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Source: Harvard Health Blog
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Total 81 results found since Jan 2013.
Combination of a cholesterol-lowering statin and ezetimibe lowers risk of a heart attack or stroke
High cholesterol is a key culprit in the development of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the United States and many other developed countries. We know that lowering cholesterol helps prevent heart attacks and strokes. But an unanswered question remains: how low should you go? New research published online today in The New England Journal of Medicine suggests that lower is better.
Cholesterol and cardiovascular disease
Cholesterol travels through the bloodstream in two main particles: high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL). HDL scavenges cholesterol from the bloodstream and fro...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - June 4, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Gregory Curfman, MD Tags: Drugs and Supplements Heart Health cholesterol ezetimibe Source Type: news
Grip strength may provide clues to heart health
A strong or weak hand grip carries more than just social cues. It may also help measure an individual’s risk for having a heart attack or stroke, or dying from cardiovascular disease.
As part of the international Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study, researchers measured grip strength in nearly 140,000 adults in 17 countries and followed their health for an average of four years. A device called a dynamometer was used to assess grip strength.
Each 11-pound decrease in grip strength over the course of the study was linked to a 16% higher risk of dying from any cause, a 17% higher risk of dying from...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - May 19, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Howard LeWine, M.D. Tags: Heart Health grip strength hands Source Type: news
New recommendations aim to improve safety of pain-relieving spinal steroid injections
More and more people are seeking injections of anti-inflammatory steroid medications for back and neck pain. In 2011, the last year for which complete information is available, doctors pushed the plunger on 2.3 million steroid injections into the spine — and that’s just among people covered by Medicare.
These injections deliver drugs that mimic the effects of two hormones, cortisone and hydrocortisone, to reduce inflammation and help relieve pain. When they work — they don’t always — such injections can bring profound relief.
“If you are in severe pain with a ruptured spinal disc and you get a stero...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - May 7, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Daniel Pendick Tags: Back Pain Drugs and Supplements anti-inflammatory steroid medications spinal injections spine steroid injections Source Type: news
Special MRI scan could identify stroke risk in people with atrial fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation is a heart rhythm disorder that affects millions of people. It can make you feel lousy. Even worse, it can cause potentially disabling or deadly strokes. A special MRI scan may — I stress the “may” — help identify people with atrial fibrillation who are at high risk of having a stroke. This could help many people with this condition to avoid taking warfarin or other clot-preventing medications for life.
A normal heartbeat starts in a cluster of cells called the pacemaker. It sits in the heart’s upper right chamber (the right atrium). These cells generate a pulse of electricity that...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - April 28, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Howard LeWine, M.D. Tags: Heart Health atrial fibrillation MRI prevention special MRI scan Stroke Stroke Risk Source Type: news
Hospitalization after fainting can do more harm than good
One morning not long ago, my teenage daughter started to black out. After an ambulance ride to our local hospital’s emergency department, an electrocardiogram, and some bloodwork, she was sent home with a follow-up doctor appointment. We got the good news that Alexa is perfectly healthy, but should avoid getting too hungry or thirsty so she doesn’t faint again. And I’m feeling lucky that she didn’t need to be hospitalized, because a research letter in this week’s JAMA Internal Medicine points out that hospitalization for low-risk fainting can do more harm than good.
Doctors use something called th...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - April 22, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Heidi Godman Tags: Health fainting San Francisco Syncope Rule Source Type: news
More than a stretch: Yoga’s benefits may extend to the heart
As a long-time yoga enthusiast, I’m always happy to hear about benefits newly attributed to this ancient practice. Doing yoga for a few hours each week helps me feel calmer and more balanced, both physically and mentally. Now, new research suggests that my habit also may be helping my heart.
A recent review of yoga and cardiovascular disease published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology indicates that yoga may help lower heart disease risk as much as conventional exercise, such as brisk walking.
As I write in the April issue of the Harvard Heart Letter, the studies in the review looked at different types...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - April 15, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Julie Corliss Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Heart Health alternative therapy cardiovascular disease exercise yoga Source Type: news
Precision medicine is coming, but not anytime soon
President Obama’s announcement of a Precision Medicine Initiative was one of the few items in this year’s State of the Union address to garner bipartisan support. And for good reason. Precision medicine, also known as personalized medicine, offers the promise of health care — from prevention to diagnosis to treatment — based on your unique DNA profile. Who wouldn’t want that?
We’ve already had a taste of precision medicine. Relatively low-tech therapies like eyeglasses, orthotic devices, allergy treatments, and blood transfusions have long been personalized for the individual. Genetic analysis o...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - March 26, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Beverly Merz Tags: Health care personalized health care precision medicine Source Type: news
Folic acid, a B vitamin, lowers stroke risk in people with high blood pressure
If you’re among the one in three American adults with high blood pressure, be sure you’re getting plenty of the B vitamin known as folate. Doing so may lower your odds of having a stroke, an often disabling or deadly event linked to high blood pressure, a new study suggests.
