Harvard Heart Letter articles from February 2004

Harvard Heart Letter archives from February 2004

These drugs are an ACE in the hole.(Angiotensin converting enzyme)(Angiotensin receptor blockers)
February 1, 2004... Angiotensin receptor blockers prove okay when an ACE inhibitor causes problems. One of the baddest actors in high blood pressure and heart failure is a hormone called angiotensin II. Too much of it forces the heart to work harder by...

Report cards grade quality of heart care.
February 1, 2004... A report on health care quality shows wide variation. Is your heart getting the medical care it deserves? A report on the quality of health care in America suggests that at least 50,000 people died in 2003 because they didn't get...

Six minutes to save a life.(cardiac arrests)
February 1, 2004... Minutes matter when someone collapses from a cardiac arrest. Every day more than a thousand Americans keel over, felled by a cardiac arrest. Most stricken with this type of attack die. More could be saved with faster emergency care. ...

All in the family.(family history of heart disease)
February 1, 2004... Plant a medical family tree as a guide to future health and prevention. It's certainly no secret that heart disease sometimes "runs in families," cropping up in grandparents and parents, spouses and partners, children and grandchildren....

Clash of the statins?(diagnosis of heart diseases)
February 1, 2004... A trial pitting two popular statins against each other helps answer a far more important question: How low should cholesterol go? Just days after we mailed out the December 2003 Heart Letter with its cover story comparing the...

Healthy heart's dance not a steady march.
February 1, 2004... Take a look at the three graphs in the box below. Each maps a different person's heart rate for 30 minutes. Can you pick the one from a healthy heart? Most people choose A because the steady, even pattern looks like what we expect a...

Heart Beat - Testing an alternative to warfarin.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The blood thinner warfarin can be a lifesaver for people with atrial fibrillation, deep-vein blood clots, an artificial heart valve, or a pulmonary embolism. Unfortunately, it isn't the easiest drug to take. Finding the right dose requires some...

Heart Beat - Bottoms up to keep your bottom up.(blood pressure)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... If certain situations make you faint, drinking a tall glass of water a few minutes beforehand could keep you conscious. Vanderbilt University researchers have shown that quaffing two cups of plain old tap water boosts blood pressure in people...

Heart Beat - Help short-circuit the diabetes epidemic.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Here's a grim statistic from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: One in three American children born in 2000 will develop diabetes during their lives, assuming that the same factors fueling the current increase in diabetes...

Heart Beat - Extra reason to control blood pressure with diuretics?(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The national guidelines for treating high blood pressure call for using thiazide diuretics such as chlorthalidone or hydrochlorothiazide as the first step in treating high blood pressure and as part of any combination therapy (see Harvard Heart...

Heart Beat - Healthy living pays off.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The dream of living longer is sometimes clouded by the all-too-real possibility that those extra years will be burdened with disease and disability. That doesn't seem to be the case for people who enjoy good health - specifically good...

Heart Beat - Inverse motivation.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... People who would benefit the most from lowering their cholesterol are the least likely to drive it down far enough. That's the conclusion of a Canadian study that tracked the progress of several hundred people starting statin therapy. Almost...

Ask the Doctor - Why won't my doctor answer my questions about sex after a heart attack?(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Q I am a 62-year-old woman who had a heart attack last year. Overall, my medical care has been excellent, and my doctors answer most of my questions even before I ask them. The one exception is any question about sexual activity. I want to know...

Ask the Doctor - What does an abnormal T wave mean?(electrocardiogram)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Q I've been told that I have an abnormal T wave. Should I be worried about this? How will it affect my heart health? A The T wave on an electrocardiogram (EKG) represents the electrical activity in the heart's lower chambers as they start...