Background: Women have an unexplained worse outcome after myocardial infarction (MI) compared with men in many studies. Depressive symptoms predict adverse post-MI outcomes and are more prevalent among women than men. We examined whether depressive symptoms contribute to women's worse outcomes after MI. Methods and Results: In a prospective multicenter study (PREMIER), 2411 (807 women) MI patients were enrolled. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire. Outcomes included 1-year rehospitalization, presence of angina using the Seattle Angina Questionnaire, and 2-year mortality. Multivariable analyses were used to evaluate the association between sex and these outcomes, adjusting for clinical characteristics. The depressive symptoms score was added to the models to evaluate whether it attenuated the association between sex and outcomes. Depressive symptoms were more prevalent in women compared with men (29% versus 18.8%, P<0.001). After adjusting for demographic factors, comorbidities, and MI severity, women had a mildly higher risk of rehospitalization (hazard ratio, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.04 to 1.40), angina (odds ratio, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.75), and mortality (hazard ratio, 1.27; 95% CI, 0.98 to 1.64). After adding depressive symptoms to the multivariable models, the relationship further declined toward the null, particularly for rehospitalization (hazard ratio, 1.14; 95% CI, 0.98 to 1.34) and angina (odds ratio, 1.22; 95% CI, 0.91 to 1.63), whereas there was little change in the estimate for mortality (hazard ratio, 1.24; 95% CI, 0.95 to 1.62). Depressive symptoms were significantly associated with each of the study outcomes with a similar magnitude of effect in both women and men. Conclusions: A higher prevalence of depressive symptoms in women modestly contributes to their higher rates of rehospitalization and angina compared with men but not mortality after MI. Our results support the recent recommendations of improving recognition of depressive symptoms after MI.

Clinical Cardiology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Background/Hypothesis: SMARTWOMAN™ was designed to develop and assess the feasibility of a smartphone app to control cardiovascular risk factors in vulnerable diabetic women. Methods: Fourteen African-American women with diabetes and without known cardiovascular disease were enrolled. A weight-scale, glucometer, sphygmomanometer, and FitBit were synchronized to the smartphone, and text messaging was provided. Follow-up was 6 months. Results: Patients were able to follow instructions for app use and device prompts. Weekly device reporting was 85% for blood glucose, 82.5% for daily steps, and 77% for systolic blood pressure. Patient engagement levels were 85% to 100% at 1 month and 50% to 78% at month 6. The majority reported text messages to be useful, easy to understand, and appropriate in frequency. The women indicated on the exit questionnaire that study participation increased their motivation and ability to take charge of their health. Conclusions: Use of a smartphone app to control cardiovascular risk factors appears feasible in a population of vulnerable indigent African-American diabetic women, resulted in increased patient satisfaction and positive reinforcement to healthy behaviors, and warrants a larger clinical outcome trial.

OBJECTIVE: Anthracyclines are potent antineoplastic agents in the treatment of lymphoid malignancies, but their therapeutic benefit is limited by cardiotoxicity. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends routine surveillance, early diagnosis and treatment of anthracycline-based chemotherapy (AC) induced cardiomyopathy (AC-CMP). We aimed to assess the prevalence of AC-CMP in patients with lymphoma, surveillance patterns of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in those receiving AC and management of patients with AC-CMP at an academic medical centre prior to the development of a comprehensive cardio-oncology programme. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study examining 218 patients with aggressive B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (B-NHL) who received AC 1992-2012 and had serial follow-up. AC-CMP was defined as LVEF decrease ≥10% with final LVEF≤50% or LVEF reduction ≥15% regardless of final LVEF. RESULTS: Of 218 patients treated with AC, 73 (34%) had LVEF assessment both prior to and after receiving AC. Of these 73 patients, 24 developed AC-CMP and had higher cumulative all-cause mortality than those without AC-CMP (HR 2.35, p=0.03). Coronary artery disease (CAD) was an independent predictor of AC-CMP (p=0.048). Mean post-AC LVEF was lower in patients with CAD compared with those without CAD when their baseline LVEF was 45% (p=0.0009) or 55% (p=0.001) but was similar at 65% (p=0.33). Less than half of patients with AC-CMP received recommended heart failure medication therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Historically, one-third of patients with B-NHL treated with AC underwent surveillance according to AHA guidelines. There is substantial opportunity for collaboration between oncologists and cardiologists to improve the care of patients with lymphoma receiving AC.

