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Melissa Anne Daubert

Associate Professor of Medicine
Medicine, Cardiology
300 West Morgan Street, Office 638, Durham, NC 27701
300 West Morgan Street, Durham, NC 27701

Selected Publications


Impact of Coronary Artery Disease on Cardiovascular Outcomes Differs Between Men and Women With Severe Aortic Stenosis.

Journal Article Circ Cardiovasc Interv · May 27, 2025 BACKGROUND: There is heterogeneity in coronary artery disease (CAD) severity among individuals with severe aortic stenosis (AS), but whether this differentially influences prognosis is unknown. METHODS: Patients with severe AS in the PARTNER 1, 2, and 3 tr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Allocation of Semaglutide According to Coronary Artery Calcium and BMI: Applying the SELECT Trial to MESA.

Journal Article JACC Cardiovasc Imaging · April 2025 BACKGROUND: Implementation of semaglutide weight loss therapy has been challenging due to drug supply and cost, underscoring a need to identify those who derive the greatest absolute benefit. OBJECTIVES: Allocation of semaglutide was modeled according to c ... Full text Link to item Cite

Abnormal Exercise Electrocardiography With Normal Stress Echocardiography Is Associated With Subclinical Coronary Atherosclerosis.

Journal Article Circ Cardiovasc Imaging · February 2025 BACKGROUND: Patients with abnormal (positive) exercise electrocardiography, but normal stress echocardiography (+ECG/-Echo), have an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events compared with patients with a normal (negative) ECG and a normal stress Ech ... Full text Link to item Cite

Real-world walking behaviors are associated with early-stage heart failure: a Project Baseline Health Study.

Journal Article J Card Fail · November 2024 BACKGROUND: Data collected via wearables may complement in-clinic assessments to monitor subclinical heart failure (HF). OBJECTIVES: Evaluate the association of sensor-based digital walking measures with HF stage and characterize their correlation with in- ... Full text Link to item Cite

Early postpartum blood pressure screening is associated with increased detection of cardiovascular risk factors in women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

Journal Article Am Heart J · July 2024 BACKGROUND: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), including gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, and eclampsia, are risk factors for cardiovascular (CV) disease. Guidelines recommend that women with HDP be screened for the development of hypertensi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Identifying a stable and generalizable factor structure of major depressive disorder across three large longitudinal cohorts.

Journal Article Psychiatry Res · March 2024 The Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) is the current standard outpatient screening tool for measuring and tracking the nine symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD). While the PHQ-9 was originally conceptualized as a unidimensional measure, it has ... Full text Link to item Cite

Development of physiologically-informed computational coronary artery plaques for use in virtual imaging trials.

Journal Article Med Phys · March 2024 BACKGROUND: As a leading cause of death, worldwide, cardiovascular disease is of great clinical importance. Among cardiovascular diseases, coronary artery disease (CAD) is a key contributor, and it is the attributed cause of death for 10% of all deaths ann ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effect of Sex and Flow Status on Outcomes After Surgical or Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement.

Journal Article JACC Adv · March 2024 BACKGROUND: Low stroke volume index <35 ml/m2 despite preserved ejection fraction (paradoxical low flow [PLF]) is associated with adverse outcomes in patients with aortic stenosis undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) or surgical aortic ... Full text Link to item Cite

Multimodality Cardiac Imaging and the Imaging Workforce in the United States: Diversity, Disparities, and Future Directions.

Journal Article Circ Cardiovasc Imaging · February 2024 Innovations in cardiac imaging have fundamentally advanced the understanding and treatment of cardiovascular disease. These advances in noninvasive cardiac imaging have also expanded the role of the cardiac imager and dramatically increased the demand for ... Full text Link to item Cite

Closing the Last Mile Gap in Access to Multimodality Imaging in Rural Settings: Design of the Imaging Core of the Risk Underlying Rural Areas Longitudinal Study.

Journal Article Circ Cardiovasc Imaging · February 2024 Achieving optimal cardiovascular health in rural populations can be challenging for several reasons including decreased access to care with limited availability of imaging modalities, specialist physicians, and other important health care team members. The ... Full text Link to item Cite

Clinical and Echocardiographic Diversity Associated With Physical Fitness in the Project Baseline Health Study: Implications for Heart Failure Staging.

Journal Article J Card Fail · November 2023 BACKGROUND: Clinical and echocardiographic features may carry diverse information about the development of heart failure (HF). Therefore, we determined heterogeneity in clinical and echocardiographic phenotypes and its association with exercise capacity. M ... Full text Link to item Cite

State-of-the-Art Imaging of Infiltrative Cardiomyopathies: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.

