Salim Yusuf

Current Positions

Executive Director – Population Health Research Institute

Distinguished University Professor of Medicine – McMaster University

Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario / Marion W. Burke Chair in Cardiovascular Disease

Joint Member, Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI)

Chief Scientist, Hamilton Health Sciences

 

Bio

Salim Yusuf, Distinguished University Professor of Medicine, and Executive Director of the Population Health Research Institute, McMaster University and Chief Scientist, Hamilton Health Sciences.

Salim Yusuf is an internationally renowned cardiologist and epidemiologist, whose work over 40 years has substantially influenced prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Born in India, medically qualified at St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore in 1976, he received a Rhodes Scholarship and obtained a DPhil from Oxford, during which he (along with Richard Peto, Rory Collins and Peter Sleight) initiated the concepts of large, simple trials, and meta-analysis. He proposed the concept of combination drug treatment for prevention of CVD to achieve large reductions in CVD with a single pill (now called the polypill concept), but more importantly has been evaluating the concept through large randomized trials. He leads several global studies involving >60 countries in every inhabited continent of the world aimed at enhancing knowledge about the biological, behavioural and societal causes, consequences, and approaches to control of heart diseases, and strokes through large multi-country programs such as INTERHEART, INTERSTROKE, and PURE.

He holds a Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario Research Chair and has received (among others) the Lifetime Research Achievement award of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society; the Paul Wood Silver Medal of the British Cardiac Society; the European Society of Cardiology gold medal, the clinical Research Prize of the American Heart Association and the International Award and the Braunwald Lecture of the American College of Cardiology. He has been inducted into the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame; been appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada, and received the Canada Gairdner Wightman Award in 2014. He has received four honorary doctorates, and is among the top 20 most cited health researchers in history.

Dr. Yusuf has published more than 1,000 articles in refereed journals, rising to the second most cited researcher in the world for 2011. He has mentored more than 120 scientists, several of whom are in leadership positions across the globe. He has been President of the World Heart Federation (2015-2016), where he initiated several programs (the Emerging Leaders program, road maps for CVD control and a course for training primary care practitioners in CVD prevention) aimed at halving the CVD burden globally within a generation. The World Heart Federation has recognized his contributions by naming the program the Salim Yusuf Emerging Leaders Program.

 

Key studies

Atrial Fibrillation trials

BENEFIT

COMPASS

HOPE series of trials

IMPI

INTERHEART

INTERSTROKE

OASIS series of trials

PURE

 

Publication

Publications are listed in chronological order by descending date. Link takes user to pubMed for publication details.

·         The Cost Implications of Off-Pump Versus On-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery at One Year.

Source: Ann Thorac Surg

·         Additional Events in the RE-LY Trial.

Source: N Engl J Med

·         The Preventive Potential of Common, Easily Measured Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease.

Source: Clin Chem

·         Response to letter regarding article, “management and outcomes of major bleeding during treatment with dabigatran or warfarin”.

Source: Circulation

·         Prednisolone and Mycobacterium indicus pranii in tuberculous pericarditis.

Source: N Engl J Med

·         Cardiovascular risk and events in 17 low-, middle-, and high-income countries.

Source: N Engl J Med

·         Response to letter regarding article, “causes of death and influencing factors in patients with atrial fibrillation: a competing-risk analysis from the randomized evaluation of long-term anticoagulant therapy study”.

Source: Circulation

·         Urinary sodium and potassium excretion, mortality, and cardiovascular events.

Source: N Engl J Med

·         Association of urinary sodium and potassium excretion with blood pressure.

Source: N Engl J Med

·         Risk factors for stroke in Tanzania.

Source: Lancet Glob Health

·         Predictors of early and late stroke following cardiac surgery.

Source: CMAJ

·         The mini-mental state examination, clinical factors, and motor vehicle crash risk.

