What you need to know about coronary heart disease
Filed under: Prevention, Research, Women Heart Health, Men Heart Health
How much do you know about coronary heart disease? I'll admit that I don't know much -- afterall, I'm young and healthy and far from heart problems ... at least I hope I am. But everyone should be informed about their health. We don't need medical degrees but we should know what risks we face and what arising symptoms could mean.Dr. Naidu of Heart Matters recently posted this info on coronary heart disease, including the risk factors and prevention methods. By living a healthy lifestyle, not smoking, being active and managing my stress, I'm doing pretty well at preventing coronary heart disease, and it's good to know what I'm doing right. Don't you think?
Socioeconomics' role in heart disease
Filed under: Diet, Research, Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise, Smoking
What risk factors come to mind when you think of heart disease? Excessive body weight, sedentary lifestyle, poor diet, diabetes, smoking -- those seem to be universally accepted. But, a recent study published in the February issue of the American Journal of Preventative Medicine suggests that there is a risk factor that you may not have taken into account: Living in a low-income neighborhood.
Researchers from Stanford University examined data for the entire Swedish population, which consists of roughly 1.9 million women and 1.8 million men, all spread across more than 8,000 neighborhoods. Of the people selected for the study, they were all free of any prior history of coronary heart disease. They followed these individuals from 1996 through 2000 to identify initial occurrences of heart disease and subsequent deaths from it within a year's time.
It was discovered that the new cases of heart attacks and strokes were almost twice as high for women and 1 and a half times higher for men who lived in "high-deprivation" neighborhoods as those living in what were deemed "low-deprivation" neighborhoods. To determine what was considered low or high deprivation, the researchers relied on Census data, measuring an index of income, education, unemployment and welfare assistance.
Lending further credibility to the findings was the fact that even when individual characteristics (such as age, family income, marital status, or immigration status) were taken into account, the results remained unchanged.
The belief behind the findings is that people living in poorer neighborhoods have less access to fresh produce markets, and greater access to fast food restaurants. Ability to pay for higher priced, healthier foods also seems to be a major factor behind the researchers' data.
Quitting smoking only reduces heart attacks in small towns?
Filed under: Smoking, Stress, Women Heart Health, Men Heart Health
Smoking bans are a great idea -- they make the air cleaner for non-smokers and reduce the amount of time that smokers spend puffing on the old cancer sticks. Smoking bans have even been shown to lead to a big drop in coronary heart disease ... in smaller towns, that is. According to this, it's a phenomenon that is just emerged as cities and towns implement smoking bans -- a decrease in heart conditions are only seen in smaller urban areas when a smoking ban comes into effect. Why is this? The original post cites statistics and the incorrect assumption that because two things are linked, one causes the other. Which is true, but it makes me curious, especially since I live in a large city. Is pollution a substantial reason behind heart attacks? The stress of living in a busy urban centre? Road rage? I think it's a good reminder that we need to look after ourselves and our hearts and not assume that our environments will help keep us healthy.
What do you think?
Genes found that predict heart disease
Filed under: Family history, Research
Scientists in Europe have just found 6 specific genes that may be a key to heart disease. Data shows that people with variations in one or more of these genes have a much greater risk of suffering a heart attack or heart disease before the age of 66. These genes only seem to predict risk, however, not the definite future. Not everyone identified with a "genetic predisposition" ultimately gets sick, so it's still very much worthwhile to eat a heart healthy diet and get plenty of exercise.
The truth about women and heart disease
Filed under: Women Heart Health
Although breast cancer seems to be getting a lot more press lately, the biggest threat to women's health today is actually heart disease. And although men are more often thought of when picturing a heart attack victim, the truth is women are actually more likely to both have heart disease and they're more likely to die from a heart attack in the weeks immediately following than men are. The Mayo Clinic has a handy quiz for women regarding the truth on a variety of health topics, heart disease and breast cancer included, and it's interesting to read the explanations after you take it because some of the answers are surprising!
Test for congenital heart disease used immediately
Filed under: Research
The application of research into actual everyday practice is typically something that takes years to happen. Scientific findings are tested, re-tested, scrutinized, re-scrutinized, etc. But, a new diagnostic test to predict heart failure has gone into immediate clinical practice. This new test, which can help doctors evaluate cardiac function, looks for B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) in patients, thereby giving doctors diagnose and treat congestive heart failure.
Published as an article in the February 2007 issue of Harvard Men's Health Watch, the information contained therein highlights the family of hormones to which BNP belongs, usually called natriuretic peptides. These particular type of peptides are the heart's natural line of defense that blocks stress, and also plays a crucial role in promoting proper circulation. They also lower blood pressure, promote urine excretion, relax blood vessels, and reduce the heart's workload. All in all, these peptides are a very good thing to have working.
What the doctors discovered during their most recent study of BNP is that an overload of this peptide in the blood stream could signal the early stages of congestive heart failure. This is because when people have congestive heart failure, they are often unable to pump blood efficiently, causing the heart chambers to swell with blood. As the heart cells are pushed past their normal size by the swelling, they produce extra BNP.
