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Study Finds Link Between Low IQ, Large Waistline

Posted 15 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Nov. 15 – Guys with low IQs may be at higher risk than brainiacs for later weight gain and added heart disease risk, a new study suggests. Swedish men who had the lowest IQs at about age 18 had higher waist-to-hip ratios at age 40 than their peers who scored higher on those IQ tests. It's known that people with "apple-shaped" bodies, or more weight around the middle, are at higher risk for heart disease than those with "pear-shaped" bodies. Exactly how or even if IQ during late adolescence affects waist size is not clearly understood, and U.S cardiologists caution that it is too early to draw any meaningful conclusions from the new data. The findings are scheduled for presentation Tuesday at the American Heart Association annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. Study author Dr. Jerzy Leppert, a professor at the Center for Clinical Research of Uppsala University in Sweden, said the ... Read more

Related support groups: Obesity, Heart Disease, Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease

No Benefit From Niacin for Heart Patients in Study

Posted 15 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Nov. 15 – Patients with cardiovascular disease who add niacin to the statin drug Zocor (simvastatin) to help lower their cholesterol get no additional clinical benefit, a new study finds. Even though niacin appeared to increase HDL cholesterol – the good cholesterol – and decrease triglycerides, another type of fat in the blood, it did not reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke or death, the researchers found. "The data we had previously on niacin was not very strong and mostly came from one very old study," said Dr. Robert Giugliano, from the cardiovascular medicine division at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, who was not involved with the study. The report was published online Nov. 15 in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with the presentation of the findings at an American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, Fla. ... Read more

Fewer Disease Risk Factors Yet More Fatal Heart Attacks

Posted 15 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Nov. 15 – People with more risk factors for heart disease are more likely than healthier individuals to suffer a first heart attack, according to a large new study. No surprise there. But patients with fewer or no risk factors are more likely to die from that heart attack. "Our data show that patients with multiple risk factors present much earlier in age than patients with fewer or no risk factors. However, patients with fewer or no coronary heart disease [CHD] risk factors overall had higher mortality after the first heart attack," said Dr. John Canto, lead study author and director of cardiovascular prevention, research and education at the Watson Clinic in Lakeland, Fla. The researchers looked at data on about 540,000 patients with a first heart attack but without previous heart disease, from the U.S. National Registry of Myocardial Infarction (NRMI) for 1994 to 2006. They ... Read more

Abused Girls at Greater Risk for Heart Disease as Adults: Study

Posted 14 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

SUNDAY, Nov. 13 – Girls who are severely physically and sexually abused may be at greater risk for heart disease, heart attack and stroke as adults, according to a new study. Researchers examined the link between abuse and heart disease and strokes among 67,100 women. Forced sexual activity during their childhood or teenage years was reported by 11 percent of the women, and 9 percent reported severe physical abuse. Women who were repeatedly raped as children or teenagers were at 62 percent higher risk for heart disease. Meanwhile, women who suffered severe physical abuse as children or teens had a 45 percent increased risk for heart disease. "The single biggest factor explaining the link between severe child abuse and adult cardiovascular disease was the tendency of abused girls to have gained more weight throughout adolescence and into adulthood," said the study's lead author, Janet ... Read more

Related support groups: Heart Disease, Ischemic Stroke, Heart Attack, Myocardial Infarction

Sugar-Sweetened Drinks May Pose Heart Risks to Women, Study Suggests

Posted 13 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

SUNDAY, Nov. 13 – Drinking two or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day may boost a woman's risk for developing heart disease and diabetes – even if this habit isn't causing her to pack on extra pounds, a new study says. Sugary sodas and other sweetened beverages are frequent targets in the war on obesity. Many efforts, such as taking these drinks out of vending machines in schools, are aimed at reducing exposure to these beverages and the empty calories they provide. However, the new study suggests that the risks posed by sugar-sweetened sodas and flavored waters may be independent of weight gain. Middle-aged women who drank two or more sugary beverages a day were close to four times as likely to have high levels of dangerous blood fats called triglycerides and impaired blood sugar levels (known as "prediabetes'), when compared with women who drank less than one sugar-sweetened ... Read more

