Background — Data from studies of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors provide evidence that the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system plays a role as a mediator of atrial remodeling in atrial fibrillation. The present study has evaluated the effect of treatment with the angiotensin I type 1 receptor blocker irbesartan on maintaining sinus rhythm after conversion from persistent atrial fibrillation. Methods and Results — To be included in the present study, patients must have had an episode of persistent atrial fibrillation for >7 days. The patients were then randomized and scheduled for electrical cardioversion. Two groups of patients were compared: Group I was treated with amiodarone, and group II was treated with amiodarone plus irbesartan. The primary end point was the length of time to a first recurrence of atrial fibrillation. From a total of 186 patients assessed in the study, 154 were analyzed with the use of intention-to-treat analysis. Seventy-five patients were randomly allocated to group I and 79 to group II. After 2 months of follow-up in the intention-to-treat analysis, the group treated with irbesartan had fewer patients with recurrent atrial fibrillation (Kaplan-Meier analysis, 84.79% versus 63.16%, P =0.008). The Kaplan-Meier analysis of time to first recurrence during the follow-up period (median time, 254 days [range, 60 to 710]) also showed that patients treated with irbesartan had a greater probability of remaining free of atrial fibrillation (79.52% versus 55.91%, P =0.007). Conclusions — Patients treated with amiodarone plus irbesartan had a lower rate of recurrence of atrial fibrillation than did patients treated with amiodarone alone.

Background: To quantify the association between effects of interventions on carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) progression and their effects on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Methods: We systematically collated data from randomized, controlled trials. cIMT was assessed as the mean value at the common-carotid-artery; if unavailable, the maximum value at the common-carotid-artery or other cIMT measures were used. The primary outcome was a combined CVD end point defined as myocardial infarction, stroke, revascularization procedures, or fatal CVD. We estimated intervention effects on cIMT progression and incident CVD for each trial, before relating the 2 using a Bayesian meta-regression approach. Results: We analyzed data of 119 randomized, controlled trials involving 100 667 patients (mean age 62 years, 42% female). Over an average follow-up of 3.7 years, 12 038 patients developed the combined CVD end point. Across all interventions, each 10 μm/y reduction of cIMT progression resulted in a relative risk for CVD of 0.91 (95% Credible Interval, 0.87–0.94), with an additional relative risk for CVD of 0.92 (0.87–0.97) being achieved independent of cIMT progression. Taken together, we estimated that interventions reducing cIMT progression by 10, 20, 30, or 40 μm/y would yield relative risks of 0.84 (0.75–0.93), 0.76 (0.67–0.85), 0.69 (0.59–0.79), or 0.63 (0.52–0.74), respectively. Results were similar when grouping trials by type of intervention, time of conduct, time to ultrasound follow-up, availability of individual-participant data, primary versus secondary prevention trials, type of cIMT measurement, and proportion of female patients. Conclusions: The extent of intervention effects on cIMT progression predicted the degree of CVD risk reduction. This provides a missing link supporting the usefulness of cIMT progression as a surrogate marker for CVD risk in clinical trials.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, is leading to unknown and unusual health conditions that are challenging to manage. Post-COVID-19 syndrome is one of those challenges, having become increasingly common as the pandemic evolves. The latest estimates suggest that 10 to 20% of the SARS-CoV-2 patients who undergo an acute symptomatic phase are experiencing effects of the disease beyond 12 weeks after diagnosis. Although research is beginning to examine this new condition, there are still serious concerns about the diagnostic identification, which limits the best therapeutic approach. Exercise programs and physical activity levels are well-known modulators of the clinical manifestations and prognosis in many chronic diseases. This narrative review summarizes the up-to-date evidence on post-COVID-19 syndrome to contribute to a better knowledge of the disease and explains how regular exercise may improve many of these symptoms and could reduce the long-term effects of COVID-19.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that countries implement pharmacovigilance and collect information on active drug safety monitoring (aDSM) and management of adverse events.The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the frequency and severity of adverse events to anti-tuberculosis (TB) drugs in a cohort of consecutive TB patients treated with new (i.e.bedaquiline, delamanid) and repurposed (i.e.clofazimine, linezolid) drugs, based on the WHO aDSM project. Adverse events were collected prospectively after attribution to a specific drug together with demographic, bacteriological, radiological and clinical information at diagnosis and during therapy. This interim analysis included patients who completed or were still on treatment at time of data collection.Globally, 45 centres from 26 countries/regions reported 658 patients (68.7% male, 4.4% HIV co-infected) treated as follows: 87.7% with bedaquiline, 18.4% with delamanid (6.1% with both), 81.5% with linezolid and 32.4% with clofazimine. Overall, 504 adverse event episodes were reported: 447 (88.7%) were classified as minor (grade 1–2) and 57 (11.3%) as serious (grade 3–5). The majority of the 57 serious adverse events reported by 55 patients (51 out of 57, 89.5%) ultimately resolved. Among patients reporting serious adverse events, some drugs held responsible were discontinued: bedaquiline in 0.35% (two out of 577), delamanid in 0.8% (one out of 121), linezolid in 1.9% (10 out of 536) and clofazimine in 1.4% (three out of 213) of patients. Serious adverse events were reported in 6.9% (nine out of 131) of patients treated with amikacin, 0.4% (one out of 221) with ethionamide/prothionamide, 2.8% (15 out of 536) with linezolid and 1.8% (eight out of 498) with cycloserine/terizidone.The aDSM study provided valuable information, but implementation needs scaling-up to support patient-centred care.

To analyze the impact of late presentation (LP) on overall mortality and causes of death and describe LP trends and risk factors (2004-2013). Cox models and logistic regression were used to analyze data from a nation-wide cohort in Spain. LP is defined as being diagnosed when CD4 < 350 cells/ml or AIDS. Of 7165 new HIV diagnoses, 46.9% (CI95%:45.7-48.0) were LP, 240 patients died. First-year mortality was the highest (aHRLP.vs.nLP = 10.3[CI95%:5.5-19.3]); between 1 and 4 years post-diagnosis, aHRLP.vs.nLP = 1.9(1.2-3.0); and >4 years, aHRLP.vs.nLP = 1.5(0.7-3.1). First-year's main cause of death was HIV/AIDS (73%); and malignancies among those surviving >4 years (32%). HIV/AIDS-related deaths were more likely in LP (59.2% vs. 25.0%; p < 0.001). LP declined from 55.9% (2004-05) to 39.4% (2012-13), and reduced in 46.1% in men who have sex with men (MSM) and 37.6% in heterosexual men, but increased in 22.6% in heterosexual women. Factors associated with LP: sex (ORMEN.vs.WOMEN = 1.4[1.2-1.7]); age (OR31-40.vs.50.vs.<30 = 3.6[2.9-4.4]); behavior (ORInjectedDrugUse.vs.MSM = 2.8[2.0-3.8]; ORHeterosexual.vs.MSM = 2.2[1.7-3.0]); education (ORPrimaryEducation.vs.University = 1.5[1.1-2.0], ORLowerSecondary.vs.University = 1.3[1.1-1.5]); and geographical origin (ORSub-Saharan.vs.Spain = 1.6[1.3-2.0], ORLatin-American.vs.Spain = 1.4[1.2-1.8]). LP is associated with higher mortality, especially short-term- and HIV/AIDS-related mortality. Mid-term-, but not long-term mortality, remained also higher in LP than nLP. LP decreased in MSM and heterosexual men, not in heterosexual women. The groups most affected by LP are low educated, non-Spanish and heterosexual women.