Rahul Potluri | |
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Born | Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India | 19 December 1983
Nationality | British |
Education | Aston Medical School, Aston University, University of Manchester, University of Birmingham |
Occupation(s) | Doctor, scientific researcher |
Organizations | ACALM (Algorithm for Comorbidities, Associations, Length of stay and Mortality) Study Unit |
Rahul Potluri (born 19 December 1983) is a British physician, researcher and founder of ACALM (Algorithm for Comorbidites, Associations, Length of stay and Mortality) Study Unit, United Kingdom (UK). His clinical epidemiology research unit is one of the first to use big data in healthcare and medical research. His work has shown for the first time a link between high cholesterol and breast cancer. Further research has suggested the role of cholesterol and possibly statins improving the mortality in patients with breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer and bowel cancer. Other prominent studies include health services research evaluating differences in death rates from weekend admission and discharge from UK hospitals, ethnic variations and the interplay between cardiovascular disease and mental health.
Rahul Potluri was born in India and moved to the UK at the age of eight.[ citation needed ] He attended King Edwards VI Five Ways School in Birmingham. He undertook medical undergraduate training at the University of Birmingham. His clinical training included medicine and cardiology in London and Manchester.[ citation needed ] He was appointed as Honorary Clinical Lecturer in Cardiology at Aston University, Birmingham, UK in 2013. [1] [2]
Potluri developed the ACALM methodology as a medical student and along with Hardeep Uppal founded the ACALM Study Unit in 2013. [1] Research from this unit is performed from a large clinical dataset of over one million patients which is developed using ACALM methodology from anonymous routinely collected data. [2]
Potluri is an expert in big data analytics in medical and healthcare research. He spoke on the topic at the European Society of Cardiology Conference in Rome, Italy, in August 2016 and highlighted potential developments in the field to come. [3]
Potluri and the ACALM Study Unit showed for the first time in humans, a possible association between high cholesterol and breast cancer. This work was presented at the European Society of Cardiology, Frontiers in Cardiovascular Biology Conference in Barcelona, July 2014 and was widely reported in the global media. [2] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Further research presented in 2016 showed the role of high cholesterol and possibly the role of statins improving the mortality and survival of patients with breast cancer, lung cancer, bowel cancer and prostate cancer and strengthening calls for a clinical trial of statins in cancer. [9] [10] [11]
Potluri presented research from the ACALM Study Unit at the European Society of Cardiology Conference in London, August 2015, which showed that heart attack patients admitted at the weekend died earlier compared to those admitted during the working week. [12] [13] Subsequent research looking at patients discharged from UK hospitals at the weekend had significantly worsened mortality and survival compared to those discharged during the working week. [14] [15] This was the first study of its kind from the UK. The significance and implications of these findings for UK are being widely debated. [15] [16] Further studies performed in 2016 and presented at the British Cardiovascular Society Conference showed that patients admitted with a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation during the weekend had worse mortality and patients with heart failure discharged at the weekend also had a higher risk of death. [17] [18]
Research led by Potluri evaluating ethnic group variations in healthcare and particularly length of stay in hospital and mortality has been widely published. His work from the ACALM Study Unit showed that patients of South Asian origin stay in hospital for a shorter period of time compared to other ethnic groups in a variety of conditions such as Myocardial Infarction, Pulmonary Embolism, Stroke, Diabetes Mellitus and Atrial Fibrillation. [19] [20] [21] [22] Other research focusing on young South Asians has shown that they have a higher risk of Diabetes and associated heart disease compared to other ethnic groups. [21] [22] In 2010, he presented research at the World Congress of Cardiology in Beijing which showed that Haemorrhagic Stroke is increasing amongst South Asians and was reported in the media.[ citation needed ]
Potluri's research from 2007 has highlighted and shown the significant effect of mental health conditions on physical health and in particular cardiovascular disease. [23] [24] [25] A series of publications have led to raised awareness of psychiatric conditions amongst cardiovascular disease in the UK. Specifically research showing for the first time that mental health conditions prolong length of hospital stay in patients with heart failure highlighted significant cost and service provision implications for the United Kingdom National Health Service. [23]
