Showing posts with label heart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heart. Show all posts
Friday, 6 May 2011
Mother’s Day Health E-Cards
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has over 100 E-Cards with healthy messages about smoking cessation, heart health, women’s health and many more. Send one to your mom for Mother’s Day to show her how much you care about her and her and wellbeing.
Monday, 7 March 2011
Doctors Urge Indoor Tanning Ban for Minors, Smoking Linked to Infant Heart Defects named “Best/Worst News for Prevention"
"Best and Worst News for Prevention” is based on a purposive sample consisting of expert staff members who each week choose to share their opinions on the best and worst news for prevention.
BEST
Doctors Urge Indoor Tanning Ban for Minors
U.S. tanning salons should close their doors to minors to protect them from skin cancer, a group of 60,000 pediatricians said Monday in a new policy statement. With the move, the American Academy of Pediatrics joins the World Health Organization (WHO), the American Academy of Dermatology and other groups that are already pushing for a ban. Since 2009, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a part of the WHO, has classified tanning beds as cancer-causing. Research shows people who start going to tanning salons before age 35 have a 75-percent increase in their chances of developing melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer.
WORST
Smoking Linked to Infant Heart Defects
A pregnant woman who smokes in her first trimester is much more likely to have an infant with a congenital heart defect, U.S. health officials say. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta found tobacco exposure is associated with a 20 percent to 70 percent increased risk of certain types of defects such as those that obstruct the flow of blood from the right side of the heart into the lungs and openings between the upper chambers of the heart.
The “Best and Worst” awards are announced each week in “Prevention Matters,” the blog of Partnership for Prevention. "Best and Worst News for Prevention” is based on a purposive sample of expert staff members who each week choose to share their opinions on the best and worst news for prevention. More information is available at http://www.prevent.org/.
BEST
Doctors Urge Indoor Tanning Ban for Minors
U.S. tanning salons should close their doors to minors to protect them from skin cancer, a group of 60,000 pediatricians said Monday in a new policy statement. With the move, the American Academy of Pediatrics joins the World Health Organization (WHO), the American Academy of Dermatology and other groups that are already pushing for a ban. Since 2009, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a part of the WHO, has classified tanning beds as cancer-causing. Research shows people who start going to tanning salons before age 35 have a 75-percent increase in their chances of developing melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer.
WORST
Smoking Linked to Infant Heart Defects
A pregnant woman who smokes in her first trimester is much more likely to have an infant with a congenital heart defect, U.S. health officials say. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta found tobacco exposure is associated with a 20 percent to 70 percent increased risk of certain types of defects such as those that obstruct the flow of blood from the right side of the heart into the lungs and openings between the upper chambers of the heart.
The “Best and Worst” awards are announced each week in “Prevention Matters,” the blog of Partnership for Prevention. "Best and Worst News for Prevention” is based on a purposive sample of expert staff members who each week choose to share their opinions on the best and worst news for prevention. More information is available at http://www.prevent.org/.
Friday, 5 March 2010
Aspirin Use in Asymptomatic Patients
Earlier this week, the research article, “Aspirin for Prevention of Cardiovascular Events in a General Population Screened for a Low Ankle Brachial Index (ABI)”, was published in JAMA. The goal of the study was to determine if daily aspirin reduced the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients with a low ABI, a quick and inexpensive way to establish risk for these events, and no other risk factors. Researchers hoped to show that the ABI could identify asymptomatic higher risk individuals that could benefit from preventive treatments, such as aspirin use.
The researchers found that aspirin was not effective in preventing first heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular events for individuals with low ABI and an absence of other risk factors. However, due to the fact that ABI was the only indicator used when determining risk, the study population was ultimately found to be at very low risk for heart attack and stroke. According to current guidelines, this low risk group would not be encouraged to use aspirin. So the study may actually say more about ABI or the range of ABI as a screening tool for cardiovascular risk than aspirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular events.
Other issues with the study include adherence to the therapy and disproportionate number of females in the study. Interestingly, the study showed no statistically significant difference between the aspirin and control groups for bleeding. Recently, aspirin use for primary prevention has been questioned due to a potential increased risk for gastrointestinal and intracranial bleeding; this study shows that bleeding events were similar between aspirin and non-aspirin users.
