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February 2010 references and further reading

FEB 2010

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Do healthy people need an aspirin a day?

Baigent C, Blackwell L, Collins R, et al. Aspirin in the primary and secondary prevention of vascular disease: collaborative meta-analysis of individual participant data from randomised trials. Lancet 2009; 373:1849-60.

De Berardis G, Sacco M, Strippoli GF, et al. Aspirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular events in people with diabetes: meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ 2009; 339:b4531.

Aspirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease? Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin 2009; 47:122-5.

Slow adoption of helpful heart failure drug

Pitt B, Zannad F, Remme WJ, et al. The effect of spironolactone on morbidity and mortality in patients with severe heart failure. Randomized Aldactone Evaluation Study Investigators. New England Journal of Medicine 1999; 341:709-17.

Albert NM, Yancy CW, Liang L, et al. Use of aldosterone antagonists in heart failure. JAMA 2009; 302:1658-65.

Raynaud's: the big chill for fingers and toes

Wigley FM. Clinical practice. Raynaud's Phenomenon. New England Journal of Medicine 2002; 347:1001-8.

Raynaud's. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. February 2009.

Raynaud's Association, http://www.raynauds.org.

Off-pump bypass surgery: Promise unfulfilled

Sellke FW, DiMaio JM, Caplan LR, et al. Comparing on-pump and off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting: numerous studies but few conclusions: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association council on cardiovascular surgery and anesthesia in collaboration with the interdisciplinary working group on quality of care and outcomes research. Circulation 2005; 111:2858-64.

Shroyer AL, Grover FL, Hattler B, et al. On-pump versus off-pump coronary-artery bypass surgery. New England Journal of Medicine 2009; 361:1827-37.

Controversial warning on Plavix and stomach-protecting medications

U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Public Health Advisory: Updated Safety Information about a drug interaction between Clopidogrel Bisulfate (marketed as Plavix) and Omeprazole (marketed as Prilosec and Prilosec OTC). Posted Nov. 17, 2009.

Bhatt DL. COGENT: A prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of omeprazole in patients receiving aspirin and clopidogrel. Presented at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics in San Francisco, Calif. on September 24, 2009.

A vanishing breed

Ford ES, Li C, Zhao G, Pearson WS, Capewell S. Trends in the prevalence of low risk factor burden for cardiovascular disease among United States adults. Circulation 2009; 120:1181-8.