1) According to the FOURIER trial, patients treated with PCSK9 inhibitors had a reduced risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE), especially if they had elevated what?

a) LDL
b) Lipoprotein(a)
c) Both
d) None of the above

The Answer is B. Patients treated with PCSK9 inhibitors had a 31% risk reduction for VTE (VTE), especially if they had elevated lipoprotein(a). However, individuals with loss-of-function mutations of the LDL receptor gene (LDLR) and/or a high score on a polygenic model, retain risk of increased cardiovascular risk despite intensive lipid-lowering therapy.

 

2) Ongoing results from the STAREE Trial show that statin and non-statin lipid lowering therapy benefit patients above the ages 70-75.

a) True
b) False

They Answer is True. In a complementary systematic review and meta-analysis published back-to-back with the Danish study, lipid-lowering was shown to be as effective in reducing cardiovascular events In patients aged ≥75 years as it was in younger patients.

 

3) FIDELIO-DKD demonstrated that finerenone treatment lowered the risk of CKD progression and CV events in participants diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and advanced CKD after a median follow-up of…

a) 1 year
b) 1.5 years
c) 2 years
d) 2.5 years

The Answer is D.  After a median follow-up of 2.6 years, the primary endpoint had occurred in 504 participants in the finerenone group (17.8%) compared with 600 participants in the control group (21.1%; HR 0.82; 95% CI 0.73-0.93; P=0.001).

 

4) Results from 2 pooled post-hoc analyses of the phase 3 ORION-9, -10, and -11 trials found that treatment with ______   had consistent efficacy and tolerability reducing high LDL-C regardless of age or gender:

a) alirocumab
b) evolocumab
c) inclisiran
d) none of the above

The Answer is C. Inclisiran effective across age and genders for hyperlipidemia

 

5) The STRENGTH trial evaluated whether high-dose omega-3 benefitted patients at risk for atrial fibrillation (AF). Results demonstrated that high-dose omega-3, compared with placebo corn oil:

a) did not benefit patients at risk for AF
b) did benefit patients at risk for AF
c) had no effect on patients at risk for AF
d) may cause more harm than good

The Answer is D. The STRENGTH trial showed a 67% increase in AF in the omega-3 treatment group, indicating that there is some uncertainty whether there is net benefit or harm with administration of any omega-3 fatty acid formulation. Given that 2 large clinical trials have now demonstrated a greater incident rate of AF with high dose omega-3 fatty acid administration, this observation requires further study.

 

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