Stepping up prevention efforts could brighten up predictions.

Baby boomers have been blamed for a litany of social woes, from the breakdown of the American family to global warming. The American Heart Association (AHA) adds another: sparking a huge increase in cardiovascular disease and health care costs over the coming decades. But this one boomers could walk away from — literally.

The baby boom began in 1946 and ended in 1964. By 2030, anyone born during that period will be ages 65 and older, the key years for cardiovascular disease to blossom. (We use the term "cardiovascular disease" to ...

Many people say they would shy away from using a defibrillator.

If you were in a public place and saw someone suddenly collapse, would you use a nearby defibrillator to revive him or her? In a survey of 1,000 adults, more than half answered "no."

Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are the best — and often last — hope for people who collapse because their hearts have lapsed into a fast, irregular, and deadly heartbeat known as ventricular fibrillation. These shock-delivering devices are becoming a standard fixture in airports, malls, casinos, office buildings, and other public places. They are so easy ...

Paying attention to heart health can be good for a man's sex life.

Trouble getting or keeping an erection can be an early warning sign of heart disease, much as heart disease can signal a man's current or future sexual problems. When either one appears, the other is likely to be lurking nearby.

Artery diseases foil erections A thought or a touch can prompt the brain to send signals of sexual arousal down the spinal cord to the nerves in the penis. If everything is working smoothly, small arteries in the penis relax and widen, allowing them to carry more ...

A sudden and dramatic reduction in female hormones after the procedure may explain why.

An astounding one in three American women has a hysterectomy (the surgical removal of the uterus) before age 60. Only a small percentage undergo the operation to fight uterine cancer or other life-threatening conditions. Most have a hysterectomy to halt heavy menstrual bleeding, combat endometriosis, or stop pelvic pain.

Emerging evidence linking hysterectomy to increased risk of cardiovascular disease should prompt a rethinking of the operation's balance of benefits and risks, especially among younger women and those who have their ovaries removed as part of a ...

Whether the check-up should include an electrocardiogram is an unanswered question.

Sports, and the physical fitness needed to participate in them, provide an extra layer of cardiovascular protection by strengthening the heart, improving the lungs, and making arteries more supple. Sometimes, though, something goes horribly wrong and an athlete suddenly dies while engaged in his or her sport.

In older athletes, sudden death is almost always due to cholesterol-clogged arteries. Among young athletes, more than half of sudden deaths occur because of a cardiac arrest — the sudden cessation of a normal heartbeat and blood circulation — due to an ...

Research suggests that some HDL cholesterol is stronger, enabling it to pull more cholesterol out of white blood cells.

A program is collecting and donating medical goods, including pacemakers and other implanted devices, to people in less-developed countries who would not be able to afford them.

Combining aerobic exercise and strength training is better for people with diabetes than either form of exercise alone.

You have said that alcohol can cause heart rhythm problems. I have an implanted defibrillator. Is it okay for me to drink alcohol?

I have heard that one symptom of a stroke is "the worst headache you can imagine." I recently had a migraine that was so much more painful than previous ones that I worried it was a stroke. Is there any way to tell a migraine from a "stroke headache"?