Improving Palliative Care For Heart Failure PatientsPalliative care for cancer patients in the UK is well established - but the situation is starkly different for those suffering from heart failure. A recent service evaluation led by the University of Hull and Hull York Medical School (HYMS) shows this doesn't have to be the case - particularly if clinicians have the courage to talk about death with their patients...
Controlling Blood Pressure - Team Based Care Vital High blood pressure was listed as a primary or contributing cause of death for approximately 336,000 Americans in 2007. If all patients with high blood pressure were treated to goal as outlined in current clinical guidelines, it is estimated that 46,000 deaths might be averted each year...
Palpitations May Mean Looming Atrial Fibrillation The European Journal of Preventive Cardiology reveals that the emergence of palpitations is a risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF). Findings of a large population study reveal the strongest risk factors for atrial fibrillation in both men and women to be a history of palpitations and hypertension...
Common Antibiotic Found To Carry Heart RiskVanderbilt researchers have discovered a rare, but important risk posed by the antibiotic azithromycin, commonly called a "Z-pack." The study found a 2.5-fold higher risk of cardiovascular death in the first five days of taking azithromycin when compared with another common antibiotic or no antibiotics at all. Wayne A. Ray, Ph.D., professor of Preventive Medicine, and C. Michael Stein, M.B.Ch...
Beijing Olympics Air Pollution Change Impacted On People's Health A study featured in the May 16 edition of JAMA shows that changes in air pollution during the 2008 Beijing Olympics were related to changes in biomarkers of systemic inflammation and thrombosis, in addition to measure of cardiovascular physiology in healthy young people...
Large Population Study Fomds Palpitations Predictive Of Future Atrial FibrillationA large cohort study has found that the strongest risk factors for atrial fibrillation in both men and women were a history of palpitations and hypertension. While hypertension is a well known risk factor for AF, the investigators note that "the impact of self-reported palpitations on later occurrence of AF has not been documented earlier"...
Automated External Defibrillators Rarely Close To Locations Of Public Cardiac ArrestsMore than 75 percent of cardiac arrest victims are stricken too far away from an automated external defibrillator for the lifesaving device to be obtained quickly enough to offer the best chance at saving their lives, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that was presented at the annual meeting of Society for Academic Emergency Medicine...
Bystanders Less Likely To Offer CPR And Defibrillation To Black Cardiac Arrest VictimsBlack cardiac arrest victims who are stricken outside hospitals are less likely to receive bystander CPR and defibrillation on the scene than white patients, according to research presented by a research team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania at the annual meeting of Society for Academic Emergency Medicine...
Waist To Height Ratio Better Than BMIWaist to height ratio is a better predictor of heart disease and diabetes risk than BMI, according to new research presented at a scientific meeting recently. Study leader Dr Margaret Ashwell, an independent consultant and former science director of the British Nutrition Foundation, presented the findings at the 19th Congress on Obesity in Lyon, France, on Saturday 12 May...
Faster Treatment For Heart Attack Patients Taken Directly To PCI HospitalsHeart attack patients in North Carolina who were rushed directly to hospitals equipped to do percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) received treatment significantly faster than patients first taken to hospitals unequipped to perform PCI and then later transferred for treatment, according to research reported at the American Heart Association's Quality of Care and Outcomes Res...
Screening Children For Sudden Cardiac Death Not Feasible As Costs Outweigh BenefitsAn article, published in Circulation by Laurel K. Leslie, MD, MPH from the Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and colleagues from Tufts Medical Center and Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center, has evaluated the lifesaving benefits and costs of screening programs for the prevention of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in children and adolescents...