Ultimately, this study shows that ABI or the ABI threshold measurement used (0.95) is not enough to predict higher risk of heart attack and stroke on a population level. Future studies with more participants, improved compliance rates, a more equitable distribution of males and females, and a lower level of ABI for study inclusion are necessary to shed more light on this issue. An editorial, also published in JAMA, further explains the potential limitations of the study. Although at first glance this article appears to be another critique on aspirin for primary prevention-as many media outlets suggested- the current American Heart Association and United States Preventive Services Task Force guidelines for aspirin use to prevent first heart attacks and strokes should still be followed. And, as they recommend, those considering aspirin should talk to their health care provider to determine if aspirin is right for them.
Posted by:
Rebecca Doigan
Program Associate, Partnership for Prevention
The researchers found that aspirin was not effective in preventing first heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular events for individuals with low ABI and an absence of other risk factors. However, due to the fact that ABI was the only indicator used when determining risk, the study population was ultimately found to be at very low risk for heart attack and stroke. According to current guidelines, this low risk group would not be encouraged to use aspirin. So the study may actually say more about ABI or the range of ABI as a screening tool for cardiovascular risk than aspirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular events.
Other issues with the study include adherence to the therapy and disproportionate number of females in the study. Interestingly, the study showed no statistically significant difference between the aspirin and control groups for bleeding. Recently, aspirin use for primary prevention has been questioned due to a potential increased risk for gastrointestinal and intracranial bleeding; this study shows that bleeding events were similar between aspirin and non-aspirin users.
Ultimately, this study shows that ABI or the ABI threshold measurement used (0.95) is not enough to predict higher risk of heart attack and stroke on a population level. Future studies with more participants, improved compliance rates, a more equitable distribution of males and females, and a lower level of ABI for study inclusion are necessary to shed more light on this issue. An editorial, also published in JAMA, further explains the potential limitations of the study. Although at first glance this article appears to be another critique on aspirin for primary prevention-as many media outlets suggested- the current American Heart Association and United States Preventive Services Task Force guidelines for aspirin use to prevent first heart attacks and strokes should still be followed. And, as they recommend, those considering aspirin should talk to their health care provider to determine if aspirin is right for them.
Posted by:
Rebecca Doigan
Program Associate, Partnership for Prevention
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Smoking Cessation Boosts Later Cardiac Health
Smoking cessation significantly increases cardiac health later in life, says a new study from Tel Aviv University.
The research found that quitting smoking after a heart attack has about the same positive effect as other major interventions such as lipid-lowering agents like statins or more invasive procedures.
"We found that people who quit smoking after their first heart attack had a 37 percent lower risk of dying from another, compared to those who continued to smoke," said Dr. Yariv Gerber of TAU's Sackler School of Medicine.
The research found that quitting smoking after a heart attack has about the same positive effect as other major interventions such as lipid-lowering agents like statins or more invasive procedures.
"We found that people who quit smoking after their first heart attack had a 37 percent lower risk of dying from another, compared to those who continued to smoke," said Dr. Yariv Gerber of TAU's Sackler School of Medicine.
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Task Force ID's Performance Measures to Reduce Patient's Heart Risks
Thirteen key aspects of cardiovascular disease prevention are identified as performance measures in a new, comprehensive set of detailed steps to help healthcare providers reduce patients’ risk for heart problems. The performance measures, developed by a joint task force of the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, are simultaneously published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
The 13 measures are:
The 13 measures are:
- lifestyle/risk factor screening
- dietary intake counseling
- physical activity counseling
- smoking/tobacco use assessment
- smoking/tobacco cessation
- weight and body fat assessment
- weight management
- blood pressure measurement
- blood pressure control
- blood lipid measurement
- blood lipid therapy and control
- estimation of a patient’s global risk for developing heart disease
- aspirin use in at-risk patients
Monday, 21 September 2009
Smoking Bans Lead to 17% Drop in Heart Attack Rates in One Year
Heart attack rates fall 17% within a year after smoking bans take effect, according to two recent analyses of laws in the USA, Canada and Europe. One analysis, which included 13 studies, appears in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. A second analysis, which considered 11 studies, appears in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Friday, 18 September 2009
Heart Disease Risk Factors Resurgent
The percentage of Americans without major heart disease risk factors rose during the 1980s and 1990s, but our health is declining again, a new study shows. The number of people with obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure is increasing, even though the percentage of smokers is still heading south, according to the study published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
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