Battling Heart and Stroke

 Who said that life is always fair? The more you have, the less likely you are to die young. This is because those who have more money are less likely to suffer from stroke at an early age, according to a study by Dutch researchers recently published in the journal Stroke.

The study was part of the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study and looked at 20,000 adults in the US. Their results show that the risk of early stroke is much lower among wealthy Americans between 54 and 65 years of age. However, as soon as a person reaches the age of 65, money doesn`t make a difference anymore - stroke risk is the same, rich or poor.

More →

Two artificial heart valves get top billing in the New England Journal of Medicine this week. Two video clips of two artificial heart valves can be viewed in the journal’s website. What is so special about these two valves is that they were implanted 38 years ago in a Canadian woman who is now 67 years old. And they are still working well - and going strong.

The Starr-Edwards artificial valve was developed by the surgeon Albert Starr and the retired engineer Miles Lowell Edwards. The first one was implanted in a heart patient in 1960. Since then, over a quarter of a million heart patients got the implants. More →

“A double cheese burger, fries, and soda to go.” How many times do we repeat this phrase in a week? A month? A year?

But what has fast food got to do with Battling Heart and Stroke? A lot, actually. Because here we also tackle nutrition and diet and how they affect your heart and blood vessels.

More →

We all get spam emails about cheap drugs sold over the Internet. However, these drugs and their distributors not only clutter your inbox, they actually present serious health hazards to those who actually buy and use them.

Here are examples of drugs that can harm your heart and badly affect your blood pressure:

More →

During those months when I had my heart problems, I experienced symptoms ranging from breathlessness to chronic tiredness. I was lucky because my professional background as a medical writer helped me recognize the early signs. I immediately consulted my GP and was referred to a cardiologist.

Apparently many people particularly women, fail to recognize symptoms of heart problems that eventually lead to even more serious consequences. This is according to a recent study reported during the American Heart Association’s 9th Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research (QCOR) in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke.

More →

A recent report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) shows that only 54% of Americans have an acceptable level of health literacy. The rest have only basic (32%) or below basic (14%) knowledge of health issues. According to Reuters, being health literate means having “the skills required to correctly complete health care-related activities like reading a prescription bottle, figuring out medication dosage, filling out forms or calculating insurance coverage.”

How much do you know about health issues? Reading helps and this blog will help you improve your health literacy. Stay tuned.

Earlier this week, the British House of Commons voted by a large majority the amendments for Human Fertilization and Embryonic Research Act which allows scientists to produce human-animal hybrid embryos for stem cell research.

It is the belief of many scientists, lawmakers, as well as patients that the key to future therapies that can cure diseases - from cardiovascular disorders to cancer - lie in stem cell research.

More →

Two news items caught my attention this week regarding defibrillators.

News item # 1:

More →

Two groups of stroke survivors. One group had robotic devices to assist them in walking again. The other group had physical therapists in attendance. Which group do you think performed better?

According to a study conducted by the University of Illinois in Chicago, stroke survivors seem to benefit more from therapist-assisted walking rehabilitation compared to those who underwent robotic devices-assisted therapy. More →

Musical artist, tenor, actor, stage performer, radio host, all these words describe Benjamin “BeBe” Winans. But why do we chose BeBe to be our May celebrity for Battling Heart and Stroke?

More →