compared to those who undergo less-invasive cardiac catheterization, according to a new study, offering reassurance that postoperative cognitive decline may be temporary in many cases.