In-Person ACC Meeting Returns, Serving Diet Intervention Studies and More

 Much-anticipated data on salt restriction and nutrition education are on the menu at this weekend's American College of Cardiology (ACC) meeting, which welcomes in-person attendees for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting will take place in Washington, D.C., and will also offer virtual streaming and participation for some sessions.

Among ACC's late-breaking scientific presentations scheduled for Saturday is SODIUM-HF, the largest and longest-running randomized trial of salt restriction in patients with heart failure. If nutritional counseling reduces sodium intake and cuts down on major adverse events or hospitalizations at 1 year, SODIUM-HF could be the study that strengthens the limited evidence base for curbing dietary salt.

Primary prevention guidelines currently recommend limiting salt, but do not endorse a specific target daily amount.

Also notable at this year's ACC meeting is the SuperWIN trial, which tested how nutrition education sessions in grocery stores, coupled with online tools, might help people adhere to the heart-healthy Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. A partnership with the Kroger supermarket chain allowed researchers to determine how participants' eating habits changed after 3 months based on their grocery purchasing data. SuperWIN will be presented on Sunday in a late-breaking trial session.

Other highlights of the scientific program include:

• VALOR-HCM: A phase III trial evaluating mavacamten in patients with symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; topline results were previously announced, with the cardiac myosin inhibitor reportedly cutting down the need for septal reduction therapy at week 16

• POISE-3: In this large trial, tranexamic acid is put to the test for bleeding prevention in noncardiac surgery

• PROTECT: Also in the setting of noncardiac surgery, this study looked at intraoperative hypothermia versus aggressive warming to 98.6º F to find which is associated with less myocardial injury at 30 days

• CHAP: In this randomized trial, pregnant women with chronic hypertension are treated with a blood pressure target goal of 140/90 mm Hg, with pregnancy outcomes compared against untreated controls

• PROMPT: A cluster-randomized trial on using electronic health record alerts to improve prescribing of guideline-directed medical therapy for heart failure

• TRANSLATE-TIMI 70: A dose-finding study evaluating the lipid-lowering effects of vupanorsen, an antisense oligonucleotide inhibiting ANGPTL3 synthesis

• FLAVOUR: A head-to-head comparison of fractional flow reserve versus intravascular ultrasound to guide angioplasty in people with intermediate coronary stenosis

On Friday, the eve of the ACC meeting's kickoff, updated heart failure guidelines will be released. A Saturday session will be dedicated to the new recommendations.

The conference comes during a time when states across the U.S. are relaxing their pandemic restrictions, despite the spread of the Omicron subvariant BA.2.

For a safe return to an in-person meeting experience, ACC organizers are requiring attendees to provide proof of full COVID vaccination (booster optional), which will be verified when they pass one of four physical health and safety checkpoints. Additionally, masks must be worn in the convention center.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/acc/97974