Scientists are now looking into the possible role of BNP in coronary artery disease. If a link is found, it will be interesting to find out if a related diagnostic test will be utilized as immediately as the test for congestive heart failure has been.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | CommentsFlu or a heart attack
Filed under: Prevention, Women Heart Health
Nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain are symptoms of many conditions. During this flu season, don't just disregard your stomach illness as the flu and don't just pass it off as bad food that you ate. A lesson that I learned first hand from my doctor after my flu like symptoms kept coming and going. Conversations with my doctor about personal and family medical history, stress, and ongoing symptoms prompted her to order tests I thought were a little abnormal since I thought I had the flu. These upcoming tests opened my eyes and curiosity to hop on the Internet to do more research. I personally have battled cancer and my whole family has a large history of cancer, heart disease and diabetes. So with this in mind, my doctor has ordered up several tests to determine nothing else is wrong besides the nasty flu bug. With my personal cancer and lupus medical history and my family heart disease and diabetes medical history, the tests make more sense to me now.The obvious diagnosis of most nausea and vomiting is food poisoning. Nausea or vomiting one to eight hours after a meal may indicate food poisoning. However, certain food born bacteria, such as salmonella, can take longer to produce symptoms. If you are a woman and are pregnant, you experience nausea and vomiting. A viral infection such as the flu can induce vomiting and another well known cause for vomiting is ulcers.
Now a little awareness for the not so obvious reasons for vomiting and nausea. Heart attacks, gastroparesis (most common in diabetics), and certain cancers. Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death and disability in women after menopause and symptoms of a heart attack at times can be vague and mild in women and include nausea and vomiting. Gastroparesis means paralysis of the muscles of the stomach. Gastroparesis results in delayed emptying of food from the stomach into the small intestine and can cause one to have extreme nausea and vomiting. Certain types of cancers like stomach cancer can cause nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.
So if you have persistent indigestion, nausea and vomiting off and on, don't just take it for granted that you have food poisoning or the stomach flu. Talk to your doctor about ongoing symptoms that you are experiencing so that they can get to the root of the problem better and give you a more thorough diagnosis.Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
The flu linked to some heart attack cases
Filed under: Prevention, Research
Flu season just got a little more serious. Aside from running the risk of catching the debilitating sickness and finding yourself bedridden for several days, there may be more serious, heart-related consequences of influenza.
An estimated 10 to 20-percent of people living in the US catch the flu each year. On top of that, only about 60-percent of people who should get the flu vaccine actually get it (and even less people get it in Europe). Personally, I haven't had a flu shot administered since my junior year of college, so I'm not faring any better in that regard. But, maybe we should all think again about getting one next year.
It turns out that the flu may be a trigger of some sort for heart attack. Recent research, published in the European Heart Journal, suggests that influenza epidemics are associated with an increased number of deaths resulting from heart disease and, perhaps even scarier, is that flu can actually trigger the heart attacks that result in death.
The science of it breaks down like this, according to the researchers from the Texas Heart Institute: Flu can cause acute and severe inflammation in the body. In some people, this may lead to a destabilization of atherosclerotic plaque in coronary arteries, thereby causing heart attacks.
One doctor associated with the study went as far as to say that because "between 10 and 20% of people catch flu every year, I have estimated that we can prevent up to 90,000 coronary deaths a year in the USA if every high risk patient received an annual flu vaccination."
If he's right, which he very well may be, I think the next flu season may be the one where I get back in line for my shot.
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Living with heart disease: One woman's story
Filed under: Books, Women Heart Health
She was 39, athletic, a non-smoker and a healthy eater. Kathy Kastan thought she had taken all the right steps to prevent heart disease, and when she started to feel symptoms of a heart attack, she was shocked. She was diagnosed with a heart blockage and underwent lifesaving surgery but even after the surgery, she felt ill and anxious. She promised herself that if she ever got her health back, she would help others with her firsthand knowledge of heart disease. Well, She did get her health back and she's kept her promise. Kastan is now the president of the board of directors for WomenHealth: The National Coalition of Women with Heart Disease, and she's reached out to others in her situation by writing a book, called From the Heart: A Woman's Guide to Living Well with Heart Disease. To learn more about her story, check out this article.
None of us are immune to heart disease, and I'm glad Kastan is using her unfortunate experience to reach out to others who may living with this killer disease.
10 things you need to know about your heart problems
Filed under: Drugs, Women Heart Health, Men Heart Health, Aging Heart Health, Surgery
You've been diagnosed with a heart problem. You have a lot of questions but you can't seem to get your head around this, this thing that's just been dropped on you like bomb. You probably feel very alone but believe it or not, situations like this are pretty common so WebMD has come up with this handy list of things you should ask your doctor about your heart condition. You need to know the facts, what can be done and where you'll end up on this roller coaster of life--and you might not know which questions to ask. Either that or you're too overwhelmed to think it through. You can even print the list out and take it to your doctor.
If you've gone through this before, what information did you find the most useful?