New ASA Advice

Medical News: Tighter Criteria Introduced for Aspirin Use in Diabetes – in Cardiovascular, Prevention from MedPage Today

A more conservative approach to aspirin for primary prevention in adults with diabetes is called for in a joint statement issued today by diabetes and cardiovascular associations.

Low-dose aspirin can be considered reasonable for diabetes patients with a cardiovascular disease risk above 10% over 10 years and no excess bleeding risk, according to the statement released by the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, and American College of Cardiology.

NT-proBNP Not Predictive in Healthy Normal People

The Prognostic Value of N-Terminal Pro–B-Type Natriuretic Peptide for Death and Cardiovascular Events in Healthy Normal and Stage A/B Heart Failure Subjects

Conclusions: The investigators concluded that these findings do not support the use of NT-proBNP as a cardiovascular biomarker in healthy normal subjects, and have important implications for NT-proBNP–based strategies for early detection and primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Stress Increases IHD Risk in Women

Medical News: Work Stress Adds to Women’s Heart Disease Risk – in Cardiovascular, Prevention from MedPage Today

On-the-job pressure significantly increases the likelihood that women will develop ischemic heart disease, a large Danish study found.

Compared with women who felt their workplace pressure was suitable, those who reported that the pressure was much too high had a nearly 50% increased risk of developing ischemic heart disease (HR 1.47, 95% CI 1.14 to 1.88), according to Karen Allesøe, PhD, and colleagues from Glostrup University Hospital.

OA in One Large Joint Means OA in the Other

Medical News: OA in One Large Joint Signals OA in the Other – in Rheumatology, Arthritis from MedPage Today

The diagnosis of radiographic osteoarthritis in one knee or hip likely signals the involvement of the contralateral joint, a cross-sectional analysis determined.

In a patient with moderate-to-severe osteoarthritis in one knee, the odds ratio for having a similar degree of involvement of the other knee was 62.7 (95% CI 42.3 to 93.1), according to Eric C. Sayre, PhD, of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and colleagues.

Ouch.