Another important study which was widely reported showed that married people with heart attacks had significantly improved mortality and long-term survival compared to single and divorced patients. [26] [27] The implications of these findings were widely debated as Marriage was thought to be a proxy for psychosocial support which is essential for heart attack patient to ensure they take all the prescribed medications which determines long term outcome. [28] [29] [30]
He was awarded the Cochrane prize from the Faculty of Public Health, United Kingdom for his research on patients of South Asian origin in 2007. [31] Other international prizes include the Young Investigator Award from the International Atherosclerosis Society at the World Congress of Cardiology, Beijing in 2010, the Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging (ASCI) Travelling Fellowship from the Hong Kong College of Radiologists in 2011 and the Young Investigator Grant from the European Neurological Society, Milan in 2009. National prizes as a medical student have included the Wellcome Trust Prize in 2007, the Diabetes UK award in 2007 and the Denis Burkitt Award from the British Nutrition Foundation. [1]
Coronary artery disease (CAD), also called coronary heart disease (CHD), ischemic heart disease (IHD), myocardial ischemia, or simply heart disease, involves the reduction of blood flow to the heart muscle due to build-up of atherosclerotic plaque in the arteries of the heart. It is the most common of the cardiovascular diseases. Types include stable angina, unstable angina, and myocardial infarction. A common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may travel into the shoulder, arm, back, neck, or jaw. Occasionally it may feel like heartburn. Usually symptoms occur with exercise or emotional stress, last less than a few minutes, and improve with rest. Shortness of breath may also occur and sometimes no symptoms are present. In many cases, the first sign is a heart attack. Other complications include heart failure or an abnormal heartbeat.
Cholesterol is the principal sterol of all higher animals, distributed in body tissues, especially the brain and spinal cord, and in animal fats and oils.
Statins, also known as HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, are a class of lipid-lowering medications that reduce illness and mortality in those who are at high risk of cardiovascular disease. They are the most commonly prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs.
The Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study, was a multicentre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, which provided the initial data that supported the use of the cholesterol-lowering drug, simvastatin, in people with a moderately raised cholesterol and coronary heart disease (CHD); that is people who had previously had a heart attack or angina. The study was sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Merck and enrolled 4,444 people from 94 centres in Scandinavia.
A saturated fat is a type of fat in which the fatty acid chains have all single bonds. A fat known as a glyceride is made of two kinds of smaller molecules: a short glycerol backbone and fatty acids that each contain a long linear or branched chain of carbon (C) atoms. Along the chain, some carbon atoms are linked by single bonds (-C-C-) and others are linked by double bonds (-C=C-). A double bond along the carbon chain can react with a pair of hydrogen atoms to change into a single -C-C- bond, with each H atom now bonded to one of the two C atoms. Glyceride fats without any carbon chain double bonds are called saturated because they are "saturated with" hydrogen atoms, having no double bonds available to react with more hydrogen.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases, stroke, heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, rheumatic heart disease, cardiomyopathy, abnormal heart rhythms, congenital heart disease, valvular heart disease, carditis, aortic aneurysms, peripheral artery disease, thromboembolic disease, and venous thrombosis.
Hypercholesterolemia, also called high cholesterol, is the presence of high levels of cholesterol in the blood. It is a form of hyperlipidemia, hyperlipoproteinemia, and dyslipidemia.
Dyslipidemia is a metabolic disorder characterized by abnormally high or low amounts of any or all lipids or lipoproteins in the blood. Dyslipidemia is a risk factor for the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVD), which include coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, and peripheral artery disease. Although dyslipidemia is a risk factor for ASCVD, abnormal levels don't mean that lipid lowering agents need to be started. Other factors, such as comorbid conditions and lifestyle in addition to dyslipidemia, is considered in a cardiovascular risk assessment. In developed countries, most dyslipidemias are hyperlipidemias; that is, an elevation of lipids in the blood. This is often due to diet and lifestyle. Prolonged elevation of insulin resistance can also lead to dyslipidemia. Likewise, increased levels of O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) may cause dyslipidemia.
