http://www.healthday.com/ HealthDay is a division of ScoutNews, LLC, a Norwalk, Conn.-based news and information company. HealthDay is in the news syndication business. The news produced by HealthDay's journalists and editors is licensed to media companies, hospitals, clinics, group practices, managed care organizations, publishers, non-profit organizations, and government agencies. http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:04:45 -0800 While the number of elderly Americans newly diagnosed with heart failure has declined, the number of those living with the condition has increased, new research finds. The Duke University study analyzed data on 622,789 Medicare patients, aged 65 and older, diagnosed with heart failure between 1994 and 2003. It found that the annual occurrence of heart failure decreased from 32 per 1,000 person-years (years of observation time during which each person is at risk to develop the disease) in 1994, to 29 per 1,000 person-years in 2003.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=612914Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:03:19 -0800 In dogs with damaged hearts, implanted pacemakers triggered fast improvements in tissue levels and the activity of a number of proteins crucial to heart health, says a Johns Hopkins study. The researchers said their findings are believed to be the first detailed chemical analysis of the biological effects a pacemaker has on the heart. This new information could lead to improvements in the use of combined pacemaker/drug treatments for congestive heart failure patients.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=613413Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:02:50 -0800 Older people with heart failure face heightened odds of complications and death after non-cardiac surgeries, according to the largest study ever conducted on the issue. "We're trying to draw attention to this major problem," said lead researcher Dr. Adrian F. Hernandez, an assistant professor of medicine at Duke University in Durham, N.C.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=613765Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:02:07 -0800 The diabetes drug Actos is better than another diabetes drug, Amaryl, at slowing clogging of the arteries in patients with both type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The Cleveland Clinic researchers behind the new findings say this is the first time that a diabetes medication has been shown to slow atherosclerosis, giving doctors new insight into which drugs may be most effective and safest for this group of patients.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=614029Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:01:34 -0800 Despite some doctors' reluctance to do so, a new study finds that treating high blood pressure in patients 80 age and older can reduce the rate of stroke, heart failure and death from cardiovascular disease. The degree to which elderly patients receive treatment for a variety of conditions, including high blood pressure, is controversial, with some physicians believing that aggressive treatment may do more harm than good.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=614016Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:00:22 -0800 Just four weeks of moderate exercise is enough to boost the cardiac performance and breathing capacity of patients with heart failure, a new study finds. This slightly more strenuous exercise program -- in standard use in Europe for people with heart failure -- works at least as well as the less intense American regimen, the researchers noted. They presented the findings Tuesday at the Experimental Biology conference in San Diego.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=614231Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:59:44 -0800 Diabetic retinopathy, a leading cause of vision loss in the United States, is also a warning sign of heart failure, a new study says. The study followed more than 1,000 middle-aged people with type 2 diabetes for nine years and found that those with retinopathy at the start had more than a 2.5-fold higher risk of developing heart failure than those without retinopathy.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=614480Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:59:17 -0800 Loop diuretics, drugs commonly prescribed to treat heart failure and hypertension, increase the risk of hip bone loss in older men, says a U.S. study. Researchers evaluated 3,269 men, aged 65 and older, who underwent an initial examination between 2000 and 2002, with a follow-up visit an average of 4.6 years later. They collected information about all the medications being taken by the men and checked bone mineral density in the men's hips. Among the men in the study, 84 continuously used loop diuretics between the initial and follow-up examinations, 181 used the drugs intermittently, and 3,004 never used them. After adjusting for other factors, the researchers found that the average annual rate of decline in total hip bone mineral density was -0.78 among continuous users, -0.58 among intermittent users, and -0.33 among non-users.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=614510Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:58:51 -0800 Researchers have discovered a gene variant carried by about 40 percent of blacks that protects them after heart failure as much as widely used beta blocker drugs do. The finding explains the puzzling results reported in trials of beta blocker therapy in black people, said Dr. Stephen B. Liggett, a professor of medicine and physiology at the University of Maryland, and co-author of a report in the April 20 online issue of Nature Medicine. "To our knowledge, this is the first case where a genetic variant mimics the activity of a drug used to treat a disease," Liggett said.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=614707Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:55:26 -0800 Pneumonia, irregular heart beat, and obstructed blood flow to the heart are the most common reasons for hospitalization for heart failure in the United States, researchers say. A team at the University of California, Los Angeles analyzed data from a heart failure patient registry called the Organized Program to Initiate Lifesaving Treatment in Hospitalized Patients with Heart Failure (OPTIMIZE-HF). Between March 2003 and December 2004, the registry enrolled almost 49,000 patients from 259 hospitals across the United States.