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Michael O'Riordan
Michael O'Riordan is a senior journalist for theheart.org|Medscape Cardiology. He's been reporting on cardiovascular medicine since 2003 when he joined theheart.org. He is a member of theheart.org team that won the Online News Association Online Journalism Award in the category of Specialty Site Journalism in 2010 and the Gold Medal for Best Website from the Association of Healthcare Publication Editors Award in 2013. Michael is a graduate of Queen's University and has a master's degree in journalism from the University of British Columbia. He keeps his own heart tuned up by running regularly in his adopted hometown of Hamilton, ON and has completed multiple marathons, including Boston, Bermuda, Toronto, New York, and Big Sur. He can be contacted at or .
Some experts believe they're an improvement, while others are eagerly awaiting revisions and updates. No matter where they fall on the spectrum, cardiologists have strong opinions about the new ACC/AHA cholesterol guidelines.
UPDATED // The negative study, which included a sham-procedure control arm, highlights the importance of conducting well-designed studies before approving new therapies, say investigators and the editorialists.
Is the new calculator for the assessment of the 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease flawed or does it work exactly as the authors of the risk-assessment guideline committee expected it to?
The new cholesterol guidelines identify four major groups of patients in whom statins should be used and recommend either moderate or intense statin therapy rather than treating to a specific goal.
The Framingham Heart Study, which had its start closely linked with the cardiovascular health of US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, examined its first patient on October 11, 1948.
Regarding the primary end point, the combination of coronary death, nonfatal MI, stroke, or coronary revascularization occurred in 15.0% of patients in the control arm and 14.5% of patients in the niacin/laropiprant arm, a difference that was not statistically significant. Equally important, the researchers also documented a significantly increased risk of adverse events with niacin/laropiprant, w
Earlier this week, the Institute of Medicine stirred up controversy when it stated the data are insufficient to recommend lowering sodium levels beyond 2300 mg per day. The AHA came out against the IOM report, but hypertension experts heartwire spoke with say the recommendations are right on the money
AIM-HIGH researchers have yet to publish a detailed post hoc analysis of adverse events related to niacin therapy, but the investigators do not believe there was a real risk of bleeding or infection observaed with the proprietary extended-release niacin in the trial. However, the HPS2-THRIVE team believes the results of AIM-HIGH support their conclusions about niacin's off-target risks.
Cardiovascular disease is the biggest epidemic the world has ever known, "bigger than HIV," affecting nearly one in three individuals. Given the magnitude of the epidemic and the ensuing worldwide shortage of cardiologists and specialists to treat cardiovascular morbidities, there is a need for new treatment paradigms, say researchers. That's where the polypill comes in.
