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Background: Cardiology training is demanding and associated with high workloads. Poor lifestyle and health among clinicians may stretch workforces and impact patient care. It has not been established what impact training in cardiology has on the doctors undertaking it. We aimed to establish the prevalence of physical and mental illness, burnout and the ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle among cardiology trainees in the United Kingdom (UK).

Methods: The 2023 British Junior Cardiologists' Association training survey included questions on ill health, burnout, healthy living and invited responders to complete screening questionnaires for depression (Patient Health Questionnaire 9; PHQ-9) and anxiety (Generalised Anxiety Disorder 7; GAD-7). Significant anxiety and depression were defined as scoring within the moderate or severe range (PHQ-9≥10; GAD-7≥10). Burnout was a self-reported outcome. Poisson regression was used to determine prevalence ratios (PR) between univariate predictors of anxiety, depression and burnout.

Results: Of 398 responders, 212 consented to answer health and well-being questions. Prior physical and mental health conditions were reported by 9% and 7% of trainees, respectively. Significant depression and anxiety symptoms were reported by 25% and 18% of trainees, respectively. Burnout was reported by 76% of trainees. Less than full-time trainees reported greater anxiety (PR 2.92, 95% CI 1.39 to 6.16, p<0.01) and depression (PR 3.66, 95% CI 2.24 to 5.98, p<0.01), while trainees with dependents reported less burnout (PR 0.77, 95% CI 0.65 to 0.92, p<0.01). Exercise, good sleep quality and maintaining a healthy diet were associated with less burnout and depressive symptoms (p<0.05). Half of trainees reported training having a negative impact on well-being, driven by the amount of service provision, curriculum requirements and lack of training opportunities.

Conclusions: The prevalence of anxiety, depression and burnout is high among UK cardiology trainees. Further work should establish the impact of cardiology trainee health on the quality of patient care. Training bodies should consider how occupational factors may contribute to health.

Background: Proteomic biomarkers have shown promise in predicting various cardiovascular conditions, but their utility in assessing the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) remains unclear. This study aimed to develop and validate a protein-based risk score for predicting incident AF and to compare its predictive performance with traditional clinical risk factors and polygenic risk scores in a large cohort from the UK Biobank.

Methods: We analysed data from 36 129 white British individuals without prior AF, assessing 2923 plasma proteins using the Olink Explore 3072 assay. The cohort was divided into a training set (70%) and a test set (30%) to develop and validate a protein risk score for AF. We compared the predictive performance of this score with the HARMS₂-AF risk model and a polygenic risk score.

Results: Over an average follow-up of 11.8 years, 2450 incident AF cases were identified. A 47-protein risk score was developed, with N-terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) being the most significant predictor. In the test set, the protein risk score (per SD increment, HR 1.94; 95% CI 1.83 to 2.05) and NT-proBNP alone (HR 1.80; 95% CI 1.70 to 1.91) demonstrated superior predictive performance (C-statistic: 0.802 and 0.785, respectively) compared with HARMS₂-AF and polygenic risk scores (C-statistic: 0.751 and 0.748, respectively).

Conclusions: A protein-based risk score, particularly incorporating NT-proBNP, offers superior predictive value for AF risk over traditional clinical and polygenic risk scores, highlighting the potential for proteomic data in AF risk stratification.

Background: We aimed to characterise the variation in access to and outcomes of cardiac surgery for people in England.

Methods: We included people >18 years of age with hospital admission for ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and heart valve disease (HVD) between 2010 and 2019. Within these populations, we identified people who had coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) and/or valve surgery, respectively. We fitted logistic regression models to examine the effects of age, sex, ethnicity and socioeconomic deprivation on having access to surgery and in-hospital mortality, 1-year mortality and hospital readmission.

Results: We included 292 140 people, of whom 28% were women, 11% were from an ethnic minority and 17% were from the most deprived areas. Across all types of surgery, one in five people are readmitted to hospital within 1 year, rising to almost one in four for valve surgery. Women, black people and people living in the most deprived areas were less likely to have access to surgery (CABG: 59%, 32% and 35% less likely; valve: 31%, 33% and 39% less likely, respectively) and more likely to die within 1 year of surgery (CABG: 24%, 85% and 18% more likely, respectively; valve: 19% (women) and 10% (people from most deprived areas) more likely).

Conclusions: Female sex, black ethnicity and economic deprivation are independently associated with limited access to cardiac surgery and higher post-surgery mortality. Actions are required to address these inequalities.

