Introduction. Iron deficiency and anaemia, alone or in combination, are common in patients with heart failure and associated with increased risk of cardiovascular hospitalisation and death.1–3 The WHO4 defines anaemia as a haemoglobin <120 g/L for women and <130 g/L for men. Recent data suggest that even borderline anaemia (ie, 10 g/L above the WHO threshold) is associated with an increase ...

The increasing burden of atrial fibrillation (AF) and significant morbidity/mortality associated with this arrhythmia encourage screening it in clinical practice, as recommended in current guidelines. It means opportunistic screening (in patients over 65 years) or systematic screening (in people above 75 years) by using clinical examination, followed by an ECG, 24-hour ECG monitoring or ...

Each year the Heart editorial team selects the most meritorious research papers to receive the Heart Best Research Paper Award.. We are pleased to announce the winner and finalists for the Heart Best Research Paper Award 2024 in recognition of high quality and clinical impact.

Cardiovascular alterations are common in patients who had ischaemic stroke, haemorrhagic stroke and other acute brain disorders such as seizures. These cardiac complications are important drivers of morbidity and mortality and comprise blood-based detection of cardiomyocyte damage, ECG changes, heart failure and arrhythmia. Recently, the concept of a distinct ‘stroke-heart syndrome’ has ...

Background The relationship between atherosclerosis and endotypes of myocardial ischaemia with no obstructive coronary artery disease (INOCA) is unclear. We investigated potential associations between cumulative atherosclerotic plaque burden quantified using the Gensini score, novel invasive indices of coronary microvascular function (microvascular resistance reserve (MRR); resistive reserve ...

### Learning objectives Heart failure is a syndrome characterised by a triad of symptoms, signs and objective evidence of cardiac dysfunction. The syndrome is divided into subtypes based on left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Where the LVEF is below 40% this is termed heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). This differentiation …

Methods In this large prospective population-based cohort study, absolute interval change scores in weight were calculated between weight measurements at baseline and the follow-up. The estimated HRs with 95% CIs were obtained from the Cox regression models to assess the association between weight change and the risk of CV death, cerebrovascular and ischaemic heart diseases and all-cause ...

Heart is an international peer reviewed journal that keeps cardiologists up to date with important research advances in cardiovascular disease. New scientific developments are highlighted in editorials and put in context with concise review articles. There is one free Editor’s Choice article in each issue, with open access options available to authors for all articles.

#### Learning objectives This paper covers part of the ESC Core Curriculum for the General Cardiologist (2013)41 : 2.17 Heart Failure Objectives: Heart failure (HF) is a clinical syndrome with typical symptoms of breathlessness, fatigue, reduced exercise tolerance, body swelling and signs of fluid retention such as increased jugular venous pressure (JVP), pulmonary congestion and peripheral ...

The detection of an ejection systolic murmur in the aortic valve region often corresponds to a diagnosis of aortic sclerosis or minor disruption of the aortic valve with associated turbulence but minimal obstruction. Aortic sclerosis has two important clinical implications. Firstly, aortic sclerosis is an antecedent to clinically significant aortic valve obstruction and, secondly, it acts as a ...