An actuarial analysis found that patients who receive sacubitril/valsartan may have an increased life expectancy and reduced risk of death from cardiovascular causes or hospitalization for heart failure compared with patients who take enalapril.

The American College of Cardiology, Geisinger Health System and xG Health Solutions announced a new joint initiative to enhance the processes and outcomes of clinical care for patients with heart failure.

Although guidelines recommend against the use of pulmonary artery catheters for routine management of heart failure, physicians have significantly increased their use of pulmonary artery catheters in recent years, according to an analysis of heart failure hospitalizations.

Every year, more than 795,000 Americans suffer a stroke—with 665,000 people surviving the episode. The annual cost of stroke in the U.S. tops $33.6 billion (Circulation. 2015 ;e29-322.) and one out of six Americans will have a stroke in their lifetime. Stroke is our leading cause of disability.

The FDA sent a warning letter to St. Jude Medical regarding a facility in Atlanta where the company manufactures its CardioMEMS heart failure system. St. Jude Medical revealed the information in an 8-K filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Oct. 1.

Providing ambulatory heart failure patients with higher doses of beta-blockers significantly improved all-cause death or hospitalization, according to a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial. The researchers found increasing the dosage of beta-blockers was more effective than reducing heart rates in this patient population.

Patients with heart failure and major depression who underwent cognitive behavior therapy had improvements in mental health and overall quality of life after six months, according to a randomized trial. However, the intervention did not improve heart failure self-care or physical functioning.

An analysis of a randomized clinical trial found patients with cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes who received sitagliptin had similar rates of heart failure or other cardiovascular complications compared with a placebo group.