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Could exercise be as effective as medication?
Conclusion The researchers found that there are very few trials that directly compare exercise with drug therapy for any condition. They were only able to find enough trials to be able to analyse results for four major conditions. They found that exercise reduced death rates for people after a stroke (although this analysis has limitations and should be interpreted cautiously), and that drug therapy with diuretics improved death rates for people with heart failure. They did not find any difference between exercise and drug therapy for death rates after a heart attack or in people with pre-diabetes. There were several limit...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 2, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Heart/lungs Medication Source Type: news

High salt levels in soluble drugs may raise heart risk
Conclusion This large case control study suggested that people who had experienced disease of the heart and blood vessels were more likely to have taken sodium-containing medicines than people without cardiovascular disease. Put in other words this can be interpreted that people who took sodium-containing medicines were at a higher risk of experiencing cardiovascular disease than people who took the same medications in formulations free of sodium. The increased risk appeared to be driven mostly by an increased risk of hypertension and to a lesser extent, non-fatal stroke. The study has some strengths including its large s...
Source: NHS News Feed - November 27, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medication Medical practice Source Type: news

Moderate drinking may reduce heart disease risk
Conclusion This study paints a more complicated picture than the "Pint a day keeps the doctor away" story proffered by The Sun. It seems to confirm the findings of other studies, which have shown that non-drinkers tend to have a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases than people who drink moderately. It suggests that some cardiovascular diseases (mainly those directly affecting the heart) seem to have a stronger link to a possible protective effect from alcohol than other vascular diseases, such as mini-strokes and bleeding in the brain. However, this can't be concluded with certainty due to the study design. We ...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 23, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Food/diet Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

Long working week 'may increase risk of irregular heartbeat'
Conclusion This study draws together data from a large group of people to investigate whether working hours could be linked to AF. It found people who work 55 or more hours a week had an increased risk of developing an irregular heartbeat. But before we jump to any conclusions, there are several important things to consider: The number of people who developed AF during this study was small: only 1.24%. That's the absolute risk of AF. Even if working more than 55 hours a week does increase your risk of AF by around 40%, it would only be increasing it to something like 1.74% – which is still very small. Only a small ...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 14, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

Any type of physical exercise is good for the heart
Conclusion This study shows that all physical activity, in any form, is good for us. This includes both recreational and non-recreational activities. Don't be misled by some of the media: non-recreational activities like housework are not "better" than recreational activities like playing sports or going to the gym. The fact that reduced risk was seen with non-recreational activity across all countries, but only seen with recreational activity in high-income countries was probably just because fewer people in lower-income countries play sports or go to the gym. The researchers estimate that 8% of all deaths and...
Source: NHS News Feed - September 22, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

Can DIY and gardening help you live longer?
Conclusion This study found that in a population-based sample of older adults (aged 60), high levels of non-exercise physical activity, or ‘an active daily life’ was associated with better levels of cardiovascular risk factors. When followed over time, it was found an active daily life was associated with approximately 30% reduced risk of both a cardiovascular event (stroke, angina, heart attack) and death from any cause. These associations were seen after adjusting for regular exercise, and for a number of other factors that could explain the association seen (confounders). This study was a cross-sectional and cohort...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 29, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Heart/lungs Source Type: news

A pattern of brain activity may link stress to heart attacks
Conclusion This intriguing study sets out a possible pathway by which the effects of stress on the brain could translate into inflammation in the blood vessels, and so raise the risks of cardiovascular disease. This would help to explain why people living in stressful situations, or with illnesses such as depression and anxiety, are more at risk of heart attacks and strokes. However, there are important limitations to the study which mean we should treat the findings with caution. The main study of 293 people was relatively small for a long-term study looking at cardiovascular disease, and only 22 people had a cardiovascul...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 12, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Mental health Source Type: news

