Cardiology

Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital to Bring Nationally Recognized … – McLaren Health Care

March 21, 2023

Author: Lindsey Ulrich

Helen DeVos Childrens Hospital to Bring Nationally Recognized Pediatric Care to Lansing at the McLaren Greater Lansing Health Care Campus

Helen DeVos Childrens Hospital, McLaren and Gillespie Group announce the new location on McLaren Greater Lansings Health Care campus, within the University Health Park

LANSING, Mich., March 21, 2023 Helen DeVos Childrens Hospital, part of Corewell Health, will be upgrading, expanding and bringing new pediatric specialties to the Lansing region and will be partnering with McLaren Greater Lansing to enhance care in the new hospitals Birthing Center by providing pediatric hospitalists and neonatal nurse practitioners. These services will be located on McLarens new health care campus, within the University Health Park, and are set to open Summer of 2023.

Helen DeVos Childrens Hospital (HDVCH), known for its expert care, is committed to bring their vast list of childrens services to the Lansing area. HDVCH and McLaren are working together to expand current pediatric specialty care and bring new services to provide seamless patient care through integrated diagnostic services.

We want to make access to care as easy and convenient as possible for children in the Lansing area, said Dr. Anas Taqatqa, section chief of pediatric cardiology in Helen DeVos Childrens Hospital, Lansing clinic. We are grateful to McLaren for their partnership and for helping to make health care accessible for all.

This partnership with McLaren and HDVCH is a result of many years of planning and collaboration to improve the regions pediatric care, providing access to more families close to home.

McLaren Greater Lansing and HDVCH have held a long-standing position in our communities with a common purpose to provide high-quality medical care for our patients, close to home, said Kirk Ray, President and CEO at McLaren Greater Lansing. This relationship is a part of a broader strategy to provide convenient access to health care by keeping care local for the families we serve.

Newly expanded services will include pediatric and adult congenital cardiology, fetal cardiology, pediatric orthopedics, rheumatology, gastrointestinal, plastic surgery, genetics, infectious disease, neurosurgery, pulmonology, endocrinology and nephrology. Maternal fetal medicine will be offered at this location for the first time, with additional services being added in the future. To access contact information at HDVCH clinics in Lansing click here.

Helen DeVos Childrens Hospital has long served the Lansing area for years through our outpatient pediatric clinics and quickly recognized a need for expanding additional childrens services locally, Dr. Taqatqa said. It is a privilege to bring nationally-renowned pediatric specialties to the Greater Lansing community.

The home of these services will be the second medical services building on the campus, a 60,400 sq. ft. development by Gillespie Group providing a premier destination for additional services including clinical space, medical research, and education as well as increased accessibility to diagnostic imaging to meet the needs of the region. Other services planned for the space include McLarens Multi-Specialty Clinic and an outpatient imaging center through a partnership with McLaren and MSU Health Care. The Gillespie Group team is proud to add another tenant offering necessary services to the region.

We are excited about this state-of-the-art project and what it is bringing to the region, said Pat Gillespie, President of Gillespie Group. Our focus at Gillespie Group is to bring multiple partners together to produce a creative solution that meets the needs of our community now and for the future.

The co-owners of the building were announced in December 2021 as Michigan State Basketball Coach and his wife Tom and Lupe Izzo, Wickens Group President Steve Wickens, and Gillespie Group President Pat Gillespie. MSB2 is on track to be completed in summer of 2023 with 4,190 square feet of first floor space still available for medical, clinical, or office use.

Helen DeVos Childrens Hospital, part of Corewell Health, is a nationally ranked childrens hospital that provides comprehensive clinical care to children all across the state of Michigan. It offers advanced pediatric specialty care with more than 300 pediatric physicians who practice in 70 pediatric specialties and programs and care close to home in over 50 regional clinics.

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Note: Click here for renderings of this new site.

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Cardiology

Pargol Samani, MD, has been Inducted into the Prestigious Marquis … – 24-7 Press Release

She focuses her efforts on invasive cardiology, providing procedures such as angiograms, transesophageal echocardiography and pacemaker implantation.

SAN DIEGO, CA, March 21, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Pargol Samani, MD, has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.

