Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Community care tops medical care at preventing heart disease in black Americans

Upgraded community health services, including checkups by phone or in person with a local nurse practitioner at a neighborhood clinic, and free charge cards for medications are almost nine times more likely to benefit black Americans at greater risk of heart disease than full-service physician care alone.

15 Mar 2005

Heart disease risk in older women identified by simple blood test

Postmenopausal women who are not identified by traditional cardiovascular risk factors, could benefit from a simple blood test to show their white blood cell (WBC) count which may predict cardiovascular events and risk of death.

15 Mar 2005

Seniors with giant cell arteritis are twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke

Seniors with giant cell arteritis – a chronic inflammatory condition of medium and large arteries – are twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke compared to adults without this condition, says new University of Toronto research.

14 Mar 2005

Obesity among African-American stroke survivors increases risk factors for recurrent stroke

Obesity may put African-Americans who have survived one stroke at risk for a second stroke by increasing their risk of hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes and high cholesterol, according to an article in the March issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

14 Mar 2005

Simple blood test may help to predict cardiovascular risk in older women

White blood cell (WBC) count may predict cardiovascular events and risk of death in postmenopausal women who are not currently identified by traditional cardiovascular risk factors, according to an article in the March 14 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

14 Mar 2005

New study regarding Atkins nutritional approach and obese patients

A new study by Temple University School of Medicine researchers has shown why the pounds melt so quickly on low-carbohydrate diets, and it's not related to water, metabolism or boredom. The research was conducted in a group of obese patients with type 2 diabetes who followed the Atkins diet.

14 Mar 2005

High prevalence of hostility symptoms in young coronary artery disease patients

Young coronary artery disease patients have a higher prevalence of hostility than older patients with the disease, researchers explain in the current issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The authors say reducing hostility in these patients should be part of a rehabilitation program.

14 Mar 2005

Growth hormone treatment may reduce serious metabolic conditions

Researchers in Sweden have discovered that growth hormone (GH) treatment may result in the reduction of multiple metabolic disorders associated with abdominal obesity in postmenopausal women.

14 Mar 2005

Link between cardiovascular disease and periodontal bacteria

Researchers report this week that older adults who have higher proportions of four periodontal-disease-causing bacteria inhabiting their mouths also tend to have thicker carotid arteries, a strong predictor of stroke and heart attack.

14 Mar 2005

High-dose radiation and bone marrow transfer treatments on glaucoma-susceptible mice completely blocked development of glaucoma

In a discovery that could point to new treatments for a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases, Jackson Laboratory researchers have found that high-dose radiation and bone marrow transfer treatments on glaucoma-susceptible mice completely blocked the development of glaucoma, by preventing neurodegeneration.

14 Mar 2005

Gene identified that confers susceptibility to age-related macular degeneration

By combining the tools of high-throughput biology and statistical genetics, scientists at Rockefeller University, Yale University School of Public Health and the National Eye Institute have identified a gene that confers susceptibility to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of vision loss in the United Sates for those over 60.

14 Mar 2005

Secondhand smoke causes breast cancer

A California agency, the Air Resources Board, which first linked secondhand smoke to heart disease, now says secondhand smoke causes breast cancer too.

10 Mar 2005

Unequal healthcare kills 80,000 black Americans

Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher said this week that over 80,000 black Americans die every year because of disparities in health care. Despite government and public and insurance companies knowledge of this shortchange in health care for blacks, they have done little to improve the situation.

10 Mar 2005

Doctors may in future be able to prevent many cases of deep-vein thrombosis

Doctors may in future be able to prevent many cases of deep-vein thrombosis, commonly referred to as DVT, a disease of the circulation that causes potentially fatal blood clots. It occurs most often in people who have not been able to exercise normally.

9 Mar 2005

Emergency clopidogrel could save thousands of lives worldwide

Adding the anti-platelet drug clopidogrel to aspirin for the emergency treatment of heart attacks could save thousands of lives a year worldwide and prevent thousands of repeat heart attacks and strokes, according to new research presented at the American College of Cardiology annual conference.

9 Mar 2005

Efforts to improve the quality of post-heart attack care working better for men than for women

Efforts to improve the quality of post-heart attack care in hospitals are working - but they appear to be working better for men than for women, new research shows.

9 Mar 2005

Income, not just race, explains much of the health gap between groups of Americans

Income, not just race, explains much of the health gap between groups of Americans, and a “health equity impact” statement should accompany government policy proposals, suggests a Harvard professor in the current edition of the prestigious journal Health Affairs.

9 Mar 2005

Blood clotting combo saves heart patients lives

Two studies presented Wednesday at the American College of Cardiology's annual scientific sessions in Orlando, Fla. have found that the clot-preventing drug Plavix when added to the treatment of people with severe heart attacks helps reopen their clogged arteries and saves lives.

9 Mar 2005

HIV is not an independent risk factor for severe heart disease

Infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is no longer an automatic death sentence, thanks to the use of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART).

8 Mar 2005

Nature of electrical abnormalities occurring during the development of heart failure

A Johns Hopkins undergraduate student has contributed to new research showing that electrical changes in the heart leading to heart failure can occur long before a patient exhibits any clinical symptoms.

8 Mar 2005