heart attack •

Beware of Silent Heart Attacks

May 18, 2016 By James Faulkner 2 Comments

Silent heart attacks are as dangerous as the “classical” ones

STATES CHRONICLE – The findings of a new study warn us to beware of the silent heart attacks.

A study published Monday in the American Heart Association (journal circulation) called “Race and Sex Differences in the Incidence and Prognostic Significance of Silent Myocardial Infarction (…)” indicates that as much as half of all heart attacks are silent.

Silent heart attacks (SHA) are as dangerous and powerful as the ones that give the “classical” heavy chest pain, shortness of breath and sudden cold sweats signs. They do as much harm as the most “noisy” myocardial infarcts.

A silent heart attack is when you have a heart attack, but you do not get the obvious symptoms. What happens in one of these unwanted health situations is blood being reduced, severely reduced or entirely cut out from the heart’s muscle.

Analyzing the records of 9,498 adults enrolled in another study called the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities, a study that investigates the causes and outcome of atherosclerosis, researchers examined heart attack differences between gender and race.

The study followed up on the participants for a period as long as twenty years. A number of 317 participants had heart attacks with no symptoms, and 386 of them had the infarcts with clinical symptoms.

This result shows silent heart attacks make 45 percent of all heart attacks.

It appears that women with SHA outnumber men, and African American men outnumber Caucasian men.

Researchers took into account many factors to prevent biasing the results, like body weight, diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking and a few other, including income and education.

Silent heart attacks are detected when patients undergo ECGs or EKGs (electrocardiogram) to check their hearts. This usually happens when the patient does a routine check or needs the heart’s electrical activity evaluation for something else.

Heart attacks that come with no symptoms and are later detected should be treated with the same intensive care as are the ones triggered by clinical symptoms.

The risk factors seem to be the same for both types of infarcts. Doctors are encouraged to advise patients to quit smoking, lose weight, watch their cholesterol levels and blood pressure, and exercise.

A recently published study also linked exercising with the risk reduction for thirteen types of cancer.

Image source: Vimeo

Emotional Stress is Harder on Young Women’s Hearts

November 20, 2014 By Georgia Dawson Leave a Comment

New findings show that young women who are dealing with heart issues are more likely to be affected by emotional stress than young men. This theory was presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions’ 2014.

Heart attacks are the number one killer for both men and women, but a new study suggests that women are at higher risk of death than men because of mental stress.

For the study, researchers recruited 534 participants with stable coronary heart disease. They measured the blood flow of the heart via nuclear imaging when participants underwent mental health stress tests. The results revealed that women 55 and younger experienced reduced blood flow that was three times greater than in men of the same age.

The physical stress test, on the other hand, found no significant difference on the level of stress that both genders experienced while running on a treadmill.

Researchers attributed the higher level of mental stress seen in women to their regular exposure to stressful activities such as taking care of their children, marriages, jobs and the elderly – meaning parents or relatives.

“If they note that their patient is under psychological stress or is depressed, they should advise the woman to get relevant help or support from mental health providers, stress reduction programs or other means,”

concluded researchers, in a news release.

Symptoms of a heart attack can vary in men and women, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). Men experience chest pressure while women experience shortness of breath, pain in the lower or upper abdomen, dizziness, fainting, upper back-pressure or extreme fatigue.

“Women who develop heart disease at a younger age make up a special high-risk group because they are disproportionally vulnerable to emotional stress,”

Dr. Viola Vaccarino of Emory University in Atlanta, GA said.

The researchers explained that biology may play a role in their findings, pointing to a greater tendency in women’s bodies for emotional stress to trigger abnormal blood vessel function, including exaggerated coronary or peripheral blood vessel constriction.

“If they note that their patient is under psychological stress or is depressed, they should advise the woman to get relevant help or support from mental health providers, stress reduction programs or other means,”

Dr. Vaccarino said.

