Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Mass. reform increases access to hospital care in vulnerable groups

Healthcare reform providing near-universal insurance coverage in Massachusetts led to increased access to hospital care among vulnerable groups—especially Hispanic and low-income populations, suggests a paper in Medical Care.

7 Aug 2012

Scientists discover biological marker that may help identify patients’ response to antidepressants

Scientists have discovered a biological marker that may help to identify which depressed patients will respond to an experimental, rapid-acting antidepressant. The brain signal, detectable by noninvasive imaging, also holds clues to the agent's underlying mechanism, which are vital for drug development, say National Institutes of Health researchers.

7 Aug 2012

Minorities more at risk of being impacted by ER crowding

Hospitals in areas with large minority populations are more likely to be overcrowded and to divert ambulances, delaying timely emergency care, according to a multi-institutional study focused on California.

7 Aug 2012

Underinsured CVD patients die sooner, irrespective of race

Insurance status is a better predictor of survival after a serious cardiac event than race, and may help explain racial disparities in health outcomes for cardiovascular disease. A new study by Derek Ng, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US, and his team shows that race is not linked to an increased risk of death but being underinsured is a strong predictor of death among those admitted into hospital with a serious cardiac event.

7 Aug 2012

Geisel professor concerned about steroid abuse by adolescents

Leslie Henderson is concerned about steroid abuse, not necessarily by sports luminaries like Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire, but rather by adolescents.

7 Aug 2012

New analysis provides overall genetic fingerprint of various Jewish subpopulations

A new genetic analysis focusing on Jews from North Africa has provided an overall genetic map of the Jewish Diasporas. The findings support the historical record of Middle Eastern Jews settling in North Africa during Classical Antiquity, proselytizing and marrying local populations, and, in the process, forming distinct populations that stayed largely intact for more than 2,000 years.

7 Aug 2012

Link between cardiac catheterizations and risk of stroke

When a patient undergoes a cardiac catheterization procedure such as a balloon angioplasty, there's a slight risk of a stroke or other neurological complication.

7 Aug 2012

Heartburn can cause cancer: New guide for patients

Every day, an estimated 25 million American adults suffer from heartburn. Some experts believe that 40 percent of adults experience heartburn every month. Despite these staggering statistics, few people understand the real risk that Heartburn can cause Cancer.

6 Aug 2012

Congenital anomaly clusters may be going undetected in UK

A lack of national surveillance of congenital anomalies in England and Wales may lead to clusters of congenital conditions going unnoticed, say UK researchers.

6 Aug 2012

Risk score flyers raise diabetes awareness in China

Distributing a simple Diabetes Risk Score is a cheap and effective way to raise awareness of the condition among the Chinese population, report researchers.

6 Aug 2012

Exercise partially alleviates depression in heart failure patients

Structured exercise achieves modest reductions in depressive symptoms relative to usual care among patients with heart failure the results of a randomized-controlled trial show.

6 Aug 2012

Exercise hope for drug-resistant hypertension

Even patients who have hypertension despite taking multiple antihypertensive drugs can achieve blood pressure reductions with a program of aerobic exercise, research shows.

6 Aug 2012

Less is definitely more for men who undergo nephrectomy

Researchers have identified a link between complete kidney removal and erectile dysfunction, a manifestation of endothelial dysfunction that often precedes cardiovascular disease.

6 Aug 2012

Exercise improves mood in heart failure patients

Structured exercise achieves modest reductions in depressive symptoms relative to usual care among patients with heart failure, the results of a randomized-controlled trial show.

6 Aug 2012

Cardiovascular risk present across chronic rheumatic diseases

Patients across the spectrum of rheumatic diseases, not just those with rheumatoid arthritis, have a significantly increased prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors compared with the general population, the results of a Dutch study indicate.

6 Aug 2012

Vorinostat drives HIV from hiding

The addition of vorinostat to current antiretroviral therapy regimens can potentially help to eradicate hidden pockets of dormant human immunodeficiency virus, according to study results published in Nature.

6 Aug 2012

‘Chicken Wing’ clue to stroke risk in atrial fibrillation

Patients with atrial fibrillation who have a Chicken Wing left atrial appendage morphology are less likely to have a stroke than those with other morphologies, research suggests.

6 Aug 2012

Older adults with head trauma over a weekend more likely to die

A Johns Hopkins review of more than 38,000 patient records finds that older adults who sustain substantial head trauma over a weekend are significantly more likely to die from their injuries than those similarly hurt and hospitalized Monday through Friday, even if their injuries are less severe and they have fewer other illnesses than their weekday counterparts.

6 Aug 2012

Common anti-angina drug may help protect the heart against carbon monoxide poisoning

An international research team, led from the University of Leeds, has found that a common anti-angina drug could help protect the heart against carbon monoxide poisoning.

6 Aug 2012