geoffrey modest medical blogs

  A recent long-term Swedish study found that increased resting heart rate was associated with cognitive decline and dementia in older adults (see  dementia inc heart rate AlzDem2021  in dropbox, or DOI: 10.1002/alz.12495)     Details:    -- 2147 people at least 60yo in the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K) who were initially free from dementia and regularly followed from baseline at 2001-4 until 2013-16, with follow-up exams conducted every 6    years for the younger cohort (age 60, 66, and 72) and every three years for the older cohort (age 78, 81, 84, 87, 90, 93, 96, and 99 years)  -- mean age 71, 62% female, 12% elementary school education/48% high school/80% university  -- 44% never smoker/40% former smoker/16% current smoker;   light physical activity (walking, biking, light aerobics) every day 38%, several times per week 40%, a few times per month 12%, less frequent 6%, none 5%)  ...

  A recent article examined some potential long-term cardiac problems from Covid-19 infection ( see  covid myocardial injury jacc2020  in dropbox, or doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2020.08.069 )    Details:   -- 305 patients from 7 hospitals in New York City and Milan who had PCR-positive Covid-19 infection as well as transthoracic echocardiographic (TTE) and electrocardiographic evaluation, from March to May 2020  --190 had myocardial injury  (d efined as any elevation of cardiac troponin above the normal reference limits either at the time of clinical presentation or during hospitalization ), 115 did not -- mean age 63 (those with myocardial injury were older: 66 vs 58), 67% male, 57% white/14% black/9% Asian/27% Hispanic, BMI 28  -- underlying medical problems without significant difference between those with and without myocardial injury: prior MI 7%, prior PCI 11%, prior stroke 10%, COPD 6%, history of atrial fibrillation 10%, asthma 9%, hi...