Source: J Am Geriatr Soc

·         Mortality and morbidity in relation to changes in albuminuria, glucose status and systolic blood pressure: an analysis of the ONTARGET and TRANSCEND studies.

Source: Diabetologia

·         Towards better hypertension management in India.

Source: Indian J Med Res

·         Socioeconomic factors and use of secondary preventive therapies for cardiovascular diseases in South Asia: The PURE study.

Source: Eur J Prev Cardiol

·         Patterns of alcohol consumption and myocardial infarction risk: observations from 52 countries in the INTERHEART case-control study.

Source: Circulation

·         Incidental magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted imaging-positive lesions are rare in neurologically asymptomatic community-dwelling adults.

Source: Stroke

·         Modification of outcomes with aspirin or apixaban in relation to female and male sex in patients with atrial fibrillation: a secondary analysis of the AVERROES study.

Source: Stroke

·         The relationship between estimated sodium and potassium excretion and subsequent renal outcomes.

Source: Kidney Int

·         Effects of basal insulin glargine and omega-3 fatty acid on cognitive decline and probable cognitive impairment in people with dysglycaemia: a substudy of the ORIGIN trial.

Source: Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol

·         Kidney function after off-pump or on-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery: a randomized clinical trial.

Source: JAMA

·         Sleep duration, snoring habits and risk of acute myocardial infarction in China population: results of the INTERHEART study.

Source: BMC Public Health

·         Influence of previous heart failure hospitalization on cardiovascular events in patients with reduced and preserved ejection fraction.

Source: Circ Heart Fail

·         Reply: regarding the effect of dabigatran plasma concentrations.

Source: J Am Coll Cardiol

·         Association of cyclooxygenase-2 genetic variant with cardiovascular disease.

Source: Eur Heart J

·         Importance of persistent elevation of cardiac biomarkers in atrial fibrillation: a RE-LY substudy.

Source: Heart

·         The population risks of dietary salt excess are exaggerated.

Source: Can J Cardiol

·         Basal insulin glargine and microvascular outcomes in dysglycaemic individuals: results of the Outcome Reduction with an Initial Glargine Intervention (ORIGIN) trial.

Source: Diabetologia

·         Association of handgrip strength to cardiovascular mortality in pre-diabetic and diabetic patients: a subanalysis of the ORIGIN trial.

Source: Int J Cardiol

·         Rationale and design of the steroids in cardiac surgery trial.

Source: Am Heart J

·         Influence of Tea Consumption on Acute Myocardial Infarction in China Population: The INTERHEART China Study.

Source: Angiology

·         The cost implications of an early versus delayed invasive strategy in Acute Coronary Syndromes: the TIMACS study.

Source: J Med Econ

·         Incremental value of left ventricular systolic and diastolic function to determine outcome in patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: the echocardiographic substudy of the OASIS-6 trial.

Source: Echocardiography

·         Aspirin in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery.

Source: N Engl J Med

·         Clonidine in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery.

Source: N Engl J Med

·         Elevated cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) activity, a major determinant of the atherogenic dyslipidemia, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in South Asians.

Source: Eur J Prev Cardiol

·         Impact of telmisartan on cardiovascular outcome in hypertensive patients at high risk: a Telmisartan Randomised AssessmeNt Study in ACE iNtolerant subjects with cardiovascular Disease subanalysis.

Source: J Hypertens

·         Aliskiren alone or with other antihypertensives in the elderly with borderline and stage 1 hypertension: the APOLLO trial.

Source: Eur Heart J

·         Steroids In caRdiac Surgery (SIRS) trial: acute kidney injury substudy protocol of an international randomised controlled trial.

Source: BMJ Open

·         Design and rationale of the TOTAL trial: a randomized trial of routine aspiration ThrOmbecTomy with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) versus PCI ALone in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction undergoing primary PCI.

Source: Am Heart J

·         The association of basal insulin glargine and/or n-3 fatty acids with incident cancers in patients with dysglycemia.

