Comfort Care, Whatever Does That Mean?
by Michael Pottash (@mpottash)Comfort Care, whatever does that mean? This is the important question asked by my colleagues Anne Kelemen and Hunter Groninger in the September 2018 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine. The term is ubiquitous and its interpretation influences how patients with end stage illness are cared for at the end of their lives. In their article they argue that the language of Comfort Care is confusing and easily misunderstood. They suggest improving the understanding around end of life care and moving to a less ambiguous term for care of the dying. I worry that any term to describe dying care will always be...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - May 4, 2019 Category: Palliative Care Tags: comfort hospice hospital icu JAMA Internal Medicine palliative care pottash The profession Source Type: blogs
Chronic Inflammation as Proximate Cause of a Large Fraction of Age-Related Disease
This popular science article discusses at length the chronic inflammation that is characteristic of the old, and its role as a proximate cause of age-related disease. Inflammation is a necessary part of the immune response to injury and pathogens, and when present in the short term it is vital to the proper operation of bodily systems. But when the immune system runs awry in later life, and inflammatory processes are constantly running, then this inflammation corrodes metabolism, tissue function, and health.
The causes of excess, constant inflammation are both internal and external to the immune system. Internally, ...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 30, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Opening a New Approach to Targeting LDL Cholesterol to Slow Atherosclerosis
In atherosclerosis, fatty deposits form in blood vessel walls, narrowing and eventually rupturing or blocking them. It is one of the largest causes of death. The majority of efforts to treat atherosclerosis are focused on reducing the input of LDL cholesterol. This means statins and other, more recent approaches to lower levels of LDL cholesterol in the bloodstream, such as PCSK9 inhibitors. It is possible to reduce blood cholesterol to very low levels indeed, far below normal, and this actually has comparatively little effect on existing atherosclerotic lesions. Patients still die. The disease still progresses, just more ...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 30, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
On The Pulse - April 2019
Half of patients started on statins don ’t reach optimal cholesterol level (Source: OnMedica Blogs)
Source: OnMedica Blogs - April 25, 2019 Category: General Medicine Source Type: blogs
We need more than medicine to prevent heart disease
Like more than half of older men, I take a cholesterol-lowering medication called a statin. Sometimes that seems a bit strange, because I don ’t have high cholesterol. My doctor prescribed it based on a formula that largely hinges on age and sex. I’m 71 and male. Those two factors alone put me in the high-risk category for […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - April 22, 2019 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/robert-m-kaplan" rel="tag" > Robert M. Kaplan, PhD < /a > < /span > Tags: Conditions Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Reducing residual cardiovascular risk
Reducing residual cardiovascular risk in patients treated with statins and having hypertriglyceridemia was addressed by Reduction of Cardiovascular Events with Icosapent Ethyl–Intervention Trial (REDUCE-IT) [1].
REDUCE-IT was a double blind placebo controlled multicenter randomized trial. Patients with established cardiovascular disease or diabetes mellitus with other risk factors treated with statins were evaluated. At study inclusion they needed to have fasting triglyceride levels between 135 and 499 mg/dL and LDL cholesterol level 41 to 100 mg/dL.
They were randomized to either 2 g of icosapent ethyl twice daily or...
Source: Cardiophile MD - April 15, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Prof. Dr. Johnson Francis Tags: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
I Can’t Hear You!
A 50-year-old man presented to the emergency department complaining of ringing in his ears and difficulty understanding what people were saying. He was concerned that he was having a stroke. A full neurological exam was unremarkable aside from decreased hearing, but his hearing deficits appeared to be equal bilaterally. Otoscopic exam demonstrated a normal tympanic membrane, and the rest of his physical exam was unremarkable. The patient's past medical history was significant for hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, for which he took lisinopril and atorvastatin. He was recently treated with a 10-day course of doxycycl...
Source: The Tox Cave - April 1, 2019 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
A Capitalist Went To Cuba...
