About

Nishant R. Shah is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University and an Associate Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice at the Brown University School of Public Health. He earned his BA and MD from Northwestern University and his MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. His research focuses on utilizing automated intelligence to improve the quality of cardiac testing for patients with known or suspected heart disease. His work includes cardiovascular imaging and quality improvement, contributing to advancements in cardiac stress testing protocols and clinical note analysis. Dr. Shah has authored numerous publications in the field, emphasizing the application of innovative technologies to enhance cardiovascular care.

Research topics

• Internal medicine
• Medicine
• Demography
• Emergency medicine
• Virology
• Environmental health
• Intensive care medicine
• Economic growth
• Radiology
• Mathematics

Selected publications

• 26-A-14336-ACC EFFECT OF OPTIMAL MEDICAL THERAPY ON LIMB AND CARDIOVASCULAR EVENTS IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC LIMB THREATENING ISCHEMIA: AN ANALYSIS FROM THE BEST-REGISTRY

  Journal of the American College of Cardiology · 2026-03-27

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Making of Misinformed Choice

  2025-12-22

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  In this chapter, we argue that the persistent faith in digital media as a corrective to democratic dysfunction has obscured the ways in which misinformation restructures choice itself. Drawing from empirical research across nine Asian countries and engaging with theoretical frameworks of recursive publics and sociotechnical imaginaries, we trace how digitally networked democracies are not merely overwhelmed by misinformation but reconfigured by it. We propose the concept of the “misinformed choice” to describe a shift wherein voters knowingly act on affect, ideology, and ambient narratives—rather than fact—when making electoral decisions. This is not a failure of access or verification, but an outcome of information systems that are too abundant, too layered, and too fractured to allow for traceable accountability. We argue that democratic participation is now mediated through a misinformation stack—comprising ambient information, manufactured insecurity, whitewashed intermediaries, and eroded infrastructures of trust—that disrupts informed consent. Our contribution urges a paradigmatic shift in how we study digital democracy: away from binaries of truth and falsehood, and toward the deeper cultural, technological, and infrastructural conditions that make misinformation not an anomaly, but the default substrate of political life in digital times.

  PublisherDOI

• Abstract 4365029: Temporal Association and Prognosis of Atrial Fibrillation/Flutter with Heart Failure and its Subtypes in Post-menopausal Women: A Women’s Health Initiative Study

  Circulation · 2025-11-03

  article

  Introduction: Heart failure (HF) and atrial fibrillation/flutter (AF) often co-occur in older adults. Understanding the temporal relationship of HF and its subtypes (HFpEF and HFrEF) with AF and their prognosis are understudied and was the objective herein. Methods: This prospective cohort study included 31,171 post-menopausal women from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study with adjudicated HF outcomes, merged with Medicare database for adjudicated AF outcomes during a median follow-up of 17 years. Participants were categorized into 4 groups: No incident AF or HF (n=22578); incident AF (n=6466); incident HF (n=1004); and both incident AF-HF (n=1123). Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed to study temporal association between AF and HF, all-cause and cardiovascular death (CVD). Results: Participants had a mean age of 63.2 (6.9) years at baseline. The risk of all-cause and CVD related death was elevated in incident AF [all-cause death HR 95% CI: 1.15 (1.08, 1.21); CVD death HR 95% CI: 1.32 (1.17, 1.50)], incident HF [All-cause death HR 95% CI: 1.84 (1.69, 2.01); CVD death HR 95% CI: 3.43 (2.94, 4.00)], and incident AF-HF [All-cause death HR 95% CI: 1.72 (1.59, 1.87); CVD death HR 95% CI: 3.57 (3.12, 4.10)] compared to no AF or HF. Risk of developing incident HFpEF [HR, 95% CI: 2.03 (1.77, 2.32)] and incident HFrEF [HR, 95% CI 1.33 (1.12, 1.59)] was higher with prior AF development compared to no prior AF. Conclusion: All-cause and CVD mortality is elevated with development of new AF, however mortality is much higher with incident HF or HF co-occurrence with AF. Risk of both HFpEF and HFrEF is elevated with presence of AF, with risk much higher for HFpEF in post-menopausal women. These findings underscore the importance of early detection and treatment of AF in post-menopausal women which can help reduce HF incidence and thereby overall mortality.