In patients with heart failure (HF), mortality is lower in women versus men. However, it is unknown whether the survival advantage in women compared with men is present in both whites and African Americans with HF. The inception cohort consisted of adults ≥65 years with incident HF after enrollment in the CHS, a prospective population-based study of cardiovascular disease. Of 5,888 CHS subjects, 1,264 developed new HF and were followed up for 3 years. Subjects were categorized into 4 race-gender groups, and Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to examine whether 3-year total and cardiovascular mortality differed among the 4 groups after adjusting for sociodemographic factors, co-morbidities, and treatment. A gender-race interaction was also tested for each outcome. In subjects with incident HF, African Americans had more hypertension and diabetes than whites, and white men had more coronary heart disease than other gender-race groups. Receipt of cardiovascular treatments among the 4 groups was similar. Mortality rates after HF were lower in women compared with men (for white women, African-American women, African-American men, and white men, total mortality was 35.5, 33.6, 44.4, and 40.5/100 person-years, and cardiovascular mortality was 18.4, 19.5, 20.2, and 22.7/100 person-years, respectively). After adjusting for covariates, women had a 15% to 20% lower risk of total and cardiovascular mortality compared with men, but there was no significant difference in outcome by race. The gender-race interaction for either outcome was not significant. In conclusion, in older adults with HF, women had significantly better survival than men irrespective of race, suggesting that gender-based survival differences may be more important than race-based differences.

Objective Population studies have shown that age at menopause (AAM) predicts coronary heart disease. It is unknown, however, whether early menopause predicts post–myocardial infarction (MI) angina. We examined whether younger AAM increases risk of post-MI angina. Methods In a prospective multicenter MI registry, 493 postmenopausal women were enrolled (mean ± SD age, 65.4 ± 11.3 y, and mean ± SD AAM, 45.2 ± 7.8 y). We categorized AAM into 40 years or younger, 41 to 49 years, and 50 years or older. In the multivariable analysis, we examined whether AAM predicted 1-year post-MI angina and severity of angina after adjusting for angina before MI, demographics, comorbidities, MI severity, and quality of care (QOC). Results Women with early AAM (≤40 y; n = 132, 26.8%) were younger and more often smokers but were as likely to have comorbidities as were women with an AAM of 50 years or older. Although there were no differences in pre-MI angina, MI severity, obstructive coronary disease, and QOC based on AAM, the rate of 1-year angina was higher in women with an AAM of 40 years or younger (32.4%) than in women with an AAM of 50 years or older (12.2%). In the multivariable analysis, women with an AAM of 40 years or younger had more than twice the risk of angina (relative risk, 2.09; 95% CI, 1.38–3.17) and a higher severity of angina (odds ratio, 2.65; 95% CI, 1.34–5.22 for a higher severity level) compared with women with an AAM of 50 years or older. Conclusions Women with early menopause are at higher risk of angina after MI, independent of comorbidities, severity of MI, and QOC. The use of a simple question regarding AAM may help in the identification of women who need closer follow-up, careful evaluation, and intervention to improve their symptoms and quality of life after MI.

Improvements in early detection and treatment of gynecologic malignancies have led to an increasing number of survivors who are at risk of long-term cardiac complications from cancer treatment. Multimodality therapies for gynecologic malignancies, including conventional chemotherapy, targeted therapeutics, and hormonal agents, place patients at risk of cancer therapy-related cardiovascular toxicity during and following treatment. Although the cardiotoxicity associated with some female predominant cancers (eg, breast cancer) have been well recognized, there has been less recognition of the potential adverse cardiovascular effects of anticancer therapies used to treat gynecologic malignancies. In this review, the authors provide a comprehensive overview of the cancer therapeutic agents used in gynecologic malignancies, associated cardiovascular toxicities, risk factors for cardiotoxicity, cardiac imaging, and prevention strategies.

Background: Prior studies have demonstrated that patients with high-risk acute myocardial infarction (AMI) are less likely to receive guideline-directed medications during hospitalisation. It is unknown if this paradox persists following discharge. We aimed to assess if persistence with guideline-directed medications post discharge varies by patients' risk following AMI. Methods: Data were analysed from two prospective, multicentre US AMI registries. The primary outcome was persistence with all prescribed guideline-directed medications (aspirin, ß-blockers, statins, angiotensin-antagonists) at 1, 6 and 12 months post discharge. The association between risk and medication persistence post discharge was assessed using multivariable mixed-effect models. Results: Among 6434 patients with AMI discharged home, 2824 were considered low-risk, 2014 intermediate-risk and 1596 high-risk for death based upon their Global Registry of Acute Coronary Event (GRACE) 6-month risk score. High-risk was associated with a lower likelihood of receiving all appropriate therapies at discharge compared with low-risk patients (relative risk (RR) 0.90; 95% CI 0.87 to 0.94). At 12 months, the rate of persistence with all prescribed therapies was 61.5%, 57.9% and 45.9% among low-risk, intermediate-risk and high-risk patients, respectively. After multivariable adjustment, high-risk was associated with lower persistence with all prescribed medications (RR 0.87; 95% CI 0.82 to 0.92) over follow-up. Similar associations were seen for individual medications. Over the 5 years of the study, persistence with prescribed therapies post discharge improved modestly among high-risk patients (RR 1.05; 95% CI 1.03 to 1.08 per year). Conclusions: High-risk patients with AMI have a lower likelihood of persistently taking prescribed medications post discharge as compared with low-risk patients. Continued efforts are needed to improve the use of guideline-directed medications in high-risk patients.

