Rosiglitazone, a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes, is associated with an increased risk of heart failure and death among older patients compared to a similar drug (pioglitazone), concludes a study published on bmj.com today.

Patients with atrial fibrillation, common in those with advanced chronic heart failure, have an increased risk of hospitalization due to heart failure, according to new research from researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The findings, published in June in the European Heart Journal, also suggest that atrial fibrillation is not associated with an increased risk of death in heart failure patients, contradicting previous assumptions.

Could the CRT-D devices be just the thing to combat our nation's heart disease problem? Perhaps, according to Boston Scientific Corp. The devices help during more mild (and much more common) heart attacks.

Several new biomarkers have been recently described in Heart Failure (HF) syndrome either in stable chronic patients as in the settings of acute decompensation. Biomarkers are used to diagnose disease risk, to predict outcome and to tailor treatment to individuals.

Obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea are not markedly decreased in heart failure patients managed with beta-blockers and spironolactone, reports a study in the March issue of Journal of Cardiac Failure, published by Elsevier. The study, "Prevalence and Physiological Predictors of Sleep Apnea in Patients with Heart Failure and Systolic Dysfunction," was authored by Dai Yumino, Hanqiao Wang, John S. Floras, Gary E. Newton, Susanna Mak, Pimon Ruttanaumpawan, John D. Parker, and T. Douglas Bradley.

Eating salmon or other fatty fish just once a week helped reduce men's risk of heart failure, adding to growing evidence that omega-3 fatty acids are of benefit to cardiac health.

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine created the Health ABC Heart Failure Model for predicting risk of new onset heart failure in the elderly. Now that model has been strengthened by validating it in a separate library of patient data from an earlier cardiovascular study.

Nearly half of patients with heart failure (HF) have problems with memory and other aspects of cognitive functioning, reports a new study published by Elsevier, in the February issue of Journal of Cardiac Failure.

Digitalis-based drugs like digoxin have been used for centuries to treat patients with irregular heart rhythms and heart failure and are still in use today.

Johns Hopkins and other researchers report what is believed to be the first direct evidence in lab animals that the erectile dysfunction drug sildenafil (also known as Viagra) amplifies the effects of a heart-protective protein.

Individuals who have persistent high blood pressure are at increased risks of a number of serious medical conditions, including heart failure.

A study in the Jan. 1 issue of the journal Sleep demonstrates that the frequent arousals from sleep that occur in heart failure patients with central sleep apnea (CSA) may reflect the presence of another underlying arousal disorder rather than being a defensive mechanism to terminate apneas.