Related support groups: Heart Disease, Pre-Diabetes

Rx for Heart Patients: Healthier Living, Medication

Posted 3 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Nov. 3 – A healthy lifestyle and appropriate medications can help people with heart disease live longer and avoid a heart attack or stroke, according to new guidelines from the American College of Cardiology Foundation and the American Heart Association. Following the updated recommendations can also improve quality of life, reduce the need for surgical procedures to open blocked arteries and lower the likelihood of a repeat heart attack or stroke if you've suffered one already, the authors said. "The full implementation of these cardiovascular protective therapies into clinical practice can markedly reduce the risk of death, disability and health care expenditures due to cardiovascular disease," said Dr. Gregg Fonarow, professor of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles and a spokesman for the American Heart Association. For the first time, the guidelines ... Read more

Women No More Likely to Die After Angioplasty

Posted 1 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Nov. 1 – Women undergoing angioplasty, a procedure to unblock a clogged artery, show more indicators for heart disease than men, according to new research. However, the study also shows that women are at no higher odds of dying after an angioplasty than male patients. In conducting the study, published Nov. 1 in the journal Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions, researchers analyzed information on almost 4,800 women and nearly 9,000 men who had undergone angioplasty. They found the women were not at greater risk of death following an angioplasty because of their gender. But they were much more likely to have certain risk factors than men. "While men did have higher rates of some modifiable risk factors, such as smoking, women certainly had a far greater overall burden of co-morbidities [other illnesses] and adverse prognostic factors," researcher Dr. Annapoorna ... Read more

Related support groups: Heart Disease

Python Findings Shed Light on Human Heart Health

Posted 27 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Oct. 27 – Huge amounts of fatty acids that circulate in the bloodstreams of pythons when they feed promote healthy heart growth, a finding that may lead to new ways to treat heart disease in people, researchers report. One day after eating, triglyceride levels in Burmese pythons increased by more than 50-fold. Triglycerides are the main component of natural fats and oils. There was also an increase in the activity of an enzyme known to protect the heart from damage, the University of Colorado Boulder researchers found. The team identified the chemical composition of blood plasma in pythons that had just fed. They injected fasting pythons with either "fed python" blood plasma or a fatty acid mixture they created to mimic such plasma. Both types of injections led to increased heart growth and indicators of cardiac health in the fasting snakes. The same results were seen in mice ... Read more

Related support groups: Heart Disease

Many Young Adults Unaware They're Developing Heart Disease

Posted 27 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Oct. 27 – A new study warns that many young adults have undetected thickening of the arteries – or atherosclerosis – which can lead to heart disease, stroke and death. Researchers examined 84 young men and 84 young women, aged 18 to 35, with no known cardiovascular disease or risk factors such as diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol or family history of premature heart disease. Even though the participants had none of these traditional risk factors for atherosclerosis, many had other signs of the condition such as greater waist circumference and dangerous visceral fat covering the internal organs within the abdomen and chest, according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada study. The findings, presented Oct. 25 at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in Vancouver, verify earlier research that found that as many as 80 percent of young ... Read more

Related support groups: Heart Disease, Ischemic Stroke, Atherosclerosis

Could HPV Raise Women's Risk for Heart Disease?

Posted 24 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Oct. 24 – Cancer-causing strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV) may increase a woman's odds for heart disease, even if she doesn't have any of the recognized cardiovascular risk factors, a new study suggests. It's the first investigation of a possible link between heart disease and HPV, which is one of the most common sexually transmitted pathogens in the United States and already well known for causing cervical cancers and other malignancies. Vaccines do exist that guard against HPV. In their study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 2,500 women, aged 20 to 59, in the 2003-2006 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Of those women, almost 45 percent carried some form of HPV and about 23 percent had the cancer-causing strains of the virus. The researchers found a strong association between cancer-causing HPV strains and heart disease, according to the team ... Read more

