Diseases & Conditions Archive

Monitoring daily step count can encourage people to be more active. When it comes to assessing fitness or risk for major illnesses, though, is a new measurement that combines both average steps and heart rate better?

A 2024 study observed that people who eat at least five servings of dark chocolate each week were less likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

Strokes fall into two main categories: ischemic (which result from a blockage inside one of the brain's arteries and account for 87% of all strokes) and hemorrhagic (also known as bleeding strokes, usually from a ruptured blood vessel). Three main types of ischemic strokes are those that result from atherosclerosis in a large artery supplying the brain (large-artery atherothrombotic strokes); those caused by clots in the heart that travel to the brain (cardioembolic strokes); and those in the brain's smallest vessels (small-vessel strokes).

Using tobacco in cigars, pipes, or smokeless products such as snuff is associated with distinct heart-related risks.

Leg pain may be caused by deep-vein thrombosis (DVT), a blood clot that forms in a deep vein, usually in the leg. Left untreated, the clot may break off, travel to the lungs, and cause blockage in a lung artery, known as pulmonary embolism (PE), which can be life threatening. Diagnosis of DVT and PE may include a review of symptoms, a D-dimer blood test, a leg ultrasound, or a chest CT scan. Both conditions are most often treated with direct-acting oral anticoagulants.