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=614868Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:54:51 -0800 Exercise and counseling are the prescription for improving the quality of life of heart failure patients who suffer depression, a new report says. Aerobic exercise -- such as walking outdoors -- paired with cognitive behavioral therapy aimed at improving the patient's attitude boosted physical abilities and reduced symptoms of depression, according to researchers who were expected to present their findings Thursday at the American Heart Association's Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke in Baltimore.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=615024Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:54:18 -0800 Remote monitoring can improve the condition of mobile heart failure patients and may reduce hospital readmissions, according to a pilot study that included 150 patients admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The patients, average age 70, were randomly selected to receive usual care for heart failure (68 patients) or remote monitoring (42 patients). Forty of the patients declined to participate. The study was conducted by the Center for Connected Health, a division of Partners HealthCare.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=614999Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:53:48 -0800 Heart failure is as crushing a blow to someone's psychological well-being as cancer, a new study finds. Indeed, people in the study with the most severe degrees of heart failure, the inability to supply the body with oxygen-carrying blood, had measures of severity of symptoms, depression and loss of spiritual well-being that are seen in people with advanced cancer, Dr. David Bekelman, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Colorado at Denver Health Sciences Center, reported Friday at an American Heart Association meeting in Baltimore.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=615019Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:53:20 -0800 Obesity causes prolonged inflammation of heart tissue that in turn boosts heart failure risk, according to a U.S. study of almost 7,000 people. The latest findings from the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) are believed to provide the first large scale of evidence of such a link and give the estimated 72 million obese American adults another reason to change their lifestyle. "The biological effects of obesity on the heart are profound. Even if obese people feel otherwise healthy, there are measurable and early chemical signs of damage to their heart, beyond the well-known implications for diabetes and high blood pressure," senior study investigator Dr. Joao Lima, a professor of medicine and radiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart Institute, said in a prepared statement.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=615160Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:52:47 -0800 Patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy often suffer from heart failure, but Viagra might prevent or delay the onset of this condition, a new Canadian study finds. In experiments with mice, researchers showed that Viagra (sildenafil) improved heart performance by preventing the breakdown of a compound called cGMP, which relaxes smooth muscle.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=615435Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:51:55 -0800 A bundle of four offbeat biomarkers accurately predicted the risk of death from cardiovascular disease in a study of older Swedish men, researchers report. It is just a preliminary finding in a long process that might one day lead to widespread medical use of these biomarkers in addition to well-established risk factors such as high blood pressure and cholesterol, said Dr. Johan Arnlov, a researcher at Uppsala University, and lead author of a report in the May 15 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=615446Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:51:22 -0800 New guidelines for implanted heart devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators emphasize that they're just one aspect of cardiac care. "This is a very specific statement of the importance of optimized medical care," Dr. Andrew Epstein, professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Division of Cardiovascular Disease, said as he introduced the guidelines Thursday at the Heart Rhythm Society annual meeting, in San Francisco.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=615572Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:50:31 -0800 Heart failure patients admitted to the hospital on Thursdays or Fridays have longer hospital stays than those admitted on other days of the week, a new report found. Those admitted on Tuesdays have the shortest stays. Unlike heart attack patients, however, the day of admission doesn't seem to effect death rates for heart failure patients, according to the report, published in a new journal, Circulation: Heart Failure, which debuts this week.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=615714Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:50:05 -0800 Two new studies have produced mixed results for two different drugs that are often used to treat heart failure. In the first study, researchers found limited benefit from a drug called valsartan (Diovan), which is used to lower systolic blood pressure. The second study found no benefit from the use of a drug known as nesiritide (Natrecor) for heart failure in an outpatient setting. Both reports are published in the May 21 issue of Circulation: Heart Failurehttp://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=615747Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:49:25 -0800 For reasons not easily understood, many patients with the worst type of heart disease think they will live longer than their doctors tell them they will, new research shows. Very carefully, cardiologists at Duke University began telling people being treated for heart failure -- the progressive loss of ability to pump blood -- that the condition would shorten their lives. They weren't believed.