The Heart Protection Study was a randomized controlled trial run by the Clinical Trial Service Unit, and funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the British Heart Foundation (BHF) in the United Kingdom. It studied the use of the cholesterol lowering drug, simvastatin 40 mg and vitamin supplementation in people who were at risk of cardiovascular disease. It was led by Jane Armitage, an epidemiologist at the Clinical Trial Service Unit.
Atorvastatin, sold under the brand name Lipitor among others, is a statin medication used to prevent cardiovascular disease in those at high risk and to treat abnormal lipid levels. For the prevention of cardiovascular disease, statins are a first-line treatment. It is taken by mouth.
Simvastatin, sold under the brand name Zocor among others, is a statin, a type of lipid-lowering medication. It is used along with exercise, diet, and weight loss to decrease elevated lipid levels. It is also used to decrease the risk of heart problems in those at high risk. It is taken by mouth.
Ezetimibe is a medication used to treat high blood cholesterol and certain other lipid abnormalities. Generally it is used together with dietary changes and a statin. Alone, it is less preferred than a statin. It is taken by mouth. It is also available in the fixed combinations ezetimibe/simvastatin, ezetimibe/atorvastatin, ezetimibe/rosuvastatin, and ezetimibe/bempedoic acid.
Torcetrapib was a drug being developed to treat hypercholesterolemia and prevent cardiovascular disease. Its development was halted in 2006 when phase III studies showed excessive all-cause mortality in the treatment group receiving a combination of atorvastatin (Lipitor) and torcetrapib.
Fenofibrate, is an oral medication of the fibrate class used to treat abnormal blood lipid levels. It is less commonly used compared than statins because it treats a different type of cholesterol abnormality to statins. While statins have strong evidence for reducing heart disease and death, there is evidence to suggest that fenofibrate also reduces the risk of heart disease and death. However, this seems only to apply to specific populations of people with elevated triglyceride levels and reduced high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Its use is recommended together with dietary changes.
Paul M. Ridker is a cardiovascular epidemiologist and biomedical researcher. He is currently the Eugene Braunwald Professor of Medicine at Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he directs the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention. Ridker also holds an appointment as Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may travel into the shoulder, arm, back, neck or jaw. Often it occurs in the center or left side of the chest and lasts for more than a few minutes. The discomfort may occasionally feel like heartburn. Other symptoms may include shortness of breath, nausea, feeling faint, a cold sweat, feeling tired, and decreased level of consciousness. About 30% of people have atypical symptoms. Women more often present without chest pain and instead have neck pain, arm pain or feel tired. Among those over 75 years old, about 5% have had an MI with little or no history of symptoms. An MI may cause heart failure, an irregular heartbeat, cardiogenic shock or cardiac arrest.
The JUPITER trial was a clinical trial aimed at evaluating whether statins reduce heart attacks and strokes in people with normal cholesterol levels.
Aseem Malhotra is a controversial British cardiologist, public health campaigner, author, and advocate against the use of COVID vaccines. He campaigns for people to reduce sugar in their diet, promotes a low-carb and high-fat diet, and encourages the reduction of medical overprescribing. He was the first science director of Action on Sugar in 2014. He was listed as one of The Sunday Times 500 most influential people in 2016 and was twice recognized as one of the top fifty black and minority ethnic community member pioneers in the UK's National Health Service by the Health Service Journal. Malhotra is co-author of a book called The Pioppi Diet.
Cardiovascular disease in women is an integral area of research in the ongoing studies of women's health. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an umbrella term for a wide range of diseases affecting the heart and blood vessels, including but not limited to, coronary artery disease, stroke, cardiomyopathy, myocardial infarctions, and aortic aneurysms.