Source: Diabetes Care

·         Documenting the global burden of cardiovascular disease: a major achievement but still a work in progress.

Source: Circulation

·         Efficacy and safety of apixaban compared with aspirin in patients who previously tried but failed treatment with vitamin K antagonists: results from the AVERROES trial.

Source: Eur Heart J

·         Validation and comparison of three formulae to estimate sodium and potassium excretion from a single morning fasting urine compared to 24-h measures in 11 countries.

Source: J Hypertens

·         Polypills: essential medicines for cardiovascular disease secondary prevention?

Source: J Am Coll Cardiol

·         Impact of lifestyle factors on fracture risk in older patients with cardiovascular disease: a prospective cohort study of 26,335 individuals from 40 countries.

Source: Age Ageing

·         Myocardial injury after noncardiac surgery: a large, international, prospective cohort study establishing diagnostic criteria, characteristics, predictors, and 30-day outcomes.

Source: Anesthesiology

·         The association between ownership of common household devices and obesity and diabetes in high, middle and low income countries.

Source: CMAJ

·         Sodium intake and renal outcomes: a systematic review.

Source: Am J Hypertens

·         Variations in cause and management of atrial fibrillation in a prospective registry of 15,400 emergency department patients in 46 countries: the RE-LY Atrial Fibrillation Registry.

Source: Circulation

·         Effect of comorbidities on outcomes and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor effects in patients with predominantly left ventricular dysfunction and heart failure.

Source: Eur J Heart Fail

·         Global differences in lung function by region (PURE): an international, community-based prospective study.

Source: Lancet Respir Med

·         Analysing recurrent hospitalizations in heart failure: a review of statistical methodology, with application to CHARM-Preserved.

Source: Eur J Heart Fail

·         Patient and healthcare provider barriers to hypertension awareness, treatment and follow up: a systematic review and meta-analysis of qualitative and quantitative studies.

Source: PLoS One

·         Variation at the DPP4 locus influences apolipoprotein B levels in South Asians and exhibits heterogeneity in Europeans related to BMI.

Source: Diabetologia

·         Prognostic usefulness of left ventricular hypertrophy by electrocardiography in patients with atrial fibrillation (from the Randomized Evaluation of Long-Term Anticoagulant Therapy Study).

Source: Am J Cardiol

·         Heart rate is associated with increased risk of major cardiovascular events, cardiovascular and all-cause death in patients with stable chronic cardiovascular disease: an analysis of ONTARGET/TRANSCEND.

Source: Clin Res Cardiol

·         Gene-centric meta-analyses for central adiposity traits in up to 57 412 individuals of European descent confirm known loci and reveal several novel associations.

Source: Hum Mol Genet

·         Patient outcomes using the European label for dabigatran. A post-hoc analysis from the RE-LY database.

Source: Thromb Haemost

·         Efficacy and safety of dabigatran compared with warfarin in relation to baseline renal function in patients with atrial fibrillation: a RE-LY (Randomized Evaluation of Long-term Anticoagulation Therapy) trial analysis.

Source: Circulation

·         Is the superiority of apoB over non-HDL-C as a marker of cardiovascular risk in the INTERHEART study due to confounding by related variables?

Source: J Clin Lipidol

·         Combination pharmacotherapy to prevent cardiovascular disease: present status and challenges.

Source: Eur Heart J

·         Procedural volume and outcomes with radial or femoral access for coronary angiography and intervention.

Source: J Am Coll Cardiol

·         When it comes to trials, do we get what we pay for?

Source: N Engl J Med

·         The effect of ramipril and telmisartan on serum potassium and its association with cardiovascular and renal events: results from the ONTARGET trial.

Source: Eur J Prev Cardiol

·         Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study: Baseline characteristics of the household sample and comparative analyses with national data in 17 countries.

Source: Am Heart J

·         Management and outcomes of major bleeding during treatment with dabigatran or warfarin.

