Moody & unSAVEd – CPAP for Prevention of Cardiovascular Endpoints in OSA and SSRI Treatment of Depression in Heart Failure

Is October making you overtired and moody? Tune in this week as Dr. Paxton Bach, resident in General Internal Medicine at UBC, and Kieran discuss two tantalizing studies!

The SAVE Clinical Trial is the largest ever to study the effect of CPAP on prevention of cardiovascular outcomes and death in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Adherence to CPAP can be less than optimal — why force it if the jury is out on whether or not it is effective in preventing cardiovascular endpoints in OSA patients? Kieran and Paxton discuss the results of the study and its potential implications for their practice.

Depression is 2-3x times more common in patients with heart failure than in patients without. Moreover, it negatively impacts quality of life and adherence to heart failure therapy, often resulting in hospital admissions. There must be an answer: how can depression be effectively treated in this population? Kieran and Paxton discuss a study which examines using escitalopram, an SSRI, to treat depression in patients with heart failure.

Paxton starts this week’s Good Stuff segment with a discussion on e-cigarettes: are they a gateway to other forms of smoking or are they an effective means of harm reduction? Kieran then takes the wheel with a medical jeopardy question: where did the Cochrane logo originate? Listen to find out!

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