August Message from the Medical & Research Director
Prof. J. William McEvoy
NIPC Medical and Research Director, Chair of Executive Council
Welcome to the August e-bulletin from NIPC. I hope you have been enjoying the nice summer weather and had an opportunity for a ‘Staycation’. Unfortunately, it looks like a second COVID-19 wave in Ireland is increasingly likely. Hopefully the restrictions already in place, our compliance with them, and more liberal use of face-masks can keep this second wave under control.
As mentioned in prior e-bulletins, COVID-19 has forced us to evolve and I am excited that we have now started the ‘MySlainte’ online lifestyle and CVD prevention programme. This programme will help to address an urgent need among high-risk secondary prevention patients who have been unable to access the normal cardiac rehabilitation services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The urgency of this need is highlighted by this recent paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network, which once again reports that cardiac rehab helps to save lives (so the absence of cardiac rehab should be a concern to us all). ‘MySlainte’ will tackle this urgent problem head-on and may also be a template to follow well into the future.
In other news, I invite you to consider application to our NIPC fellowship programme (due August 28th, details on the NIPC website). Furthermore, limited places are still available in our world-class MSc in Preventive Cardiology programme, run in conjunction with NUIG. Finally, I thank all those GPs who participated in our survey of heart valve disease; the winner of the draw chose to donate the 500 euro prize to the Galway Simon Community.
-Bill
Latest News
Chocolate is good for the heart
Eating chocolate at least once a week is linked with a reduced risk of heart disease, according to research published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).“Our study suggests that chocolate helps keep the heart’s blood vessels healthy,” said study author Dr. Chayakrit Krittanawong of Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. Read more
Better understanding of coronary pathophysiology needed to improve CV outcomes in women
Cardiologists need to “recognize limitations of conventional diagnostic and management approaches for stable ischemic heart disease, particularly in women,” Viviany R. Taqueti, director of the cardiac stress laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Conventional diagnostic testing was designed to find obstructive CAD, so it “can lead to overtesting without differentiating who is truly at risk,” .
Insufficient Calorie Intake Associated With Increased Readmission in Older Patients Hospitalized for Heart Failure
Insufficient calorie intake was found to be independently associated with a poorer quality of life and greater burden of hospital readmission at 12 weeks postdischarge among older patients hospitalized for heart failure, according to a study published in JACC: Heart Failure.
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