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Cardiovascular Disease and Adiposity / Adipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic Diseases · Journal article
European Heart Journal Acute Cardiovascular Care · July 25, 2026
A consensus or society position rather than new primary data.
This European Society of Cardiology consensus statement synthesizes evidence on inflammation's role in coronary syndromes and provides guidance on when and how to assess and treat inflammatory activity in routine clinical practice. While the mechanistic link between inflammation and atherosclerosis is established, pharmacological anti-inflammatory interventions show mixed efficacy—some agents like low-dose colchicine show modest event reductions with inconsistent results, whereas canakinumab reduces risk at the cost of increased infections, and other agents lack clinical benefit.
Journal article. Patients with established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease across the spectrum of coronary syndromes (chronic to acute), with consideration of metabolic and autoimmune comorbidities..
Inflammation is a key driver across the continuum from chronic to acute coronary syndromes, contributing to atherogenesis, plaque destabilization, ischaemic events, and myocardial injury. Low-dose colchicine has demonstrated modest reductions in cardiovascular events, although results across trials have been inconsistent. Selective cytokine inhibition with canakinumab has reduced cardiovascular risk at the cost of increased infection rates.
No primary efficacy or safety data reported; evidence summary synthesizes published literature with acknowledged inconsistencies across trials.
Clinicians should use this consensus guidance to identify patients with inflammation-driven coronary disease and determine candidacy for anti-inflammatory therapy; however, variable efficacy and safety profiles (particularly infection risk with canakinumab) require individualized selection and shared decision-making.
Expert consensus statement synthesizing mechanistic understanding and clinical evidence on inflammation in coronary syndromes, with explicit recommendations for assessment and treatment in routine practice, but not based on new primary data.
As stated by the source record.
Clinicians should use this consensus guidance to identify patients with inflammation-driven coronary disease and determine candidacy for anti-inflammatory therapy; however, variable efficacy and safety profiles (particularly infection risk with canakinumab) require individualized selection and shared decision-making.
Graded across the dimensions that decide whether you should act, each from what the source actually supports. There is no single score, and where a dimension was not assessed it says so.
What is missing. This record has no reported figures. That is a gap in the analysis, not a judgement about the study.
Inflammation is a key driver of coronary syndromes across the continuum from chronic coronary syndromes to acute coronary syndromes. It contributes to atherogenesis, plaque destabilization, and ischaemic events and influences myocardial injury, repair, and remodelling. Inflammatory activity is further amplified by metabolic and autoimmune comorbidities such as diabetes, obesity, and connective tissue diseases, with obesity representing a major driver of chronic low-grade inflammation through adipose tissue dysfunction and cytokine activation, while psychosocial stress and environmental exposures including air pollution serve as additional triggers. Genetic variations, including human leucocyte antigen genotypes, modulate individual susceptibility to vascular inflammation and myocardial injury. This expert consensus from the European Society of Cardiology's Association for Acute CardioVascular Care summarizes the current understanding of inflammation across the full spectrum of coronary syndromes, including underlying mechanisms, relevant biomarkers, and imaging approaches that characterize vascular inflammation, and integrates insights from experimental and clinical studies. Importantly, this document provides explicit consensus-based guidance on when, how, and in whom inflammation should be assessed and treated in routine clinical practice. While the causal association between inflammation and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is well established, pharmacological modification of inflammation has produced conflicting evidence. Some agents, such as low-dose colchicine, have demonstrated modest reductions in cardiovascular events, although results across trials have been inconsistent. Other anti-inflammatory therapies have not shown clinical benefit, whereas selective cytokine inhibition with canakinumab has reduced cardiovascular risk at the cost of increased infection rates. The present manuscript also focuses on the evaluation of inflammatory activity in cardiovascular patients in routine clinical practice. It further discusses criteria for patient selection and clinical decision-making regarding the introduction of anti-inflammatory therapy in individuals with established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Taken from the source record, never inferred. Follow any of these and new work involving them reaches your briefing.