Related support groups: Heart Disease, Human Papilloma Virus

U.S. Diet Still Has Too Much Salt, CDC Warns

Posted 20 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Oct. 20 – Most Americans consume too much sodium, and new strategies and stronger efforts are needed to reduce the amount of dietary salt, according to a new study by federal government researchers. High levels of sodium consumption are associated with increased risk of high blood pressure, which can lead to heart disease and stroke, experts warn. In general, people aged 2 years and older should limit daily sodium intake to less than 2,300 milligrams (mg), according to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. People who would benefit from reducing their sodium intake to less than 1,500 mg per day include those aged 51 years and older, blacks and anyone with high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease. These groups account for 47.6 percent of all Americans aged 2 and older and the majority of adults. But the new analysis of 2005-2008 data from nearly 19,000 ... Read more

Related support groups: High Blood Pressure, Hypertension, Heart Disease, Ischemic Stroke

U.S. Heart Disease Rates Keep Falling: CDC

Posted 13 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Oct. 13 – The percentage of Americans with the nation's number one killer, heart disease, continues to fall, according to new research from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overall, 6 percent of adults had heart disease in 2010, down from 6.7 percent in 2006. Better treatments for high blood pressure and high cholesterol, as well as declines in smoking, may explain the trend, experts said. But not everyone is reaping a benefit: less-educated Americans and people living in certain states, such as Kentucky and West Virginia, still have rates of heart disease well above the national average, the CDC said. According to one expert, much more can and must be done. "Even larger reductions in prevalence, disability and death can achieved" across the United States with the right outreach and prevention efforts, said Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a professor of cardiology at ... Read more

Related support groups: Heart Disease

Healthy Diet May Counteract Heart Disease Gene

Posted 11 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Oct. 11 – A healthy diet with lots of fruits and vegetables can significantly weaken the effect of a gene associated with an increased risk of heart disease, a new study suggests. In the study, published in the current online edition of the journal PLoS Medicine, researchers examined the link between the 9p21 gene variant and diet in more than 27,000 people of five ethnicities – Arab, European, Chinese, Latin American and South Asian. The findings showed that the risk of heart attack in people with the 9p21 gene variant who ate a healthy diet composed mainly of raw vegetables, fruits and berries was similar to that of people without the high-risk gene variant. The international study was led by researchers at McMaster and McGill universities in Canada. "We observed that the effect of a high-risk genotype can be mitigated by consuming a diet high in fruits and vegetables," ... Read more

Related support groups: Heart Disease

Childless Men May Face Higher Heart Disease Risk

Posted 26 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Sept. 26 – Men who do not have children appear to face a higher risk of dying from heart disease than those who become fathers, a new study suggests. The findings also showed a slightly increased risk of cardiovascular trouble among men who had only one child. The researchers noted that the results may indicate a link between infertility and heart disease risk rather than a link between choosing not to have children and heart disease. In the study, researchers analyzed more than a decade's worth of survey responses completed by roughly 135,000 male AARP members. The men were either married or had been married, and none had a prior history of heart disease or stroke. Researchers tracked deaths and cause of deaths, and correlated that to the number of children the men had. About 10 percent of the men died during the study period, including about 20 percent from heart disease. ... Read more

Related support groups: Heart Disease

Cardiac Rehab May Help Heart Patients Live Longer

Posted 26 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Sept. 26 – People with heart disease who undergo cardiac rehabilitation can improve their heart's ability to return to a normal rate after exercise, a new study suggests. Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic noted that patients with normal heart rate recovery live longer than those whose hearts remain revved up for a longer period of time. "There's no medicine that can do that," study author Dr. Leslie Cho, director of the Women's Cardiovascular Center at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, said in a news release from the American Heart Association. "Especially in terms of mortality, if we had a medicine that could make this dramatic an impact, it would be the blockbuster drug of the century," Cho added. In conducting the study, published in the current issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers examined 1,070 patients with various cardiovascular ... Read more

Related support groups: Heart Disease

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Arrhythmia, Cardiomyopathy, Ischemic Heart Disease, Pericarditis, Endocarditis, Abnormal Electrocardiogram, Hemopericardium, Cardiovascular Conditions and Disorders

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