Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Rapid rise in obesity may reverse life expectancy trend

It's been assumed that U.S. life expectancy would rise indefinitely, but a new data analysis, published as a special report in the March 17 New England Journal of Medicine, suggests that this trend is about to reverse itself -- due to the rapid rise in obesity, especially among children.

21 Mar 2005

Does depression predict mortality in heart attacks?

A group of Danish investigators, headed by Per Bech (Hillerod) surveyed the the literature on depression in patients with myocardial infarction to assess the methodological quality and to test whether depression leads to an increased postmyocardial infarction mortality.

21 Mar 2005

Brain research to help in fight against heart disease

Scientists at the University of Liverpool, supported by the British Heart Foundation, are studying blood flow in the brain to further medical understanding of cardiovascular disease.

21 Mar 2005

Obstructive sleep apnoeahypopnoea increases risk of heart attacks

Men with a severe form of a sleep breathing disorder called obstructive sleep apnoeahypopnoea have an increased risk of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events, concludes a study published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

21 Mar 2005

Ongoing specialist care can improve heart attack survival

When a good network of care involving access to specialists and family physicians is established, it can significantly improve the number of lives saved from heart disease, especially in rural areas, according to a University of Alberta two-year study.

16 Mar 2005

Conference to assess evidence on management of menopause-related symptoms

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will hold a State-of-the-Science Conference on Management of Menopause-Related Symptoms, March 21-23, 2005, at the Natcher Conference Center on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland.

16 Mar 2005

Cetrorelix progresses to full development for the treatment of Endometriosis in women

Solvay Pharmaceuticals has decided to undertake full Phase III development with cetrorelix for the treatment of endometriosis in women.

16 Mar 2005

Questions about validity of HOPE TOO vitamin E study

A study published in the March 16 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) suggesting that a "daily-dose" of vitamin E (400 international units) among high-risk (chronically ill) cardiovascular patient populations is associated with a greater risk of heart failure is being challenged by leading health researchers around the country who claim the study lacks the adequate research and controlled sampling audience to justify this conclusion.

16 Mar 2005

Mountaineering doctors hike medicine to new heights with Xtreme Everest

Doctors working at the edge of extreme are set to climb the world’s tallest mountain to look death in the face – and take its pulse. The medical research team will make the first ever measurements of blood oxygen in the ‘death zone’, at altitudes above 8,000 metres where the human body has struggled - and frequently failed - to survive.

16 Mar 2005

Sleep deprivation also has impact on national health

Work-related sleeping disorders have proliferated rapidly in recent years with increases in occupational stress and abnormal working hours.

16 Mar 2005

Link between C-reactive protein, heart disease and stroke

The cells that line the arteries are able to produce C-reactive protein, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health and published in the April issue of American Journal of Pathology.

16 Mar 2005

Risk of cardiac death after radiation for breast cancer has dramatically decreased

In the largest and most comprehensive prospective study of its kind, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have concluded that the risk of ischemic heart disease and, ultimately, cardiac death following radiation treatment for breast cancer has steadily declined over the last quarter century.

16 Mar 2005

Uncertainty about the need for prostate cancer

Initial results from an ongoing study evaluating the benefit of prostate cancer screening practices demonstrate that the combined use of both standard tests - the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test and the digital rectal exam (DRE) - is optimal for detecting cancer.

16 Mar 2005

Diabetes Busting Burgers!

Chemists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently presented a preliminary report to the 229th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, in which they say they have discovered a form of soluble cellulose that, if added to high-fat food. The new finding could soon benefit people who regularly eat fast-foods that are high in fat.

16 Mar 2005

More research on Vitamin E surprises scientists

50 years of research into the supposed benefits of taking vitamin E has extolled its antioxidant potential to offer a variety of potential health benefits, including reducing the risk of Alzheimer's, cancer and heart disease.

15 Mar 2005

Vitamin E may increase heart attack risk - does not prevent cancer

A study by Canadian researchers Eva Lonn, M.D., of the Population Health Research Institute and McMaster University, Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues, has found from examining experimental and epidemiological data, that patients who took vitamin E supplements for 7 years did not significantly reduce their risk of cancer or cardiovascular events and some in fact had an increased risk of heart failure.

15 Mar 2005

Heart valve transplant through leg quicker and benefits high risk cases

An experimental procedure marks the launch of a research study approved by the Food and Drug Administration in January. The breakthrough technology could save the lives of thousands of people with heart valve disease who have no other treatment options. In a new clinical trial the first U.S. patient has received a heart valve implant without open-heart surgery.

15 Mar 2005

Its not just the Americans - Europeans are getting fat too!

The United States is now being challenged in the obesity stakes by at least seven European countries. All across Europe, the proportion of overweight or obese men is higher than in the United States, experts said Tuesday in a major analysis of expanding girth on the European continent.

15 Mar 2005

Mountain dwellers live longer

People who live in mountain areas live longer than those living in lowland areas, according to research from Greece, which has the lowest death rate from heart disease of any developed country.

15 Mar 2005

Aspirin use appears to reduce the incidence of colon polyps

The association between regular aspirin use and a reduced risk of precancerous colon polyps may be strongest in those with particular genetic variants.

15 Mar 2005