Background: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is frequently used for patients with chronic coronary syndrome (CCS). However, the role of PCI beyond symptom relief in CCS remains controversial. The objective of this study was to determine whether PCI is associated with better outcomes, compared with medical therapy (MT) alone.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study. Using the Swedish Coronary Angiography and Angioplasty Registry, we included all patients with CCS undergoing coronary angiography in Sweden between 2010 and 2020. Two groups were formed based on treatment strategy: PCI+MT versus MT alone. One-to-one propensity score (PS) matching was used to address confounding. Outcome was assessed using matched win ratio analysis, a statistical method that ranks the components of the composite by clinical importance. The primary outcome was net adverse clinical event (NACE) within 5 years. In the win ratio analysis, the components of NACE were ranked as follows: (1) all-cause mortality, (2) myocardial infarction (MI), (3) bleeding and (4) urgent revascularisation. Secondary outcomes were the individual components of NACE, major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and cardiovascular mortality.

Results: After PS matching, two groups of 7220 patients each were formed. The hierarchical outcome analysis of NACE and MACE showed that PCI was associated with improved outcome (matched win ratio: 1.28 (95% CI 1.20 to 1.36, p<0.001) and matched win ratio: 1.38 (95% CI 1.29 to 1.48, p<0.001), respectively). The use of PCI was associated with higher win ratio of MI (matched win ratio: 1.15, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.28, p=0.008), urgent revascularisation (matched win ratio: 1.85, 95% CI 1.69 to 2.03, p<0.001) and cardiovascular mortality (matched win ratio: 1.15, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.34, p=0.044). No difference in win ratio was observed for all-cause mortality or bleeding.

Conclusions: In this study, which sought to evaluate the outcomes of patients with CCS using a hierarchical approach, patients selected for revascularisation with PCI experienced better outcome compared with MT alone.

Background: Patients with Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) who develop cardiogenic shock may present with left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (LVOTO). The prognosis and treatment of this population have not been defined in previous studies. The aim of this study is to describe the clinical presentation, management, evolution and prognosis of a subgroup of patients with TTS and cardiogenic shock according to whether they present with LVOTO or not.

Methods: We analysed patients with TTS recruited from 2003 to 2022 in a multicentre registry. Patients were selected if they presented cardiogenic shock during their admission. This analysis was compared according to the presence or absence of LVOTO.

Results: 322 patients were included, 58 (18%) of whom had LVOTO. The majority were treated with vasoactive and inotropic therapy (VIT) and its use was strongly associated with having LVOTO (77.6% vs 57.6%, p<0.001). Only five (3.3%) patients without LVOTO and two (4.4%) in the LVOTO group treated with VIT developed or worsened the obstruction. Furthermore, patients with LVOTO presented higher in-hospital complications including ventricular arrhythmias (15.5% vs 8.7%, p=0.017), major bleeding (13.8% vs 6.1%, p=0.042) and acute kidney failure (48.3% vs 28.4%, p=0.003). However, at both 90 days and 5 years, the cumulative incidence of all-cause death was not significantly different between the patients with and without LVOTO (HR 1.20, 95% CI 0.60 to 2.40 for 90 days, and HR 1.69, 95% CI 0.89 to 3.21 for 5 years).

Conclusions: LVOTO is not uncommon in patients with TTS and cardiogenic shock. It is associated with a more aggressive in-hospital course and our data is unable to rule out an association between the presence of LVOTO and long-term prognosis of patients with TTS. The development or worsening of LVOTO directly related to inotropic or vasoactive support was low.

Background: Light chain cardiac amyloidosis (AL-CA) is associated with a high incidence of mortality. Big endothelin-1 (ET-1), the precursor of endothelial-vasoconstrictive ET-1, is closely related to the concentration of bioactive ET-1. Association between big ET-1 and prognosis of AL-CA has not yet been documented. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of big ET-1 for poor outcomes in moderate to severe AL-CA.

Methods: Big ET-1 levels were determined on admission in patients with newly diagnosed AL-CA with modified Mayo 2004 stage II or III. Primary outcome was all-cause mortality. The secondary outcomes included death from cardiac cause and the composite of the primary outcome or hospitalisations due to worsening heart failure.

Results: Overall, 141 patients were retrospectively included (57 stage II, 34 stage IIIa, 50 stage IIIb). During a median follow-up time of 25.7 months, 84 (59.6%) patients died. Patients with big ET-1 levels of ≤0.88 pmol/L had longer survival than those with >0.88 pmol/L (median survival time: 34.1 months vs 15.3 months, log-rank p<0.001), which was also observed in the validation cohort (log-rank p=0.026). Higher big ET-1 levels were predictive for all-cause mortality after multivariable adjustment (HR 1.91, 95% CI 1.05 to 3.49, p=0.035). Big ET-1 levels added an incremental prognostic value over modified Mayo 2004 stage (C-index: from 0.671 to 0.696, p=0.025; integrated discrimination improvement 0.168, p=0.047).

Conclusions: Big ET-1 is a strong and independent predictor of mortality in patients with moderate to severe AL-CA, which may indicate a possible role for risk stratification in patients with this disease.