Leveraging more than a decade of excellence in cardiovascular research and medicine, Dr. Samani has earned distinction as a cardiologist with San Diego County Cardiology. Since 2017, she has focused her efforts on invasive cardiology, providing procedures such as angiograms, transesophageal echocardiography and pacemaker implantation. In treating her patients, both inpatient and outpatient, she emphasizes preventing cardiovascular diseases to limit a patient's risk factors. Additionally, she lends her expertise as a valued member of the American Medical Association, the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, the American College of Physicians and the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography. Among her professional accomplishments, she is proud to have received recognition among San Diego's Top Doctors 2022 by the San Diego County Medical Society (SDCMS).

Prior to embarking on her professional journey, Dr. Samani earned a Doctor of Medicine from the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in Iran in 2008. Spurred by the realization that the first reason for morbidity and mortality are cardiovascular diseases, many of which can be prevented, she completed a postdoctorate program at the cardiovascular research laboratory of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in 2011. Following this time, she underwent a residency in internal medicine at the Detroit Medical Center of Wayne State University. Finishing the program in 2014, she fulfilled a fellowship in cardiovascular disease with Kettering Medical Center in 2017.

Well-qualified in her field, Dr. Samani is certified in nuclear medicine by the American Board of Nuclear Medicine and in internal medicine and cardiology by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Accredited by the National Board of Echocardiography, she can provide adult transthoracic plus transesophageal echocardiography. She holds a medical license in California and was inducted as a fellow to the American College of Cardiology.

Within the coming years, Dr. Samani intends to grow her practice, enabling her to serve a larger patient population. As she strives to keep her practice up to date with the most recent cardiovascular treatments, medications and procedures, she plans to provide novel therapeutic and preventative options for her patients. She engages her patients in the decision-making process for their treatment plans, encouraging them to make any changes possible to have a positive impact on their future health.

About Marquis Who's Who:Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America, Marquis Who's Who has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Marquis celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2023, and Who's Who in America remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who website at http://www.marquiswhoswho.com.

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Pargol Samani, MD, has been Inducted into the Prestigious Marquis ... - 24-7 Press Release

Cardiology

Atrium Health Creates a Life-Saving Game Plan – Atrium Health

During Ed Reynolds 10 years as an active player in the NFL, he had immediate access to some of the best doctors in the country.

I had all of my medical needs addressed right there in the locker room, Ed says. An athletic trainer, primary care doctor, cardiologist, orthopedic doctor. We had every doctor we could possibly need right at our fingertips.

After he retired from the sport in 1993, Ed admits that he grew lax with his medical care and took his health for granted. After all, he was a former professional athlete with an active lifestyle who regularly hit the gym and felt fine. While he had access to team physicians during his playing career, Ed didnt prioritize finding a primary care provider or going for regular preventive screenings; until the NFL Dedicated Hospital Network Program (the Program or NFL DHN) was established in September of 2021.

The Program focuses on the importance of preventive care and connects eligible former NFL players with high-quality medical care providers in every NFL city. It provides eligible former NFL players with benefits including preventive care, primary medical care and mental health services up to certain annual maximums, where applicable. Atrium Health was selected by the Carolina Panthers as the partner of choice and participating health system for the NFL DHN in the Charlotte region. Because Atrium Health was the closest Health System Partner in proximity to where Ed currently resides, Atrium Health became his next team and the one that saved his life.

The NFL DHN is a first-of-its-kind health and wellness program for eligible former NFL players. Former NFL players have access to Atrium Healths expert care to support their wellness beyond their playing careers.

When a former NFL player becomes eligible for the Program, their course of care starts with a call to the Cigna Dedicated Concierge Team to identify their health care needs and desired health system partner. Following their call to the concierge team, players connect with a dedicated clinical care manager at their health system partner of choice who helps them navigate their care. Eds clinical care manager was Pam Black, registered nurse with Atrium Health Musculoskeletal Institute, and the two developed a close bond.

Entering a health care system can feel overwhelming and I help patients break down the pieces into smaller, manageable parts, Black says. It means a lot to me to be a clinical navigator because I enjoy helping people.