Source: Circulation

·         The effect of dabigatran plasma concentrations and patient characteristics on the frequency of ischemic stroke and major bleeding in atrial fibrillation patients: the RE-LY Trial (Randomized Evaluation of Long-Term Anticoagulation Therapy).

Source: J Am Coll Cardiol

·         Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion Study II (LAAOS II).

Source: Can J Cardiol

·         Extreme sodium reductions for the entire population: zealotry or evidence based?

Source: Am J Hypertens

·         Randomized clinical trials–removing unnecessary obstacles.

Source: N Engl J Med

·         Causes of death and influencing factors in patients with atrial fibrillation: a competing-risk analysis from the randomized evaluation of long-term anticoagulant therapy study.

Source: Circulation

·         Prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in rural and urban communities in high-, middle-, and low-income countries.

Source: JAMA

·         Does hypoglycaemia increase the risk of cardiovascular events? A report from the ORIGIN trial.

Source: Eur Heart J

·         Polypill for cardiovascular disease prevention–reply.

Source: JAMA

·         Diet and kidney disease in high-risk individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Source: JAMA Intern Med

·         Secretory phospholipase A(2)-IIA and cardiovascular disease: a mendelian randomization study.

Source: J Am Coll Cardiol

·         The effects of apixaban on hospitalizations in patients with different types of atrial fibrillation: insights from the AVERROES trial.

Source: Eur Heart J

·         Effects of nonpersistence with medication on outcomes in high-risk patients with cardiovascular disease.

Source: Am Heart J

·         Clinical characteristics and outcomes of young and very young adults with heart failure: The CHARM programme (Candesartan in Heart Failure Assessment of Reduction in Mortality and Morbidity).

Source: J Am Coll Cardiol

·         Dabigatran compared with warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation and symptomatic heart failure: a subgroup analysis of the RE-LY trial.

Source: Eur J Heart Fail

·         Off-pump or on-pump coronary-artery bypass grafting.

Source: N Engl J Med

·         Causal relationship between adiponectin and metabolic traits: a Mendelian randomization study in a multiethnic population.

Source: PLoS One

·         Heart rate and blood pressure interactions in the development of erectile dysfunction in high-risk cardiovascular patients.

Source: Eur J Prev Cardiol

·         Rationale and design of the Primary pREvention strategies at the community level to Promote Adherence of treatments to pREvent cardiovascular diseases trial number (CTRI/2012/09/002981).

Source: Am Heart J

·         Balancing the benefits and risks of 2 doses of dabigatran compared with warfarin in atrial fibrillation.

Source: J Am Coll Cardiol

·         The Long-Term Multicenter Observational Study of Dabigatran Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation (RELY-ABLE) Study.

Source: Circulation

·         Dabigatran versus warfarin: effects on ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes and bleeding in Asians and non-Asians with atrial fibrillation.

Source: Stroke

·         Metabolic effects of telmisartan in subjects with abdominal obesity: a prospective randomized controlled trial.

Source: Blood Press

·         Measures of cardiovascular risk and subclinical atherosclerosis in a cohort of women with a remote history of preeclampsia.

Source: Atherosclerosis

·         A cardiovascular study that includes a million subjects.

Source: Eur Heart J

·         Impact of access to hospitals with catheterization facilities in the second Gulf Registry of Acute Coronary Events (Gulf RACE-2).

Source: Coron Artery Dis

·         Hypertension and diabetes: entry points for prevention and control of the global cardiovascular epidemic.

Source: Int J Hypertens

·         Response to letters regarding article, “Periprocedural bleeding and thromboembolic events with dabigatran compared with warfarin: results from the Randomized Evaluation of Long-Term Anticoagulation Therapy (RE-LY) Randomized Trial”.

Source: Circulation

·         Genetic information and the prediction of incident type 2 diabetes in a high-risk multiethnic population: the EpiDREAM genetic study.

Source: Diabetes Care

·         Prevalence of a healthy lifestyle among individuals with cardiovascular disease in high-, middle- and low-income countries: The Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study.

