Blood Pressure News and Research

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Blood Pressure is the force of circulating blood on the walls of the arteries. Blood pressure is taken using two measurements: systolic (measured when the heart beats, when blood pressure is at its highest) and diastolic (measured between heart beats, when blood pressure is at its lowest). Blood pressure is written with the systolic blood pressure first, followed by the diastolic blood pressure (for example 120/80).

A decade of change in general practice

It's not only the patients in GP surgeries who are getting older, according to two new reports released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Australian General Practice Statistics and Classification Centre, an AIHW collaborating unit located at the University of Sydney.

5 Oct 2008

Kill the tobacco industry, or it will keep killing

This month in Rio de Janeiro, the global tobacco industry's annual conference features a special session on what many are seeing as its Armageddon: plain, generic packaging. All packs are identical except for the brand name, printed in standard font. No colours, no logos, no box variations. Nothing but the brand and the health warning.

2 Oct 2008

New York City blacks more likely than other races to have high blood pressure, report finds

New York City blacks have the highest rate of high blood pressure of any racial or ethnic group in the city, according to a report released on Wednesday by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Staten Island Advance reports.

29 Sep 2008

Researchers investigate impact of stress on police officers' physical and mental health

Policing is dangerous work, and the danger lurks not on the streets alone. The pressures of law enforcement put officers at risk for high blood pressure, insomnia, increased levels of destructive stress hormones, heart problems, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide, University at Buffalo researchers have found through a decade of studies of police officers.

25 Sep 2008

Chocoholics jump for joy - chocolate protects from heart attacks

The good news for chocolate lovers is that a small amount of chocolate each day helps protect the heart from disease.

25 Sep 2008

Oversize waistlines are a potent risk factor for heart disease in women

A heart expert at Johns Hopkins is calling for all women with a waistline measuring more than 35 inches to get an annual check-up and detailed risk assessment for heart problems because excess abdominal fat, even in the mildly obese and overweight, leads more than a third of women to underestimate their lifetime risk of having a heart attack, stroke or chest pain (angina).

24 Sep 2008

Major study aims for new approaches to cardiovascular disease management

The Consortium for Southeastern Hypertension Control (COSEHC), headquartered at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, is launching a major five-year study designed to update current guidelines for treating cardiovascular diseases, improve disease management and reduce heart attacks and strokes in the Southeast.

24 Sep 2008

Drugs to treat ADHD should be a last resort

According to new guidelines in Britain on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), drugs should be the last resort in treating the disorder and parents need to learn how to cope with their child's unruly behaviour.

24 Sep 2008

High salt levels in food banished by seaweed

High salt levels in processed food could be a thing of the past, thanks to new research which has found that a certain type of seaweed can be used as a natural, health boosting alternative that doesn't affect the taste or adversely affect the shelf life of the food.

From Sheffield Hallam University 21 Sep 2008

Experts say thousands at risk for heart disease go unchecked

Australian experts say thousands at risk for heart disease go unchecked and are not getting the drugs which protect them.

15 Sep 2008

Ohio bill would ban public funding for health care services to undocumented immigrants

A bill pending in the Ohio Legislature would ban the use of tax revenue for routine medical care of undocumented immigrants, the Columbus Dispatch reports.

15 Sep 2008

FDA approves Gamunex for chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced that it has approved an immune globulin product called Gamunex for the treatment of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), a rare autoimmune disorder characterized by progressive weakness and impaired sensory function in the legs and arms.

14 Sep 2008

Depressed dialysis patients more likely to be hospitalized or die, researcher finds

Dialysis patients diagnosed with depression are nearly twice as likely to be hospitalized or die within a year than those who are not depressed, a UT Southwestern Medical Center researcher has found.

14 Sep 2008

'Deep flaws' with pay-for-performance model need to be addressed to provide quality health care, according to commentary

The "general intent" of pay-for-performance programs "is to reward doctors for providing better care," but as they gain "momentum, the initiative[s] may be having untoward consequences," Sandeep Jauhar, a New York-based cardiologist and author, writes in a New York Times commentary. "To get an inkling of the potential problems," Jauhar discusses another quality-improvement program: surgical report cards.

10 Sep 2008

Men's health campaign launched to address often overlooked physical, emotional and sexual issues affecting men with diabetes

In addition to dealing with the day-to-day aspects of diabetes management that involve blood glucose, nutrition and lifestyle management, men in the United States with diabetes are also grappling with other physical, emotional and sexual health issues according to survey findings released today by the American Diabetes Association.

9 Sep 2008

Bariatric surgery cost-effective for treating obesity

Health insurers can offset the cost of laparoscopic or traditional bariatric surgery as a weight-loss treatment for obese patients within two to four years as a result of savings on other medical costs, according to a study published this month in the American Journal of Managed Care, the Wall Street Journal reports.

9 Sep 2008