LAUSR

Attended by more than 1400 doctors and health professionals, the annual congress of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC), EuroPrevent, took place, for the first time in Ljubljana, Slovenia, last April (2018). The main theme of this year’s congress was ‘Evidence based cardiovascular prevention: A lifelong endeavour’, which was delivered through an intense programme including invited lectures and symposia, young-investigators awards sessions, abstract presentations and moderated poster sessions, alongside with a series of social and networking events. The most recent updates on cardiac rehabilitation, prevention and epidemiology, sports cardiology and exercise, and basic and translational research were presented. Highlights and new exciting areas included the scientific evidence supporting the adoption of relaxation techniques to reduce cardiovascular risk and the cardiovascular protective effects of food. In more detail, regular sauna was shown to have positive effects on vascular physiology, morbidity and mortality in patients with cardiac disease. However, alternating between heat exposure and cold water immersion should be avoided as it may trigger acute coronary syndromes and arrhythmias. Yoga was shown to improve left ventricular ejection fraction and inflammatory markers in cardiovascular diseases and heart failure patients; whilst, in addition to pharmacological therapy, it has also shown beneficial effects in atrial fibrillation treatment. Red rice yeast (RYR), soy and combined nutraceuticals have shown low-density lipoprotein cholesterol lowering effects. However, RYR is chemically identical to lovastatin and therefore some side effects typical of this molecule may appear. Moreover, the presence in these products of citrinin and non-purified monocolin K are raising some safety concerns. The latest news regarding the most important trials on e-health in cardiac rehabilitation were presented, including the EU-Care Project, implemented with EU Horizon 2020 funds. The project, dedicated to elderly cardiac patients undergoing rehabilitation, aims to compare conventional cardiac rehabilitation programmes with innovative mobile tele-monitoring protocols. The SmartCare-CAD trial has the objective of investigating the efficacy of cardiac tele-rehabilitation versus centre-based cardiac rehabilitation. eEduHeart I aims to study the efficacy of combined conventional cardiac care with e-learning in cardiac rehabilitation. The REMOTE-CR trial aims to assess the effects and non-inferiority of mobile health technologies for the remote delivery of rehabilitation exercise programmes. Novelties in the management of cardiomyopathy and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) in athletes were also presented. That there is not enough evidence to support the assumption that exercise increases the risk of life-threatening arrhythmias in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was admitted. Therefore, the sudden cardiac death risk during exercise may be low, especially compared with that of patients affected by arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy. ICD indications in athletes, their management and advantages of subcutaneous devices were extensively discussed during a dedicated session, which highlighted the most innovative practices implemented worldwide. The first results from the EUROASPIRE V survey, currently involving 27 countries, were presented and compared with the previous studies. The most up-todate approaches on the management of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) were presented. Results showed that the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines regarding lifestyle changes could be implemented more effectively, in particular when it comes to promoting smoking cessation, physical activity participation, nutrition management, hypertension and