BMJ Open publishes papers on a wide range of topics and study designs and with a global perspective. In acknowledgement of World Heart Day 2025, we highlight some of our recent papers that consider patients’ voices via qualitative studies within the broad topic area of cardiovascular health.

The research questions and study settings are diverse, ranging from priorities and perceptions of family caregivers on the hospice care of individuals with end-stage heart failure in China (Chen 2025) and socioenvironmental determinants of nutrition and physical activity for individuals at risk of coronary artery disease in Iran (Ezati 2025) to co-morbidity management of patients with atrial fibrillation in Europe (Lee 2025) and access to mental health services for people living with heart failure in Canada (Shah 2025). 

A qualitative study from Brazil asked patients living with atrial fibrillation how they cope with the need for lifelong use of medication (Paschoal 2025) while a study team in Thailand asked people with atrial fibrillation about their experiences of an educational intervention for the management of their warfarin therapy (Jiraporncharoen 2025).

There are plenty of other studies exploring patients’ experiences and perceptions, for example, the impact of abnormal ambulatory ECG findings in the Netherlands (Brik 2025), shared decision making in the UK (Hoffmann 2025) and multidisciplinary outpatient clinics for heart failure in Qatar (Hajaj 2025). 

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