Battling Heart and Stroke

This month, let’s feature two celebrities who are active in the battle against heart disease - Go for Red Women celebrities Toni Braxton and Marie Osmond.

Toni Braxton

Let’s welcome back Toni Braxton. She has been featured in this blog before but I think she deserves the honor once again. After all, Toni Braxton is not only a Grammy-award winning musical artist, she is also a heart disease survivor and spokeswoman for the American Heart Association’s Go for Red Women since 2005. If you are a big fan of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, then watch out for Toni. She will be dancing her heart out while battling heart disease and stroke like many of us.

Toni is the voice behind the hits “Unbreak my Heart” and “Another Sad Song”. However, she was on a 6-month hiatus from the entertainment industry when she was hospitalized for chest pains in April. You see, Toni is suffering from pericarditis,

More →

Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a revision of a policy statement from 1 January 1998 regarding lipid screening in children.

The new guidelines recommend early cholesterol screening of children and adolescents with a family history of high cholesterol or cardiovascular disease as well as children who are significantly overweight. Lipid screening should start as early as 2 years old, should be repeated 3 to 5 years later, and shouldn’t be put off beyond the 10^th year of a child’s life.

More →

A recent survey by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) showed 46% of Americans have basic or below basic level of health literacy. I am sure that many countries in the world have the same health literacy problems.

When in doubt, where do you turn to for health information? To your health care provider, of course.

More →

When it comes to stroke rates, Europeans are way better off than Americans, according to a Dutch study.

The researchers looked at data from 2004 on 13,667 Americans and 30,120 Europeans from 11 countries. Their analysis shows that American men have 61% higher likelihood of suffering from stroke than their European counterparts. Also, American women were almost twice more likely to suffer from stroke than European women. This difference in stroke rates in the two sides of the Atlantic is most evident among the poor segment of the two regions’ population but less visible among the rich. More →

Today, let’s have a look at figures and statistics on heart and stroke that we can ponder upon:

United States

According the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), heart disease is the number one killer in the US [1]. More →

 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 →