Atrial fibrillation Archive

Some panic attack symptoms—a racing heart, breathlessness and dizziness—overlap with supraventricular tachycardia. This heart rhythm disorder occurs when faulty electrical signals trigger a series of very fast heartbeats.

In the journals

Can you be "fat and fit" — that is, overweight but still healthy because of regular exercise? There is no simple answer. But one study says that activity does not entirely reverse the effects weight has on heart health. The findings were published online Jan. 26, 2021, by the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

The study involved more than 527,000 adults, almost 70% of whom were men. People were placed into three groups based on their body mass index (BMI): normal, overweight, and obese. They also were grouped by activity level: regularly active (the minimum requirement from the World Health Organization, or WHO); insufficiently active (less than the WHO minimum, but some moderate to vigorous physical activity every week), and no exercise.

Research we're watching

A minimally invasive treatment for treating varicose veins is as effective as surgery to remove the faulty veins, according to a new study.

Most varicose veins — gnarled, bluish veins just under the skin's surface — result from problems with the great saphenous vein, the large vein located near the inside of the leg that runs from the ankle to the upper thigh. The surrounding muscles and one-way valves in the vein weaken, a condition called venous insufficiency.