Dr. Charles H. Hennekens has done ground-breaking research on the benefits of statins, aspirin, ACE inhibitors, ARBs as well as beta adrenergic blockers. His guidance will assist clinicians to address the clinical and public health challenges to increase utilization of statins in the treatment and prevention of heart attacks and strokes.
A clinical trial of the glucose-control drug sitagliptin among patients with type 2 diabetes and established cardiovascular disease has found it did not raise the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events.
A research team at The Ohio State University Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center have identified a rare and deadly form of inherited arrhythmia and developed a method to treat it.
A new study by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that death rates among people over 65 are higher in zip codes with more fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) than in those with lower levels of PM2.5.
It may be better for patients to resume taking their blood pressure medication sooner after surgery than previously thought. A new study published in the Online First edition of Anesthesiology, the official medical journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists® (ASA®), found resuming angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), common medications used to treat high blood pressure, within two days after surgery decreased death rates in the first month following surgery.
Day in and day out, millions of people with diabetes test their blood sugar levels. And many may wonder if all the careful eating, exercise and medication it takes to keep those levels under control is really worth it. A major new study should encourage them to keep going -- and prompt them to work with their doctors on reducing their cardiovascular risk.
After reviewing outcomes from thousands of cases, researchers at Johns Hopkins report that patients with blocked neck arteries who undergo carotid stenting to prop open the narrowed blood vessels fare decidedly worse if their surgeons re-inflate a tiny balloon in the vessel after the mesh stent is in place.
Few heart specialists make use of published information about interactions between drugs used to treat cardiovascular disease and the genetic variations that affect how patients respond to them. So physicians at U Chicago and Stanford combed through the literature on the pharmacogenomics of the leading cardiovascular drugs and compiled summaries.
The importance of preventing hypertension is reinforced by a study showing anti-hypertension medicines can increase stroke risk by 248 percent, according to new UAB School of Public Health research published in the journal Stroke.
A new report from UAB demonstrates that clinical and genetic factors affecting dose requirements for warfarin vary by race. The study, published online today in Blood, proposes race-specific equations to help clinicians better calculate warfarin dosage.
Simple measures of kidney function and damage may be just as good at predicting who is at risk for heart failure and death from heart attack and stroke as traditional tests of cholesterol levels and blood pressure, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health-led research suggests.
HDL, the “good cholesterol” helps remove fat from artery walls, reversing the process that leads to heart disease. Yet recent drug trials and genetic studies suggest that pushing HDL levels higher doesn’t reduce the risk of heart disease. Now, an epidemiological study shows that a person’s HDL function—the efficiency of HDL molecules at removing cholesterol—may be a better measure of coronary heart disease risk and target for heart-protecting drugs.
Carbon monoxide is typically associated with brain injury and neurological symptoms. But a new study led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center suggests that when administered in small, carefully controlled amounts, CO may actually protect the brain from damage following hemorrhagic stroke.
Studying zebrafish, investigators at The Saban Research Institute and the Heart Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles discovered a new source for cells that can develop into coronary vessels and have identified the signaling protein, a chemokine called CXCL12, which guides this process.
Experts from the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Stanford, PENN, UNC, and the NIH will offer education and networking opportunities for people, families, and friends living with vasculitis, a family of rare autoimmune diseases.
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People who have metabolic syndrome are more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than people who do not have the condition, and having diabetes or high blood pressure worsens the risk, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
An irregular heartbeat following surgery known as post-operative atrial fibrillation (POAF) often is dismissed as a transient phenomenon. But a study has found that POAF can significantly increase the risk of heart attack or stroke during the first 12 months after surgery.
ATS 2015, DENVER—Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) treatment could be a valuable addition to comprehensive therapy in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome, according to a new study. The study was presented at the 2015 American Thoracic Society International Conference.
Screening to identify Type 2 diabetes followed by early treatment could result in substantial health benefits, according to new research that combined large scale clinical observations and innovative computer modelling.
An University of Iowa researcher will present studies showing that medical teams with a pharmacist helped patients with hypertension control their blood pressure more effectively. The presentation is on Mon., May 18, at the American Society of Hypertension in New York.
A diabetes drug may have benefits beyond lower blood sugar in patients with HIV. New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests the drug may prevent cardiovascular problems because it works to reduce inflammation that is linked to heart disease and stroke in these patients. The drug both improved metabolism and reduced inflammation in HIV-positive adults on antiretroviral therapy.
