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Copyright of Ege Journal of Medicine is the property of Ege University, Faculty of Medicine and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Despite substantial progress in understanding the complex pathophysiology, hypertension remains a serious public health challenge affecting over 1.2 billion adults aged 30–79 years worldwide. Appropriate knowledge of the different pharmaceutical classes of antihypertensive agents and an understanding of the characteristics of individual molecules are essential to optimize clinical outcomes in patients with hypertension. We conducted a computer‐assisted web interviewing (CAWI) quantitative survey in Italy, Poland, and Turkey to investigate physicians' prescriptions, knowledge, and perceptions of antihypertensive drugs with a focus on β‐blockers, to assess antihypertensive usage patterns and the reasons underlying prescription choices. The survey findings show that β‐blockers retain a pivotal role in the management of hypertension and are prescribed more often for patients with cardiovascular comorbidities than for patients with diabetic comorbidities. In all three countries, nebivolol is the only β‐blocker among the ones analyzed which is consistently prescribed to 20% or more of patients and is overall the most prescribed one for the population with comorbid diabetes. In terms of specific β‐blockers' features, this study revealed knowledge gaps that underline the need for educational activities focused on the differences among β‐blockers, which are important in choosing the most suitable agent for individualized antihypertensive therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Science is the property of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Science, Asociacion Nacional de Cardiologos de Mexico A.C. (ANCAM) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Archives of the Turkish Society of Cardiology / Türk Kardiyoloji Derneği Arşivi is the property of KARE Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Science is the property of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Science, Asociacion Nacional de Cardiologos de Mexico A.C. (ANCAM) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Gender-related clinical variations in patients with acute heart failure have been described in previous studies. However, there is still a lack of research on gender differences in patients hospitalized for acute heart failure in Türkiye. The aim of this study is to compare the clinical features, in-hospital approaches, and outcomes of male and female patients hospitalized for acute heart failure. Methods: Differences in clinical characteristics, medication prescription, hospital management, and outcomes between males and females with acute heart failure were investigated from the Journey Heart Failure—Turkish Population study. Results: Nine hundred eighteen patients (57.2%) were men and 688 (42.8%) were women. Women were older than men (70.48 ± 13.20 years vs. 65.87 ± 12.82 years; P < .001). The frequency of comorbidities such as hypertension (72.7% vs. 62.4%, P <.001), diabetes (46.5% vs. 38.5%, P=.001), atrial fibrillation (46.5% vs. 33.4%, P < .001), New York Heart Association class III-IV symptoms (80.6% vs. 71.2%, P = .001), and dyspnea in the rest (73.8% vs. 68.3%, P=.044) were more common in women on admission. Male patients were more frequently hospitalized with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (51.0% vs. 72.4%, P < .001). In-hospital mortality was higher among female patients (9.3% vs. 6.4%, P = .022). Higher New York Heart Association class, lower estimated glomerular filtration rate, higher N-terminal pro-B type natriuretic peptide on admission, and mechanical ventilation usage were the independent parameters of in-hospital mortality, whereas the female gender was not. Conclusion: Our study clearly demonstrated the diversity in presentation, management, and in-hospital outcomes of acute heart failure between male and female patients. Although left ventricular systolic functions were better in female patients, in-hospital mortality was higher. Recognizing these differences in the management of heart failure in different sexes will serve better results in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite advances in therapeutic management of patients with heart failure, there is still an increasing morbidity and mortality all over the world. In this study, we aimed to present the 3-year follow-up outcomes of patients included in the Journey HF-TR study in 2016 that has evaluated the clinical characteristics and management of patients with acute heart failure admitted to the hospital and present a national registry data. Methods: The study was designed retrospectively between November 2016 and December 2019. Patient data included in the previously published Journey HF-TR study were used. Among 1606 patients, 1484 patients were included due to dropout of 122 patients due to inhospital death and due to exclusion of 173 due to incomplete data. The study included 1311 patients. Age, gender, concomitant chronic conditions, precipitating factors, New York Heart Association, and left ventricular ejection fraction factors were adjusted in the Cox regression analysis. Results: During the 3-year follow-up period, the ratio of hospitalization and mortality was 70.5% and 52.1%, respectively. Common causes of mortality were acute decompensation of heart failure and acute coronary syndrome. Angiotensin receptor blockers, betablockers, statin, and sacubitril/valsartan were found to reduce mortality. Hospitalization due to acute decompensated heart failure, acute coronary syndrome, lung diseases, oncological diseases, and cerebrovascular diseases was associated with the increased risk of mortality. Implantation of cardiac devices also reduced the mortality. Conclusions: Despite advances in therapeutic management of patients with heart failure, our study demonstrated that the long-term mortality still is high. Much more efforts are needed to improve the inhospital and long-term survival of patients with chronic heart failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the aging population, the increase in predisposing factors, and the improvement in healthcare with increased survival rates, atrial fibrillation has been the most common cardiac arrhythmia in adults with a rise in the estimated lifetime risk over recent years. While aging is a powerful risk factor for atrial fibrillation, the leading prevalent comorbidities are hypertension, heart failure, obesity, obstructive sleep apnea, diabetes mellitus, and chronic kidney disease. Atrial fibrillation is associated with substantial morbidity, impaired quality of life, and increased mortality and healthcare costs. As a significant proportion of the total atrial fibrillation population is asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, early identification and initiation of appropriate treatment for atrial fibrillation may prevent potentially detrimental outcomes such as stroke and heart failure and decrease all-cause mortality. Although screening via evolving health technologies has recently been emerging, verification of the electrocardiogram track recording over at least 30 seconds by a physician with expertise is still required for a definite diagnosis. Based on the global and national data and the current healthcare environment in Turkey, this targeted review with cardiology, neurology, and family physicians' perspectives highlights the importance of early detection by implementing the advancing screening modalities as well as the need for raised awareness of both patients and healthcare professionals and establishment of a multidisciplinary clinical approach for a better outcome in atrial fibrillation management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: We planned our survey study to evaluate the opinion of cardiologists about the class II recommendations on levels of evidence in the current European Society of Cardiology Guidelines (ESC). Our aim is to determine which diagnosis or treatment option most prefer by cardiologist when guidelines do not make clear recommendations. Methods: The survey was conducted on September 2020 with the participation of cardiologists (n = 102). Our survey covers ESC's guidelines published in 2018-2020 on diagnosis and treatment strategies in coronary artery disease, diabetes, heart valve disease, arrhythmia, dyslipidemia and heart failure. Our survey consisting of 40 questions was shared with the cardiologists via e-mail. Results: Participants answered all of the survey questions. The majority of the participants (79.41%) did not consider the addition of a second long-term antithrombotic medication in addition to aspirin for secondary prevention in diabetes mellitus (DM) and coronary artery disease (CAD) patients who are not at high risk of bleeding. The lowest low density lipoprotein (LDL) value achieved by the participant physicians with treatment in their practices was < 40 mg/dl in 32 (31.37%) participants. One of the striking results of the survey was that 51.96% of the participants stated that it was not possible to measure the lipoprotein a (Lp(a)) level in the center where they were carrying out their practices, and 34.31% did not consider the Lp(a) level in the treatment of dyslipidemia in terms of directing the treatment. As for patients with asymptomatic Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome, 58.82% of the participants considered catheter ablation therapy. Conclusions: Although there were different opinions on some recommendations, the participants were mostly in agreement. We think that these survey results, which were mostly based on expert opinions, may contribute to the guidelines to be published in the future with the increase of survey studies on these issues [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]