Source: JAMA

·         Mortality benefits from U.S. population-wide reduction in sodium consumption: projections from 3 modeling approaches.

Source: Hypertension

·         Effect of insulin glargine and n-3FA on carotid intima-media thickness in people with dysglycemia at high risk for cardiovascular events: the glucose reduction and atherosclerosis continuing evaluation study (ORIGIN-GRACE).

Source: Diabetes Care

·         Chronic pain syndromes after ischemic stroke: PRoFESS trial.

Source: Stroke

·         Oxygen therapy in acute coronary syndrome: are the benefits worth the risk?

Source: Eur Heart J

·         Combination therapy to prevent cardiovascular disease: slow progress.

Source: JAMA

·         Effects of off-pump and on-pump coronary-artery bypass grafting at 1 year.

Source: N Engl J Med

·         Genetic determinants of dabigatran plasma levels and their relation to bleeding.

Source: Circulation

·         Response to letter regarding article, “Cardiac biomarkers are associated with an increased risk of stroke and death in patients with atrial fibrillation: a randomized evaluation of long-term anticoagulation therapy (RE-LY) substudy”.

Source: Circulation

·         Influence of dietary patterns on the risk of acute myocardial infarction in China population: the INTERHEART China study.

Source: Chin Med J (Engl)

·         Maternal and pregnancy related predictors of cardiometabolic traits in newborns.

Source: PLoS One

·         Modification of outcomes with aspirin or apixaban in relation to CHADS(2) and CHA(2)DS(2)-VASc scores in patients with atrial fibrillation: a secondary analysis of the AVERROES study.

Source: Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol

·         Why are we failing to implement effective therapies in cardiovascular disease?

Source: Eur Heart J

·         Rationale and design of the Investigation of the Management of Pericarditis (IMPI) trial: a 2 × 2 factorial randomized double-blind multicenter trial of adjunctive prednisolone and Mycobacterium w immunotherapy in tuberculous pericarditis.

Source: Am Heart J

·         Physical activity levels, sport activities, and risk of acute myocardial infarction: results of the INTERHEART study in China.

Source: Angiology

·         Differences in perceptions and fast food eating behaviours between Indians living in high- and low-income neighbourhoods of Chandigarh, India.

Source: Nutr J

·         Central statistical monitoring: detecting fraud in clinical trials.

Source: Clin Trials

·         Concomitant use of antiplatelet therapy with dabigatran or warfarin in the Randomized Evaluation of Long-Term Anticoagulation Therapy (RE-LY) trial.

Source: Circulation

·         Dual inhibition of the renin-angiotensin system in high-risk diabetes and risk for stroke and other outcomes: results of the ONTARGET trial.

Source: J Hypertens

·         Gene-centric meta-analysis of lipid traits in African, East Asian and Hispanic populations.

Source: PLoS One

·         Influence of socioeconomic status on acute myocardial infarction in the Chinese population: the INTERHEART China study.

Source: Chin Med J (Engl)

·         Relationship between healthy diet and risk of cardiovascular disease among patients on drug therapies for secondary prevention: a prospective cohort study of 31 546 high-risk individuals from 40 countries.

Source: Circulation

·         Albuminuria and rapid loss of GFR and risk of new hip and pelvic fractures.

Source: Clin J Am Soc Nephrol

·         Computationally estimated apolipoproteins B and A1 in predicting cardiovascular risk.

Source: Atherosclerosis

·         Association of risk factors with acute myocardial infarction in Middle Eastern countries: the INTERHEART Middle East study.

Source: Eur J Prev Cardiol

·         Effects of radial versus femoral artery access in patients with acute coronary syndromes with or without ST-segment elevation.

Source: J Am Coll Cardiol

·         Discordance analysis of apolipoprotein B and non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol as markers of cardiovascular risk in the INTERHEART study.

