How to Avoid a Heart Attack

Higher heart risk seen in younger African Americans

2010-09-08T15:21:23Z

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - African Americans are known to have a higher rate of heart disease and stroke than whites, and a new study suggests that those excess risks emerge at a relatively young age. Using data from a government health study, researchers found that African Americans between the ages of 35 and 44 had nearly twice the prevalence of cardiovascular disease -- a history of heart atta...

Hair an indicator for heart attacks: study

2010-09-07T12:20:48Z

High levels of the stress hormone cortisol in hair may be a strong predictor of heart attacks months in advance, said Canadian researchers in the journal Stress. Issues such as jobs, marital or financial problems are linked to an increased risk for developing cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks. But until now a biological marker was not available to measure chronic stress and so predict -- several months in advance -- who may be most at risk of a heart attack. "Traditionally,...

Walters, Letterman compare notes on heart surgery

2010-09-07T09:50:07Z

Barbara Walters returns to 'The View,' greeted by fellow heart surgery patient David Letterman

Barbara Walters says that she's feeling fine after heart surgery in May and that she has practically no scar. Walters got a rousing welcome Tuesday as she returned to active duty at...

Abbott diet drug study renews calls for U.S. ban

2010-09-02T12:40:12Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A study funded by Abbott Laboratories offered more detailed evidence that its weight-loss drug Meridia increases heart risks, prompting renewed calls by consumer advocates and others to pull the dr...

Corrected: Abbott's diet drug study renews calls for U.S. ban

2010-09-01T22:40:26Z

Journal editors question sale of diet pill Meridia

2010-09-01T22:37:44Z

Medical journal editors question sale of diet pill; study shows it raises heart risks in some

Editors of a top medical journal call Meridia "another flawed diet pill" and question whether it should stay on the market as a study shows it raises the risk of heart attack and stroke in people with heart problems. The strongly worded editorial comes two weeks before government advise...

Blacks more prone to blood clots after stents

2010-08-30T13:15:18Z

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Blacks treated with a drug-coated stent to open clogged heart arteries are nearly three times more likely to develop a life-threatening blood clot than whites, U.S. researchers said on Monday. They said being black was the strongest predictor of stent thrombosis -- blood clots that can occur after a stent is implanted -...

Gaining on death, cooling therapy catches on

2010-08-30T08:45:17Z

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters Health) - It was a cold, drizzly March morning this year when Ed Sproull's heart stopped beating. At 58, he had arrived at work feeling fit and healthy. As he stepped into the elevator at De Lage Landen...

Heart pill 'could save 10,000 lives a year'

2010-08-30T03:15:43Z

A pill for chest pains costing £10 a week could save the lives of thousands of heart failure patients and dramatically reduce hospital admissions, trial results published Monday suggest. Professor Martin Cowie, who led the UK-based part of the study, said the drug could prevent up to 10,000 deaths a year in the UK and described it as "a significant breakthrough". The pill, ivabradine -- also known ...

European guidelines back use of Sanofi's Multaq

2010-08-29T02:00:06Z

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sanofi-Aventis's recently launched heart rhythm drug Multaq should be considered as a treatment option for patients with atrial fibrillation, a common arrhythmia, according to new medical guidelines. Multaq, or dronedarone, ...

Gaining on death, cooling therapy catches on slowly

2010-08-26T12:30:15Z

Heart risk factors a growing problem in Mexico

2010-08-24T10:30:10Z

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Large percentages of Mexican adults have risk factors for heart disease and stroke -- suggesting, researchers say, that without intervention, the nation's rate of cardiovascular disease will continue the climb it began several decades ago. In a study of 20,000 Mexicans age 20 and older, researchers found that smoking and obesity were the most prevalent heart disease risk factors. One-third of me...

Pit bull guarded Wash. woman who had heart attack

2010-08-18T23:00:08Z

Pit bull guarded Washington state woman after she suffered fatal heart attack while on a walk

Police in the Washington state city of Bremerton say a pit bull reported as a menacing dog was just protecting its owner who had suffered a heart attack and died on a sidewalk while the two were out walking. A detective says the 51-year-old Bremerton woman colla...

IBM launches cardiovascular disease management system in China

2010-08-18T21:45:12Z

HONG KONG (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp (IBM) on Thursday announced the launch of China's first all-in-one electronic cardiogram management system aimed at improving the detection and management of cardiovascular diseases. IBM said it had teamed up with Chinese electronic cardiogram systems provider

Heart attack, stroke risks higher for combative types: study

2010-08-16T17:15:18Z

People who tend to be confrontational, especially those who are competitive and aggressive, run a higher risk of heart attack and stroke, according to a study released Monday. Researchers with the National Institute on Aging (NIA) examined 5,614 residents of four villages in Sardinia, an Italian Mediterranean island. People who classed themselves as aggres...