Journal Article Circ Cardiovasc Imaging · November 2023 Infiltrative cardiomyopathies comprise a broad spectrum of inherited or acquired conditions caused by deposition of abnormal substances within the myocardium. Increased wall thickness, inflammation, microvascular dysfunction, and fibrosis are the common pa ... Full text Link to item Cite

Circulating Angiokines Are Associated With Reverse Remodeling and Outcomes in Chronic Heart Failure.

Journal Article Journal of cardiac failure · June 2023 BackgroundWe sought to determine whether circulating modifiers of endothelial function are associated with cardiac structure and clinical outcomes in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).MethodsWe measured 25 ... Full text Cite

Influence of Obesity on Coronary Artery Disease and Clinical Outcomes in the ADVANCE Registry.

Journal Article Circ Cardiovasc Imaging · May 2023 BACKGROUND: The relationship between body size and cardiovascular events is complex. This study utilized the ADVANCE (Assessing Diagnostic Value of Noninvasive FFRCT in Coronary Care) Registry to investigate the association between body mass index (BMI), c ... Full text Link to item Cite

Coronary Artery Calcium Evaluation Using New Generation Photon-counting Computed Tomography Yields Lower Radiation Dose Compared With Standard Computed Tomography.

Journal Article J Thorac Imaging · January 1, 2023 Prospective head-to-head comparison of coronary calcium scores between standard computed tomography (CT) and photon-counting CT show no significant differences, while photon-counting CT administers substantially lower radiation dose. ... Full text Link to item Cite

Antihypertensive medication use during pregnancy in a real-world cohort of patients diagnosed with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy.

Journal Article Front Cardiovasc Med · 2023 Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are rising in prevalence and associated with adverse maternal and infant health outcomes. Current guidelines recommend labetalol, nifedipine, and methyldopa as acceptable first-line agents to treat HDP in outpatien ... Full text Link to item Cite

Association Between Early Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction Improvement After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement and 5-Year Clinical Outcomes.

Journal Article JAMA Cardiol · September 1, 2022 IMPORTANCE: In patients with severe aortic stenosis and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) less than 50%, early LVEF improvement after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is associated with improved 1-year mortality; however, its associati ... Full text Link to item Cite

Evolving Role of Calcium Density in Coronary Artery Calcium Scoring and Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk.

Journal Article JACC Cardiovasc Imaging · September 2022 Coronary artery calcium (CAC) is a specific marker of coronary atherosclerosis that can be used to measure calcified subclinical atherosclerotic burden. The Agatston method is the most widely used scoring algorithm for quantifying CAC and is expressed as t ... Full text Link to item Cite

Abstract P1017: Tissue Engineered Human Acellular Blood Vessels For Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

Conference Circulation Research · August 5, 2022 Objective: Conduit for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) can be limited due to poor quality or prior removal of saphenous veins. A human acellular vessel (HAV) bioengineered from vascular cells a ... Full text Cite

Assessing race and ethnicity differences in outcomes based on GDMT and target NT-proBNP in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: An analysis of the GUIDE-IT study.

Journal Article Prog Cardiovasc Dis · 2022 BACKGROUND: The GUIDE-IT trial was, a multicenter, randomized, parallel group, unblinded study that randomized patients to having heart failure therapy titrated to achieve an NT-proBNP <1000 pg/mL or to usual clinical care. METHODS AND RESULTS: We performe ... Full text Link to item Cite

Association of left ventricular diastolic function with coronary artery calcium score: A Project Baseline Health Study.

Journal Article J Cardiovasc Comput Tomogr · 2022 BACKGROUND: Coronary artery calcium (CAC) and left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) are strong predictors of cardiovascular events and share common risk factors. However, their independent association remains unclear. METHODS: In the Project Baseli ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Impact of Pregnancy on Antihypertensive Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics: Current Status and Future Directions.

Journal Article Expert Opin Drug Metab Toxicol · November 2021 INTRODUCTION: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are rising in prevalence, and increase risk of adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. Physiologic changes occur during pregnancy that alter drug pharmacokinetics. However, antihypertensive drugs lack pr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Differences in NT-proBNP Response and Prognosis in Men and Women With Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction.

Journal Article J Am Heart Assoc · May 18, 2021 Background NT-proBNP (N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide) is a prognostic biomarker in heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction. However, it is unclear whether there is a sex difference in NT-proBNP response and whether the therapeutic goal ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cardiac computed tomography improves the identification of cardiomechanical complications among patients with suspected left ventricular assist device malfunction.

Journal Article J Cardiovasc Comput Tomogr · 2021 BACKGROUND: Left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) are increasingly used for durable mechanical circulatory support in advanced heart failure. While LVAD therapy provides substantial improvement in mortality and quality of life, long-term therapy confers i ... Full text Link to item Cite

Multimodality cardiac imaging in the 21st century: evolution, advances and future opportunities for innovation.