Folate occurs naturally in many foods, but especially green leafy vegetables, beans, and citrus fruits. Here in the United States, add to the list most grain products, including wheat flour, cornmeal, pasta, and rice. They are fortified with the synthetic version of folate, known as folic acid.
That’s not the case in many countries ar...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - March 18, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Julie Corliss Tags: Drugs and Supplements Hypertension and Stroke high blood pressure Source Type: news
PCSK9 inhibitors: a major advance in cholesterol-lowering drug therapy
Every so often a medical advance comes along that rewrites the script for treating a disease or condition. After today’s announcements of impressive results of a new type of cholesterol-lowering drug, that scenario just might happen in the next few years.
The new drugs, called PCSK9 inhibitors, are monoclonal antibodies. They target and inactivate a specific protein in the liver. Knocking out this protein, called proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin 9, dramatically reduces the amount of harmful LDL cholesterol circulating in the bloodstream. Lower LDL translates into healthier arteries and fewer heart attacks, stro...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - March 15, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Gregory Curfman, MD Tags: Drugs and Supplements Heart Health Medical Research alirocumab cholesterol evolocumab PCSK9 inhibitors Source Type: news
Sauna use linked to longer life, fewer fatal heart problems
After shoveling for days, breaking up ice dams, and now shivering in this week’s frigid temperatures, I wouldn’t mind sitting in a sauna for a bit. A new report in JAMA Internal Medicine makes this pastime even more appealing: regularly spending time in a sauna may help keep the heart healthy and extend life.
Researchers from the University of Eastern Finland tracked 2,300 middle-aged men for an average of 20 years. They categorized the men into three groups according to how often they used a sauna each week. The men spent an average of 14 minutes per visit baking in 175° F heat. Over the course of the study, ...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - February 25, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Beverly Merz Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Heart Health sauna Source Type: news
Menopause-related hot flashes and night sweats can last for years
According to conventional medical wisdom, menopause-related hot flashes fade away after six to 24 months. Not so, says a new study of women going through menopause. Hot flashes last, on average, for about seven years and may go on for 11 years or more.
The hormonal roller coaster that comes with the end of a woman’s childbearing years can trigger a range of symptoms. Up to 80% of women going through menopause experience hot flashes. Hot flashes, also known as vasomotor symptoms, are often described as a sudden sensation of heat in the chest, face, and head followed by flushing, perspiration, and sometimes chills. Whe...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - February 23, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Nancy Ferrari Tags: Menopause Women's Health hot flashes night sweats Source Type: news
Making one change — getting more fiber — can help with weight loss
Getting to a healthy weight and staying there is an important way to prevent heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, and other serious conditions. Many of us know firsthand just how hard it can be to reach and maintain that healthy weight. And there’s no shortage of ways to try to get there: You can count calories, carbs, or points. You can cut back on fat or sugar. You can try any number of popular diets that forbid certain foods, or focus on just one (the grapefruit diet, anyone?). Any of these approaches might work for you. Or they might not — in large part because they are complicated.
A study published in todayR...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - February 17, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Nancy Ferrari Tags: Diet and Weight Loss Healthy Eating fiber Source Type: news
Millions of adults skip medications due to their high cost
Medications can do wonderful things, from fighting infection to preventing stroke and warding off depression. But medications don’t work if they aren’t taken. Some people don’t take their medications as prescribed because they forget, or are bothered by side effects. A new report from the National Center for Health Statistics shines the light on another reason: some people can’t pay for their medications.
The survey, by NCHS researchers Robin A. Cohen and Maria A. Villarroel, found that about 8% of adult Americans don’t take their medicines as prescribed because they can’t afford them. I...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - January 30, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Howard LeWine, M.D. Tags: Drugs and Supplements medication costs Source Type: news
Eggs can be part of a healthy diet
For years, men have gotten the message that they should go
easy on the eggs-over-easy. But the evidence doesn't support banning eggs from the
diet. In most studies so far, "an egg a day does not have a negative
impact on health," says Eric Rimm, professor of epidemiology and nutrition
at the Harvard School of Public Health, in the January 2015 issue of the Harvard
Men's Health Watch.
Eggs contain a
number of healthy nutrients, including B vitamins and protein. The main
concern about eating eggs has always been their cholesterol content. The
cholesterol comes from the yolk, so many people choose to eat only the egg
white.
...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - December 24, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
This year's top 10 advances in cardiovascular disease
Progress in the fight against heart
disease and stroke came on many fronts during 2014, from novel drugs and
procedures to improvements and newfound benefits from existing treatments. In
the December 2014 Harvard Heart Letter, Editor in Chief Dr. Deepak L. Bhatt selected
10 of the most important advances.
New drugs cut cholesterol
levels by half. A new class of drugs, given by injection just once or twice
a month, can slash harmful LDL cholesterol levels by about 50%. Studies are
under way to see if any of these experimental agents, called PCSK9 inhibitors,
prevent heart attacks or improve heart disease survival.
Replacing...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - November 24, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
