healthy living for women + their families
Your heart keeps your body running. And we keep you on top of everything you need to know about heart health so that you’re in the know.
Investigators have found that implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) provide improved survival rates among a specific group of heart failure patients.
The findings, published in the June 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, focused on patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF).
A genetic variant linked to sudden cardiac death leads to protein overproduction in heart cells, according to a new study.
High blood pressure is highly age-related and affects more than 1 billion people worldwide. The condition is a major source of morbidity and mortality, because it makes individuals more prone to heart failure, stroke and kidney disease. Yet doctors can’t fully explain the cause of 90 per cent of all cases. Now a computer model of a “virtual human”, created by researchers at Norwegian University of Life Sciences, suggests that stiff arteries alone are enough to cause high blood pressure. The study was published in May 2014 in in PLOS Computational Biology.
Hospitalizations and costs for treating irregular heartbeats, a condition called atrial fibrillation or AFib, are escalating. This fact is increasing the burden on the U.S. healthcare system, according to new research published in May 2014 in the American Heart Association journal Circulation. AFib can lead to stroke and other heart-related complications.
LCZ696, a drug with two antihypertensives to lower blood pressure, won a head to head comparison with ACE inhibitors, the gold standard treatment. The trial, which was conducted in Athens and called the PARADIGM-HF, was stopped abruptly in May 2014 because of a benefit to patients that was overwhelmingly statistically significant.
Clear-cut gender differences stand out in measuring impact of Viagra as therapy for heart failure, according to a study done at Johns Hopkins and posted online May 16th 2014 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. Specifically, in female mice modeling human heart failure, the benefits of sildenafil, the generic name for Viagra, ranged from robust to practically nonexistent depending on the animals' levels of the hormone estrogen. Yet in male mice, sildenafil generally appears to work well because it targets a different biological process independent of estrogen.
Researchers from New Zealand's University of Otago have uncovered evidence that sugar has a direct effect on risk factors for heart disease, and is likely to impact blood pressure, independent of weight gain.
Dr Lisa Te Morenga, Research Fellow with Otago's Department of Human Nutrition, and colleagues conducted a review and meta-analysis of all international studies that compared the effects of higher versus lower added sugar consumption on blood pressure and lipids (blood fats or cholesterol) – both of which are important cardiovascular risk-factors.
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Scientists have developed a method for figuring out who should take aspirin to prevent heart attacks. Although the remedy has been recommended for more than 30 years, it’s been unclear exactly which individuals might benefit.
New research published today in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes shows that coronary artery calcium (CAC) score, a measurement of plaque in arteries that feed the heart, could help determine whether a person should take aspirin.
You’ve heard it here on ThirdAge and probably elsewhere as well: Oily fish such as salmon, fresh tuna, and swordfish are currently recommended as part of a heart healthy diet. Oops! An international team of researchers have called into question the validity of a now-classic study from the 1970s that claimed that because the diet of Eskimos in Greenland is rich in whale and seal blubber, these peopledon’t have coronary artery disease at the same rate as other populations.On the contrary, the Eskimos turn out to have alarmingly high rates of lethal CAD and stokes.
The first step to avoiding cardiovascular disease, which is the #1 killer of Americans, including women—is understanding how your heart and arteries age. The traditional approach to evaluating heart disease does not address what’s actually happening within your arteries. The single factor that causes most heart problems is not cholesterol per se, but the growth of plaque in your arteries. This is what determine your heart’s true age.
Many Americans who take statins don’t have a healthy diet because the drugs give them a false sense of security, according to a new study. And the number of statin users with unhealthy diets appears to have increased.
The research by investigators from UCLA indicates that patients who took statins in 2009-2010 were eating more calories and fat than those who used statins earlier. Among people who didn’t use statins, there was no similar increased.
Here’s more proof that steaks and burgers can be bad for your health: A new study from the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington has bolstered the link between red meat consumption and heart disease by finding a strong association between heme iron, found only in meat, and potentially deadly coronary heart disease.
Researchers are drawing closer to a safer alternative to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that relieve pain but can cause heart attacks, strokes and even sudden cardiac death.
Investigators from the University of Pennsylvania built on previous work to further explore the role of an enzyme, mPGES-1, in delaying the development of atherosclerosis. Their findings were reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
With growing evidence that a measurement of the buildup of calcium in coronary arteries can predict heart disease risk, Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) researchers found that the process of "calcium scoring" was also accurate in predicting the chances of dying of heart disease among adults with little or no known risk of heart disease. Matthew J. Budoff, MD and Rine Nakanishi, MD, PhD presented the in March 2014 findings at Acc.14, the annual scientific session of the American College of Cardiology, in Washington D.C
Heart patients with beliefs about health that aren’t based on medical evidence are more likely to skip sessions of cardiac rehabilitation, according to a study done at Ohio State Univeristy and available online in April 2014 in the journal Health Psychology and slated to be published in a future print edition.
Among the irrational beliefs assessed were the following:
*Doubting the preventive power of the flu vaccine
For most tobacco users, tobacco cravings or urges to smoke can be powerful. But you're not at the mercy of these tobacco cravings. When an urge to use tobacco strikes, remember that although it may be intense, it will be short-lived, and it probably will pass within a few minutes whether or not you smoke a cigarette or take a dip of chewing tobacco. Each time you resist a tobacco craving, you're one step closer to stopping smoking or other tobacco use for good. But it can be difficult.
Current and recent use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, may be linked to a heightened risk of an irregular heartbeat, atrial fibrillation, among older adults. That is the finding of a large population study done in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and published in the online in April 2014 in thejournal BMJ Open.