Black coordinated an appointment for Ed with Dr. Anthony Martin at Atrium Health Musculoskeletal Institute, who is a primary care/sports medicine physician for players in the NFL Dedicated Hospital Network. Ed's first appointment with Martin revealed a cardiac concern. Even though cardiology isn't covered directly under the Program's benefits, Pam and the Cigna Dedicated Concierge Team partnered to connect him to a cardiologist in the system, Dr. Dermot Phelan with Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute. Once his heart condition was managed, Black then scheduled an appointment for Ed to have a routine colonoscopy using the Programs preventive care benefit with Dr. Brittany Seminara, a gastroenterologist at Atrium Health Gastroenterology and Hepatology. That screening became anything but routine.

During the colonoscopy, Seminara found a mass that she recognized as adenocarcinoma, a cancer that develops from cells in the lining of the colon. In the procedure room, while Ed was still asleep, she began to formulate what she would tell Ed and his wife. She knew that once they learned about the cancer, they should also know that Atrium Health had a gameplan to treat it. From there, the team worked together to ensure that Ed continued to have best-in-class care as he went against his toughest competitor yet: cancer.

Dr. Seminara took my degree of anxiousness down a whole lot, Ed says. She started telling me this wonderful game plan, saying, This is what we're going to do and Ive called an excellent colleague right here in Charlotte. And boom, she had next steps. That was a huge relief.

Ed was in stage 4 colon cancer. Before the surgery to remove it, Ed received an innovative form of chemotherapy that delivers treatment directly to the distant tumors through a pump. Atrium Health is one of just two health systems in the state that offers this treatment. Not only was Ed able to get a leading-edge form of chemotherapy, but he was able to get it close to home. Black went beyond her role as a liaison for the NFL DHN and connected Ed to treatments at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, providing him with some of the best oncology physicians in the region and saving him travel time.

This treatment allows us to deliver high-dose chemotherapy to the liver to treat malignant tumors with minimal side effects, says Dr. Perry Shen, one of Eds oncologists at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist. Ed had a very positive attitude, and it is a privilege to take care of him.

Because his chemotherapy appointments were so close to home, Ed jokes, they were also closer to his favorite restaurants. Hed celebrate the end of each chemotherapy treatment with a stop for something good to eat.

If someone's diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and they go online to look at the prognosis, it is not a good prognosis. But these groundbreaking cancer treatments for advanced disease are prolonging patients' lives, Seminara says. That's what really matters.

When Ed finished his last chemotherapy treatment and rang the bell, he sent a picture of the moment to Black.

I really appreciated the fact he thought enough of me to include me in that moment, Black says. It was really exciting for me, too.

Now, Eds finished his chemotherapy and had a successful surgery. Hell have a follow-up colonoscopy in a year through the NFL DHN to continue monitoring his health.

During all of Eds unexpected health challenges cardiac arrhythmia and colon cancer he was part of a team. Doctors across facilities and specialties shared information electronically while Black kept Ed aware of each step - providing coordinated care.

He had a team at Atrium Health: a primary care/sports medicine doctor, a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist, a surgical oncologist and an oncologist. It's extraordinary care that we offer to all of our patients here in the North Carolina region, Seminara says. Health care is a team sport.

And perhaps few people understand the importance of a close-knit team more than a former NFL player.

Due to Mr. Reynoldss background as a professional athlete, he realized the importance of a team approach to fight his cancer, says Dr. Caio Max S. Rocha Lima, another one of Eds oncologists at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist. It takes a village to provide high-level cancer care. Im positive Mr. Reynolds felt that the multi-disciplinary care team was highly invested in his health.

That team approach supported Ed through surprise diagnoses, as well as the challenges and the victories that followed. Although a colonoscopy through the NFL DHNs Preventive Care benefit helped identify the cancer, Atrium Health went beyond their role with the Program to continue supporting Ed. Atrium Health made it a priority to ensure that Ed was referred to the best specialists for his cancer treatment.

We wanted to create a team, just like when I was playing football. Back then, I had the best doctors. Atrium Health is the best, too. Everything that went on during my cancer treatment, Dr. Martin, Dr. Shen and Dr. Seminara knew because they were all part of the Atrium Health system, Ed says. I'm absolutely here today because of the plan that was put in place and the immediacy of it.

Learn more about colon cancer screening and to make an appointment.

Note: Some services mentioned in this article may not have been covered through the NFL Dedicated Hospital Network Program and were a result of additional referrals through the Program.