Journal Article Br J Radiol · January 1, 2021 Cardiovascular imaging has significantly evolved since the turn of the century. Progress in the last two decades has been marked by advances in every modality used to image the heart, including echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance, cardiac CT and n ... Full text Link to item Cite

Task-dependent estimability index to assess the quality of cardiac computed tomography angiography for quantifying coronary stenosis.

Journal Article J Med Imaging (Bellingham) · January 2021 Purpose: Quantifying stenosis in cardiac computed tomography angiography (CTA) images remains a difficult task, as image noise and cardiac motion can degrade image quality and distort underlying anatomic information. The purpose of this study was to develo ... Full text Link to item Cite

POSTPARTUM BLOOD PRESSURE SCREENING IN WOMEN WITH HYPERTENSIVE DISORDERS OF PREGNANCY

Conference JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY · 2021 Cite

Left Ventricular Hypertrophy and Clinical Outcomes Over 5 Years After TAVR: An Analysis of the PARTNER Trials and Registries.

Journal Article JACC Cardiovasc Interv · June 8, 2020 OBJECTIVES: This study sought to evaluate the association between severity of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) before transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and outcomes out to 5 years. BACKGROUND: Prior studies assessing the association between b ... Full text Link to item Cite

Regression of Left Ventricular Mass After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: The PARTNER Trials and Registries.

Journal Article J Am Coll Cardiol · May 19, 2020 BACKGROUND: Greater early left ventricular mass index (LVMi) regression is associated with fewer hospitalizations 1 year after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). The association between LVMi regression and longer-term post-TAVR outcomes is uncl ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cardiac remodeling after large ST-elevation myocardial infarction in the current therapeutic era.

Journal Article Am Heart J · May 2020 BACKGROUND: The evolution and clinical impact of cardiac remodeling after large ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is not well delineated in the current therapeutic era. METHODS: The PRESERVATION I trial longitudinally assessed cardiac structure an ... Full text Link to item Cite

Implications of Abnormal Exercise Electrocardiography With Normal Stress Echocardiography.

Journal Article JAMA Intern Med · April 1, 2020 IMPORTANCE: Patients with abnormal (positive) exercise electrocardiography, but normal stress echocardiography (+ECG/-Echo) are commonly encountered in clinical practice; however, the prognostic significance of this discordant result is unclear. OBJECTIVE: ... Full text Link to item Cite

Primary Prevention of Heart Failure in Women.

Journal Article JACC Heart Fail · March 2019 The incidence of heart failure (HF) is increasing, particularly among women, and constitutes a rapidly growing public health problem. The primary prevention of HF in women should involve targeted, sex-specific strategies to increase awareness, promote a he ... Full text Link to item Cite

Sex differences in management and outcomes of patients with stable symptoms suggestive of coronary artery disease: Insights from the PROMISE trial.

Journal Article Am Heart J · February 2019 BACKGROUND: Although sex differences exist in the management of acute coronary syndromes, less is known about the management and outcomes of women and men with suspected coronary artery disease being evaluated with noninvasive testing (NIT). METHODS: We in ... Full text Link to item Cite

NT-proBNP Goal Achievement Is Associated With Significant Reverse Remodeling and Improved Clinical Outcomes in HFrEF.

Journal Article JACC Heart Fail · February 2019 OBJECTIVES: This study aims to assess the association between biomarker-guided therapy and left ventricular (LV) remodeling. BACKGROUND: In patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), it is unclear if lowering natriuretic peptides r ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of computed tomography (CT)-derived fractional flow reserve on reader confidence for interpretation of coronary CT angiography.

Journal Article Eur J Radiol · November 2018 PURPOSE: To assess the impact of computed tomography-derived fractional flow reserve (FFRCT) on reader confidence and reader time for interpretation of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA). MATERIAL AND METHODS: This IRB-approved, HIPAA-complian ... Full text Link to item Cite

A Tale of 2 Tests.

Journal Article JACC Cardiovasc Imaging · September 2018 Full text Link to item Cite

Treatment of sleep-disordered breathing in heart failure impacts cardiac remodeling: Insights from the CAT-HF Trial.

Journal Article Am Heart J · July 2018 BACKGROUND: Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), including central and obstructive sleep apnea, is a marker of poor prognosis in heart failure (HF) and may worsen cardiac dysfunction over time. Treatment of SDB with adaptive servoventilation (ASV) may reverse ... Full text Link to item Cite

A Randomized Trial of Pocket-Echocardiography Integrated Mobile Health Device Assessments in Modern Structural Heart Disease Clinics.

Journal Article JACC Cardiovasc Imaging · April 2018 OBJECTIVES: This study sought to determine whether mobile health (mHealth) device assessments used as clinical decision support tools at the point-of-care can reduce the time to treatment and improve long-term outcomes among patients with rheumatic and str ... Full text Link to item Cite

Novel Mitochondria-Targeting Peptide in Heart Failure Treatment: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Elamipretide.