Report: Cancer is the world's costliest disease

2010-08-16T13:00:17Z

Cancer is world's top 'economic killer' as well as its leading cause of death, report finds

American Cancer Society researchers say that cancer is now the world's leading economic killer as well as its likely top cause of death. Their new report says that cancer costs more in productivity and lost life than AIDS, tuberculosis or other infectious diseases. Cancer's economic impact was $89...

Colombian airliner crashes during storm, one dead

2010-08-16T11:00:09Z

BOGOTA (Reuters) - A Colombian passenger jet operated by local airline Aires crashed while landing on San Andres island on Monday during a storm, injuring 114 passengers while one died of a heart attack, local authorities said. The Boeing 737 carrying 121 passengers and six crew members was arriving on the Caribbean resort...

Community heart disease risk programs work: study

2010-08-12T12:30:16Z

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Healthy heart programs do work and may cut the risk of heart disease by as much as 1 percent, a review of large community-based programs concludes. The benefits may sound small "but across a population, that's quite a large effect," study co-author Tom Marshall of the Reuters Health) - Enzyte, a popular dietary supplement marketed for "male enhancement," causes electrical abnormalities in the heart that could be potentially fatal in some people, new research suggests. Doctors should tell their patients not to use the product until more safety information is available, Dr. Brian F....

Heart, not shellfish, to blame in AK man's death

2010-08-11T14:15:25Z

Medical examiner says Alaska man who died after ingesting crab was victim of heart disease

The state medical examiner has determined that a heart problem, not paralytic shellfish poisoning, killed a man who ate Dungeness crab that he caught near his Alaska home. The widow of John Michael Saunders says the medical examiner concluded he died from hea...

Rates of heart attack swell as temperature drops

2010-08-11T09:00:10Z

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - As the death toll of Moscow's blistering heat continues to rise, British researchers said Wednesday that cold weather may exact a price, too. They found that when temperatures dropped just one degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) on a given day, there were an additional 200 heart attacks in the UK ...

Some heart patients not getting treatment: study

2010-08-10T12:45:22Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some patients with congestive heart failure are not receiving recommended medicines that could keep them alive longer and out of the hospital, a trend that may be adding to the nation's health costs, U.S. researchers say. A team at Stanford ...

Cheney released from hospital after heart surgery

2010-08-09T14:45:11Z

Former Vice President Dick Cheney released from hospital after surgery to install heart pump

Former Vice President Dick Cheney has been released from a suburban Washington hospital following heart surgery last month. A Cheney spokesman said in a statement that the former vice president was released Monday morning from Food and Drug Administration said it has received more than 900 reports about problems with these filters since 2005. Problems can arise when filters are left inside veins t...

New Colombian VP to have heart surgery

2010-08-09T10:15:49Z

The newly-minted vice president of Colombia, Angelino Garzon, was to undergo emergency heart surgery after being rushed to a hospital at dawn Monday for a heart problem just two days after taking office, medical sources said. Garzon arrived with "coronary illness in several arteries," leading a medical team to decide he needs heart surgery, according to Colombian VP Garzon hospitalized for heart surgery just 2 days after his inauguration

Doctors prepped Colombia's brand-new vice president for heart surgery Monday after he was rushed to the hospital with severe chest pains just two days into his term. Angelino Garzon was admitted to the Shaio clinic in northern Bogota in the morning, hospital director Colombian VP Garzon has heart attack less than 2 days after inauguration, 'stable' at hospital

A heart attack has sent Colombia's new vice president to the hospital after less than two days on the job. Bogota's health secretary says Angelino Garzon is "stable ... and conscious." Hector Zambrano adds that doctors ...

Former Canadian PM undergoes brain surgery

2010-08-07T08:45:08Z

Former Canadian PM Jean Chretien recovering after successful brain surgery

Former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien is recovering after successful brain surgery in Montreal. The Jewish General Hospital said Saturday the 76-year-old former Liberal leader had the surgery Friday. He...

Michael Jackson's last home up for sale

2010-08-04T16:15:20Z

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Los Angeles mansion where pop star Michael Jackson suffered a cardiac arrest last year is up for sale, with an asking price of $28.9 million, celebrity property website RealEstalker.com said on Wednesday. Jackson was r...

Octogenarians have more heart surgery, live longer

2010-08-03T15:46:57Z

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Heart surgery and the use of other invasive treatments have risen sharply in elderly people who've suffered a heart attack, Canadian researchers said Tuesday. In addition, the number of deaths within one year of those heart attacks dropped by almost 10 percent between 1996 and 2006, data from Quebec hospital patients aged 80 and older show. "Over the l...

High cholesterol dangerous in young adults, too

2010-08-03T15:46:24Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Adults as young as 20 need pay attention to their cholesterol because unhealthy levels may already be damaging their arteries, researchers reported on Tuesday. They followed a group of 18- to 30-year-olds for 20 years and found that higher cholesterol at a relatively early age increased the risk of heart disease and stroke later. "We don't usually worry too much about heart disease risk until a perso...