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Atrium Health Creates a Life-Saving Game Plan - Atrium Health

Cardiology

FDA extends approval of evinacumab for HoFH to children aged 5 to … – Healio

March 22, 2023

1 min read

Disclosures: Baker-Smith reports serving as a site primary investigator for the phase 3 trial of evinacumab-dgnb in pediatric patients with HoFH and receiving research grants from Regeneron.

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Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced the FDA has extended approval of evinacumab-dgnb as an adjunct to other lipid-lowering therapy for the treatment of homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia in children aged 5 to 11 years.

After priority review by the FDA, evinacumab-dgnb (Evkeeza) is the first angiopoietin-like 3 inhibitor treatment to be indicated for children as young as 5 years old to treat high LDL from homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH), according to a press release from the company.

A Healio previously reported, evinacumab-dgnb was approved in February 2021 as an adjunct to other lipid-lowering therapies for patients aged 12 years or older with HoFH.

The extended approval is based on results of a phase 3 trial that enrolled 20 pediatric patients with a mean LDL level of 264 mg/dL. The addition of evinacumab-dgnb was associated with an average LDL reduction of 48% at week 24, meeting the trials primary endpoint, according to the release.

Reductions were also observed in apolipoprotein B, non-HDL and total cholesterol, and the safety profile of evinacumab-dgnb in children aged 5 to 11 years was consistent with the safety profile observed in adults and pediatric patients aged 12 years or older, with the additional adverse reaction of fatigue reported in 15% of patients, according to the release.

Carissa M. Baker-Smith

Guidelines recommend screening all children at high risk for homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia starting at age 2. However, until now, a positive diagnosis was often met with the frustration of having limited treatment options to help these children, Carissa M. Baker-Smith, MD, MPH, director of pediatric preventive cardiology, Nemours Childrens Health, Delaware Valley, said in the release. By adding Evkeeza to standard lipid-lowering therapies in this pivotal trial, children were able to reduce their LDL-C, with the vast majority able to achieve declines of nearly 50%. These are clinically meaningful results that physicians should consider when developing a treatment approach for these young patients.

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FDA extends approval of evinacumab for HoFH to children aged 5 to ... - Healio

Cardiology

Treat-to-Target or High-Intensity Statin in Clinical CAD? – Medscape

How secondary prevention statins are given to push LDL cholesterol levels lower, whether in a high-intensity statin regimen or by dosage titration to meet LDL targets, may make little difference to clinical outcomes, suggests a randomized trial.

The latter "treat-to-target" strategy was noninferior to the high-intensity statin approach for death or cardiovascular events at 3 years in patients with clinical coronary disease in the 4400-patient LODESTAR trial, conducted at 12 centers in South Korea.

That means treating-to-target can be an effective alternative to a blanket high-intensity statin approach that, although consistent with US guidelines, may confer a greater statin load than some patients need to reduce LDL-C levels sufficiently, say researchers.

The target-based strategy, though "less convenient" and possibly more costly than the alternative, may be preferred by some patients concerned about the drugs' potential for side effects, especially muscle symptoms, proposed Myeong-Ki Hong, MD, PhD.

Patients treated-to-target in LODESTAR usually started with a moderate-intensity statin, with assay-guided uptitration as needed to achieve LDL-C levels in the range of 50 to 70 mg/dL.

On such a regimen, some patients can hit their LDL-C target on only moderate-intensity statins, alleviating their concerns and perhaps improving their statin adherence, said Hong, of Severance Hospital and Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.

Hong presented LODESTAR March 6 at theAmerican College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Session/World Congress of Cardiology (WCC) 2023, held live and virtually from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is also senior author on the study's report published simultaneously in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

A one-size-fits-all, high-intensity statin approach avoids the bother and costs of statin titrated guided by serial LDL-C assays, but doesn't consider "individual variability in drug responses," Hong told theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology in an email.

In contrast, he said, statin treatment to LDL-C target "could allow a tailored approach and facilitate patientphysician communication, which can enhance adherence to therapy," potentially rendering high-intensity statins "less needed."

Indeed, only 54% of treat-to-target patients in LODESTAR received high-intensity statins compared with 92% of those in the high-intensity statin arm, Hong reported.

The latter strategy is consistent with current US guidelines for secondary prevention, which recommend treatment to achieve at least a 50% drop in LDL-C using high-intensity statins plus, as necessary, non-statin LDL-lowering agents.

