Early ablation after stroke with atrial fibrillation looks promising in observational data; digital tools lower blood pressure modestly after stroke

The edition in brief

A target trial emulation from six Chinese centres compared early catheter ablation with medical therapy in 431 patients with atrial fibrillation and prior ischaemic stroke. At 36 months ablation was associated with 1.54 more event-free months and an 11.17% lower absolute risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, but the study is retrospective and prone to residual confounding; it is not a substitute for randomised trials. In Parkinson disease, loss-of-function MC1R variants were associated with about 30% faster motor decline in a discovery cohort and 50% in a replication cohort, in people of European descent. In the LIMS study of 659 people with multiple sclerosis, a three-month digital lifestyle programme was followed by modest improvements in patient-reported outcomes that attenuated, with clearer, partly sustained gains in diet and body mass index. A meta-analysis of 29 studies (8,389 participants) found digital health interventions lowered systolic blood pressure by 5.8 mm Hg after stroke (95% CI 1.6 to 9.9), though prediction intervals crossed zero, heterogeneity was substantial, follow-up was short and recurrent stroke was rarely assessed.