Heart Disease Symptoms

Despite numerous warnings about the risks posed by cardiovascular diseases, Americans are still not doing enough to improve their heart health, says Datamonitor consumer markets analyst Mark Whalley*, author of the report Opportunities in Heart Health: Consumer Attitudes & Behaviors**. In 2008, only a third of people in the US told Datamonitor that they pay a ‘high’ or ‘very high’ amount of attention to their heart health. Worryingly, a quarter (26.5%) admitted that they only pay a ‘low’ or ‘very low’ amount of attention to what is a critical issue both at home and abroad.

Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey has published new standards for the treatment and care of people suffering and at risk from cardiovascular disease.

The 45 standards in the Cardiovascular Framework promise equal treatment and care from the health service for people who currently have or are at greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular disease is the class of diseases that involves the heart or blood vessels, including diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) today released a new report that will provide Canadians with a greater understanding of cardiovascular disease and how to prevent it. Tracking Heart Disease and Stroke in Canada 2009 provides Canadians with information on major risk factors, on the social and economic impacts of these diseases, and on the rates of cardiovascular disease across the country.

The report was written in collaboration with the Canadian Institute for Health Information, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Canadian Stroke Network and Statistics Canada.

Researchers have discovered that smoking may lead to insulin resistance -a pre-diabetic state – that in turn contributes to the development of heart disease. Scientists have not been certain why smoking leads to heart disease, especially given the fact that nicotine and smoking cause weight loss, thus reducing risk of heart disease.

Proteome analysis, a screening requiring only a patient’s urine specimen, shows promise as a reliable and noninvasive way to diagnose atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease in the future, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Annual Conference 2009.

According to a new study, depression combined with heart disease is an important risk factor for developing heart failure. The study is the first to show that heart disease and depression doubles the risk of heart failure, a condition that causes the heart to pump ineffectively. Heart failure leads to swelling, fatigue, shortness of breath and decreased quality of life.

Drug-eluting stents were safe and superior to bare metal stents in preventing death and heart attacks among 262,700 "real-world" patients enrolled in a nationwide registry of cardiovascular disease, according to researchers from Duke University Medical Center.

The findings were presented today at the i2Summit at the American College of Cardiology's 58th Annual Scientific Session. They also appear online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The study is the largest of its kind to date and may end years of controversy over the safety of the devices.

Preliminary data presented as a late-breaking abstract at the American College of Cardiology's 58th annual scientific session from the largest CD34+ adult stem cell study for heart disease has shown the first evidence that delivering a potent form of autologous (from the patient) adult stem cells into the heart muscle of patients with severe angina may result in less pain and improved exercise tolerance.

Identifying and treating depression, including increasing physical activity, may improve quality of life and reduce cardiovascular disease and death in African Americans, according to reports presented at the American Heart Association’s 2009 Conference on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism.

A strained marriage can lead to heart disease risks for women. A new study show the chances of developing depression, leading to metabolic syndrome and obesity is worse for women in strained marriages than for men. The result is increased heart disease risk for women who are in an unhappy marriage.

Study author, Nancy Henry, a doctoral student in psychology, says, "The gender difference is important because heart disease is the number-one killer of women as well as men, and we are still learning a lot about how relationship factors and emotional distress are related to heart disease."