Men are more likely to receive bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in public locations than women and are more likely to survive cardiac arrest in those situations, according to research presented Nov. 11 at the American Heart Association’s (AHA) scientific sessions in Anaheim, California.

A new left atrial appendage (LAA) closure device can be implanted with a high success rate and slashes the one-year risk of stroke in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) patients, according to the researchers of the device’s pilot trial.

Millions of words have been written about communication—in relationships, in business partnerships, in patient-physician interactions. (How many of those words have been read is another question.) But an axiom for effectively conveying a thought or a feeling is that it’s not just what you say, it’s also how you say it.

More cardiac arrest victims will survive if emergency medical dispatchers give cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) instructions over the phone and if infants and children receive rescue breaths in addition to chest compressions, according to updated CPR guidelines released Nov. 7 by the American Heart Association (AHA).

A meta-analysis of the PREVAIL and PROTECT AF trials, two studies aimed at evaluating the efficacy of left atrial appendage closure (LAAC) with the Watchman device in atrial fibrillation (AFib) patients, ultimately found that LAAC with Watchman provides stroke prevention for nonvalvular AFib patients comparable to warfarin, with additional decreases in major bleeding events and mortality. The 5-year findings were presented at the 29th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics convention in Denver.

Patients with atrial fibrillation (AFib) who are treated with blood thinners are at a significantly reduced risk for developing dementia, according to research published Oct. 24 in the European Heart Journal. Individuals on oral anticoagulants (OACs) at baseline demonstrated a 29 percent lower risk of dementia compared to those not on blood thinners, while people treated with OACs throughout the study experienced a 48 percent risk reduction.

Extroverts benefit from lesser physiological responses to, more complete recovery from and better adaptation to social stressors, according to a new study published in Psychophysiology—a phenomenon that could have a range of cardiovascular health perks.

While heavy drinkers are at an established, increased risk for developing atrial fibrillation (AF) due to their alcohol habits, light-to-moderate consumers are at virtually no increased likelihood of developing the condition, a study out of Nord-Trøndelag County in Norway has found.