The complications experienced by heart failure patients implanted with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) vary depending on socioeconomic factors, according to a Rutgers-led study. In a study published in the American Journal of Cardiology, researchers found that the frequency and type of adverse complications leading to hospitalizations in patients with an LVAD varied significantly by sociodemographic factors. “In particular, we found the primary cause of hospitalization for those patients from lower-income areas was more frequently a critical adverse event compared to those from higher-income areas,” said Ehimare Akhabue, an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and Hypertension at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. To read the full story.