John Dodson MD

Subscribe to Never Delegate Understanding Making health and science understandable. Click to read Never Delegate Understanding, by Harlan Krumholz, a Substack publication. Launched 2 days ago.

“Never delegate understanding.”

That quote stuck with me—and it’s now the title of my new Substack.

I’ll be writing about health, science, & how these things can be understandable.

Subscribe here → neverdelegateunderstanding.substack.com/subscribe

#health #science #medicine @yalemed.bsky.social

A JAMA study examined lifestyle interventions' effects on cognitive function in older adults at risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Lead author Laura Baker, PhD, from
@wakeforest.bsky.social shared key insights with several media outlets. 🧵

ja.ma/4lQmvFu #AAIC2025

Research in context panel for Lancet Public Health paper "Daily steps and health outcomes in adults: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis". Copyright: 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. CC By-NC-ND 4.0.

Aiming for 7,000 daily steps can reduce risk of chronic diseases, cognitive decline, and death, finds new study.

Explore the research in @thelancetph.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/mrvd9uyt

A brilliant article by @rmcelreath.bsky.social . I had not heard of ‘bread scientists’ before but see them everywhere. Related to the strong case for teaching reliable, rigorous methods, I see as a major problem the selection of “optimistic” stat methods. #StatsSky #EpiSky

Figure. Trends in Prolonged Sedentary Behavior Among US Adults, 2013-2014 to August 2021-August 2023

While sedentary behavior among US adults decreased from 2013 to March 2020, this trend stalled from 2021 to 2023.

https://ja.ma/4nWVKRg

Researchers have been sneaking secret messages into their papers in an effort to trick AI tools into giving them a positive peer-review report

Read the full story: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Hypertension, Diabetes, and High Cholesterol Awareness Among US Adults This cross-sectional study evaluated the changes in the proportion of US adults who were unaware they had hypertension, diabetes, or a high cholesterol level using 2013 to 2023 data from the National ...

Our new JAMA Cardiology study finds that many US adults don't know that they have hypertension, diabetes, or high cholesterol

Nearly 1 in 3 young adults w/ hypertension, 2 in 5 with diabetes, and 1 in 4 with high cholesterol are unaware of their condition.

bit.ly/45an6MC #medsky #cardiosky

Are Diuretics a Clandestine Risk Factor for Patients With Treatment-Resistant Hypertension? | Hypertension The control of blood pressure in patients with treatment-resistant hypertension is paramount and requires the use of thiazide or loop diuretics to enhance renal salt excretion and reduce expanded body...

Interesting thesis in the latest issue of Hypertension @ahascience.bsky.social @ahajournals.bsky.social

Additional support for multiclass approach to hypertension management.

www.ahajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1...

On social engagement and healthy aging. open-access
"High social engagement was associated with lower mortality risk than low engagement (a-HR:0.58)
agsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

10-Year Outcome of Complete or Infarct–Artery-Only Revascularization in STEMI with Multivessel Disease (DANAMI-3-PRIMULTI):

#EuroPCR #JACC LBCT: #FFR-guided complete #revascularization reduced future and repeated events compared with infarct-related artery only after 10 years. The risk was mainly driven by revasc, with no reduction in MIs or death. www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/... #cvMI #revasc

Antihypertensive Medication Timing and Cardiovascular Events and Death This randomized clinical trial assesses the effect of bedtime vs morning administration of antihypertensive medication on the rate of all-cause death or major cardiovascular events among patients with...

When should you take your blood pressure medication?
A new randomized trial shows no difference bedtime vs morning
@jama.com
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Consistent with results of 4 other randomized trials

Blood pressure reduction and all-cause dementia in people with uncontrolled hypertension: an open-label, blinded-endpoint, cluster-randomized trial - Nature Medicine In the CRHCP-3 cluster-randomized trial, blood pressure reduction lowered the risk of all-cause dementia by 15% in 33,995 individuals with hypertension.

Reducing the risk of all-cause dementia with intensive blood pressure control, the results of a cluster randomized trial in~34,000 participants. @naturemedicine.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

One of my outstanding mentees will presenting our angina findings from the RESILIENT trial at #ACC25. #CardioSky

America's aging population faces a growing shortage of geriatric care For a variety of reasons, geriatric care experts told BI it's been hard attracting new doctors to the field. It's a problem for an aging US population.

