Battling Heart and Stroke

As the year comes to a close, reports from health authorities and advocacy groups are slowly coming. The American Heart Association’s Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics 2009 Update has just been released - with data from 2005 to 2006. The report gives some good and not-so-good news. On the one hand, US mortalities due to heart disease and stroke are down On the other hand, the risk factors for cardiovascular disease are still on the rise.

Some figures to think about: More →

How many people are in your household? How many generations are there?

Having grown up in Asia, I’m used to the tradition of extended families under one roof. There were advantages and disadvantage to this type of family structure. The advantage is the availability of help when help is needed. Grandmothers take care of grandchildren while the parents work. It also saves money on household costs. The disadvantage is that as the older generation age, they would need care and attention that would add to the financial burden to the younger generation. Another disadvantage is stress. When living within a closed setting in cramped quarters, tension and stress tend to build up.

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Young and female - this is the typical demographic profile of heart failure patients in South Africa. “Heart failure patients in Soweto, South Africa, are more likely to be middle-aged and female compared to patients in Western nations.” according to a recent study.

So why the difference compared to Western countries? According to the study, the contributing factors are probably the following: More →

Snoring problems? Maybe it’s time to for a risk assessment for stroke. A recent study published in the journal Sleep reported that “heavy snoring is an independent risk factor for early carotid atherosclerosis, which may progress to be associated with stroke.”

The study was the first to use an objective way of measuring snoring intensity. The conduct of the study was described below: More →

You are what you eat. And this study indicates that diet can determine the risk of heart attacks - in a global scale.So what’s your typical diet?

Canadian researchers at McMaster University reported in the Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association their results after studying the dietary patterns and heart attack rates in 52 countries. And it’s bad news for the Western diet.

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Depression, poor quality of life, and now, increased risk for bone fractures. Is there no end to the problems facing heart failure patients? Unfortunately, a study by Canadian researchers found a link between heart failure and incidence of bone fractures.

“Patients who are newly diagnosed with heart failure in the emergency department are at least four times as likely to suffer serious bone fractures over the next year compared with patients presenting to the emergency department with other CV disorders.”

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Still smoking?

Well, I’ve got bad news for you. You are not only increasing your risk for stroke, you are putting your spouse/partner at risk as well.

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A large community of Indian Asians - also sometimes called South Asians- reside in the UK. These are people who originated from the Indian subcontinent - from the countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Results from a recent prospective study show that Indian Asian patients with acute coronary heart syndrome are way much younger than white Europeans. It is not uncommon to see Indian Asians in their 20s being diagnosed with severe coronary artery disease.

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If you are female and have a waistline circumference measuring 35 inches (about 89 cm), then you are advised to have a detailed risk assessment of your cardiovascular health. This is according to Dr. Erin Michos, a cardiologist of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

This statement was based on a US-wide study which screened 8,936 women aged 35 to 63 years old for risk factors of heart disease. For the risk assessment, the women from 14 cities underwent physical check-ups and filled out a health questionnaire. The results of the screening were as follows: More →

The trend is disturbing. More and more children and young people are having cardiovascular problems. And the causes can be traced to unhealthy lifestyles.

Lack of proper nutrition

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