Contaminant Metals as Cardiovascular Risk Factors: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association

Exposure to environmental pollutants is linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Beyond the extensive evidence for particulate air pollution, accumulating evidence supports that exposure to nonessential metals such as lead, cadmium, and arsenic is a significant contributor to cardiovascular disease worldwide. Humans are exposed to metals through air, water, soil, and food and extensive industrial and public use. Contaminant metals interfere with critical intracellular reactions and functions leading to oxidative stress and chronic inflammation that result in endothelial dysfunction, hypertension, epigenetic dysregulation, dyslipidemia, and changes in myocardial excitation and contractile function. Lead, cadmium, and arsenic have been linked to subclinical atherosclerosis, coronary artery stenosis, and calcification as well as to increased risk of ischemic heart disease and stroke, left ventricular hypertrophy and heart failure, and peripheral artery disease. Epidemiological studies show that exposure to lead, cadmium, or arsenic is associated with cardiovascular death mostly attributable to ischemic heart disease. Public health measures reducing metal exposure are associated with reductions in cardiovascular disease death. Populations of color and low socioeconomic means are more commonly exposed to metals and therefore at greater risk of metal-induced cardiovascular disease. Together with strengthening public health measures to prevent metal exposures, development of more sensitive and selective measurement modalities, clinical monitoring of metal exposures, and the development of metal chelation therapies could further diminish the burden of cardiovascular disease attributable to metal exposure.S

Medication Persistence Rates and Factors Associated with Persistence in Patients Following Stroke: A Cohort Study

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Psychological Health, Well-Being, and the Mind-Heart-Body Connection A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association

As clinicians delivering health care, we are very good at treating disease but often not as good at treating the person. The focus of our attention has been on the specific physical condition rather than the patient as a whole. Less attention has been given to psychological health and how that can contribute to physical health and disease. However, there is now an increasing appreciation of how psychological health can contribute not only in a negative way to cardiovascular disease (CVD) but also in a positive way to better cardiovascular health and reduced cardiovascular risk. This American Heart Association scientific statement was commissioned to evaluate, synthesize, and summarize for the health care community knowledge to date on the relationship between psychological health and cardiovascular health and disease and to suggest simple steps to screen for, and ultimately improve, the psychological health of patients with and at risk for CVD. Based on current study data, the following statements can be made: There are good data showing clear associations between psychological health and CVD and risk; there is increasing evidence that psychological health may be causally linked to biological processes and behaviors that contribute to and cause CVD; the preponderance of data suggest that interventions to improve psychological health can have a beneficial impact on cardiovascular health; simple screening measures can be used by health care providers for patients with or at risk for CVD to assess psychological health status; and consideration of psychological health is advisable in the evaluation and management of patients with or at risk for CVD

Endovascular Treatment and Thrombolysis for Acute Ischemic Stroke in Patients With Premorbid Disability or Dementia: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association

Patients with premorbid disability or dementia have generally been excluded from randomized controlled trials of reperfusion therapies such as thrombolysis and endovascular therapy for acute ischemic stroke. Consequently, stroke physicians face treatment dilemmas in caring for such patients. In this scientific statement, we review the literature on acute ischemic stroke in patients with premorbid disability or dementia and propose principles to guide clinicians, clinician-scientists, and policymakers on the use of acute stroke therapies in these populations. Recent clinical-epidemiological studies have demonstrated challenges in our concept and measurement of premorbid disability or dementia while highlighting the significant proportion of the general stroke population that falls under this umbrella, risking exclusion from therapies. Such studies have also helped clarify the adverse long-term clinical and health economic consequences with each increment of additional poststroke disability in these patients, underscoring the importance of finding strategies to mitigate such additional disability. Several observational studies, both case series and registry-based studies, have helped demonstrate the comparable safety of endovascular therapy in patients with premorbid disability or dementia and in those without, complementing similar data on thrombolysis. These data also suggest that such patients have a substantial potential to retain their prestroke level of disability when treated, despite their generally worse prognosis overall, although this remains to be validated in higher-quality registries and clinical trials. By pairing pragmatic and transparent decision-making in clinical practice with an active pursuit of high-quality research, we can work toward a more inclusive paradigm of patient-centered care for this often-neglected patient population