Objective: To examine changes in social support during early recovery after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and determine whether these changes influence outcomes within the first year. Methods: Among 1951 AMI patients enrolled in a 19-center prospective study, we examined changes in social support between baseline (index hospitalization) and 1. month post-AMI to longitudinally assess their association with health status and depressive symptoms within the first year. We further examined whether 1-month support predicted outcomes independent of baseline support. Hierarchical repeated-measures regression evaluated associations, adjusting for site, baseline outcome level, baseline depressive symptoms, sociodemographic characteristics, and clinical factors. Results: During the first month of recovery, 5.6% of patients had persistently low support, 6.4% had worsened support, 8.1% had improved support, and 80.0% had persistently high support. In risk-adjusted analyses, patients with worsened support (vs. persistently high) had greater risk of angina (relative risk=1.46), lower disease-specific quality of life (β=7.44), lower general mental functioning (β=4.82), and more depressive symptoms (β=1.94) (all p≤.01). Conversely, patients with improved support (vs. persistently low) had better outcomes, including higher disease-specific quality of life (β=6.78), higher general mental functioning (β=4.09), and fewer depressive symptoms (β=1.48) (all p≤.002). In separate analyses, low support at 1. month was significantly associated with poorer outcomes, independent of baseline support level (all p≤.002). Conclusion: Changes in social support during early AMI recovery were not uncommon and were important for predicting outcomes. Intervening on low support during early recovery may provide a means of improving outcomes.

Breast cancer and heart failure share several known clinical cardiovascular risk factors, including age, obesity, glucose dysregulation, cholesterol dysregulation, hypertension, atrial fibrillation and inflammation. However, to fully comprehend the complex interplay between risk of breast cancer and heart failure, factors attributed to both biological and social determinants of health must be explored in risk-assessment. There are several social factors that impede implementation of prevention strategies and treatment for breast cancer and heart failure prevention, including socioeconomic status, neighborhood disadvantage, food insecurity, access to healthcare, and social isolation. A comprehensive approach to prevention of both breast cancer and heart failure must include assessment for both traditional clinical risk factors and social determinants of health in patients to address root causes of lifestyle and modifiable risk factors. In this review, we examine clinical and social determinants of health in breast cancer and heart failure that are necessary to consider in the design and implementation of effective prevention strategies that altogether reduce the risk of both chronic diseases.

Background Myocardial infarction (MI) patients without obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) are at increased risk for recurrent ischemic events, but angina frequency post-MI has not been described. Methods and Results Among MI patients who underwent angiography, we assessed angina at baseline, 1, 6, and 12 months using the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ). A hierarchical repeated measures modified Poisson model assessed the association between the absence of obstructive CAD (defined as epicardial stenoses >70% or left main >50%) and angina. Among 5539 MI patients from 31 US hospitals (mean age 60, 68% male), 6.9% had no angiographic obstructive CAD. More patients without obstructive CAD (vs. obstructive CAD) were female (57% vs 30%), non-white (51% vs 24%) and had NSTEMI (87% vs 51%). In unadjusted analyses, patients without obstructive CAD had less angina prior to MI but more angina and worse health status post-discharge. After adjustment for socio-demographic and clinical factors, the risk of post-MI angina was similar in patients without vs. with obstructive CAD (IRR=0.89, 95% CI 0.77-1.02). Among patients without obstructive CAD, depression and self-reported avoidance of care due to cost were independently associated with angina (IRR=1.28 per 5 points on PHQ, 95% CI 1.17-1.41; IRR=1.34, 95% 1.02-1.1.74). Conclusions Following MI, patients without obstructive CAD experience an angina burden at least as high as those with obstructive CAD, affecting 1 in 4 patients at 12 months. As these patients are not candidates for revascularization, other anti-anginal strategies are needed to improve their health status and quality of life.