LODESTAR's target-based approach called for lowering LDL-C levels to the 50-70 mg/dL range, in line with guidelines when the trial was designed in 2015, the report states.

Both approaches, Hong said, "are now widely accepted and used" in South Korea, with acknowledgment of their "advantages and disadvantages." But they had not previously been directly compared for efficacy and safety in a randomized trial.

"It's not too surprising" that the LODESTAR treat-to-target approach was noninferior to the high-intensity statin strategy, Salim S. Virani, MD, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, told theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology."

If LDL-C levels are cut to a similar degree using the two approaches, as they were in the trial, "you would expect that the event reduction will be the same," said Virani, who is also vice provost in the Office of Research and Graduate Studies at the Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan, but not associated with LODESTAR.

Virani agrees that some patients who are statin "hyper-responders" may achieve their LDL-C targets on no more than a moderate-intensity statin, thereby avoiding escalation to high-intensity statins. In practice, however, most patients would either proceed to high-intensity statins, as tolerated, or add a non-statin LDL-lowering medication to get below 70 mg/dL.

But LODESTAR discouraged the addition of non-statin LDL-lowering therapy in the treat-to-target group, even when high-intensity statins weren't enough. That was so the study could "focus on the strategy for choosing statin intensity and avoid confounding by any imbalance in their use," the report states.

Partly as a result, perhaps, many of the patients in this trial failed to reach an LDL-C of 70 mg/dL or lower. About 40% of the treat-to-target group and fully one third of the high-intensity statin group were above goal at 3 months, the shortfalls persisting throughout the trial.

For practice, "I think this trial is perhaps not as relevant as one would want it to be," Virani said. There are now four non-statin drug therapies "at our disposal to lower LDL-cholesterol levels even further." They include long-established ezetimibe and more recently the PCSK9 inhibitors, the small interfering RNAinclisiran (Leqvio), and as recently demonstrated in the CLEAR Outcomes trial bempedoic acid (Nexletol).

LODESTAR entered 4400 patients at 12 centers in South Korea with clinically defined stable ischemic heart disease, unstable angina, or history of myocardial infarction (MI). About 28% were women.

They were randomly assigned in equal numbers to assay-guided treat-to-target statin therapy or to receive high-intensity statins, that is, rosuvastatin 20 mg or atorvastatin 40 mg.

Mean LDL-C levels plunged to below 70 mg/dL in both groups by both 6 weeks and 3 months, although slightly but significantly further for the high-intensity statin group. The levels were not significantly different, however, from 3 months to the end of the 3-year follow-up. By then, mean LDL-C levels had reached 69.1 mg/dL in the treat-to-target group and 68.4 mg/dL in the high-intensity statin group (P = .21).

Levels of LDL-C 70 mg/dL or lower were achieved within 3 months by 59.2% in the treat-to-target group and 67.3% of patients in the high-intensity statin group (P = .02). With the two groups combined, that degree of LDL reduction was achieved 55.7%, 60.8%, and 58.2% of patients at 1, 2, and 3 years, respectively, with no significant differences between the groups.

The rate for the trial's composite primary endpoint at 3 years was 8.1% for the treat-to-target group and 8.7% for those assigned to high-intensity statins (P < .001 for noninferiority). The endpoint included death, MI, stroke, or coronary revascularization. Rates for the different events making up the composite were not significantly different between the two groups.

In practice, Virani said, probably most patients would not gain much from the treat-to-target approach if its purpose is to allow lower-intensity statin therapy.

"In a patient who is willing to take high-intensity statin therapy, I don't think it matters," he said. In might be helpful, however, for "a very small subgroup of patients who may not want to take high-intensity statins and aren't very interested in any of the non-statin therapy options."

Such persons, he proposed, might include those with coronary disease, for example, who take a lot of pills every day. "It would be in the uncommon setting where the patient is extremely concerned about pill burden, or their copays, and they do not want another medication added."

Hong discloses receiving consultant fees or honoraria from Medtronic; fees for speaking from Medtronic, Edward Lifesciences and Viatris Korea; research grants from Samjin Pharmaceutical and Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical; and other support from the Cardiovascular Research Center, Seoul, Korea. Disclosures for the other authors are in the report. V irani discloses research grant support from the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Institutes of Health, and the Tahir and Jooma Family; and honoraria from the American College of Cardiology.

