Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death and disability for adults in the U.S. Recent projections from the American Heart Association suggest that by 2050, more than 45 million American adults will have clinical CVD and more than 184 million will have hypertension. As a result, inflation-adjusted direct health care costs related to CVD risk factors are projected to triple between 2020 and 2050, to $1.34 trillion annually, and direct costs related to clinical CVD conditions are projected to rise from $393 billion to $1.49 trillion. Thus, understanding early-life determinants of cardiovascular health behaviors and health factors are of particular interest.

In the first prospective study of social determinants from birth, and how they impact young adult cardiovascular health, researchers from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and colleagues are investigating the upstream causes of cardiovascular disease — the factors that drive poor diet, a sedentary lifestyle, nicotine exposure, poor sleep, obesity, and adverse blood cholesterol, blood pressure and blood glucose levels. Known as the Future of Families Cardiovascular Health Among Young Adults (FF-CHAYA) Study, a new paper describes the rationale, study design, methods and characteristics of the FF-CHAYA cohort, a novel longitudinal study designed to examine associations of childhood social determinants with young adult cardiovascular health and early arterial injury.

Young people have a nuanced view of how their digital lives affect their mental health and want more support and involvement from the adults around them. This is shown in an international study published in The Journal of Adolescent Health by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in collaboration with UNICEF.

How physicians feel about artificial intelligence in medicine has been studied many times. But what do patients think? A team led by researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has investigated this for the first time in a large study spanning six continents. The central finding: the worse people rate their own health, the more likely they are to reject the use of AI. The study is intended to help align future medical AI applications more closely with patients’ needs.

A study coordinated by researchers from the UAB and Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany shows for the first time the electrophysiological signals in the human brain associated with the extinction of fear memories, i.e., the suppression of negative or unpleasant experiences. The research, published in Nature Human Behaviour, opens the door to more effective therapies for patients with post-traumatic stress and anxiety disorders.