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=616059Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:48:37 -0800 Hospitalized heart failure patients who have a longer than normal QRS duration (a measurement of the electrical conducting time of the heart on an electrocardiogram) appear to have a high risk of death or rehospitalization, U.S. researchers report. They analyzed data from 2,962 patients hospitalized for heart failure who had a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF -- a measure of how well the left ventricle of the heart pumps with each contraction) of 40 percent or less. Of those patients, 1,641 had a normal QRS duration (less than 120 ms) and 1,321 had a prolonged QRS duration (120 ms or greater).http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=616341Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:48:07 -0800 When added to heart failure, the irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation can form a deadly combination. Now, an international study shows that a less onerous strategy called "rate control" may be the best first option for keeping patients healthy under these circumstances. "Our results show that one strategy was not superior to the other in terms of major endpoints such as cardiovascular mortality," explained the study's lead author, Dr. Denis Roy, chair of medicine at the University of Montreal, Canada. That indicates that rate control should be the primary approach, Roy said.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=616627Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:47:23 -0800 New research shows that people with chronically high blood pressure in the blood vessels of the lungs and low serum sodium levels have a very high mortality rate. Low blood sodium -- called hyponatremia, or HN -- is a known indicator of advanced left heart failure, but the new study from the University of Pennsylvania researchers now connects it with right heart failure in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=616583Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:46:36 -0800 Newly-identified stem cells located on the surface of the heart give rise to heart muscle cells, say researchers at Children's Hospital Boston. They believe the finding may lead to ways to regenerate injured heart tissue. In previous research, the Children's team found that two types of stem cells (progenitors) marked by activity of the genes Nkx2-5 and IsI1 form many components of the heart. In this new study, the team identified another progenitor, marked by expression of a gene called Wt1, that gives rise to heart muscle cells.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=616730Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:45:17 -0800 People with heart failure tend to retain fluid, making it important to monitor what they drink. The doctor may prescribe medication to help rid the body of excess fluid, which puts less stress on the heart. While this type of drug, called a diuretic, may make you feel thirsty, it's important not to drink too much and negate the effects of the medication.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=617168Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:44:48 -0800 People who are hospitalized for severe heart failure and have been taking beta blockers should be kept on those medications while in the hospital, a new study finds. And if they weren't taking beta blockers already, most of them should be started on the medications when they leave, according to a report in the July 15 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=617156Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:43:57 -0800 The number of Americans admitted to hospitals for heart failure has jumped in recent years, and the trend almost certainly will continue, government experts report. "Our study covers more than two decades, from 1979 to 2004, and the number of hospitalizations almost tripled during that time," said Dr. Jing Fang, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and lead author of the report in the Aug. 5 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=617748Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:43:28 -0800 A mesh patch designed to regenerate cardiac muscle damaged by a heart attack or heart failure has done well in animal studies and preliminary human trials. The patch is made of vicryl, a material used for suturing injured tissue that is later absorbed by the body, explained Jordan J. Lancaster, a predoctoral fellow at the Southern Arizona VA Medical Center in Tucson, who reported on the animal studies Wednesday at an American Heart Association meeting in Keystone, Colo.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=617838Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:42:46 -0800 Abnormal heart rate turbulence (HRT) appears to indicate a significant risk for sudden death in patients with congestive heart failure, new research shows. The study, published in the August HeartRhythm Journal, is the first to note that HRT predicts both all-cause mortality and heart failure progression, as well as sudden death in heart failure patients. "Our study documented that HRT might be considered a useful tool to identify heart failure patients at high risk of death, including high risk of dying suddenly," study author Dr. Iwona Cygankiewicz, of the cardiology division of the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, said in a news release issued by the publication. "HRT may help physicians more effectively manage heart failure patients by indicating the need for more frequent follow-up visits at specialized heart failure units and more intensely applied therapy, including ICD implantation in high-risk patients."http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=618185Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:42:13 -0800 Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) can help heart failure patients' hearts beat more efficiently and effectively, but most U.S. hospitals don't use it as it should be used, a new report finds. CRT involves doctors implanting a device that paces the heart's main chambers to beat in sync. "Studies have shown that, when used in combination with optimal medical therapy, CRT is associated with a 50 percent reduction in hospitalization for heart failure and a 36 percent reduction in mortality, or death," study author Dr. Adrian F. Hernandez, an assistant professor of medicine in the Duke Clinical Research Institute at Duke University, said in a news release. "We did this study to analyze if and how this new therapy is being used in U.S. hospitals." http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=618264Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:40:53 -0800 Daily supplements