August 14, 2013, Vol 310, No. 6, Pages 557-658

The US Burden of Disease Collaborators used a systematic analysis of descriptive epidemiology of diseases and injuries, their sequelae, and risk factors or clusters of risk factors from 1990 to 2010 to describe the health status of the United States. In an editorial, Fineberg discusses the health of the US population.

Suri and coauthors ascertain the comparative effectiveness of initial medical management (nonsurgical observation) vs early mitral surgery following the diagnosis of mitral regurgitation due to ruptured chordae tendineae (flail leaflets) in 1021 patients from France, Italy, Belgium, and the United States. In an Editorial, Otto discusses the risks of early surgical intervention and how the new findings influence patient care.

To measure associations between QRS duration and morphology and outcomes among patients receiving a cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D), Peterson and coauthors conducted a retrospective cohort study among 24 169 Medicare beneficiaries in a national cardiovascular registry who underwent CRT-D implantation between 2006 and 2009.