Cardiovascular Disease: Prevention and Management

Cardiovascular disease is a leading source of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Statins, or HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitors, are efficacious in reducing major arterial vascular events and also may decrease risk of venous vascular events (venous thromboembolism) in women taking hormone therapy (HT).1–3 However, these drugs have little effect on heart failure outcomes, an important source of morbidity and mortality in the United States. This dissertation will have two projects concerning statin effectiveness and adverse events. The first project will assess the risk of statin-associated muscle symptoms (SAMS) in large RCTs utilizing a network meta-analysis. The second, using a large administrative insurance claims database, will estimate whether the risk of VTE in post-menopausal women on hormone therapy is reduced with statin exposure. The third project is a community intervention to improve health outcomes of recently-discharged heart failure patients, regardless of statin use.