of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids -- the kind found in fish oil -- reduced deaths and hospitalizations of people with heart failure, an Italian study found. But a cholesterol-lowering statin drug had no beneficial effect in a parallel heart failure trial. "This confirms what we've been seeing for a couple of decades in observational studies," Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, said of the fish oil trial. "There is a benefit of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids for heart failure patients."http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=618944Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:40:11 -0800 Getting an implanted defibrillator that can deliver a shock to restart a failing heart not only prolongs life but also doesn't appear to detract from the quality of life, a new study finds. The study was done "not only to see whether or not lives would be saved but also the quality of those lives," said lead author Dr. Daniel B. Mark, a professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center. "We wanted to know whether patients who will have these devices for many years would be satisfied with them."http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=619075Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:39:09 -0800 Beta blocker drugs don't prevent development of heart failure in people with high blood pressure and should not be used as first-line treatment for the condition, an analysis of studies indicates. "For heart failure, beta blockers clearly are an integral therapy," said Dr. Marrick Kukin, a professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, and a member of the team reporting the results in the Sept. 16 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. "But it has never been proven that they have a role for hypertension in preventing heart failure," Kukin said.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=619327Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:38:26 -0800 A new study can help doctors decide when to treat people who have an underactive thyroid gland that does not cause symptoms strong enough to arouse worry, researchers report. As many as 27 million Americans have some type of thyroid disease, according to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists; about half of these people are undiagnosed.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=619544Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:37:57 -0800 A physical exam and patient history may still be one of the most accurate and cost-effective ways of assessing patients with congestive heart failure, even though doctors have come to rely on high-tech diagnostic methods such as imaging and measuring biomarkers, a new study says. "There has been a shift away from the use of the history and physical examination in patient care. The key objective of this study was to uncover whether the history and physical examination remains useful in the modern era," lead author Dr. Mark Drazner, medical director of the Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation Program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, said in a school news release.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=619528Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:37:21 -0800 In a small clinical trial, a miniature heart pump that's already in use in Europe helped U.S. youngsters waiting for heart transplants. Even children at the top of the transplant waiting list can wait months before a suitable heart becomes available, and according to the current study, this small heart pump -- called the Berlin Heart Excor -- can help provide children a "bridge" to transplantation. "We found the Berlin Heart was a very beneficial tool to have in our armamentarium," said study author Dr. Sanjiv K. Gandhi, surgical director of the heart failure program at Saint Louis Children's Hospital in Missouri.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=619806Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:36:49 -0800 The death rate at top-ranked U.S. hospitals is 70 percent lower than at the lowest-ranked hospitals, according to a study that examined 41 million patient records at the nation's approximately 5,000 hospitals over three years. The 11th annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study focused on 17 procedures and found that overall death rates declined by 14.7 percent from 2005 to 2007. Top-performing five-star hospitals reduced their death rates at a much faster rate (about 13.2 percent) than poorer-performing one- and three-star hospitals (12.3 and 13.1 percent, respectively), resulting in large state, regional and hospital-to-hospital variations in the quality of patient care.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=620196Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:36:02 -0800 People with heart failure face a higher risk of fractures, particularly of potentially crippling breaks in the hip bones, new Canadian research finds. The study of more than 16,000 heart disease patients treated at emergency rooms in the province of Alberta found a more than fourfold higher incidence of fractures among the 2,000 of them with heart failure. The report is in the Nov. 4 issue of Circulation. Overall, 4.6 percent of those with heart failure, the progressive loss of the heart's ability to pump blood, had broken bones in the year after the emergency room visit, compared to only 1 percent of people with other heart conditions. The one-year rate for hip fractures was 1.3 percent for those with heart failure, compared to 0.1 percent of those with other heart conditions. While a 1997 study found a hint of low bone density among people getting heart transplants because of heart failure, "this is the first large-scale study of heart failure and fracture rate," said study author Dr. Justin A. Ezekowitz, director of the Heart Function Clinic at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=620465Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:35:07 -0800 Getting a heart beating again is only the first step in saving a life after a sudden cardiac arrest, a new report shows. An advisory, published in the Oct. 23 issue of Circulation, said that health-care providers must move more quickly after resuscitation or risk the losing the patient to the original cause of the heart failure.