Although the Eighth Joint National Committee recently recommended raising the systolic blood pressure (SBP) goal from 140 mm Hg to 150 in people 60 years of age and older without diabetes mellitus or chronic kidney disease, five members of the panel disagreed in a viewpoint published online Jan. 14 in Annals of Internal Medicine. They argued that there was not sufficient evidence to increase the target SBP.

The denser coronary artery plaque is, the lower the risk may be of coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease, according to a study published in the Jan. 15 issue of JAMA. This finding suggests that the current method of predicting risk, the Agatson coronary artery calcium score, may need to be re-evaluated.

What options do physicians and hospitals have when reimbursement rules are out of sync with current clinical guidelines and appropriate use criteria? Cardiologists used implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) to illustrate this disconnect in the Jan. 7-14 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Nonwhite patients are more likely to die after CABG than white patients, and this disparity may be due in part to blacks’ poorer access to high-quality hospitals, a study published online Jan. 8 in JAMA Surgery found. Other unexplained factors may also contribute to the racial differences.

Aegerion Pharmaceuticals confirmed that it is under a federal magnifying glass again. The company disclosed in a financial statement that it was subpoenaed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) over its cholesterol drug, lomitapide.

The FDA’s Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee faces a full docket of applications for treatments for acute coronary syndrome and other diseases in January and February.

Although the novel oral anticoagulants dabigatran, rivaroxaban and apixaban offer alternatives to warfarin to prevent strokes in patients with atrial fibrillation, physicians may still need guidance on how to manage them.

The pivotal SYMPLICITY HTN-3 clinical trial designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of renal denervation as a treatment for uncontrolled hypertension failed to meet its primary efficacy endpoint.