August 2026 Dispatch for the CV Team

Every month, Section Editor L.A. McKeown curates a roundup of recent news beyond our regular TCTMD coverage, with tidbits from journals and medical meetings around the globe that are of special interest to heart teams and allied cardiovascular professionals.

Prediction models to estimate future heart disease risk in reproductive-aged women may be a first step in refining outdated prediction tools that have been validated in primarily older cohorts. Writing in JACC: Advances, researchers note that the new 5-year risk scores incorporate a full range of pregnancy complications and postpartum conditions as a compliment to traditional risk factors, but still require validation in ethnically diverse populations and longer-term follow-up.

A surprising new study suggests it may be possible to passively detect atrial fibrillation (AF) from a toilet seat without the need for sticky pads or wires. The German feasibility study, published in Clinical Research in Cardiology, found high diagnostic agreement with standard 12-lead ECG when patients simply sat on a toilet seat embedded with ECG electrodes that delivered the results to a smartphone app. 

JAMA has updated its guidance for the use of AI in manuscript and content preparation for all of its journals. According to the editors, this is part of ongoing monitoring because they are seeing an increase in opinion articles and letters to the editor “occasionally from the same authors, who may not have expertise in the topics they are addressing.” They note that these submissions are often formulaic and lack useful insights. 

Statins may offer added protection against serious respiratory infections in older adults, a UK-based study suggests. Among patients aged 65 and older who had not received a flu vaccine in the previous 2 years and were on a prescribed statin, there was as 14% lower risk of being diagnosed with pneumonia and a 17% lower risk of having an acute respiratory infection during a hospital admission compared with similar patients not on a statin. The results of the study, published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases, were not uniform across all healthcare settings, the authors say, but do add to other observational data suggesting that statins “may be associated with a lower risk of progression to respiratory infections requiring hospitalization.”

Engaging in physical activity can help slow cognitive decline in Hispanic patients, an association not seen in non-Hispanic white patients, according to data from the San Antonio Heart Study (SAHS) and the San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging (SALSA). Any level of physical activity was associated with a 0.13 point per year slower rate of cognitive decline on the Mini-Mental State Examination compared to no physical activity, the authors report in Behavior & Socioeconomics of Aging.

Incorporating video-based education into discharge instructions for patients who have undergone PCI resulted in lower rates of 14-day hospitalization and 30-day readmission compared with standard instructions alone, researchers report in the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. Patients who viewed the videos on smartphones before discharge also had better adherence to medication, greater understanding of instructions, and a greater degree of dietary modifications. 

In women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), health coaching with self-measured home blood pressure monitoring may help reduce long-term uncontrolled hypertension. Reporting in JAMA Network Open, researchers say that compared with standard care, the intervention starting at 4 to 6 weeks after giving birth was associated with greater likelihood of attending a primary care visit (71.0% vs 39.1%) and meeting BP control goals of < 130/80 mm Hg (55.3% vs 31.1%) by 12 months postpartum.

To raise awareness about the importance of circadian-informed medicine, a scientific statement from the American Heart Association published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology explains why researchers should be considering time of day in diagnostic testing, administering medications, and assessing symptoms. Its authors note that these are all critical to understanding how circadian rhythm influences health outcomes. The explosion of interest in wearables that can time-stamp data and capture patient-centric patterns, they add, may help “offer new insights into how real-life behaviors and environmental exposures influence circadian function and disease progression.”

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is safe and feasible in people with type 2 diabetes referred for cardiac rehabilitation as a way to improve their cardiorespiratory fitness and glycemic control. In a small, 24-week program, participants actively took part in both on-site and at-home HIIT sessions, with no adverse events reported related to high-intensity workouts. Writing in the Canadian Journal of Diabetes, researchers say participants reported being as satisfied with a HIIT program as with a standard moderate-intensity continuous exercise regimen, and suggest that it should not be ruled out when prescribing cardiac rehabilitation in this population.

Inexpensive and nonpharmacologic solutions for improving quality of life and stress levels are needed in patients with heart failure (HF). In the Journal of Education and Health Promotion, researchers describe the intervention they used: structured education for patients and their primary caregivers; chair-based low-intensity exercise and stretching; and the mindful moist mouth technique, which consists of slow, deliberate sips of water held in the mouth before swallowing to calm the nervous system. Individuals who took part in the 90-day program reported both immediate and sustained improvements compared with standard care.

News Highlights From TCTMD:

NP-Led Telemedicine a Solid Option in Acute Stroke Management

Deaths Tied to Aortic Stenosis Become Less Common but Disparities Persist

Free Tool Kits Provide Resources to Support Radiation-Protection Efforts

Medicaid ACOs Appear to Boost Preventive CV Care

ACC Addresses Cognitive Impairment and Frailty in Older Adults With CVD