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=620591Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:34:35 -0800 People newly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis face twice the risk of a heart attack, and those who do suffer a heart attack tend to have more heart-related complications, new research says. It seems that a condition called diastolic dysfunction, which causes the lower chambers of the heart to become stiff, is the culprit. Diastolic dysfunction impairs the ability of the ventricles to fill with blood and can lead to heart failure, the researchers said.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=620691Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:33:46 -0800 The risk of sudden death after a heart attack has improved significantly over the past three decades, but the first 30 days remain a period of great danger, an historical study shows. The study looked at the experiences of almost 3,000 residents of Olmsted County in Minnesota who had heart attacks between 1979 and 2005. "There were two main aspects of the study that we did not necessarily anticipate," said Dr. Veronique Roger, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Mayo Clinic, and lead author of the report in the Nov. 5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "One was how much the risk of sudden death after a heart attack has decreased over time. The magnitude of decline was 40 percent over the study period. The second was that if a patient experienced heart failure at any time during the follow-up, the risk of sudden death increased substantially."http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=620981Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:33:13 -0800 Keep eating whole grains and reduce your consumption of eggs and high-fat dairy food to improve your odds against suffering heart failure, a new long-term study shows. The study, which looked at more than 14,000 people over 13 years, found that participants had a 7 percent lower risk of heart failure (HF) per one-serving increase in whole grain consumption. The risk increased by 8 percent per one-serving increase in high-fat dairy intake and by 23 percent per one-serving increase in egg consumption. Other food groups did not appear to directly affect risk of heart failure.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=620798Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:32:41 -0800 Hospitalization rates for heart failure among older Americans have increased dramatically in the past three decades, an epidemic that represents a mounting burden on the health-care system, a new study has found. In 2006, an estimated 807,082 men and women over 65 were hospitalized for heart failure, up from 348,866 in 1980 -- a 131 percent increase. And the increase in hospitalization rates has been more dramatic among women than men, according to the Drexel University study, to be presented Sunday at the American Heart Association's annual scientific sessions in New Orleans.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=621108Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:32:05 -0800 An analysis of 33 studies on drugs known as beta blockers has concluded that they are not useful in any surgical procedure other than heart surgery. In fact, using beta blockers for non-coronary surgery may actually increase the risk of stroke, the scientists say. The researchers who conducted the study -- known as a meta-analysis -- recommend that the guidelines committees of both the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association "soften" their recommendations that beta blockers be used to prevent surgical complications in non-coronary operations.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=621241Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:31:19 -0800 Researchers are reporting new ways to use exercise and medications to manage and improve the lives of people with heart failure, a condition that affects more than 5 million Americans. One study found a small, 7 percent reduction in death or hospitalization rates from any cause, as well as a reduction in cardiovascular mortality and heart failure hospitalizations, among heart-failure patients who followed a specific exercise regimen. http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=621280Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:30:25 -0800 Medicare beneficiaries with heart failure have many more doctor visits and take more medications than those without heart failure, researchers are reporting. They based their conclusion on an analysis of data on 173,000 Medicare beneficiaries. The overall average age of the beneficiaries was 70.7 years, while the average age for those with heart failure was between 76 and 77 years.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=621040Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:29:33 -0800 The widely used diabetes drug Avandia -- already controversial because of cardiovascular side effects -- may be riskier than Actos, another drug in the same class, researchers reported Monday. The risk of heart failure and death for older diabetics appears greater with Avandia (rosiglitazone) than with Actos (pioglitazone), both of which are part of a class of drugs called thiazolidinediones, Harvard University researchers said.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=621618Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:29:02 -0800 Negative changes in health behaviors are a major reason why heart patients with depression have an increased risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack, say U.S. researchers who followed 1,017 outpatients with stable coronary heart disease for an average of 4.8 years. Depression has long been recognized as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease in healthy people and for recurrent events in patients with cardiovascular disease. But the reason for this association hasn't been clear.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=621612Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:28:29 -0800 The first generation of ventricular assist devices (VADs) -- tiny pumps implanted in people with failing hearts -- are costly but provide limited benefits, a study finds. However, the finding should not affect current medical practice, because the devices it describes are already being replaced by second- and third-generation VADS that are far superior, one expert said.