A bibliometric analysis of research on heart failure comorbid with depression from 2002 to 2021

Heart failure (HF) with depression is a common comorbidity associated with worse clinical status and quality of life. Although there have been numerous high-quality studies and relevant reviews on HF comorbid with depression, few bibliometric analyses of this field have been reported. In order to understand the development process, research hotspots and future directions, this review analyzes the papers on HF comorbid with depression from January 2002 to December 2021 through CiteSpace and VOSviewer. Visual cooperative networks between countries, authors and institutions were conducted to understand the basic development status of HF comorbid with depression. Furthermore, we performed co-occurrence analysis, burst detection, and timeline analysis for keywords to understand this field's research directions and hotspots. Finally, a detailed review and analysis of the classical literature in this field were conducted based on co-citation analysis. This bibliometric analysis provides an overview of studies on HF comorbid with depression and emphasizes the research on comorbidity mechanisms and more effective interventions as a priority for future research.

Comparison of the outcomes of the prolonged antianginal therapy use in stable coronary artery disease patients according to the data of randomized and observational studies

Objective

To compare the results of treatment with antianginal drug nicorandil in patients with stable coronary artery disease according to the results of the observational study (OS) «NIKEA» and randomized controlled trial (RCT) «IONA».

Methods

«NIKEA » observational program included 590 patients with stable angina pectoris. Subgroups in the OS were formed based on the adherence to nicorandil use. Adherence was assessed during follow-up direct questioning. «IONA » RCT included 5126 patients with stable angina pectoris.

Results

Follow-up period and mean age of patients were equal in OS and RCT. In OS the group of adherent to nicorandil use patients had fewer males, life-saving drugs were administered significantly more often than in RCT, comorbidities (arterial hypertension, peripheral atherosclerosis and diabetes mellitus) were more pronounced. Angina pectoris class III was diagnosed in 32% of the OS patients vs 11% of the RCT patients, and class I – in 4.4% and 26%, respectively (р<0.001). Both in RCT and OS, there were significantly fewer cases of all cardiovascular events in the groups of nicorandil and adherent to nicorandil use patients in comparison with the groups of placebo and nonadherent patients. Both in RCT and OS the use of nicorandil led to significant decrease in the risk of all cardiovascular events.

Conclusion

Results of the efficacy and effectiveness studies complement each other and give the opportunity to assess the realisation of the RCT results in real clinical practice.

Difference in plaque characteristics of coronary culprit lesions in a cohort of Egyptian patients presented with acute coronary syndrome and stable coronary artery disease: An optical coherence tomography study

Aims

This study was designed to utilize frequency-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT) for assessment of plaque characteristics and vulnerability in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) compared to stable coronary artery disease (SCAD).

Methods and results

We enrolled 48 patients; divided into an ACS-group (27 patients) and SCAD-group (21 patients) according to their clinical presentation. Hypertension and diabetes mellitus were more prevalent in SCAD group. Patients with ACS showed higher frequency of lipid-rich plaques (96.3% vs. 66.7%, P = .015), lower frequency of calcium plaques (7.4% vs. 57.1%, P < .001), and fibrous plaques (14.8% vs. 81%, P < .001) when compared with SCAD patients. The TCFA (defined as lipid-rich plaque with cap thickness <65 μm) identified more frequently (33.3% vs. 14.3%, P = .185), with a trend towards thinner median fibrous cap thickness (70 (50–180) µm vs. 100 (50–220) µm, P = .064) in ACS group. Rupture plaque (52% vs. 14.3%, P = .014), plaque erosion (18.5% vs. 0%, P = .059) and intracoronary thrombus (92.6% vs. 14.3%, P < .001) were observed more frequently in ACS group, while cholesterol crystals were identified frequently in patients with SCAD (0.0% vs. 33.3%, P = .002).

Conclusion

The current FD-OCT study demonstrated the differences of plaque morphology and identified distinct lesion characteristics between patients with ACS and those with SCAD. These findings could explain the clinical presentation of patients in both groups.