Heart Attack Survivors Should Avoid Excessive Exercising

August 12, 2014 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

People who suffered a heart attack should be careful when exercising. We tend to think that there is almost never enough time spent doing physical exercises. However, new research shows that heart attack survivors have to pay extra attention when scheduling their exercises.

Regularly, doctors recommend exercises for everybody. Those who suffered a stroke, must not engage in exercising for more than half an hour, because it might hurt them more than doing good.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory life sciences researcher Paul T. Williams and Paul D. Thompson, cardiologist at Hartford Hospital, CT, conducted a study on the matter. The conclusion is that for heart attack survivors, more than 30 miles of running per week is detrimental to their health.

Doctors recommend running for everybody. Another recent study confirmed the benefits accrued through this specific type of exercise. Even five minutes of running per day may add three years to your lifespan.

Heart attack survivors should run a maximum of around 40 miles per week

More than 2300 people were investigated to reach the conclusion. They all suffered heart attacks when they registered to National Runners’ and Walkers’ Health Study. In average, each of the subjects was followed up for 10.4 years. Those who ran between 30 and 46 miles per week had progressively decreased their chances of suffering a similar attack again by 70 percent compared to those who did not run or walked at all.

In the cases of the subjects who ran for more than 46 miles per week, the risks of suffering another heart attack were similar to those who did not run at all. In total, the excessive runners faced a 2.6 times higher risk of dying from a cardiovascular disease, compared with those who ran less.

Specifically talking about heart attack survivors, “the results are surprising,” said Williams. “Our previous research has shown that heart disease risk factors and the risk for nonfatal heart attacks improved with greater running distance through at least 40 miles per week, with no indication that things got worst at higher mileages. Like other medical treatments, there appears to be a level that can be excessive.”

The authors underlined that the results do not apply to patients who suffered other traumas or diseases or to healthy persons. In the end, they advise heart attack survivors to exercise moderately twice a week and avoid daily high-intensity exercises.

Chocolate ‘cuts death rate’ in heart attack survivors

March 17, 2014 By James Faulkner Leave a Comment

Heart attack survivors who eat chocolate two or more times per week cut their risk of dying from heart disease about threefold compared to those who never touch the stuff, scientists have reported.

Smaller quantities confer less protection, but are still better than none, according to the study, which appears in the September issue of the Journal of Internal Medicine.

Earlier research had established a strong link between cocoa-based confections and lowered blood pressure or improvement in blood flow.

It had also shown that chocolate cuts the rate of heart-related mortality in healthy older men, along with post-menopausal women.

But the new study, led by Imre Janszky of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, is the first to demonstrate that consuming chocolate can help ward off the grim reaper if one has suffered acute myocardial infarction — otherwise known as a heart attack.

“It was specific to chocolate — we found no benefit to sweets in general,” said Kenneth Mukamal, a researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and a co-author of the study.

“It seems that antioxidants in cocoa are a likely candidate” for explaining the live-saving properties, he told AFP in an exchange of e-mails.

Antioxidants are compounds that protect against so-called free radicals, molecules which accumulate in the body over time that can damage cells and are thought to play a role in heart disease, cancer and theaging process.

In the study, Janszky and colleagues tracked 1,169 non-diabetic men and women, 45-to-70 years old, in Stockholm County during the early 1990s from the time they were hospitalised with their first-ever heart attack.

The participants were queried before leaving hospital on their food consumption habits over the previous year, including how much chocolate they ate on a regular basis.

They underwent a health examination three months after discharge, and were monitored for eight years after that. The incidence of fatal heart attacks correlated inversely with the amount of chocolate consumed.

“Our findings support increasing evidence that chocolate is a rich source of beneficial bioactive compounds,” the researchers concluded.

The results held true for men and women, and across all the age groups included in the study.

Other factors that might have affected the outcome — alcohol consumption, obesity, smoking — were also taken into account.

So should we all be loading up on cocoa-rich sweets?

“To be frank, I’m pretty cautious about chocolate because we’re working on weight problems with so many individuals,” said Mukamal, who is also a practising physician.

