FRIDAY, July 20 -- Middle-aged women who suffered physical abuse as children may be at increased risk for diabetes and heart disease, a new study suggests.Researchers examined nearly 350 black and white women in the Pittsburgh area who were... read more..
-- After menopause, women are more likely than before to have heart disease or develop osteoporosis, the American Council on Exercise says.The council says aerobic and weight-bearing forms of exercise can decrease a person's risk of:Heart... read more..
Recess doesn’t mean what it used to.According to U.S. Senator Bob Corker, neither does tax reform.In an address to a room full of local businessmen and women at Regions Bank this afternoon, Corker — who is swinging through Tennessee while on Senate recess — laid out the nuts and bolts of the fiscal problems facing the United States and detailed how they are affecting his constituency on a more local level.Among the topics he covered was U.S. exposure to the ongoing euro crisis and this... (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Pharmaceuticals headlines) read more..
For women who are close to menopause, the benefits of hormone-replacement therapy may outweigh the risks. (Source: WSJ.com: Health) read more..
The percentage of the U.S. population taking at least one prescription drug during the past 30 days increased from 38% in 1988–1994 to 48% in 2005–2008. During the same period, the percentage taking three or more prescription drugs nearly doubled, from 11% to 21%, and the percentage taking five or more drugs increased from 4% to 11%. These data come from the CDC "Health, Unites States, 2011" report (find it here).
Meanwhile, the prevalence of heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in the U.S., remained steady from 1999–2000 to 2009–2010 among adult women in all age groups, and among men 45–74 years of age. Among men 75 years of age and over, prevalence rose from 39% in 1999–2000 to 45% in 2009–2010.
There goes my rationale for taking statins to lower my risk of heart attack! It seems that the drug industry is not as successful in improving our health as it claims to be.
And new drugs aimed at lowering the risk for heart disease currently being developed may be effective in achieving "surrogate endpoints" in clinical trials but not effective in reducing risk.
That was the takeaway from a new study published online recently in The Lancet. That study provided evidence that increasing the level of HDL ("good cholesterol") does not lead to less risk for heart disease (see "HDL hypothesis is on the ropes right now").
That's not good news for companies that are actively developing and testing drugs that raise HDL -- even if these drugs succeed in that goal they are not likely to help prevent heart disease.
There's lots of other interesting data in the CDC report. I've gathered my favorite charts into the infographic shown here (click here for an enlarged view). read more..
THURSDAY, March 15 -- Women who deliver full-term infants with low birth weights have nearly double the risk of developing ischemic heart disease, a new study says.These types of pregnancies may cause long-term cardiovascular changes that increase... read more..
THURSDAY, March 15 -- People who have mild vascular disease that damages the eyes' retinas are more likely to have vascular disease in the brain that causes thinking and memory problems, new research indicates.The study included 511 women with an... read more..
THURSDAY, March 15 -- Politicians may want to keep the pitch of their voice low when asking for votes, because people appear to prefer candidates with deep voices, scientists have found.The study included dozens of men and women who listened to... read more..
For the American Heart Association (AHA), February is Heart Month, and the organization's Go Red For Women campaign shifts into overdrive to increase awareness of the United States no. 1 killer of women - cardiovascular disease. One in three women die of cardiovascular disease and 90 percent of women have one or more risk factors for developing heart disease in the future, the AHA reports. read more..