American College of Cardiology Scientific Session/World Congress of Cardiology 2023, Session 411 - Featured Clinical Research III. 411-12 - Comparison Between Targeted Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Level Based Versus High-Intensity Statin Therapy In Patients With Coronary Artery Disease. Presented March 6, 2023.

JAMA. Published online March 6, 2023. Abstract

Follow Steve Stiles on Twitter: @SteveStiles2. For more from theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

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Treat-to-Target or High-Intensity Statin in Clinical CAD? - Medscape

Cardiology

Area deprivation tied to youth hypertension in Medicaid recipients – Healio

March 21, 2023

2 min read

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Among Medicaid-insured youths from Delaware, higher childhood neighborhood area deprivation index score was associated with hypertension diagnosis, researchers reported.

Improving cardiovascular health means understanding what contributes to risk factors for cardiovascular disease when it begins in childhood. Hypertension is a primary risk factor for heart disease. In this study, we wanted to explore the relationship between a composite of the neighborhood-level deprivation (eg, education levels, income, housing, etc) and hypertension in children, Carissa M. Baker-Smith, MD, MPH, director of pediatric preventive cardiology, Nemours Childrens Health, Delaware Valley, told Healio. Factors contributing to hypertension development in children and adolescents are not solely individual or family-level factors but also include neighborhood-level factors.

Baker-Smith and colleagues analyzed 65,452 youths from Delaware who received Medicaid insurance between 2014 and 2019 and were stratified by national area deprivation index (ADI), registered as a score of 1 to 100, with 100 being the areas with the most deprivation.

This study assessed the relationship between degree of community-level deprivation and hypertension diagnosis in youth, Baker-Smith told Healio. There are three steps required: the development of blood pressure in the child that meets the criteria for a diagnosis of hypertension, the recognition of the blood pressure as high by the clinical provider/physician, and the entering of this diagnosis into the patients chart. Higher deprivation according to the ADI is defined by the education level, income/employment, housing quality and household characteristics of persons within the community.

Among the cohort, 1.7% had a diagnosis of primary hypertension (mean age, 13.3 years; 41% female; 24% Hispanic; 40% Black; 62% with obesity; 54% with ADI 50 or more) and the rest did not (47% female; 19% Hispanic; 40% Black; 20% with obesity; 49% with ADI 50).

In a multivariable logistic regression analysis, residence in a community with an ADI of 50 or more was associated with increased odds of a hypertension diagnosis (OR = 1.61; 95% CI, 1.04-2.51), Baker-Smith and colleagues found.

In addition, older age (OR per year = 1.16; 95% CI, 1.14-1.18), obesity diagnosis (OR = 5.16; 95% CI, 4.54-5.85) and longer duration of full Medicaid benefit coverage (OR = 1.03; 95% CI, 1.03-1.04) were associated with greater odds of a primary hypertension diagnosis, whereas female sex (OR = 0.68; 95% CI, 0.61-0.77) was associated with lower odds of one, according to the researchers.

There was no relationship between race/ethnicity and hypertension diagnosis.

Our study demonstrates an association between community-level education, income/employment, housing, and housing quality and hypertension diagnosis in children and adolescents, Baker-Smith told Healio.

She said the researchers are conducting further analyses to determine if the results are generalizable to the U.S. as a whole, and the data so far indicate that they are.

My goal in conducting this study was to highlight a potentially modifiable factor associated with cardiovascular disease risk factor development in children and to highlight that some of these risks extend beyond a childs individual factors or those of their families, Baker-Smith told Healio. Identifying associations between disease and potentially modifiable factors, vs. focusing on factors that we cannot change, offers an expanded opportunity for devising strategies that have the potential to improve long-term CV outcomes.

Carissa M. Baker-Smith, MD, MPH, can be reached at carissa.baker-smith@nemours.org.

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Cardiology

Detecting Early Signs of Heart Disease – Benzinga

Katherine Wilemon of the Family Heart Foundation and Dr. Seth Baum Discuss the Impact of Elevated Lipoprotein(a) and the Importance of Getting Tested

New York, NY

--News Direct--

One in five people worldwide have inherited high lipoprotein(a) and most don't know it. Because high Lp(a) isn't screened for, often the first sign of this condition can be a heart attack or stroke. There are more than 60 million people in the United States at high risk for a heart attack or stroke because they were born with high lipoprotein(a). Recently, Katherine Wilemon, founder and CEO of the Family Heart Foundation, teamed up with preventive cardiologist Dr. Seth Baum, chief scientific officer of Flourish Research, on a nationwide satellite media tour to raise awareness and encourage people to get screened.

