american heart association

Baby and coated aspirin may not reduce risk of stroke

The majority of patients who take baby or coated aspirin to prevent strokes are not getting the blood-thinning results they may need to help avoid these health threats, according to preliminary research presented today at the American Stroke Association’s 28th International Stroke Conference. The American Stroke Association is a division of the American Heart Association. “While research has established that aspirin reduces the risk of stroke in patients with cerebrovascular disease, the optimal dose and formulation still remains somewhat unclear,” according to Mark Alberts, M.D., the study’s lead author and director of the Stroke Program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. “This study is significant in that it points researchers in the right direction ? showing how we can maximize the effectiveness of aspirin.”

Sleep apnea may be a cause, rather than just an effect, of heart failure

An interruption in normal breathing patterns during sleep which is often seen in heart failure patients may contribute to heart failure rather than just being a result, according to findings of a Mayo Clinic study.
“We are now finding that central sleep apnea, which has been previously understood as a symptom of heart failure, may contribute to the development of heart failure in people at risk,” said the study’s lead researcher.

Boys thin at birth but heavy as teens face risk for high blood pressure

Boys born lean have an increased risk of elevated blood pressure in their teens if they add a lot of weight between ages 8 and 15, researchers report in today’s rapid access issue of Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association. “The boys who were thinnest at birth and who gained the most weight during childhood and adolescence were the ones who had the greatest risk of high blood pressure,” says lead author Linda S. Adair, Ph.D., professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Schools of Medicine and Public Health.

NIH Study Shows MRI Provides Faster, More Accurate Way To Diagnose Heart Attacks

Advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology can detect heart attack in emergency room patients with chest pain more accurately and faster than traditional methods, according to a new study supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Published in the February 4 issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, the findings suggest that more patients who are suffering a heart attack or who otherwise have severe blockages in their coronary arteries could receive treatment to reduce or prevent permanent damage to the heart if they are assessed with MRI.

CRP improves cardiovascular risk prediction in metabolic syndrome

In women with metabolic syndrome, blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) can help predict cardiovascular risk, researchers reported today in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. CRP is an indicator of inflammation. High levels of CRP have been linked to increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetes.

Meditation Benefits Schoolchildren, Study Finds

A Medical College of Georgia pilot study using meditation to help lower blood pressure in teens was so successful that the project has been extended to five high schools and a middle school. Dr. Vernon Barnes, a physiologist at the Georgia Prevention Institute with over 30 years of experience in teaching and applying meditation techniques, conducted the pilot five years ago, teaching meditation to students with high-normal blood pressure at a Richmond County high school. The results, published in a 1999 edition of Psychosomatic Medicine, cited lower blood pressure and other improvements among participants. The success spurred the GPI to expand the project to include 156 high school students and 80 middle school students in Richmond County. The study is funded by the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health.

Young adults with insulin-treated diabetes have elevated stroke risk

People with insulin-dependent (type-1) diabetes have an increased risk of dying from a stroke, according to first-time findings from a large, community-based study reported in today’s rapid access issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. Cardiovascular disease is already recognized as the main cause of long-term complications and death in patients with diabetes. The likelihood of death from cerebrovascular disease ? related to the blood supply in the brain and the No. 1 cause of stroke ? has not been previously reported for patients with type-1 diabetes. Previous studies have shown that cerebrovascular death rates are raised in patients with type-2 diabetes (non?insulin-dependent diabetes).

Balance problems make dressing hazardous for stroke survivors

About 40 percent of stroke survivors suffer serious falls within a year of stroke and now research may point to a possible explanation: balance problems while getting dressed, researchers report in today’s rapid access issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. Previous research indicates that stroke survivors are four times more likely than others to suffer a hip fracture during a fall, which can slow rehabilitation and open the door to new complications.

Arthritis drugs may help the heart

Anti-inflammatory drugs used to treat arthritis may also benefit people with heart disease by improving blood vessel flexibility and reducing inflammation, according to a small study in today’s rapid track report from Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. “Increasing evidence indicates that atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease,” says senior author Frank Ruschitzka, M.D., of the department of cardiology at University Hospital in Z?rich, Switzerland. “Thus, anti-inflammatory agents used to treat arthritis, such as COX-2 inhibitors, may not only reduce inflammation in the joints, but could possibly have that same anti-inflammatory benefit in the vessel wall. This study is the first to show that relationship.”

Vitamin C, fish, and a gout drug target artery damage from smoking

Researchers have found that vitamin C and taurine, an amino acid in fish, reversed abnormal blood vessel response associated with cigarette smoking ? a discovery that may provide insight into how smoking contributes to “hardening of the arteries,” according to an Irish study in today’s rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. In a second study, researchers from Iowa demonstrated that a drug used to treat gout ? allopurinol ? rapidly reversed the abnormal blood vessel constriction caused by smoking.

Cholesterol-lowering drug improves survival after heart transplant

Transplanted hearts stayed healthier in patients who took a cholesterol-lowering drug, according to an eight-year study reported in today’s rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. After eight years, the survival rate for patients who received early simvastatin treatment was 88.6 percent compared to 59.5 percent of patients who didn’t start simvastatin treatment until four years after transplant, says the study’s lead author. The team also studied the effects of simvastatin on the development of coronary artery thickening called transplant vasculopathy, which is a major long term complication of heart transplantation. Early simvastatin treatment cut in half the incidence of vessel thickening as measured by angiography, which probably explained the improved survival rate.

Blood Proteins Put Dialysis Patients at Higher Risk of Heart Disease

A new study shows that two proteins are accurate predictors of heart attack or stroke in kidney dialysis patients. The research team found that high levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation, and low levels of albumin, a sign of malnutrition, had strong ties to heart disease in these patients, who are many times more likely to develop heart problems than the general population. “Both inflammation and malnutrition play an important role in the high risk of cardiovascular disease among dialysis patients,” says Josef Coresh, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study and associate professor of epidemiology, medicine and biostatistics at Hopkins. “Testing for these proteins will allow us to sooner identify patients at high risk, and to manage heart disease risk factors more effectively.”