Heart Disease Archive

If a blood clot lodges in an artery or vein, it can choke off blood flow to the heart, brain, or lung. Often called blood thinners, anti-clotting drugs play a big role in treating heart disease. But they can cause minor (and sometimes serious) bleeding, ranging from nosebleeds to bleeding inside the brain. New solutions to balance clot prevention and excess bleeding are in the works, including low-dose drug combinations and new medications.

A 2025 study suggests that squeezing a week's worth of exercise (150 minutes) into just one or two days - a "weekend warrior" pattern - is linked to the same heart benefits as daily exercise.

A 2025 study found that morning coffee drinkers faced lower odds of dying from cardiovascular disease-or any cause-over a 10-year period compared with people who drank coffee all day or people who didn't drink coffee at all.

People with very high calcium scores (over 1,000) have a risk of heart attack or stroke similar to those who have already had a heart attack. They should take cholesterol-lowering drugs to bring down LDL levels and possibly undergo additional testing.

Direct-to-consumer genetic tests can screen for rare heart conditions that arise from variants in a single gene (such as cardiomyopathies) as well as common conditions influenced by many thousands of gene variants (such as coronary artery disease). But because the results are not definitive, they can be challenging to interpret.

A 2025 study found that a new type of medication may safely slow the progression of aortic stenosis (narrowing of the aortic valve) and delay the need for valve replacement.

A 2025 research review suggested that women with certain gynecological disorders, such as polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis, heavy periods, and irregular menstrual cycles, have higher risks of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease.

Since its introduction in 1998, catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation has greatly improved, thanks to advances in the instruments, imaging techniques, and energy sources used during the procedure. The resulting increases in safety and effectiveness have transformed ablation into a routine procedure. For many people newly diagnosed with this heart rhythm disorder, ablation is now the first treatment offered.