Cardiology News and Research

Latest Cardiology News and Research

Women's health policy highlights

Highlights recently released from journal articles on women's health issues

24 Aug 2006

Studies examine effects of hospital closures, affordability of coverage

The authors recommend that low-cost, nonhospital-based preventive care be promoted to reduce patient deaths after hospital closures.

24 Aug 2006

Women's Health Network petitions FDA to halt sales of estrogen, testosterone combination treatments

The National Women's Health Network has petitioned FDA to stop sales of Solvay's Estratest and Breckenridge Pharmaceuticals' Syntest, which are estrogen-testosterone combination therapies used to treat menopause-associated hot flashes, until they are proven safe and effective, Reuters reports.

24 Aug 2006

Lyme disease vaccine could be on the cards

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere, and the most common tick-borne illness in the United States and Europe.

24 Aug 2006

ADHD drugs to carry warnings regarding heart problems, psychotic behavior and sudden death

According to U.S. health officials several drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) must now include new warning information about the risk of serious heart problems, psychotic behavior and sudden death.

24 Aug 2006

Fat people shorten their lives

A new study has found that being obese is not just unhealthy, it can in fact seriously increase the risk of death.

24 Aug 2006

No matter how you do it tobacco is a killer

Regardless of how you do it, smoked or chewed, firsthand or secondhand, it seems all kinds of tobacco cause heart attacks.

21 Aug 2006

BMI unreliable when assessing obesity and risk of heart disease

According to doctors in the United States the standard measure of obesity, the Body Mass Index (BMI), is badly flawed and may not be such an accurate indicator as it lumps muscle and fat into one category.

21 Aug 2006

Antibiotic-resistant MRSA all too common

Researchers in the U.S. say that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA is the most common cause of skin and soft-tissue infections among patients presenting in emergency rooms across the country.

20 Aug 2006

Chagas' disease needs more research attention

The international research community needs to focus more attention on Chagas' disease - an infectious disease that kills 50,000 people a year, states an Editorial in this week's special cardiology issue of The Lancet.

17 Aug 2006

Body mass index cannot reliably predict the outcome for patients with heart disease

Doctors already know that obesity is a risk factor for developing heart disease. However, how obesity affects people with established heart disease has been unclear because previous studies have had contradictory results.

17 Aug 2006

All forms of tobacco use or exposure are harmful

All forms of tobacco exposure - smoking, chewing or inhaling second hand smoke - increase the risk of heart attack up to three times, according to an Article in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

17 Aug 2006

Chinese men harming wives by smoking too much

Chinese men are putting their wives at increased risk of long-term illness and early death by smoking, finds a study in this week's British Medical Journal.

17 Aug 2006

FDA approves Plavix for STEMI heart attacks

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved the use of Plavix (clopidogrel bisulfate) for patients who have had a type of heart attack called acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), who are not going to have coronary artery repair (angioplasty).

17 Aug 2006