  PublisherDOI

• Trends in coronary artery disease and dyslipidemia-related mortality in the USA from 1999-2020

  Minerva Cardiology and Angiology · 2025-04-11 · 3 citations

  articleSenior author

  BACKGROUND: This study examined trends and disparities in USA mortality rates associated with the co-occurrence of coronary artery disease (CAD) and dyslipidemia from 1999-2020. METHODS: Data were obtained from the multiple cause of death files using CDC WONDER, spanning 1999-2020. ICD-10 codes (I20-I25 for CAD and E78 for dyslipidemia) identified CAD and dyslipidemia-related deaths in adults aged 25 and older. Statistical analyses examined demographic and regional mortality distributions. Joinpoint regression analysis determined trends in age-adjusted mortality rates (AAMR), estimating annual percentage changes (APC). RESULTS: Between 1999 and 2020, 613,969 CAD and dyslipidemia-related deaths occurred in the USA. The AAMR per 100,000 increased from 6.2 in 1999 to 19.0 in 2020. The AAMR rose sharply from 1999-2005 (APC: 10.2; 95% CI: 9.1, 11.3), increased from 2005-2010 (APC: 3.3; 95% CI: 2.6, 5.0), stabilized through 2010-2016 (APC: 0.8; 95% CI: -0.5, 1.4), and increased again from 2016-2019 (APC: 3.0; 95% CI: 1.7, 4.7). Men accounted for 59.8% of deaths, with an AAMR of 18.2, compared to 8.7 for women. Non-Hispanic (NH) American Indian (13.4) and NH white populations (13.3) had the highest AAMRs, followed by NH black or African American (12), Hispanic or Latino (9.8), and NH Asian or Pacific Islanders (9.1). The Midwest had the highest AAMR (14.1), followed by the West (13.8), South (12.2), and Northeast (11.3). Nonmetropolitan areas had higher AAMRs (14.7) compared to metropolitan areas (12.4). CONCLUSIONS: Mortality due to concurrent CAD and dyslipidemia is increasing. Targeted interventions are needed to reduce mortality among vulnerable groups.

  PublisherDOI

• Abstract P3124: Risk Factors of Atrial Fibrillation, Heart Failure and Their Co-occurrence in Postmenopausal Women: A Womens’s Health Initiative Study

  Circulation · 2025-03-11

  article

  Introduction: Heart failure (HF) and atrial fibrillation/flutter (AF) often cooccur in older adults, the risk factors for which are understudied and was the objective herein. Method: This prospective cohort study included 31,171 post-menopausal women from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) with adjudicated HF merged with Medicare database for AF ascertainment during median follow-up of 17 years. Participants were categorized into 4 groups: no incident AF or HF (n=22,578), with incident AF (n=1,123), with incident HF (n=1,004), and with both incident AF-HF (n=6,466). Baseline exposures evaluated were age, race, obesity, alcohol consumption, smoking, education, income, companionship, physical activity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and coronary artery disease (CAD). Exposures were compared using multinomial logistic regression model to assess odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for each factor adjusting for the others. The jointly defined referent group was absence of the exposure and no HF or AF. Result: AF had an incidence proportion of 24.3%, HF 24%, and both AFHF was 20.7%, which is 3.55 times the expected co-incidence. Participants had a mean age of 63.2 (6.9) years at baseline. The odd of incident AF, incident HF and both incident AFHF was higher with older age [OR, 95% CI AF: 1.06 (1.06, 1.07); HF: 1.07 (1.07, 1.09); both AFHF: 1.12 (1.11, 1.13)], obesity [OR, 95% CI AF: 1.26 (1.18, 1.34); HF: 1.55 (1.34, 1.79); both AFHF: 1.72 (1.50, 1.97)], past/ current smoker [OR, 95% CI AF: 1.25 (1.12, 1.39); HF: 2.26 (1.81, 2.81); both AFHF: 1.77 (1.41, 2.24)], higher alcohol std drink/week [OR, 95% CI AF: 1.01 (1.01, 1.02); HF 1.01 (0.99, 1.02); both AFHF: 1.02 (1.01, 1.03)], CAD [OR, 95% CI AF: 1.23 (1.03, 1.47); HF: 2.25 (1.69, 2.99); both AFHF: 2.16 (1.63, 2.86)] and hypertension [OR, 95% CI AF: 1.19 (1.12, 1.27); HF: 1.44 (1.24, 1.67); both AFHF: 1.640 (1.42, 1.88)]. Diabetes was associated with incident HF [OR, 95% CI 2.53 (2.08, 3.08)] and both incident AF-HF [OR, 95% CI 2.03 (1.65, 2.50)] but not with AF alone. Conclusion: Incident AF, HF are common in older women with their co-incidence 3.55 times higher than expected suggesting a common underlying pathophysiology. Obesity, alcohol consumption, past/ current smoker, hypertension and CAD are major risk factors for AF, HF and their co-occurrence. These findings underscore the importance of targeted interventions to manage these modifiable risk factors to prevent both conditions.