Adults over 50 who have persistent symptoms of depression may have twice the risk of stroke as those who do not, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Researchers found that stroke risk remains higher even after symptoms of depression go away, particularly for women.
The study followed almost 140,000 adults aged 35 to 70 over four years in 17 countries. Their muscle strength was measured using a handgrip dynamometer. They were taking part in the institute’s Prospective Urban-Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study.
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The culmination of two decades of research, a new study reveals the genetic causes of a curious, rare syndrome that manifests as hypertension (high blood pressure) accompanied by short fingers (brachydactyly type E). Six, unrelated families with the syndrome come from across the globe – United States, Turkey, France, South America, and two from Canada – yet share mutations that cluster in a small region of phosphodiesterase 3A (PDE3A). Functional studies imply the mutations change resistance of blood vessels, an underappreciated mechanism for regulating blood pressure. The findings, published in Nature Genetics, suggest new directions for investigating causes of hypertension in the general population.
The Lariat device is associated with a significant incidence of death and urgent cardiac surgery during its frequent off-label use to prevent stroke in patients with the irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation. Following a systematic review of case reports and an FDA safety database, researchers are calling for formal controlled investigations into the safety and efficacy of off-label use of the Lariat device, which has never been approved for treatment of this condition.
Frailty among older people with cardiovascular disease appears to be more predictive than age for gauging their risk of heart attack, stroke and death, according to an international study that included researchers at Duke Medicine.
In the midst of the growing and often conflicting data around the benefits of statins, researchers are developing gene-based resources to help improve statin efficacy and cost-effectiveness and to reduce the incidence of adverse effects – some of which can be fatal.
Oxidative stress has been long known to fuel disease, but how exactly it damages various organs has been challenging to sort out. Now scientists from Johns Hopkins say research in mice reveals why oxidation comes to be so corrosive to heart muscle.
A national survey released today by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center shows that most women don’t know the risks or symptoms females face when it comes to having a stroke. The survey of 1,000 women was released in time for Stroke Awareness Month in May.
Review concludes that intramuscular injection of testerosterone replacement therapy confers greater health benefits and lower cardiovascular risks than transdermal administration by skin patch or gel.
Refining the results of a 2013 study, researchers have found that atrial fibrillation, or irregular heartbeat, is associated with only one type of heart attack – the more common of the two types.
Stroke is a frequent and dreaded complication of atrial fibrillation. But predicting which of the estimated six million Americans with a-fib are at highest risk has long challenged physicians weighing stroke risk against the serious side effects posed by lifelong therapy with warfarin and other blood thinners.
Researchers performing sophisticated motion studies of heart MRI scans have found that specific altered function in the left atrium of the heart may signal stroke risk in those with atrial fibrillation and, possibly, those without it.
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Researchers from Drexel University demonstrate that ultrasound can increase the rate at which heart cells beat and describe the settings that can do so most effectively.
Every year, more than 120 million prescriptions are written worldwide for thiazide drugs, a group of salt-lowering medicines used to treat high blood pressure. These drugs are often very effective. But in some patients, they don't work. The reasons for this have remained a mystery. Now, a new study by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM) has revealed a key mechanism for this failure.
Use of either proximal embolic protection devices (P-EPDs) or distal filter embolic protection devices (F-EPDs) during elective carotid artery stenting results in low rates of in-hospital stroke and death, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The study, published in JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions, found that although P-EPDs have been theorized to be more effective than F-EPDs at preventing stroke during carotid artery stenting, this first comparative effectiveness study revealed no statistically significant difference between the two devices.
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Among dialysis patients, genetically related family members have about a 70% increased risk of cardiac arrest compared with unrelated dialysis patients.
Spouses on dialysis do not have an increased risk.
An international team of scientists, led by researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, have found genetic overlap between Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and two significant cardiovascular disease risk factors: high levels of inflammatory C-reactive protein (CRP) and plasma lipids or fats. The findings suggest the two cardiovascular phenotypes play a role in AD risk and perhaps offer a new avenue for potentially delaying disease progression.
Cardiovascular diseases are a major cause of death worldwide, in part because heart cells don’t renew – except during a very small window early in life. In a breakthrough, a team of researchers that included the Weizmann Institute, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, and the University of South Wales gets mouse heart cells to take a step backwards… and be renewed.
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Divorced women suffer heart attacks at higher rates than women who are continuously married, a new study from Duke Medicine has found. A woman who has been through two or more divorces is nearly twice as likely to have a heart attack when compared to their stably-married female peers, according to the findings.