The Handoff: Your Week in Cardiology News – 6/16/17

The Handoff is a weekly roundup of cardiology news covering various developments in subspecialties, as well as pharmaceutical industry, association, and society news.

• According to a recent report published in the American Journal of Medicine, many cardiologists receive little-to-no nutritional education and yet an overwhelming number (95% surveyed) task themselves with providing nutritional guidance to their patients.
• A patient with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD) is now thriving thanks to a successful heart transplant. Steve Ast of Durango, Colorado, is riding nearly 450 miles to raise money for John Hopkins University, one of the leading facilities in ARVD research.
• The association between stress and coronary artery disease was previously thought to be stronger in women vs men, but new research suggests that is not necessarily the case: the relationship between various biomarkers and calcium build-up in coronary arteries appears to be similar between the sexes.
• A Greek study suggests that exposure to airport and road noise could increase the risk for hypertension. Stroke risk also increased with more noise, but was not significant.
• More than 10% of the world’s population is now considered obese, as reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, and in 73 countries, the rate of obesity has at least doubled.
• Teenagers are switching off their e-cigarettes. According to the CDC’s MMWR, the number of users fell from 3 million to 2.2 million within 1 year.
• Drones: not just for Amazon Prime customers. In the not-too-distant future, the unmanned aerial vehicles may carry automated external defibrillators to patients in cardiac arrest.
• The Pennsylvania state court has upheld a lower court’s ruling that Philadelphia can proceed with its 1.5 cents-per-ounce soda tax, as reported by the American Heart Association News. Nancy Brown, the CEO of AHA, wrote a column this week, commending the decision.