Cardiovascular Disease News and Research

Latest Cardiovascular Disease News and Research

Some teenagers spending 30 hours a week in front of television and computer screens

While most teenagers (60 percent) spend on average 20 hours per week in front of television and computer screens, a third spend closer to 40 hours per week, and about 7 percent are exposed to more than 50 hours of 'screen-time' per week, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association's 48th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.

13 Mar 2008

Caring for a family member with a serious heart ailment may increase your risk of cardiac disease

Researchers examined heart risk factors in family members of cardiac patients and found that those who provided all or most of a patient's care had higher levels of risk factors for heart disease than non-caregivers and those who reported higher caregiver strain after six months were more likely to be depressed than those who provided less or no care.

13 Mar 2008

Maintaining weight loss long term is possible with group sessions

People who shed weight and want to keep it off might benefit from monthly personal contact interventions, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's Conference on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism.

12 Mar 2008

Men's pride in sexual performance may help the fight against obesity

Australian men care about erection problems, perhaps more so than possible cardiovascular disease. This may present an opportunity to improve communication about the benefits of weight loss.

12 Mar 2008

Monthly contact with counselor provides some benefit for maintaining weight loss

Weight-loss program participants who had a brief, monthly personal contact intervention - most often a 10-15 minute phone conversation - regained less weight than participants who were in a Web-based intervention or self-directed program, according to a study in the March 12 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

12 Mar 2008

Discovery of new protein family that may play an important role in preventing inflammatory diseases

A University of Central Florida research team has discovered a new protein family that may play an important role in preventing inflammatory diseases such as arthritis, some forms of cancer and even heart disease.

11 Mar 2008

Long-term effects of synthetic progestins cause for concern

The widely used synthetic progestin medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) decreased endothelial function in premenopausal women in a study done at the University of Oregon.

11 Mar 2008

Glaucoma associated with increased risk of cardiovascular death in black patients

Black patients with diagnosed and treated glaucoma and those with high pressure in their eyes appear to have an increased risk of death from cardiovascular causes, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

11 Mar 2008

Moderate alcohol consumption in middle-age lowers cardiovascular risk

A Medical University of South Carolina's (MUSC) Department of Family Medicine study concluded that people who began moderately consuming alcohol in middle-age experience a quick benefit of lower rates of cardiovascular disease morbidity with no change in mortality after four years.

10 Mar 2008

A glass of wine a day protects middle-aged teetotallers from heart disease

Scientists say that middle-aged 'teetotallers' can quickly reduce their risk of heart disease by having a daily tipple.

10 Mar 2008

Risks of long-term hormone therapy continue to outweigh benefits

New results from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) confirm that the health risks of long-term use of combination (estrogen plus progestin) hormone therapy in healthy, postmenopausal women persist even a few years after stopping the drugs and clearly outweigh the benefits.

6 Mar 2008

How much and how often people drink influences mortality risk

How much and how often people drink - not just the average amount of alcohol they consume over time - independently influence the risk of death from several causes, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

6 Mar 2008

Researchers discover molecular pathway in blood vessels that controls blood pressure and vascular function

University of Iowa researchers have identified a molecular pathway in blood vessels that controls blood pressure and vascular function and may help explain why certain drugs for type II diabetes also appear to lower patients' blood pressure.

6 Mar 2008

New potential drug target for atherosclerosis

A nuclear receptor protein, known for controlling the ability of cells to burn fat, also exerts powerful anti-inflammatory effects in arteries, suppressing atherosclerosis in mice prone to developing the harmful plaques, according to new research by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the Harvard School of Public Health.

6 Mar 2008

Cancer risk slightly higher for women in discontinued hormone treatment trial

A follow up study of participants in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) clinical trial led by a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researcher has found that women who were taking the combined hormone therapy of estrogen plus progestin may have an increased risk of cancer since the intervention was stopped, compared to participants in the trial's placebo group.

6 Mar 2008