“However, I do encourage those who are looking for healthier desserts to consider chocolate in small quantities,” he said.

“For individuals with no weight issues who have been able to eat chocolate in moderation and remain slim, I do not limit it,” he added.

The researchers caution that clinical trials are needed to back up the findings of their study.

In the meantime, however, a bit of chocolate may not be amiss, they suggest.

Take Vitamin B to Check Heart Strokes: Study

September 20, 2013 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

Vitamin B supplements are good for heart and can help in checking stroke, a new study has suggested.

The researchers at Zhengzhou University in China reviewed 14 clinical trials and found that the intake of Vitamin B lowered the risk of heart attacks overall by seven percent. However, its supplements did not appear to affect the severity of the strokes or the risk of death from a stroke, according to the study.

“Previous studies have conflicting findings regarding the use of vitamin B supplements and stroke or heart attack,” the author, Xu Yuming, said. “Some studies have even suggested that the supplements may increase the risk of these events.”

During the study, the researchers compared Vitamin B use with a placebo or a very low dose of B vitamin. 54,913 participants were followed for at least six months. The researchers found 2,471 strokes during the studies. All of the studies showed some benefit of taking vitamin B.

Folic acid, a supplemental form of folate or vitamin B9 that is often found in fortified cereals, appeared to reduce the effect of vitamin B. Researchers did not find a reduction in stroke risk for vitamin B12.

“Based on our results, the ability of vitamin B to reduce stroke risk may be influenced by a number of other factors such as the body’s absorption rate, the amount of folic acid or vitamin B12 concentration in the blood, and whether a person has kidney disease or high blood pressure,” Yuming said. “Before you begin taking any supplements, you should always talk to your doctor.”

The study was published in the online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Keep your heart young with some lifestyle changes

September 20, 2013 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

The cardiovascular diseases are becoming common in the developed countries like the United States, thanks to the unhealthy lifestyle. The health experts strictly recommend good eating habits and few hours of exercise for a strong heart.

Moreover, a recent CDC report also suggests, diseases related to heart can be easily avoided with few lifestyle changes.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 200,000 deaths due to cardiovascular diseases, heart strokes are preventable every year.

Although the rate of death (deaths per 100,000 people) from cardiovascular disease declined by 29% between 2001 and 2010, it’s still the leading cause of death in the USA, says the report. One out of three deaths in the United States is caused by cardiovascular diseases.

The experts recommend some of the key methods to keep your heart fit.

• Eat a variety of food items, but not in excess.

• Different coloured vegetables and fruits, pulses and legumes, low fat dairy products can add colour to your platter.

• Check your weight

• Keep away from food rich in fat.

• Use skimmed or low fat milk and milk products. Bake, roast or boil rather than frying.

• Eat food with adequate fiber. Fruits and vegetables like carrot, cucumber and apple have skin. They should be consumed along with it.

• Avoid sugar in excess. White sugar, soft drinks, candies, chocolates, cakes and cookies should be avoided. Don’t eat sweets between meals.

• Sodium should be taken in less quantity: Use small amount of salt to prepare dish.

• Try more natural ways to add flavour to food items. Go with spices, lemon juice, tomatoes and curds, don’t munch chips and fried foods constantly.

• Don’t encourage exercises such as push-ups and sit-ups. Such exercises involve straining muscles against other muscles or an immovable object.

• If your exercise programme has been interrupted for a few days due to illness, vacation, or any other reason, start with a reduced level of activity.

• Don’t exercise outdoors when the temperature becomes extreme. High humidity may cause you to tire more quickly.

• Exercise in hilly areas is a big no. If you are located in such places then slow down when climbing up the hill.

200,000 deaths due to cardiovascular diseases, heart strokes are preventable every year, says CDC report

September 4, 2013 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

In a big sigh of relief for those affected with the cardiovascular diseases, a government report says such diseases can be easily avoided with few lifestyle changes.

The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that about 200,000 deaths a year from cardiovascular diseases could be avoided by bringing changes in our daily habits.

