Diseases & Conditions Archive

It takes a one-two punch to lower these risks for heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.

High cholesterol has long been known as a bad actor in heart health. Too much LDL (bad) cholesterol in your blood can lead to fatty deposits in your arteries and the formation of artery-narrowing plaque (atherosclerosis), heart attacks, and strokes.

But LDL doesn't act alone. Chronic inflammation — a persistent activation of the immune system — also fuels heart attack and stroke risks. That means you must address both high LDL levels and chronic inflammation to protect your health.

A history of discrimination in multiple settings, including health care, may make some people who identify as LGBTQ+ hesitant to get a COVID-19 vaccine, even though the virus has disproportionately harmed this community. If you're struggling to make a decision, this may help you consider benefits and risks.

Obstructive sleep apnea leaves people tired, but also puts them at risk for other health problems. Not everyone with sleep apnea can use an airway pressure machine, and some may simply prefer not to. There are oral appliances available, but are they effective?

Try stress reduction to improve your quality of life and potentially relieve allergy symptoms.

Spring allergies are a stressful business. Coping with watery eyes, a runny nose, sneezing, coughing, or a sore throat affects how you get through each day. "The primary consequence is a reduced quality of life. This naturally can lead to stress on patients and their families," says Dr. Ahmad Sedaghat, an ear, nose, and throat specialist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.

The influence goes both ways: not only can allergies cause stress, but stress can make allergies worse.

What to do about prickly heat, poison ivy, and other uncomfortable skin reactions.

 Image: © LCOSMO/Getty Images

Sunburn is a big risk in the summer. You know the rules: seek the shade, wear protective clothing, and use a broad-spectrum sunscreen (with an SPF of at least 30). But sunburn isn't the only summer skin problem.

Plant-related rashes

Many people are allergic to urushiol, an oil found in poison ivy and poison oak. Exposure occurs when you touch the plant directly, maybe while gardening, or indirectly, by touching an object that's picked up the oil (like a shoe). You can spread the oil wherever you touch your body until the oil is washed off. Two to 10 days later, the affected skin develops a red, itchy, blistering, oozing rash. It's not contagious, though you may feel like it's spreading. "The allergic reaction continues to unfold even after you've washed off the oil," says Dr. Jason Frangos, a dermatologist at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Men may avoid activity because of their knee pain, but movement is exactly what they need.

It is perhaps the ultimate exercise catch-22: it's hard to move with knee osteoarthritis, but moving helps relieve osteoarthritis knee pain.

More than 30 million Americans have osteoarthritis, the most common kind of arthritis. While osteoarthritis can affect the hips, lower back, neck, and fingers, it occurs most often in the knees. In fact, an estimated 10% of men ages 60 and older have symptoms of knee osteoarthritis.

On call

Q. Years ago, my doctor told me a skin growth on my back was a seborrheic keratosis. Now I have more, and they seem to be multiplying over time. Is there any way to prevent them?

A. Seborrheic keratoses are raised, rough lesions that appear as a waxy brown, black, or tan growth. This common skin condition often shows up after age 50 on the trunk, back, face, or neck. The good news is that even though keratoses can increase in number over time, they aren't cancerous or contagious.

News briefs

Fried foods carry heart risks in part because they spur inflammation. But how many servings of crispy French fries does it take to raise your risk for cardiovascular disease? Not many, suggests a large analysis published online Jan. 18, 2021, by the journal Heart. Scientists pooled the findings of 17 studies on fried foods and problems like heart attacks, clogged coronary arteries, heart failure, and stroke. The studies included more than half a million people. Researchers also looked at the data from another six studies assessing the association of eating fried food and dying prematurely. Those studies involved more than 750,000 people. People who ate the most fried foods each week were 28% more likely to have heart problems, compared with people who ate the least. Each additional 114-gram (4-ounce) serving of fried foods per week bumped up overall risk by 3%. But the analysis failed to show that people who ate lots of fried foods were more likely to die prematurely. Besides provoking inflammation, fried foods are often also high in sodium as well as harmful saturated fats. If you choose to indulge in them, do it sparingly. And avoid foods fried in animal fats; instead, choose foods fried in vegetable oils.

Image: © Amarita/Getty Images

In the journals

Regular exercise is good medicine, but more may be better, suggests a study published online Jan. 12, 2021, by PLOS Medicine. Scientists asked more than 90,000 people without heart disease to wear a fitness tracker for a week to measure the duration and intensity of their physical activity. Five years later, they found that the most active people were less likely to have had a heart attack or stroke or be diagnosed with heart disease.

That's no surprise, but the researchers also discovered that risk continued to shrink as weekly minutes of activity and intensity rose. People who exercised the most and at the highest intensity had the best odds of maintaining good cardiovascular health. Guidelines recommend people get 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, but these findings suggest that trying to do a little extra — whether in time, intensity, or both — offers more reward.

Ask the doctor

Q. My doctor told me I should get a home monitor to keep tabs on my blood pressure. Which number is most important in the reading, the top or the bottom one?

A. This question comes up often, perhaps because doctors and patients alike tend to pay more attention to the top (first) number, known as systolic pressure. It reflects the amount of pressure inside the arteries as the heart contracts. The bottom (second) number, diastolic pressure, is always lower since it reflects the pressure inside the arteries during the resting phase between heartbeats.