Mrs. Dalai and I continue to travel to weird and wonderful places, and with me being officially retired, we hope to do so even more often. Cuba has always intrigued me, and I had even strongly considered joining a religious mission trip here some years ago. Yes, there is a very small, but very vibrant Jewish community in Cuba. We never did makethat trip, but we are now circumnavigating the island nation on a very nice cruise ship. While other ships have made the run, this is the first visit for our particular liner, and I feel a bit like a pioneer. Our first stop was in Santiago, very near Guantanamo, then to Cienfuegos wi...
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - March 27, 2019 Category: Radiology Source Type: blogs
Why do athletes have heart attacks?
Despite the benefits of vigorous exercise, there are factors that can lead elite athletes to experience heart attacks, even sudden cardiac death.
These causes are readily identifiable and correctable . . . but it will NOT come through limiting dietary fat nor taking a statin drug.
Be better-informed and avoid a lifetime of heart disease.
The post Why do athletes have heart attacks? appeared first on Dr. William Davis. (Source: Wheat Belly Blog)
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - March 26, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Coronary disease Heart attack Myocardial infarction heart disease undoctored wheat belly Source Type: blogs
The Statin Drug Tragedy
The biggest problem with statin cholesterol drugs is not that they hardly do anything, but that doctors think that efforts to prevent heart disease can end at a statin drug and low-fat diet.
It means they ignore or neglect the DOZENS of other powerful strategies that you could adopt that dramatically reduce, even eliminate, risk for heart disease.
The post The Statin Drug Tragedy appeared first on Dr. William Davis. (Source: Wheat Belly Blog)
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - March 14, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Lipoproteins Small LDL particles Statin drugs cholesterol coronary disease heart disease Inflammation undoctored wheat belly Wheat Belly Total Health Source Type: blogs
Aspirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, part 2
Update
In March 2019, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) released new guidelines that suggest that most adults without a history of heart disease should not take low-dose daily aspirin to prevent a first heart attack or stroke. Based on the ASPREE, ARRIVE, and ASCEND trials, the ACC/AHA guidelines concluded that the risk of side effects from aspirin, particularly bleeding, outweighed the potential benefit.
The new guidelines do not pertain to people with established cardiovascular disease, in whom the benefits of daily aspirin have been found to outweigh the risks.
___________...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - March 14, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Deepak Bhatt, MD, MPH Tags: Heart Health Prevention Source Type: blogs
Ten ways to reduce or eliminate heart disease risk
You won’t hear silly, ineffective nonsense like “cut your saturated fat,” or “move more, eat less,” “everything in moderation,” or “take a statin drug” around here—you know, the advice that keeps heart disease the #1 killer of Americans and keeps doctors and hospital busy making plenty of money.
Here are the strategies that I used for many years in thousands of patients based on published (but often under appreciated) science that achieved reversal of heart disease in the majority.
The post Ten ways to reduce or eliminate heart disease risk appeared first on Dr....
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - March 7, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: News & Updates cholesterol coronary grain-free heart disease heart scan undoctored wheat belly Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, March 4th 2019
Fight Aging! provides a weekly digest of news and commentary for thousands of subscribers interested in the latest longevity science: progress towards the medical control of aging in order to prevent age-related frailty, suffering, and disease, as well as improvements in the present understanding of what works and what doesn't work when it comes to extending healthy life. Expect to see summaries of recent advances in medical research, news from the scientific community, advocacy and fundraising initiatives to help speed work on the repair and reversal of aging, links to online resources, and much more.
This content is...
Source: Fight Aging! - March 3, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Exercise Performance a Better Predictor of Mortality than Chronological Age
Researchers here provide evidence to demonstrate that fairly standard exercise stress tests are better at predicting mortality in older individuals than chronological age. People age at different paces, and some portion of this variation is the secondary aging of lifestyle choices such as diet and physical activity or inactivity. The challenge with human studies of activity and aging is that they can really only provide evidence of correlation rather than causation. The animal studies are fairly compelling on causation when it comes to exercise and a lower rate of mortality in late life, however. It seems more plausible fo...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 25, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Statins may reduce lung related and all cause mortality in COPD
(Source: Notes from Dr. RW)
Source: Notes from Dr. RW - February 21, 2019 Category: Internal Medicine Tags: pulmonary Source Type: blogs