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=621684Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:27:43 -0800 Two widely prescribed diabetes drugs, Avandia and Actos, double the risk of fractures in women but not in men, a new British analysis finds. Avandia (rosiglitazone) and Actos (pioglitazone) are used to lower blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes. Recent studies have suggested that the risk for heart failure, death and heart attack were increased with Avandia, touching off a controversy that resulted in new U.S. Food and Drug Administration-mandated label warnings about the drug.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=622130Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:27:09 -0800 U.S. hospital costs for treating cardiovascular conditions have increased about 40 percent within the last decade, according to the latest federal government numbers. The increase, from $40 billion in 1997 to $57.9 billion in 2006, occurred mainly between 1997 and 2003, according to the report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Since then, the annual growth in hospital costs for treating these conditions has slowed to less than 2 percent due to a decline in the number of heart disease cases and slower increases in cost per case.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=622212Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:26:18 -0800 Even a few extra pounds and just a little inactivity increased the risk of heart failure in a major study of American doctors. "What this study shows is that even overweight men who are not obese have an increase in heart failure risk," said Dr. Satish Kenchaiah, lead author of a report on the finding in the Dec. 23 issue of Circulation. As for exercise, "even a little amount of physical activity appears to decrease the risk of heart failure," said Kenchaiah, who did the research as a epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and is now at the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=622487Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:25:13 -0800 Tests in mouse hearts show that sildenafil, the key ingredient in Viagra, may shield hearts from damage caused by high blood pressure, a new study suggests. Investigators said that sildenafil appears to influence RGS2, a single protein essential in the reactions that initially protect the heart's blood-pumping function from spiraling into heart failure. The findings, published online Monday in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, suggest that sildenafil may prove useful in the treatment or prevention of heart damage due to chronic high blood pressure.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=622799Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:24:40 -0800 Digoxin, a drug used for many years to treat irregular heart rhythms and heart failure, may also be a cancer-fighting agent, researchers report. Cancer cells need to create new blood vessels to survive. But many of these cells are oxygen-deprived and need to switch on genes that produce a protein called hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1), which help cells survive in low-oxygen conditions.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=622834Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:24:09 -0800 Damaged kidneys could put older adults at a greater risk of heart failure, stroke and other cardiovascular disease, a new report says. The University of Glasgow study of adults ages 70 to 82 found that participants whose kidney function was most impaired had a three times greater risk of having non-fatal heart failure or heart disease and were more likely to die from the heart conditions as were those with healthier kidneys. They were also twice as likely to die from any cause as were people with healthier kidneys. http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=623106Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:23:35 -0800 Drug treatment for heart failure is influenced by the gender of the patient and the doctor, according to German researchers who evaluated 1,857 patients and the treatment records of 829 physicians. The study found that female patients were less likely to receive guideline-recommended medications, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) and beta blockers. Women also received lower doses than men, the study found.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=623274Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:22:58 -0800 The short-term use of heart failure drugs called loop diuretics does not appear to increase the risk of fractures in postmenopausal women, a new study finds, but their effect over the long term is less clear. Loop diuretics include widely used medicines such as Lasix, Bumex and Demadex, which are commonly prescribed to patients with congestive heart failure. Because these medications increase the loss of calcium, there has been a concern that they might reduce bone mineral density, increasing users' risk for fractures.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=623447Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:22:33 -0800 Using the biomarker molecule known as brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) to guide treatment for older people with chronic heart failure did not improve the clinical outcome in most cases in a Swiss study. There have been conflicting reports about the value of monitoring blood levels of BNP, a protein produced by stressed heart cells, for better management of heart failure. For example, a French study reported in 2007 found that BNP monitoring reduced deaths and hospitalizations in a 115-participant trial.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=623475Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:19:25 -0800 Studies on smoking bans, acute care of heart attack and stroke patients, diabetes control and childhood obesity were among the top 10 major advances in heart disease and stroke research in 2008, according to the American Heart Association.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=623527Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:19:25 -0800 A new drug for a common heartbeat abnormality produced promising results in its latest trial. The drug, dronedarone, is being tested for atrial fibrillation, which affects an estimated 2.2 million Americans. The upper chambers of their hearts quiver, rather than beating vigorously, allowing the formation of blood clots that can block a brain artery and cause a stroke.http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=624011Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:19:25 -0800