Source: Atherosclerosis

·         Ambulatory blood pressure values in the Ongoing Telmisartan Alone and in Combination with Ramipril Global Endpoint Trial (ONTARGET).

Source: Hypertension

·         Predicting myocardial infarction and other serious cardiac outcomes using high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T in a high-risk stable population.

Source: Clin Biochem

·         Large-scale gene-centric meta-analysis across 32 studies identifies multiple lipid loci.

Source: Am J Hum Genet

·         Enhancing risk prediction with PET coronary flow reserve: can it be clinically useful?

Source: JACC Cardiovasc Imaging

·         Bleeding during treatment with aspirin versus apixaban in patients with atrial fibrillation unsuitable for warfarin: the apixaban versus acetylsalicylic acid to prevent stroke in atrial fibrillation patients who have failed or are unsuitable for vitamin K

Source: Stroke

·         Variation in warfarin dose adjustment practice is responsible for differences in the quality of anticoagulation control between centers and countries: an analysis of patients receiving warfarin in the randomized evaluation of long-term anticoagulation the

Source: Circulation

·         Alcohol consumption and the risk of incident atrial fibrillation among people with cardiovascular disease.

Source: CMAJ

·         The CHA2DS2-VASc score identifies those patients with atrial fibrillation and a CHADS2 score of 1 who are unlikely to benefit from oral anticoagulant therapy.

Source: Eur Heart J

·         Environmental Profile of a Community’s Health (EPOCH): an ecometric assessment of measures of the community environment based on individual perception.

Source: PLoS One

·         Impact of resting heart rate on mortality, disability and cognitive decline in patients after ischaemic stroke.

Source: Eur Heart J

·         Impact of sex on cardiovascular outcome in patients at high cardiovascular risk: analysis of the Telmisartan Randomized Assessment Study in ACE-Intolerant Subjects With Cardiovascular Disease (TRANSCEND) and the Ongoing Telmisartan Alone and in Combinatio

Source: Circulation

·         Stroke risk and efficacy of apixaban in atrial fibrillation patients with moderate chronic kidney disease.

Source: J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis

·         BRCA2 variants and cardiovascular disease in a multi-ethnic study.

Source: BMC Med Genet

·         Comparison of risk factor reduction and tolerability of a full-dose polypill (with potassium) versus low-dose polypill (polycap) in individuals at high risk of cardiovascular diseases: the Second Indian Polycap Study (TIPS-2) investigators.

Source: Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes

·         Influenza vaccination and major adverse vascular events in high-risk patients.

Source: Circulation

·         Association between postoperative troponin levels and 30-day mortality among patients undergoing noncardiac surgery.

Source: JAMA

·         Periprocedural bleeding and thromboembolic events with dabigatran compared with warfarin: results from the Randomized Evaluation of Long-Term Anticoagulation Therapy (RE-LY) randomized trial.

Source: Circulation

·         Basal insulin and cardiovascular and other outcomes in dysglycemia.

Source: N Engl J Med

·         n-3 fatty acids and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with dysglycemia.

Source: N Engl J Med

·         The perilous state of independent randomized clinical trials and related applied research in Canada.

Source: CMAJ

·         Association of heart rate and outcomes in a broad spectrum of patients with chronic heart failure: results from the CHARM (Candesartan in Heart Failure: Assessment of Reduction in Mortality and morbidity) program.

Source: J Am Coll Cardiol

·         Cognitive impairment and risk of cardiovascular events and mortality.

Source: Eur Heart J

·         Designing and analyzing clinical trials with composite outcomes: consideration of possible treatment differences between the individual outcomes.

Source: PLoS One

·         Rationale and design of a Global Rheumatic Heart Disease Registry: the REMEDY study.

Source: Am Heart J

·         Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Surgery Off- or On-pump Revascularisation Study (CORONARY): kidney substudy analytic protocol of an international randomised controlled trial.

Source: BMJ Open

·         Blood pressure and other determinants of new-onset atrial fibr