Current regulatory policies should be strengthened to ensure acceptable cardiovascular safety of drugs developed primarily for non-cardiovascular medical problems, according to a recent presentation made by Dr. Jeffrey Borer, an authority in cardiovascular medicine and surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City.

A new study confirms that chronic kidney disease (CKD) increases the already-high risk of serious cardiovascular events in diabetic patients with damage to the large blood vessels and suggests that treatment with the anti-diabetic drug pioglitazone may help to lower this risk, reports the January Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

A study published in the December 1 issue of the journal SLEEP is the first to show that both a decrease and an increase in sleep duration are associated with an elevated risk of mortality by cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular means, respectively.

It is well known that physical activity can improve cardiovascular health. But it's the impact exercise has on specific known risk factors that accounts for about 60 percent of that improvement, researchers reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

A meta-analysis of previous research suggests that use of pioglitazone, a glycemic control medication for patients with type 2 diabetes, significantly reduces the risk of heart attack, stroke and death, but increases the risk for serious heart failure, according to an article in the September 12 issue of JAMA.

Researchers in Taiwan have demonstrated for the first time that urban air pollution simultaneously affects key indicators of cardiovascular risk in young adults: inflammation, oxidative stress, coagulation and autonomic dysfunction.

Vitamins C and E and beta carotene, either individually or in combination, do not appear to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events or death among women at high risk for heart disease, according to a report in the August 13/27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

In a study to be published in the Aug. 21 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, investigators at UT Southwestern Medical Center found that people with a larger waist-to-hip ratio may be at increased risk for heart disease. The research evaluates the association between different measures of obesity and the prevalence of arterial disease.

For patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), the risk of elevated levels of parathyroid hormone (PTH), or hyperparathyroidism—a significant complication that increases the risk of cardiovascular problems and death—increases along with body weight, reports a study in the September Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have found that infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is also associated with increased risk of myocardial infarction or heart attack. While rates of several cardiovascular risk factors were also increased in study participants infected with HIV, the increased incidence of heart attack was beyond what could be explained by risk factor differences.

The impact of exercise on body fat differs for boys and girls, suggests research published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.