The number of geriatricians is shrinking, just 7,400 in 2022, down from 10,000 in 2000, while the aging population keeps growing. The American Geriatrics Society says we’ll need 30,000 by 2030. The math isn’t adding up!

#ACC25 is just around the corner!

Our Health Policy Team will be presenting timely research on the effects of private equity acquisitions, telehealth parity policies, & the Inflation Reduction Act on cardiovascular health

Come by to check out this amazing group of trainees work! #cardiosky

Accuracy of a Novel High-Throughput “Car Blood Pressure” Measurement Protocol AbstractBackground. More than one in three adults with hypertension in the United States are unaware of their condition, highlighting the importance of lar

This is a neat study with implications for high-throughput community screening:

Accuracy of a Novel High-Throughput “Car Blood Pressure” Measurement Protocol academic.oup.com/ajh/article-...

cover of Economist depicting superhuman

One little problem for the dimension of Superhumans with extended longevity: no data. @economist.com
www.economist.com/briefing/202...

Does Tafamidis Improve Survival For Octogenarians With Wild-Type Transthyretin Cardiac Amyloidosis? - American College of Cardiology

Important to do studies like this in our older patients: www.acc.org/latest-in-ca... #CardioSky

What Is a Stepped-Wedge Cluster Randomized Trial? This Guide to Statistics and Methods describes design, interpretation, and examples of a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial.

Stepped-Wedge Cluster Randomized Trial???
What on earth is that????!!!!
A complicated study design in which an intervention is rolled out at different times across sites
Excellent article will help you understand and make sense of this design.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Who funds biomedical research? @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Opportunistic Screening of Chronic Liver Disease with Deep-Learning–Enhanced Echocardiography Chronic liver disease (CLD) affects more than 1.5 billion adults, most of whom are asymptomatic and undiagnosed. Echocardiography is broadly performed and visualizes the liver, but this information...

New example of opportunistic A.I. in medicine
Get a liver diagnosis from an echocardiogram
ai.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
@cedarssinai.bsky.social @ai.nejm.org

New Insights Into Older Hearts Heart disease is more common in people over 65, but treatments are better than ever. That can complicate decision-making for older heart patients.

This is an important @nytimes.com piece on Geriatric Cardiology and how we need to think differently when caring for our older cardiac patients: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/15/h...
#CardioSky

Great conversation with Dr. Blachman today on SiriusXM about healthy cardiovascular aging. Our NYU Geriatric Cardiology Program is celebrating its 10th year! ❤️ #CardioSky #Geriatrics #MedSky

the yield on NIH research for economic activity

How to get 146% return on investment?
The NIH. That's just the economic benefit.
Biomedical research promotes human health.

The NIH’s drastic cut to indirect cost rates is a critical threat to U.S. research infrastructure The drastic reduction in indirect costs is not a path to innovation or cost savings — it’s a threat to U.S.’s position as global leader in medical research.

Massive NIH cuts to research infrastructure threaten the foundation of U.S. research—putting our future at risk. We need innovation in funding, not dismantling our research engine. My take in @statnews: www.statnews.com/2025/02/08/n...

This 👇 www.acc.org/latest-in-ca... #CardioSky @accintouch.bsky.social

The competing interests for a letter to BMJ: I am 60 years of age, lean and more-or-less active, with no history or family history of cardiovascular disease. Since soon after beginning a LCHF diet 8 years ago, I have no longer needed to visit my GP for illness or medicines as I once did frequently, and my fitness has markedly improved. However, my GP then became concerned about the rise in my LDL cholesterol level and advises me to take a statin, despite every other available marker of cardiometabolic health now being ideal

The BMJ will always be the funniest journal 😂
#CardioSky #MedSky

🚨 NEW in @JACCJournals: Despite global initiatives, 2° prevention medication use in CVD stagnant or declining in most income-level groups. 12-year study across 17 countries. We must do better! 📉💔#HealthEquity @ACCinTouch #PURE

Read the full study 👉 www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/...

Preventing cognitive decline through lifestyle intervention, results of a large randomized trial
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Conducted online, 4 modules, personalized, targeting physical activity, nutrition, cognitive activity, depression/anxiety, in at-risk individuals, mean age 65 years