Medications help the heart — if you take them

Fischer MA, Choudhry NK, Brill G, Avorn J, Schneeweiss S, Hutchins D, Liberman JN, Brennan TA, Shrank WH. Trouble getting started: predictors of primary medication nonadherence. American Journal of Medicine 2011; 124:1081.e9-22.

Bosworth HB, Granger BB, Mendys P, Brindis R, Burkholder R, Czajkowski SM, Daniel JG, Ekman I, Ho M, Johnson M, Kimmel SE, Liu LZ, Musaus J, Shrank WH, Whalley Buono E, Weiss K, Granger CB. Medication adherence: A call for action. American Heart Journal 2011; 162:412-24.

Wolf MS, Curtis LM, Waite K, Bailey SC, Hedlund LA, Davis TC, Shrank WH, Parker RM, Wood AJ. Helping Patients Simplify and Safely Use Complex Prescription Regimens. Archives of Internal Medicine 2011; 171:300-5.

Schmittdiel JA, Karter AJ, Dyer W, Parker M, Uratsu C, Chan J, Duru OK. The Comparative Effectiveness of Mail Order Pharmacy Use vs. Local Pharmacy Use on LDL-C Control in New Statin Users. Journal of General Internal Medicine 2011; 26:1396-402.

Another warfarin alternative for stroke prevention in people with a-fib

Patel MR, Mahaffey KW, Garg J, Pan G, Singer DE, Hacke W, Breithardt G, Halperin JL, Hankey GJ, Piccini JP, Becker RC, Nessel CC, Paolini JF, Berkowitz SD, Fox KA, Califf RM. Rivaroxaban versus Warfarin in Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation. New England Journal of Medicine 2011; 365:883-91.

No-surgery aortic valve replacement okay for some, not all

Leon MB, Smith CR, Mack M, Miller DC, Moses JW, Svensson LG, Tuzcu EM, Webb JG, Fontana GP, Makkar RR, Brown DL, Block PC, Guyton RA, Pichard AD, Bavaria JE, Herrmann HC, Douglas PS, Petersen JL, Akin JJ, Anderson WN, Wang D, Pocock S. Transcatheter Aortic-Valve Implantation for Aortic Stenosis in Patients Who Cannot Undergo Surgery. New England Journal of Medicine 2010; 363:1597-607.

Reynolds MR, Magnuson EA, Lei Y, Leon MB, Smith CR, Svensson LG, Webb JG, Babaliaros VC, Bowers BS, Fearon WF, Herrmann HC, Kapadia S, Kodali SK, Makkar RR, Pichard AD, Cohen DJ. Health-Related Quality of Life After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement in Inoperable Patients with Severe Aortic Stenosis. Circulation 2011; 124:1964-72.

Living with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator

Irvine J, Firestone J, Ong L, Cribbie R, Dorian P, Harris L, Ritvo P, Katz J, Newman D, Cameron D, Johnson S, Bilanovic A, Hill A, O'Donnell S, Sears S Jr. A Randomized Controlled Trial of Cognitive Behavior Therapy Tailored to Psychological Adaptation to an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator. Psychosomatic Medicine 2011; 73:226-33.

Nazarian S, Hansford R, Roguin A, Goldsher D, Zviman MM, Lardo AC, Caffo BS, Frick KD, Kraut MA, Kamel IR, Calkins H, Berger RD, Bluemke DA, Halperin HR. A Prospective Evaluation of a Protocol for Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Patients with Implanted Cardiac Devices. Annals of Internal Medicine 2011; 155:415-24.

Fruit and veggie diet may offset genetic risk for heart disease

Do R, Xie C, Zhang X, Männistö S, Harald K, Islam S, Bailey SD, Rangarajan S, McQueen MJ, Diaz R, Lisheng L, Wang X, Silander K, Peltonen L, Yusuf S, Salomaa V, Engert JC, Anand SS. The Effect of Chromosome 9p21 Variants on Cardiovascular Disease May Be Modified by Dietary Intake. PLoS Medicine 2011; 8:e1001106.

Psoriasis again linked to heart disease

Mehta NN, Yu Y, Pinnelas R, Krishnamoorthy P, Shin DB, Troxel AB, Gelfand JM. Attributable Risk Estimate of Severe Psoriasis on Major Cardiovascular Events. American Journal of Medicine 2011; 124:775.e1-6.

Treating cardiovascular risk factors also aids ED

Gupta BP, Murad MH, Clifton MM, Prokop L, Nehra A, Kopecky SL. The Effect of Lifestyle Modification and Cardiovascular Risk Factor Reduction on Erectile Dysfunction. Archives of Internal Medicine 2011; 171:1797-803.