Women with heart failure (HF) have a lower risk of death than their male counterparts, regardless of ejection fraction (EF), according to a meta-analysis published March 8 in the European Journal of Heart Failure. The analysis, based on data on nearly 42,000 patients, is said to be the largest assessment yet of gender and mortality risk in HF.

Employing guideline-recommended therapies in heart failure (HF) patients extends survival; however, benefits seem to plateau after any four to five therapies are used, according to results of a study published in the Feb. 22 issue of the online, open-access Journal of the American Heart Association: Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease (JAHA).

Baseline anemia was not an independent predictor of all-cause mortality in outpatients with heart failure (HF) and severe renal dysfunction or advanced heart disease in a study published Jan. 24 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Critical Diagnostics' Presage ST2 Assay, a cardiac biomarker assay that can be used in the prognosis of patients with chronic heart failure, was cleared by the FDA Dec. 15.

The FDA accepted for review a new drug application (NDA) for the anticoagulant apixaban (Eliquis, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer) and assigned a priority review designation, the pharmaceutical companies announced Nov. 29. The goal date for issuing a decision is March 28, 2012.

Patients with infective endocarditis complicated by heart failure (HF) who undergo valvular surgery had lower in-hospital and one-year mortality rates, researchers report in the Nov. 23 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Yet less than two-thirds of patients with HF underwent surgery, the authors found.

ORLANDO, Fla.--A trial of a pharmacist-led intervention in primary care that aimed to optimize preventive heart failure (HF) treatment modestly improved the prescription of lifesaving drugs but did not improve clinical outcomes, according to the Post-MI FREE late-breaking clinical trial presented Nov. 14 at the 2011 American Heart Associations scientific sessions.

ORLANDO, Fla.A weight loss program delivered by health coaches over the phone with website and email support, but no in-person contact was as effective as one delivered in person, the studys lead researcher Lawrence J. Appel, MD, MPH, explained to Cardiovascular Business, who also spoke to the growing trend within U.S. healthcare system.