Overweight diabetics 'live longer' than slimmer diabetics
Conclusion This large prospective cohort following over 10,000 older adults with type 2 diabetes for 10 years has found that while being overweight or obese is linked to increased risk of cardiovascular events, being overweight is linked to reduced risk of death. This is similar to the "obesity paradox" seen in some other studies, where being overweight or obese is associated with a survival benefit in people with established cardiovascular disease. The researchers note that 16 other studies have assessed the same question and found conflicting results. Their study aimed to improve on the methods in these studies...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 11, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Diabetes Food/diet Obesity Source Type: news

'Fat but fit' still at higher risk of heart disease
Conclusion The question of whether someone can be "fat but fit" has been much debated. If you're obese but exercise, eat well and don't have metabolic risk factors, the theory goes, you could be just as healthy as someone of recommended weight. This study suggests that may not be true. It is definitely worth adopting a healthy lifestyle, whatever your weight. The study found that, the more metabolic risk factors people had, the more likely they were to develop heart disease, cardiovascular disease and so on. Metabolic risk factors do make a difference. But in this large study, on average, people who were obese ...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 17, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Obesity Source Type: news

High-dose painkiller heart risk: small but significant
Conclusion This large review adds to, and expands on, the current evidence on the risks of vascular disease and gastrointestinal complications for different NSAIDs. It largely concentrates on trials of high doses of NSAIDs that can only be prescribed by a doctor. It is unclear from this study whether there is any risk from taking lower doses available over the counter. While most experts advise that low-dose NSAIDs, taken occasionally, are safe for most people, an accompanying editorial points out that there are still “large gaps” in evidence on the risks with lower doses of NSAIDs. While the risk to individuals is sma...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 30, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medication Heart/lungs Source Type: news

Painkiller use linked to irregular heartbeat
ConclusionThis prospective cohort study claims an association between NSAIDs usage and developing atrial fibrillation. However, there are many limitations to this research.Despite this being a large prospective cohort study that followed people over a period of time, the assessments within it were predominantly cross-sectional. That means it assessed the person’s current or recent prescription of NSAIDs at the time they were diagnosed, but this cannot prove that using NSAIDs caused atrial fibrillation. A better method may have been to assess the use of NSAIDs in people without atrial fibrillation at the start of the stud...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 9, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medication Older people Source Type: news

Air pollution linked to irregular heartbeat and lung blood clots
Conclusion This was a large national study that looked in detail at links between people's short-term exposure to air pollutants and national records on hospital admissions for heart attack, emergency admissions for all cardiovascular problems, and deaths from cardiovascular disease. The study had some limitations – for example, as the authors say, it did not include heart attacks that took place before hospital admission. It also used fixed monitoring sites, which may not accurately reflect personal exposure to air pollution.  For the public, the results of this study are probably confusing. That's because the resear...
Source: NHS News Feed - June 5, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

Study may bust myth of 'fat and fit' healthy obesity
Conclusion This meta-analysis provides further evidence about the known risk factors for cardiovascular disease and mortality. What this study adds is the indication that people who are metabolically unhealthy regardless of their weight are at increased risk. However, interestingly, no increase in risk was seen for the category of people who are metabolically healthy though overweight. A strength of this meta-analysis is the large sample size. However, the results should be interpreted with caution as: The studies did not use the same criteria for assessing metabolic status. The studies did not use the same criteri...
Source: NHS News Feed - December 4, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Lifestyle/exercise Obesity Source Type: news

Women who spend too long sitting may die earlier
Conclusion This cohort study looking at the link between sedentary time in postmenopausal women and their risk of death, benefits from its large sample size of almost 100,000 women, and 12 year follow-up. It finds, as previous research has found, that increased sedentary time is generally associated with increased risk of death. The main risk was for women with the highest sedentary time (greater than 11 hours sitting per day) who were at increased risk of death from any cause and deaths from heart disease or cancer compared with women sitting for less than four hours a day. The links were less clear for women sedentary ...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 17, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Heart/lungs Source Type: news

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