Journal Article Circ Heart Fail · December 2017 BACKGROUND: Mitochondrial dysfunction and energy depletion in the failing heart are innovative therapeutic targets in heart failure management. Elamipretide is a novel tetrapeptide that increases mitochondrial energy; however, its safety, tolerability, and ... Full text Link to item Cite

Long-Term Valve Performance of TAVR and SAVR: A Report From the PARTNER I Trial.

Journal Article JACC Cardiovasc Imaging · December 8, 2016 OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term performance of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) through longitudinal echocardiographic analysis. BACKGROUND: The long-term performance ... Full text Link to item Cite

Choice of agreement indices for assessing and improving measurement reproducibility in a core laboratory setting.

Journal Article Stat Methods Med Res · December 2016 Clinical core laboratories, such as Echocardiography core laboratories, are increasingly used in clinical studies with imaging outcomes as primary, secondary, or surrogate endpoints. While many factors contribute to the quality of measurements of imaging v ... Full text Link to item Cite

Critical Review of Current Approaches for Echocardiographic Reproducibility and Reliability Assessment in Clinical Research.

Journal Article J Am Soc Echocardiogr · December 2016 BACKGROUND: There is no broadly accepted standard method for assessing the quality of echocardiographic measurements in clinical research reports, despite the recognized importance of this information in assessing the quality of study results. METHODS: Twe ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Sex Differences in Functional and CT Angiography Testing in Patients With Suspected Coronary Artery Disease.

Journal Article J Am Coll Cardiol · June 7, 2016 BACKGROUND: Although risk stratification is an important goal of cardiac noninvasive tests (NITs), few contemporary data exist on the prognostic value of different NITs according to patient sex. OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study was to compare the results ... Full text Link to item Cite

Sex Differences in Demographics, Risk Factors, Presentation, and Noninvasive Testing in Stable Outpatients With Suspected Coronary Artery Disease: Insights From the PROMISE Trial.

Journal Article JACC Cardiovasc Imaging · April 2016 OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine whether presentation, risk assessment, testing choices, and results differ by sex in stable symptomatic outpatients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). BACKGROUND: Although established CAD presen ... Full text Link to item Cite

High-risk percutaneous coronary intervention is associated with reverse left ventricular remodeling and improved outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease and reduced ejection fraction.

Journal Article Am Heart J · September 2015 BACKGROUND: Therapies that reverse pathologic left ventricular (LV) remodeling are often associated with improved outcomes. The incidence and impact of reverse LV remodeling after high-risk percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are unknown. METHODS: The ... Full text Link to item Cite

Quality Improvement Implementation: Improving Reproducibility in the Echocardiography Laboratory.

Journal Article J Am Soc Echocardiogr · August 2015 BACKGROUND: Interpretative variability can adversely affect echocardiographic reliability, but there is no widely accepted method to minimize variability and improve reproducibility. METHODS: A continuous quality improvement process was devised that involv ... Full text Link to item Cite

Computer-aided analysis of 64-slice coronary computed tomography angiography: A comparison with manual interpretation

Journal Article Heart International · January 1, 2013 Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is increasingly used for the assessment of coronary heart disease (CHD) in symptomatic patients. Software applications have recently been developed to facilitate efficient and accurate analysis of CCTA. This ... Full text Cite

Utilization of coronary computed tomography angiography for exclusion of coronary artery disease in ED patients with low- to intermediate-risk chest pain: a 1-year experience.

Journal Article Am J Emerg Med · November 2012 OBJECTIVE: We describe our preliminary experience with coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) in emergency department (ED) patients with low- to intermediate-risk chest pain. METHODS: A convenience cohort of patients with low- to intermediate-risk ... Full text Link to item Cite

Congenital thoracic vascular anomalies: evaluation with state-of-the-art MR imaging and MDCT.

Journal Article Radiol Clin North Am · September 2011 Congenital thoracic vascular anomalies include embryologic developmental disorders of the thoracic aorta, aortic arch branch arteries, pulmonary arteries, thoracic systemic veins, and pulmonary veins. Diagnostic evaluation of these anomalies in pediatric p ... Full text Link to item Cite

A caravanning cardiomyopathy.

Journal Article Am J Med · September 2011 Full text Link to item Cite

Diagnosis of Acute Myocardial Infarction

Journal Article · December 1, 2010 Full text Cite

The utility of troponin measurement to detect myocardial infarction: review of the current findings.

Journal Article Vasc Health Risk Manag · September 7, 2010 Myocardial infarction (MI) is defined by the presence of myocardial necrosis in combination with clinical evidence of myocardial ischemia. Cardiac troponins are regulatory proteins within the myocardium that are released into the circulation when damage to ... Full text Link to item Cite