View clinical trials related to Cardiovascular Diseases.
Filter by:The objective of this clinical trial is to evaluate whether an anti-inflammatory medication, pentoxifylline, reduces depressive symptoms and improves artery function. Participants in this trial will be older primary care patients (60 years and up) who are depressed but do not have a history of cardiovascular disease. Half of these patients will receive pentoxifylline, and half will receive placebo. In addition, participants in both arms will receive an evidence-based psychological treatment called Beating the Blues®, which is a computerized, cognitive behavioral treatment program for depression. The investigators will use questionnaires to assess change in depressive symptoms and an ultrasound test to measure change in artery function from pre- to post-treatment. It is hypothesized that patients who receive pentoxifylline will show greater improvements in both depression and artery function than patients who receive placebo.
Research Aims The aims of this research study are: 1. To determine which of the following three smoking cessation medications is most effective in achieving cessation: - Nicotine Patch - Nicotine Patch + gum or inhaler - Varenicline (Champix; 2. To investigate how often participants experience neuropsychiatric symptoms over the course of their cessation attempt and to assess whether: - They occur more often when taking one medication versus another - They occur more often in those with or without psychiatric illnesses. Hypotheses to be Tested The hypotheses to be tested include the following: 1. The CO-confirmed continuous abstinence rate from 5 weeks to 52 weeks following a target quit date will be significantly higher in smokers receiving long-term transdermal NRT in combination with other NRT products or those receiving varenicline compared to those receiving transdermal NRT alone. 2. Some participants will experience neuropsychiatric symptoms during their cessation attempt, and those in the varenicline group will experience a greater incidence of neuropsychiatric symptoms than those in the groups receiving transdermal NRT alone or in combination with other NRT products. Patients with psychiatric illnesses will report higher levels of withdrawal symptoms than those without psychiatric illnesses.
There are no studies exploring the benefits of a diet composed of typical Brazilian food in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Randomized studies show that the Mediterranean diet is beneficial for patients with established cardiovascular disease or in risk for CVD development. Indeed, nutritional composition of the Mediterranean Diet is one of main references for dietary guidelines for treatment and prevention of CVD in Brazil and the world. However, in many countries, such as Brazil, most foods of the Mediterranean diet are not widely available, may be expensive or are not part of population eating habits. So, the prescription of the Mediterranean diet intervention for cardiovascular disease to the Brazilian population may not be feasible, leading to a low adherence. In this context, patients with established CVD have a low compliance to nutritional prescription. The BALANCE Program, considers 3 concepts: a) A dietary prescription guided by nutritional content recommendations from the Brazilian national guidelines; b) A nutritional education program based on fun, playful strategies and suggestions of affordable foods; and c) Intensive follow-up through one-on-one visits, group sessions, and phone calls. This is the first proposal to use these concepts concurrently with the objective to increase adherence of secondary prevention patients to the diet proposed by the guidelines. Therefore, The primary outcome is a composite of death (any cause), cardiac arrest, acute myocardial infarction, stroke, myocardial revascularization, amputation for peripheral arterial disease, or hospitalization for unstable angina.
This study aims to evaluate the incidence and risk factors of hyperbilirubinemia following major cardiac or thoracic aorta surgery, and to determine the clinical impacts of the hyperbilirubinemia on postoperative mortality and morbidity.
The aim of this pilot study is to evaluate the effects of a worksite wellness program on physical activity and cardiovascular disease risk factors among university employees. The investigators hypothesize that the proposed worksite wellness program will be effective for increasing daily physical activity and improving one or more cardiovascular disease risk factors among university employees.
