The Heart Rhythm Society is an international non-profit organization that promotes education and advocacy for cardiac arrhythmia professionals and patients. The society was founded in 1979 and counted over 7,100 members from over 70 countries as of January 2022.[third-party source needed] The official journal of the Heart Rhythm Society is Heart Rhythm, which provides readers scientific developments devoted to arrhythmias, devices, and cardiovascular electrophysiology. The Heart Rhythm Society is headquartered in Washington, DC, US.
AIM:The "2025 ACC/AHA/HRS/ISACHD/SCAI Guideline for the Management of Adults With Congenital Heart Disease" provides recommendations to guide clinicians on the evaluation and treatment of adult patients with congenital heart disease. It incorporates new evidence to replace the "2018 AHA/ACC Guideline for the Management of Adults With Congenital Heart Disease." METHODS:A comprehensive literature search was conducted with a focus on literature published from 2017 to 2024; in some instances, older literature was also collected and reviewed. Clinical studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and other evidence conducted on human participants and published in English were identified from MEDLINE (via PubMed), EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and CINAHL for selected searches. STRUCTURE:Recommendations from the "2018 AHA/ACC Guideline for the Management of Adults With Congenital Heart Disease" have been updated with new evidence to guide clinicians.
Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest remains a leading cause of mortality in the United States, with survival critically dependent on timely bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) use. Despite strong evidence supporting early intervention, bystander-initiated CPR remains suboptimal, with persistent racial, demographic, socioeconomic, literacy-related, and geographic disparities. National legislative efforts have been hampered by inadequate funding. To improve out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival and address these disparities, the Institute of Medicine has identified US high school students as a prime target for CPR education and AED use. Although most US states have legislated mandates for CPR and AED education, there is no consistent, standardized implementation process. 1-time or didactic-only training, limited hands-on practice, lack of longitudinal reinforcement, and inequitable AED access undermine effectiveness. This Heart Rhythm Society Scientific Statement evaluates the current landscape of CPR and AED education for US high school students, including the effectiveness of state legislative mandates, implementation strategies, and disparities in access and outcomes. We identify critical gaps and propose evidence-based solutions and an implementation framework for uniform, effective, and equitable initial and longitudinal CPR and AED training aiming to transform generations of US high school students into lifesavers.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is increasing in incidence, prevalence, and lifetime risk, and contributes to substantially greater health care costs and increased risks of stroke, heart failure, and mortality. Improving adherence to evidence-based recommendations equitably in AF is critical to advancing clinical care, patient outcomes, and public health. The writing committee developed a comprehensive set of 5 performance measures, which are appropriate for public reporting or pay-for-performance programs, and 16 quality measures, which are useful to clinicians and health care organizations for quality improvement. The writing committee selected the measures from the strongest recommendations (Class 1 or 3) in the “2023 ACC/AHA/ACCP/HRS Guideline for the Diagnosis and Management of Atrial Fibrillation.” The purpose of the writing committee’s performance measures is meant to ensure that patients with newly diagnosed AF receive a basic clinical evaluation, with an emphasis on secondary prevention for patients at all stages of AF, documenting stroke risk, and, if indicated, providing appropriate anticoagulation. AF quality measures cover a variety of topics including measuring and addressing health inequities, optimizing antiarrhythmic or anticoagulant treatment, engaging in shared decision-making for rate- versus rhythm-control strategies, and, in appropriate patients, offering catheter ablation for those with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. The performance and quality measures are intended to advance the quality and equity of AF care across all patient populations with AF.
