Sleep Deprivation and Heart Disease
Several recent studies have made an association between chronic sleep deprivation (in general, getting fewer than five hours of sleep per night) and heart disease - or at least the risk factors for heart disease. And one study even suggests that getting too much sleep (greater than nine hours of sleep per night) is associated with heart disease....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - March 4, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Orthostatic Hypotension
In orthostatic hypotension, your blood pressure drops abnormally whenever you stand up. The drop in blood pressure can produce symptoms ranging from mild lightheadedness to loss of consciousness.
Orthostatic hypotension can occur in anyone, but is especially common older people. In fact, in the elderly it is a common cause of falls - and therefore of broken bones and head injury. And the most common cause of orthostatic hypotension in older people is: prescription drugs....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - March 4, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI)
Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is a developing, minimally-invasive approach to replacing the aortic valve in people who have aortic stenosis. TAVI permits the replacement of diseased aortic valves by means of a catheter-based procedure, instead of the usual open-heart surgical procedure....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - February 25, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
BNP In Heart Failure
BNP is a hormone secreted by cardiac cells in response to increased pressure within the heart. BNP helps to regulate the body's salt and fluid content, and reduces blood pressure. In patients who have heart failure, BNP levels tend to become greatly elevated during episodes of worsening shortness of breath.
Measuring BNP levels in the blood can help doctors to determine whether a patient's shortness of breath is due to heart failure, or to some other cause.
Read about BNP, and how BNP can be helpful in optimizing the treatment of heart failure. (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - February 22, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
How Diabetes Contributes To Heart Disease
If you have diabetes or metabolic syndrome, your risk of developing heart disease -- coronary artery disease (CAD) in particular -- is substantially elevated.
Here is an article that describes the several ways in which diabetes predisposes to heart disease. (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - February 18, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Subclinical Hypothyroidism and the Heart
Everyone knows that hypothyroidism - the condition in which the thyroid gland is not producing enough thyroid hormone - negatively impacts the heart. But evidence is accumulating that a lesser known - and less often recognized - thyroid condition called subclinical hypothyroidism may also increase the risk of cardiac disease. In subclinical hypothyroidism, the thyroid gland is in fact producing a "normal" amount of thyroid hormone - but it has to work extra hard to do so....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - February 14, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Do Statins Work In Women?
Statins have become a mainstay in preventive cardiology. A large number of clinical trials have demonstrated that statins, in high-risk patients, can substantially reduce the risk of subsequent cardiovascular events.
So how can it be that the benefits of statins have not been proven in women?...Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - February 11, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Cardiac Problems That Especially Affect Women
While women develop coronary artery disease and heart failure as often as men (if not more often) there are, in addition, several cardiac problems that seem especially to affect women.
Read about cardiac problems that are especially common in women. (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - February 8, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Heart Failure in Women
Heart failure is an all-too-common cause of disability and death in women. And in women, heart failure may have different causes - and different treatments - than heart failure in men....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - February 4, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Coronary Artery Disease in Women
Cardiovascular disease kills more women than any other cause, and the most common variety of cardiovascular disease is coronary artery disease (CAD).
While CAD in women often "behaves" similarly to CAD in men, there are glaring exceptions. Sometimes there are big differences - and these differences can lead doctors to miss the diagnosis altogether....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - February 1, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Heart Attack Symptoms Are Different In Women
A study published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association documents that younger women (those under 55 years of age) are much less likely to experience chest pain with their heart attacks than are older women or men. Worse, their mortality rate with their heart attacks are significantly higher than for older women or men....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - January 28, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Heart Disease Risk In Women
Recently the American Heart Association released a new set of guidelines on preventing heart disease in women. The guidelines deliver two important messages. First, cardiovascular disease is every bit as important in women as in men. And second, the risk factors for cardiovascular disease in women are not quite the same as they are in men....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - January 25, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
How Does Bereavement Increase Cardiac Risk?
Recent studies have shown that during periods of grief caused by loss of a loved one, the risk of having a heart attack becomes remarkably higher for a period of time....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - January 21, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Inherited Cholesterol Disorders
While genes play a role in determining cholesterol levels in everybody, some people have genetic disorders that greatly increase cholesterol levels, and consequently produce a big increase in the risk of premature cardiovascular disease. Several specific genetic cholesterol disorders have been identified, but three in particular are reasonably common: familial hypercholesterolemia, familial combined hyperlipidemia, and polygenic hypercholesterolemia....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - January 18, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Preventing Stress-Related Heart Problems
Most physicians are now convinced that emotional stress, under certain circumstances, can play a role in the development of chronic heart disease, and even in the precipitation of acute cardiac crises. If you are experiencing significant of emotional stress and are reacting to it negatively, you should be concerned about preventing stress-related heart problems....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - January 14, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