The aim of the project is to investigate the effects of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) formed in food during the cooking process as well as AGEs formed naturally in the human body, on insulin sensitivity and risk factors for type 2 diabetes. The hypothesis is that i) food content of AGEs is lower using boiling and steaming cooking methods and that ii) AGEs formation in the body is lower at low dietary intake of certain sugar forms.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of disparities in years of life lost by race and low socioeconomic status. Statins have been shown to decrease the risk of cardiovascular events among individuals with high CVD risk. Yet, despite increased statin use and overall declining CVD rates, disparities in statin use and disparities in the control of high cholesterol by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status have persisted. Objective: To improve the appropriate use of statins for primary cardiovascular disease prevention among high risk individuals at community health centers through a system of population health management that uses electronic health record (EHR) data to identify patients for targeted education and outreach. Aim 1: Conduct a randomized controlled trial among individuals with 10-year risk for myocardial infarction or coronary death of 10% or higher to determine if the population health management intervention, compared to usual care, results in higher rates of documented statin treatment discussions within 6 months (primary process outcome), higher rates of statin prescribing within 6 months (secondary process outcome), and higher rates of significant low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) lowering defined as a follow up LDL-C ≥30 mg/dL lower than baseline (primary clinical outcome). Aim 2: Interview patients who received the intervention to identify barriers to success Aim 3: Assess the overall costs of the intervention and the costs per each patient who achieves significant LDL-C lowering compared to patient who received usual care.
Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a common invasive cardiovascular procedure performed in the VA with over 13,000 procedures in FY10. Clopidogrel is a critical adjuvant therapy following PCI with stent placement and is generally recommended for up to 1 year following the procedure. Despite the evidence supporting clopidogrel use, studies both outside and within the VA suggest that poor adherence to clopidogrel is common. However, prior interventions targeting non-adherence have not specifically focused on clopidogrel adherence among PCI patients. There are many potential reasons for early clopidogrel discontinuation that involve patient and healthcare system factors. Patients reported the following reasons for discontinuing clopidogrel within 1 month after drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation: 1) misunderstanding the intended treatment duration; 2) conflicting recommendations about intended duration; 3) cost of the medication; and 4) patients' own decision to stop. In contrast, patients who continued to take clopidogrel reported the following as helpful: 1) communication such as letters from their physician; and 2) receiving specific instructions on clopidogrel use. These findings suggest that there are specific interventions that can be implemented to improve clopidogrel adherence. Multi-modal interventions that incorporate frequent follow-up, especially with pharmacists and use interactive voice response (IVR) technology have improved medication adherence. IVR technology is a computer-based telephone system which initiates calls, receives calls, provides information, and collects data from users. IVR is currently a mainstay in the VA where patients frequently interact with these automated systems to get clinic appointments and/or refill prescriptions. IVR as part of multi-modal interventions have been well received by patients, increased adherence to medications (e.g., statins), and improved clinical outcomes (e.g., blood pressure, diabetes symptoms, health status). In addition, the investigators have successfully used IVR as part of a multi-modal, multi-site intervention including pharmacists to improve blood pressure levels among hypertensive patients. Accordingly, the investigators have designed the intervention to improve clopidogrel adherence that builds on the investigators' prior work and other successful adherence interventions from the literature. The investigators propose a hybrid effectiveness-implementation study of a multi-faceted intervention to improve clopidogrel adherence at VA PCI centers. The investigators will use the VA's Cardiovascular Assessment Reporting and Tracking (CART-CL), a uniform cath lab procedure reporting tool at all VA cath labs. The intervention consists of 4 components: a) an alert from CART-CL will be sent to an inpatient pharmacist prior to discharge that a patient has received a stent; b) a pharmacist will bring clopidogrel to the patient's bedside prior to hospital discharge as well as educate the patient on the importance of and adherence to clopidogrel following PCI; c) interactive voice response (IVR) calls will be made to patients prior to the time of clopidogrel refill to remind patients and to facilitate refills during follow-up; and d) a Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) member will contact patients who delay filling clopidogrel.
Gingival inflammation has been associated with cardiovascular diseases, including heart attack and stroke, because of elevation of blood risk markers such as cholesterol, glucose and C reactive protein. The treatment of gingival diseases decreases the concentration of these risk factors in the blood of cardiovascular patients.
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate no excess risk of cardiovascular (CV) composite events exists following long term treatment with TAK-875 compared with placebo.