New heart valve taken from patient works best: study

2010-08-02T17:15:19Z

Replacing the heart's aortic valve with one's own pulmonary valve rather than the same body part from a donor boosts survival and quality of life, according to a study released Tuesday. Oxygen-rich blood in pumped via the aortic valve to nourish the body, while the pulmonary valve is the gateway for oxygen-depleted blood passing into the lungs. Defects and disease can create the need for the aortic valve to be replaced, a delicate but standard procedure for more than three decades. The n...

US Vets president Dwight Radcliff dead at 55

2010-08-02T07:45:09Z

US Vets president Dwight Radcliff dies of heart attack in Marina del Rey at age 55

Air Force veteran Dwight Radcliff, president of the United States Veterans Initiative, has died of a heart attack. He was 55. Family spokeswoman Nicole War...

Cheney remains hospitalized after heart surgery

2010-08-01T08:45:09Z

Dick Cheney remains in hospital after heart surgery, hopes to return home this week

Former Vice President Dick Cheney is still in the hospital after heart surgery in early July. Daughter Liz Cheney says her 69-year-old dad is out of intensive care and hopes to return home this week. She tells "Maryland (Reuters) - U.S. advisers backed a potential blockbuster blood thinner from AstraZeneca on Wednesday, a victory for a company seeking new drugs to offset expiring patents on some of its best-selling medicines. Members of a French doctor says singer Al Jarreau getting better, could be discharged over coming weekend

A cardiologist who is treating Al Jarreau says the Grammy-winning singer's health is improving steadily. Dr. Jean-Louis Bonnet, chief of the cardiology unit at La Timone hospital in Connecticut fire marshal's office is examining the breathing equipment used by two Bridgeport firefighters who died in a burning home over the weekend. The state medical examiner's office says one of the firefighters died of smoke inhalation, while further study is needed on the second firefighter. The medical examiner's office says 49-year-old CHICAGO (Reuters) - People with high levels of the so-called good cholesterol HDL tend to have fewer heart attacks but HDL may offer little protective benefit in people who take statins to lower harmful LDL cholesterol, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday. An analysis of a large study of healthy people who took Syneron says Japanese regulators cleared Vbeam system for use in treating vascular conditions

Japanese regulators have approved the use of a laser system developed by Syneron Medical Ltd., the company said Monday. The Vbeam pulsed dye laser is made by Syneron's Candela Corp. business and is used to treat vascular conditions ...

Hibernating bears have healthy hearts

2010-07-17T09:15:12Z

Hibernating bears avoid heart problems, may offer insight into human heart health

Grizzly bears love pastries, can be 50 percent body fat and spend nearly half the year sleeping. Yet the hibernating bears don't suffer heart attacks, have no hardening of the arteries, no fatty deposits or any circulation issues, said Charles Robbins, director of the Shares of obesity drug developers rise following study on Arena Pharmaceuticals' lorcaserin

Shares of obesity drug developers rose Thursday following a report that Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s lorcaserin prompted weight loss without heart-related side effects. On Wednesday, a study showed that lorcaserin caused more people to lose at least 5 percent of their body weight over one ye...

Colombia Vice President

2010-08-09T13:00:44Z

A police officer patrols outside Shaio Clinic where Vice President Angelino Garzon is being treated after a heart attack in Bogota, Colombia, Monday Aug. 9, 2010. Colombia's new Vice President Angelino Garzon suffered a heart attack after less than two days on the job. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Brewers Uecker Surgery Baseball

2010-07-23T16:30:27Z

FILE - In this May 14, 2010, file photo, Milwaukee Brewers radio announcer Bob Uecker speaks during a news conference in Milwaukee. Uecker will be back behind the microphone this weekend, just three months after heart surgery. The 75-year-old broadcaster underwent surgery April 30 to replace his aortic valve, aortic root and part of his ascending aorta. The Brewers say Uecker wil...

NBA Finals Celtics Lakers Basketball

2010-06-17T18:45:36Z

Los Angeles Lakers fans taunt Boston Celtics fan Kevin Duggan of Pleasanton, Calif., before Game 7 of the NBA basketba...

Germany Demjanjuk Trial

2010-05-19T07:30:45Z

FILE - In this April 20, 2010 file picture accused Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk arrives in a courtroom in Munich, German. Demjanjuk, an 89-year-old former U.S. auto worker, is on trial in Germany facing charges he helped force 27.900 Jews into gas chambers in the

Hospice Defibrillators

2010-03-26T17:14:32Z

This Aug. 2008 handout photo provided by Carol Filak shows Joseph Hoffman of West Orange, N.J., with his daughter Carol Filak of Clifton, Va. Filak had to repeatedly ask her father's cardiologist to turn off his implanted defibrillato...