About 800,000 people die each year from cardiovascular disease. But as many as 200,000 of the deaths from heart disease and stroke could be prevented if people make healthy changes including stopping smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, engaging in physical activity, eating less salt and managing their high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, said the CDC report.

“These findings are really striking because we are talking about hundreds of thousands of deaths that don’t have to happen when they happen,” says Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC.

Preventable/avoidable deaths

The current life expectancy in the USA is age 78 so if people died sooner than that it is considered early or premature, says the lead author Linda Schieb, a CDC epidemiologist. Preventable/avoidable deaths are the deaths from heart disease and stroke in people under age 75. If their risk factors (smoking, blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, physical inactivity) had been under control they should have lived longer. Such risk factors can be easily avoided by bringing changes in lifestyle and hence these deaths can be easily prevented.

D.C. registers highest preventable deaths in US

In D.C., the findings are more startling. The CDC report finds there were 580 preventable deaths in D.C. from heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure in 2010. That translates to a rate of 99.6 preventable deaths per 100,000 population.

The state with the second highest rate of heart disease-related preventable deaths was Mississippi with a rate of 95.0 per 100,000 population, followed by Oklahoma with a rate of 89.8 per 100,000 population. Virginia experienced a rate of 54.6 preventable deaths per 100,000, and Maryland had a rate of 65.1 preventable deaths per 100,000 population. But, both Maryland and Virginia are among the top four states that saw a greater variance in preventable deaths from county to county, according to the CDC.

Reality Check

•Rates of preventable death from heart disease and stroke are highest in the South.

• About 56% of preventable deaths from cardiovascular disease (112,000 deaths) in 2010 occurred in people under 65 years old. That number remained about the same between 2001 and 2010.

• The number of preventable deaths from heart disease and stroke decreased by 25% between 2001 and 2010 for people ages 65 to 74.

• Still, the highest overall death rate from cardiovascular disease was in the 65-74 age group with 401.5 deaths from cardiovascular disease per 100,000 people.

• Men have the highest risk of death from heart disease and stroke across all races and ethnic groups. Black men are most at risk.

• Blacks are nearly twice as likely as whites to die early from heart disease and stroke.

• Compared with whites, blacks have a higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors including high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, obesity, physical inactivity, low consumption of fruit and vegetables and poor control of bad (LDL) cholesterol.

Too Much Coffee Drinking Increases Death Rates: Study

August 20, 2013 By Jack M. Robinson Leave a Comment

A new study conducted by researchers in the US says drinking four cups of coffee a day may increase the risk of dying in people below the age group of 55. Earlier, several reports suggested drinking of coffee may result in some health benefits in most people like fighting depression in women and lowering the risk of prostate cancer and stroke. Well, the debate continues to brew.

The study was conducted on 43,727 men and women between the age group of 20 and 87 from 1971 to 2002. Its report was published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings journal which says younger men below the age of 55 years who drank 28 cups of coffee a week were more likely, by 56 percent, to die from any cause. The report adds that the risk increases by twofold for women in the same age group if they drink coffee in the same quantity or more.

Co-author of the study and assistant professor of exercise science with the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina, Xuemei Sui said, “From our study, it seems safe to drink one to three cups of coffee a day… Drinking more than four cups of coffee a day may endanger health.” A cup of coffee as per Sui is 6 to 8 ounces.

Sui added, the study of her team failed to find any significant link between heart disease death and coffee consumption, and also further research is to be made to find association between cancer and coffee.

Gregg Fonarow, co-chief of clinical cardiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, says, “Differences in other dietary factors, marital status and other socioeconomic factors that were not adjusted for in this study may account for some or all of these observations.”

The study also found people who drank coffees more than 8 ounces, or larger amounts liked to smoke more and hence had less healthy hearts and lungs. In this regard Sui says as more research is to be done in this segment so it is advised to avoid drinking excessive coffee.

Heart attack survivors should run a maximum of around 40 miles per week

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