Top heart disease and stroke research advances of 2017
DALLAS, Feb. 7, 2018 — New medicines to fight heart disease, updated guidelines for strokes and high blood pressure, and research into genome editing are among the top heart disease and stroke advances in 2017, according to the American Heart Association, the world’s leading voluntary health organization devoted to fighting cardiovascular disease and stroke.
The Association, […]
Severe pre-eclampsia often leads to undetected high blood pressure after pregnancy
Study Highlights:
- Hypertension commonly occurs in the year following pregnancy among women who had severe pre-eclampsia during pregnancy.
- The lingering hypertension may go unnoticed because it often doesn’t present as classic high readings in the doctor’s office.
- Offering post-pregnancy ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to all women who have severe pre-eclampsia may help detect those whose blood […]
Breast cancer treatments may increase the risk of heart disease
Statement Highlights:
- Some breast cancer therapies can damage the heart and healthcare providers should carefully monitor breast cancer treatment effects on the heart.
- Breast cancer survivors, especially older women, are more likely to die from cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure rather than breast cancer.
Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT / 5 a.m. ET Thurs., Feb. […]
More than 100 million Americans have high blood pressure, AHA says
DALLAS, Jan. 31, 2018 — The number of Americans at risk for heart attacks and strokes just got a lot higher. An estimated 103 million U.S. adults have high blood pressure, according to new statistics from the American Heart Association. That’s nearly half of all adults in the United States.
“With the aging of the […]
Guideline adherence, not patient volume, may be better hospital heart failure metric
Study Highlights:
- In evaluating the quality of inpatient heart failure care, patients and policy makers should consider how well a hospital meets clinical care guidelines. Hospitals that treat more heart failure patients tend to follow heart failure guidelines more closely.
- However, death and hospital readmission rates can be just as good at hospitals with small numbers of […]
Endothelial cells may contribute to formation of new vessels compensating for inadequate blood supply
Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT / 5 a.m. ET Monday, Jan. 22, 2018
DALLAS, Jan. 22, 2018 – Cells that line the interior surface of blood vessels (endothelial cells) have the capacity to clonally expand and contribute to the development of new vessels due to inadequate blood supply to the heart, known as ischemia, according to […]
Middle-aged couch potatoes may reverse heart effects of a sedentary life with exercise training
Study Highlights:
- Two years of exercise training during middle age may reduce or reverse the cardiac consequences of a sedentary lifestyle.
- Two years of exercise training may be an effective lifestyle modification for rejuvenating aging hearts and reducing the risk of heart failure.
Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT / 5 a.m. ET Monday, Jan. 8, 2018 […]
Neighborhood factors may predict heart failure
Study Highlights:
- Neighborhood-level socioeconomic factors may significantly predict heart failure risk beyond individual cardiovascular risk factors, individual income and education level.
- Researchers found that almost 5 percent of the increased heart failure risk in “deprived” areas was attributable to neighborhood factors.
- Improvements in community resources such as exercise facilities, healthy food outlets and medical facilities could […]
Multi-gene test predicts early heart disease risk
Study Highlights:
- A risk score based on multiple genetic differences, or polygenic test, predicted significantly more cases of early heart disease than standard tests for single genetic defects.
- The polygenic test predicted a high risk for early-onset heart disease in 1 out of 53 individuals, compared to 1 in 256 for the most frequent single genetic defect.
Embargoed […]
Mental stress-induced constricted blood vessels more likely in women
Study Highlight:
- In women with heart disease, constriction of peripheral vessels during mental stress affects the heart circulation more than men’s, potentially raising women’s risk of heart-related events and death.
Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT / 5 a.m. ET, Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017
DALLAS, Dec. 21, 2017 – In women with heart disease, constriction of […]