Heart Disease Archive

Research we're watching

Google searches for "chest pain" spiked in March and April of 2020 during the initial sharp rise in COVID-19 infections, according to a new study. The findings suggest that people were attempting to self-diagnose heart attacks — and may explain why fewer people sought treatment for heart attacks in hospitals during the pandemic.

The study relied on Google Trends, a tool that monitors search term queries over time. The authors looked at searches for "chest pain" and five control terms — "toothache," "abdominal pain," "knee pain," "heart attack," and "stroke" — from January 2017 through May 2020. Searches for chest pain (a common symptom of heart attack but not COVID-19) spiked in states with high rates of COVID-19 infection (New York, New Jersey, and Illinois), while searches for other terms stayed steady.

If you've been diagnosed with heart disease, the FITT approach can reduce your risk for heart attack and stroke.

About half of all Americans have at least one of the key risk factors for heart disease, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and excess weight.

You can address those risks with a heart-healthy diet and medications to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. But perhaps the biggest boost you can give your heart is regular aerobic exercise.

Research we're watching

Think you're doing your heart a favor by drinking diet instead of regular soda? That may be wishful thinking, according to a research letter published Nov. 3, 2020, in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Researchers studied nearly 105,000 people who filled out three 24-hour dietary recall surveys every six months. During a 10-year follow-up, researchers tracked the participants' cardiovascular health.

Labels on the bottles promise better health, but these supplements may wind up hurting you.

Keeping your heart healthy requires a combination of strategies, such as eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and managing stress. Adding a dietary supplement may seem like another means of protection.

But be careful. Unlike prescription medications, supplements are often sold without evidence that they work or they're safe. There's no way to know what's really inside pills or potions, since the FDA doesn't evaluate whether the manufacture of supplements is high quality, such as whether the pills are free from impurities. The following supplements may pose heart risks.

Learn when, how, and why you should keep track of your heartbeat.

Soon after you wake up tomorrow morning, before you even sit up in bed, take your pulse. It's fairly easy if you have a clock or timer nearby (see "Measuring your heart rate"). Known as your resting heart rate, this value ranges from 60 to 100 beats per minute in most adults.

"To get a good sense of your resting heart rate, check it every few mornings over the course of several weeks," advises cardiologist Dr. Aaron Baggish, director of the Cardiovascular Performance Program at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. It's best to measure your resting heart rate when you've been getting your typical amount of sleep and exercise and aren't feeling ill or dehydrated.

Your cholesterol and other factors linked to cardiovascular health may be influenced by the bacteria in your belly.

The roughly 38 trillion bacteria that dwell deep within your intestines perform many important tasks. Collectively known as the gut microbiota, these microbes help digest food, metabolize medications, and protect you from infectious organisms.

In many ways, your gut microbiota — which weighs about half a pound in total — functions somewhat like a distinct organ in your body. Just as you have a unique genome, you also have a unique gut microbiome, consisting of some eight million genes that control your microbiota. Scientists are still learning how the composition and diversity of the gut microbiome influence the health of the cardiovascular system.

New findings challenge the widespread belief that aggressive blood pressure treatment may trigger a condition linked to fainting and falls.

When doctors treat older people with high blood pressure, they often worry about a condition that causes blood pressure to plummet when a person stands up from a seated or lying position. Known as orthostatic hypotension (hypotension means low blood pressure), it affects as many as one in five people ages 65 and older.

Because orthostatic hypotension can make you feel dizzy or lightheaded after standing, it may lead to fainting and falls — with possibly serious repercussions. This concern leads some doctors to ease up on prescribed blood pressure medications. But a new study suggests that practice actually might do more harm than good.

A new report suggests eating chili peppers regularly could lower the risk of dying of cancer or cardiovascular disease. One theory attributes such health benefits to capsaicin, an antioxidant that brings the heat. But just how strong are these findings?

Make some simple swaps to lighten up traditional fare. But feel free to enjoy small servings of favorite treats, too.

'Tis the season to be jolly — and to indulge in favorite holiday foods and beverages. The weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve are often full of opportunities to feast on foods high in fat and sugar. The average American packs on an extra pound of weight every year, and at least half of that is gained over the holiday season, according to several studies.

To help curtail that trend, which will help your heart as well as your waistline, try some of the alternative or lighter versions of foods and drinks traditionally served during the December holidays, described below. But there's no need to deprive yourself of special favorites that you have just once a year. "You can weave them in with healthier options," says Liz Moore, a dietitian at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Research we're watching

Couples sometimes worry about restarting sexual activity after one partner has had a heart attack. But a new study has found that returning to usual levels of sexual activity within a few months of a heart attack is linked to improved survival.

The study, published online Sept. 23, 2020, by the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, included 495 sexually active people who were hospitalized for a first heart attack in 1992 or 1993. All of them were 65 or younger (the average age was 53) and 90% were men.