A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/NGQBZxqF-GI

Katherine Wilemon of the Family Heart Foundation and Dr. Seth Baum Discuss the Impact of Elevated Lipoprotein(a) and the Importance of Getting Tested

Lp(a) is a cholesterol-like substance that is unrelated to the food you eat or how you live. People inherit Lp(a) levels from their parents and high levels of Lp(a) significantly increase your likelihood of having a heart attack or stroke. High Lp(a) is a "triple threat" as it can clog your arteries like LDL cholesterol but it also promotes inflammation and increases the risk of your blood clotting.

If you have heart disease or have had a stroke, or someone in your family has experienced cardiovascular disease, it is important to get screened for high Lp(a). In addition, if your LDL cholesterol is very high over 190 mg/dL you should also have your Lp(a) tested.

Research from the Family Heart Foundation revealed that fewer than 1% of Americans had ever had their lipoprotein(a) tested and it's a simple blood test.

"The truth is with 20% of the population affected, and heart disease continuing to be the single biggest threat to one's ability to live a long healthy life, everyone should be screened," said Dr. Baum.

The Family Heart Foundation declared March 24 Lp(a) Awareness Day to raise awareness worldwide. In its second year, this day draws attention to high Lp(a) as an under-recognized cause of premature heart disease and stroke.

"March 24 is a perfect time for everyone to think about their family history, be screened for high Lp(a) and maybe change the future for millions of Americans," said Wilemon.

For more information, visit FamilyHeart.org. The Family Heart Foundation's Care Navigation team can answer questions and connect you to a healthcare provider near you.

About Katherine Wilemon

On the month she turned 39 years old, Katherine Wilemon's world was rocked by a heart attack caused by a complete artery blockage. It was the importance of family that drove Katherine to investigate the deeper physiological issues that contributed to her cardiac event. She learned that she had familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), and, years later, that she also had elevated levels of lipoprotein(a). The more Katherine advocated for herself, the more she encountered an inadequate understanding of genetic conditions such as FH. Always an entrepreneur, she founded the Family Heart Foundation in 2011 to increase early diagnosis and treatment. Over the years the Foundation has helped create a national research registry for FH, established diagnostic codes and consensus statements for care, and provided a community for those living with inherited cholesterol disorders. Now, the organization has expanded to drive awareness and scientific understanding of Lp(a) so that others with high levels can better protect themselves and their families.

About Seth Baum, MD, FACC, FACPM, FAHA, FNLA, FASPC

Dr. Seth J. Baum is Chief Scientific Officer at Flourish Research, and clinical affiliate professor of Cardiology at FAU Medical School. He actively consults in Clinical Lipidology and Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and continues to offer lipoprotein apheresis for patients in southeast and central Florida. Dr. Baum has practiced Preventive Cardiology and Clinical Lipidology since 2000. He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the American College of Preventive Medicine, the National Lipid Association, and the American Society for Preventive Cardiology. Dr. Baum is a past President of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology (ASPC). He currently serves on both the ASPC and Family Heart Foundation Advisory Boards. He has published over 100 peer reviewed papers and abstracts as well as two books. In 2013, he was awarded Cleveland Heart Lab's "Heart Award" for lifelong dedication to Preventive Medicine. In 2019, Dr. Baum received Mended Hearts' biennial Dwight Emary Harken Award. Dr. Baum is the Founder of Excel Medical Clinical Trials, LLC, a consortium of clinicians dedicated to the safe and professional conduct of high-level scientific trials. He has served as Principal Investigator in over 100 clinical trials covering a broad range of disease states. Dr. Baum is the Chief Scientific Officer of Flourish Research, a leading national clinical research company. Dr. Baum is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, and completed training in Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Interventional Cardiology, and Electrophysiology.

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Detecting Early Signs of Heart Disease - Benzinga

Dermatology

Bringing dermatology expertise to people of color – The Loop – University of Iowa Health Care

Dermatology care is not a one-size-fits-all approach, especially considering the vast range of skin tones that sometimes present skin conditions differently or require tailored treatments or considerations.

