November 2025 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.

An intervention shows potential to empower home health aides (HHAs) to improve the care of patients with heart failure (HF). The pilot study, published in JAMA Network Open and presented at the recent American Heart Association (AHA) 2025 Scientific Sessions, found that HHAs who underwent a web-based training course in HF and had access to a chat tool connecting them with study nurses had fewer self-reported preventable 911 calls than those who underwent the training course only, and had greater gains in HF knowledge and self-efficacy measures. “Our findings advance the notion that HHAs, who are already funded by Medicaid and Medicare (albeit sometimes privately), are frontline healthcare practitioners with untapped potential to enhance and improve care in HF,” the authors write.

Following a first coronary angiography, patients with lipoprotein(a) levels of 175 nmol/L or higher have an increased risk of subsequent MI, revascularization, in-stent restenosis, and death compared with those with normal Lp(a), a study of more than 5,100 patients suggests. Writing in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, the researchers say the elevated risks in this subpopulation signal the need for targeted risk-reduction strategies.

As clinicians spend less time than ever with patients and more of their time with electronic health records (EHRs) and technology-based testing, a review article in the New England Journal of Medicine provides some pointers on reinvigorating bedside clinical encounters. With six specific strategies, the authors say “clinical educators can help trainees appreciate the value of the bedside encounter in diagnostic reasoning, strengthen the patient-physician relationship, combat healthcare inequities, improve professional fulfillment, and avoid burnout.”

Incorporating blood pressure variation (BPV) measurement into antenatal screening may improve assessment of maternal and perinatal risk and inform surveillance, according to a secondary analysis of the ALSPAC study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. BPV was associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, particularly severe hypertension and preeclampsia, although it did not show long‐term ability to predict CV risk.

A national survey conducted by the Association of Black Cardiologists suggests that 54% of Black adults and 49% of Hispanic adults in the United States are not knowledgeable about the difference between HDL and LDL cholesterol. Furthermore, nearly one in five Black and Hispanic adults have never had a cardiovascular screening.

A study of 130,000 adults with insomnia raises new concerns about long-term use of melatonin for sleep. Researchers found that those who had used melatonin for at least a year had greater rates of incident HF, were about 3.5 times more likely to require hospitalization for HF, and were nearly twice as likely to die from any cause than nonusers over a 5-year observation period. The authors of the study, which was presented at the recent AHA 2025 Scientific Sessions, say the findings challenge current thinking about the harmless nature of melatonin and should prompt future studies on the impact of chronic melatonin use on the heart.

Researchers in Israel have observed a link between migraine headaches and hypertension in a large study of teenagers. Those with a diagnosis of migraine were three times more likely to have hypertension than their peers, which the investigators say could signal deeper vascular issues. While more work is needed to understand this observation, the findings “suggest that adolescents with migraine may benefit from targeted hypertension screening to facilitate early detection and management,” they write in Hypertension.

Smoking as little as two cigarettes per day may increase the risk of CV disease by 50% and the risk of all-cause mortality by 60% compared with never smoking, according to an analysis of data from 22 prospective cohort studies totaling more than 320,000 adults. The study in PLOS Medicine, emphasizes the importance of targeting low-intensity smokers for education on the importance of full smoking cessation to drive down CV risk.

Despite the recent pandemic, telenursing has not grown significantly in the United States, with only 22% of nurses using it for inpatient and outpatient care, according to the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses. Reporting the findings from the survey of more than 2.7 million RNs in Nursing Outlook, the study authors call for proactive policy development “to advance equal access to health services through telenursing use in rural areas, older adult practices, and pediatric nursing.”

News Highlights From TCTMD:

Risk Calculators Miss Many Patients Who Present With First MI

Chronic Pain Linked to Increased Risk for Incident Hypertension

POLY-HF: Polypill Pays Dividends in Patients With HFrEF

Fish Oil Halves CV Risk in Patients on Dialysis: PISCES

DECAF: Daily Coffee, Not Abstinence, Beneficial for AF Patients