Half of Americans Over 40 Should Take Statins
Newswise...as a cost effective prevention of more serious cardiovascular-related health issues
...as a cost effective prevention of more serious cardiovascular-related health issues
• Certain electrocardiogram measures helped investigators identify a subgroup of individuals with chronic kidney disease who had substantially elevated risks of dying from heart disease.
It’s important to know about the causes of unrecognized, or silent, heart attacks and how to prevent them.
Other topics include repairing injured nerves, busted heart attack treatment, decorative brain molecules, and more...
Researchers at the UNC School of Medicine created a first-of-its-kind animal model to pinpoint two biomarkers that are elevated in the most severe form of coronary disease.
A new study suggests that genes may not be to blame for the increased risk of heart disease some studies have shown in people with migraine, especially those with migraine with aura. The research is published during Headache/Migraine Awareness Month in the inaugural issue of the journal Neurology® Genetics, an open access, or free to the public, online-only, peer-reviewed journal from the American Academy of Neurology. Aura are sensations that come before the headache, often visual disturbances such as flashing lights.
MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute at MedStar Washington Hospital Center was the first hospital in the Washington metropolitan region to implant the newly approved WATCHMAN™ Device. The new device is designed to prevent stroke in high-risk patients with atrial fibrillation who are seeking an alternative to blood-thinning medication. Blood thinners are effective in reducing the risk of stroke for patients with A-fib, but many cannot tolerate these medications because of the risk of bleeding. The WATCHMAN device, which resembles a tiny umbrella, is used to close off a pouch on the left side of the heart, which is believed to be the source of the majority of stroke-causing blood clots.
Other topics include neurology, obesity, statins, and the risks of wearing high heels.
In the first randomized trial to look at statin effects on behavior, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that aggressive behavior typically declined among men placed on statins (compared to placebo), but typically increased among women placed on statins.
Eating a healthy diet was linked with a lower risk of dying from heart disease, stroke, cancer or other diseases among a population of low-income individuals living in the Southeastern U.S., according to research led by Vanderbilt University investigators. Nearly two-thirds of the participants in the study were African-American.
University of Southampton scientists have discovered a link between coronary heart disease and osteoporosis, suggesting both conditions could have similar causes.
Other topics include resurgence of whales off southern California, treating chronic kidney disease, and a breakthrough in a heart-specific type of stem cell.
Other topics include weight loss, medical marijuana, smart traffic lights, diabetes, heart disease, and more.
Mild elevations in blood pressure considered to be in the upper range of normal during young adulthood can lead to subclinical heart damage by middle age — a condition that sets the stage for full-blown heart failure, according to findings of a federally funded study led by scientists at Johns Hopkins
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Adults who use proton pump inhibitors are between 16 and 21 percent more likely to experience a heart attack than people who don't use the commonly prescribed antacid drugs, according to a massive new study by Houston Methodist and Stanford University scientists.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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Heart disease has topped mortality charts as the No. 1 killer of men and women for many decades, but a novel analysis of American literary fiction by two physicians finds the disorder’s presence in great novels has remained relatively modest.
Children who undergo heart surgery are better off receiving fresh whole blood transfusions from a single donor, rather than receiving component blood from multiple donors. Limiting donor exposures reduces the patients' risk of complications.
The Duke Clinical Research Institute is launching an ambitious new project that is intended to answer a question of considerable clinical importance, while also changing the way pragmatic clinical trials are conducted. The Aspirin Dosing: A Patient-Centric Trial Assessing Benefits and Long-term Effectiveness (ADAPTABLE) study will assess whether low- or standard-dose aspirin is better for preventing heart attacks and stroke in patients with coronary artery disease.
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.
Over the last 15 years, survival of children with congenital heart disease (CHD) has greatly improved, so that currently there are more adults than children living with CHD. Consequently, people with CHD of all ages are undergoing pulmonary valve replacement (PVR) with bioprosthetic valves. In this retrospective review of all patients with CHD who underwent bioprosthetic PVR over an 18-year period at Boston Children’s Hospital, investigators found that young age and small body weight predisposed patients toward re-intervention, as did the type of valve used.
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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.
In a major symposium at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2015, University of Colorado Cancer Center investigator Tim Byers, MD, MPH, examines research demonstrating the link between cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
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.
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.
Among patients with atrial fibrillation who filled prescriptions for the anticoagulant dabigatran at Veterans Health Administration sites, there was variability in patient medication adherence across sites, with appropriate patient selection and pharmacist-led monitoring associated with greater adherence to the medication, according to a study in the April 14 issue of JAMA.
In a comparison of mechanical prosthetic vs bioprosthetic mitral valves among patients 50 to 69 years of age undergoing mitral valve replacement, there was no significant difference in survival at 15 years, although there were differences in risk of reoperation, bleeding and stroke, according to a study in the April 14 issue of JAMA.
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Damage to heart muscle from insufficient blood supply during cardiac arrest and reperfusion injury after blood flow is restored can be reduced by nearly 90 percent if selenide, a form of the essential nutrient selenium, is administered intravenously in the wake of the attack, according to a new preclinical study by Mark Roth, Ph.D., and colleagues at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Pesticide exposure, not obesity alone, can contribute to increased cardiovascular disease risk and inflammation in premenopausal women, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Cholesterol-lowering statins have transformed the treatment of heart disease. But while the decision to use the drugs in patients with a history of heart attacks and strokes is mostly clear-cut, that choice can be a far trickier proposition for the tens of millions of Americans with high cholesterol but no overt disease.
Researchers have developed the first global model for predicting cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. The model—developed by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Imperial College London, and colleagues—will be of particular help to public health professionals, clinicians, and patients in developing countries for prevention of CVD.
New heart imaging technology to diagnose coronary heart disease and other heart disorders is significantly more accurate, less expensive and safer than traditional methods, according to a new study by researchers from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City.
A simple and inexpensive screening test can show which diabetic patients face an increased risk of heart disease, which can help them get the care they need, faster — and proactively reduce their risk of heart disease, according to a new study by researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City.
A new type of CT scan initially costs slightly less than the traditional stress test to diagnose blocked coronary arteries in patients with chest pain, but its lower cost did not translate into medical care savings over time, according to an analysis by Duke Medicine researchers.
• High phosphate levels cause a stress signal inside the cells that line blood vessels, leading to the release of microparticles that promote the formation of blood clots.
A new study by researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute has found that screening for and treating depression could help to reduce the risk of heart disease in patients with moderate to severe depression.
A new sequencing technique may provide a clearer picture of how genes in mitochondria, the “powerhouses” that turn sugar into energy in human cells.