As an early-career dermatologist, Nicole Negbenebor, MD, has become an expert on skin inclusivity and reducing barriers to accessing care. Her goal is to get more people the dermatology care they deserve.

Nicole Negbenebor, MD

After taking several years to do research on sickle cell disease at the National Institutes of Health and completing medical school and residency training at Brown University, Negbenebor is now the Mohs surgery fellow in the Department of Dermatology. The fellowship is a highly sought-after training program with an emphasis on Mohs micrographic surgery and cutaneous oncology.

Her clinical schedule can easily be enough to fill her work week, but Negbenebor does so much more. Since medical school, shes made it a priority to keep an open dialogue about easing access to care for people from underserved communities. Her outreach efforts include educating patients and fellow providers about skin diseases that disproportionately affect people of color, increasing diversity among dermatology providers, and improving treatments through better representation in clinical trials.

I think the worst thing, as physicians, is to not be able to reach the people you need to reach, she says. And I think it is very disheartening when somebody comes in with a disease thats much more advanced and progressed than it should have ever gotten because of access or lack of information or understanding.

Negbenebor, along with two other former medical students at Brown University, Uzo Okoro, MD, and Esther Henebeng, MD, started the Skin of Color Community, a platform for any person of color interested in learning about skin, hair, and nail conditions from dermatology experts.

We noticed that there werent a lot of patients coming to clinic who were of diverse backgrounds, she says. And so, theres a whole sector of people who are not getting care and dont know when to go to a dermatologist.

For example, we were talking about scalp seborrheic dermatitis. There was a man who came, and he had been suffering with it for years. He had used [dandruff shampoo], and he was like, Its so embarrassing. People see the flakes on my shirt. They see it on my eyebrows. And sometimes I dont even like to socialize. The dermatologist who gave the lecture wrote him a prescription right there and said, I will get you an appointment next week. That was great, because now hes on his way to get it under control.

The group hosts regular, virtual presentations and panels by dermatologists of diverse backgrounds. The pandemic required the events to shift to a virtual platform, which has now expanded its reach to audiences across the country as well as Great Britain and South Africa.

The community events also cover topics related to skin cancer, eczema, psoriasis, hair loss, and lasers that work for different skin tones.

Now we have this global community where people want to know more about their skin, Negbenebor says. People have a lot of questions that they just put aside. Theyre like, Oh, its not a big deal, or Im just going to suffer in silence. And they open it up in the forum and then people will come up to us and be like, Wow, Im so glad that youre having these events because I learned from other peoples questions, and it made me feel like Im actually in a community.

Negbenebor also emphasizes the need for more representation of individuals of color in dermatological studies.

I think the more we publicly talk about the shortcomings of research studies and participation and inclusion, the more pressure it puts on these companies and people who lead the studies to have more inclusivity, she says. If we have such strict guidelines for the quality of research to be published, then we should be sharing the demographic makeup of participants every time.

Without publishing demographic data, Negbenebor says, research findings arent applicable to the general population.

There are some companies that never study applications of sunscreen on darker skin tones, Negbenebor says. So, then you have that white cast where they formulate it to easily disappear on patients with lighter skin tones, but not darker skin tones. Do these companies feel like its an issue? Do they care that theyre losing that large a section of the population?

Hiring investigators of color, educating and building trust with potential participants, and addressing funding are just a few ways to make clinical trials more diverse, according to Negbenebor.

Better education and more thoughtful clinical trials inclusion criteria have huge potential to improve access to care, but finding providers that reflect a diverse patient population is key. And, fortunately, Negbenebor says the field of dermatology is becoming increasingly diverse.

It makes me so happy, Negbenebor says. Ive seen the diversity of applicants increasing recently in the number of people who are interviewed for medical school and residency training. There are a lot of checkpoints before somebody becomes a board-certified dermatologist, and I have seen more and more increased visibility of residents of color who then become attendings. And then also people in leadership positions; Ive seen the increase in that.

And when patients see themselves in their providers, it strengthens the patient-provider relationship, Negbenebor adds.

To go to a place and to finally feel like youre being heard, youre finally being seen, youre being taken seriously, youre not being judgedthats huge, she says. There have been people who Ive seen in clinic who cried because its the first time they feel like theyre actually being listened to.

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Bringing dermatology expertise to people of color - The Loop - University of Iowa Health Care