Battling Heart and Stroke

You’ve heard of vaccines against polio, measles, small pox. What about a vaccine against hypertension? Last year, a paper presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions reported about an investigational vaccine against angiotensin II. Angiotensin II is a vasoconstrictor agent - it causes constriction of blood vessels leading to increase in blood pressure. When a vaccine is investigational, it is still being tested and not yet ready for use.

However, this vaccine being tested by Cytos Biotechnology seems to be promising.

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The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute and MayoClinic list the following as the most common risk factors for hypertension:

• Older age
• Race or ethnicity
• Overweight or obesity
• Gender
• Stress
• Lack of physical activity
• Use of tobacco
• Family history of hypertension
• High alcohol consumption
• High sodium in the diet
• Low vitamin D levels
• Low potassium in the diet

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How much did you weigh at birth? Your baby/babies? Does it matter?

A new study by British researchers published in the European Heart Journal shows that there is a link between low birth weight and predisposition to hypertension later in life. More →

Is home monitoring by patients with heart disease and/or hypertension a feasible alternative? According to experts and results of recent studies, there’s actually no place like home for monitoring cardiovascular patients.

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When was the last time you had your blood pressure (BP) checked? Do you know the difference between systole BP and diastole BP and what BP measurements mean for your health? Do you know your risk factors for hypertension and other cardiovascular disorders?

May is the month to start answering these questions. Since 1984, May has been proclaimed as the National Blood Pressure Awareness Month in the United States. The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) also calls it the National High Blood Pressure Education Month.

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