  PublisherDOI

• Listening is still the first ‘test’ in diagnosing patients with chest pain

  Journal of Nuclear Cardiology · 2024-01-01

  letter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Diagnostic Pitfall and Clinical Characteristics of Variant Versus Wild-Type Transthyretin Amyloid Cardiomyopathy in Asian Population: The Korean Nationwide Cohort Study

  Journal of Korean Medical Science · 2024-01-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Transthyretin amyloidosis cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) is an under-recognized cause of heart failure (HF) with clinical phenotypes that vary across regions and genotypes. We sought to characterize the clinical characteristics of ATTR-CM in Asia. METHODS: Data from a nationwide cohort of patients with ATTR-CM from six major tertiary centres in South Korea were analysed between 2010 and 2021. All patients underwent clinical evaluation, biochemical laboratory tests, echocardiography, and transthyretin (TTR) genotyping at the time of diagnosis. The study population comprised 105 Asian ATTR-CM patients (mean age: 69 years; male: 65.7%, wild-type ATTR-CM: 41.9%). RESULTS: Among our cohort, 18% of the patients had a mean left ventricular (LV) wall thickness < 12 mm. The diagnosis of ATTR-CM increased notably during the study period (8 [7.6%] during 2010-2013 vs. 22 [21.0%] during 2014-2017 vs. 75 [71.4%] during 2018-2021). Although the duration between symptom onset and diagnosis did not differ, the proportion of patients with HF presenting mild symptoms increased during the study period (25% NYHA class I/II between 2010-2013 to 77% between 2018-2021). In contrast to other international registry data, male predominance was less prominent in wild-type ATTR-CM (68.2%). The distribution of TTR variants was also different from Western countries and from Japan. Asp38Ala was the most common mutation. CONCLUSION: A nationwide cohort of ATTR-CM exhibited less male predominance, a proportion of patients without increased LV wall thickness, and distinct characteristics of genetic mutations, compared to cohorts in other parts of the world. Our results highlight the ethnic variation in ATTR-CM and may contribute to improving the screening process for ATTR-CM in the Asian population.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• THE IMPACT OF LIPOPROTEIN(A) TESTING IN PATIENTS WITH ATHEROSCLEROTIC CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE IN A LARGE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IN THE US

  Journal of the American College of Cardiology · 2024-04-01 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• AORTIC VALVE CALCIFICATION AND CLINICAL OUTCOMES IN PATIENTS WITH LOW CORONARY ARTERY CALCIUM

  Journal of the American College of Cardiology · 2024-04-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Improving Health Equity Through Standardization and Selective Expansion of Genetic Testing in Transthyretin Amyloidosis

  Journal of the American Heart Association · 2024-11-22 · 1 citations

  letterOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Wen‐Chih Wu

  Brown University

  94 shared

• Sebhat Erqou

  Providence VA Medical Center

  88 shared

• Ron Blankstein

  Brigham and Women's Hospital

  82 shared

• Michael K. Cheezum

  NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital

  81 shared

• Marcelo F. Di Carli

  Harvard University

  75 shared

• Sharmila Dorbala

  Brigham and Women's Hospital

  73 shared

• Gaurav Choudhary

  Jaipur Golden Hospital

  69 shared

• Jon Hainer

  65 shared

Education

• B.A.

  Northwestern University

  2002

• M.D.

  Northwestern University

  2006

• Other

  Harvard School of Public Health

  2015