Heart Health Archive

Tiny mesh tubes called stents, used to prop open heart arteries, can relieve stable angina (chest pain with exertion or emotional stress) in many people with coronary artery disease. But this treatment-which carries a risk of complications and a high cost-should be reserved only for people who don't get relief from drug therapy. Stents do not prevent future heart attacks or improve survival compared with drug therapy. Angina usually results from arteries that are more than 70% blocked, but most heart attacks occur in arteries that are narrowed by only about 40% or less but harbor plaque that ruptures without warning. The resulting blood clot blocks blood flow, triggering a heart attack.

Treatments for angina include medications to lower LDL cholesterol to very low levels to help reduce artery-narrowing plaque. Drugs that slow the heart rate and widen arteries can improve symptoms.

A long-term study published in 2023 found that watching lots of television during young adulthood was linked to increased rates of obesity and other factors that raise heart disease risk in midlife.

A 2023 study suggests replacing a daily serving of processed meats with whole grains, nuts, or beans is associated with lower odds of cardiovascular conditions such as heart attack or stroke.

Clinical trials are under way using gene therapy to treat inherited cardiovascular conditions, including familial hypercholesterolemia (one form of abnormally high cholesterol), hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (a type of heart muscle disease), and transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (a form of heart failure resulting from amyloid deposits). But challenges remain in developing and delivering these therapies.

The PREVENT equation is a new online calculator to predict a person's odds of developing heart disease. Compared to previous calculators, the updated tool considers broader measures of health (including biomarkers for kidney and metabolic health) and a longer age span (starting at 30 instead of 40 years of age). The goal is to encourage earlier, more targeted strategies to help people avoid cardiovascular problems.

Compared with analog scales, digital scales are more accurate and easier to read. Many smart scales include added features such as smartphone connectivity and body composition estimates.

About a third of healthy people-and about 60% of people with high blood pressure-are salt sensitive, meaning they have an exaggerated response to dietary sodium. But an estimated one in 10 people may have inverse salt sensitivity: their blood pressure goes up when they eat less salt. Understanding the genetic basis of these differences may one day improve the treatment of blood pressure.

Aortic stenosis occurs when the heart's aortic valve becomes stiff and calcified, narrowing its opening so blood cannot flow normally. This can cause symptoms such as shortness of breath, fatigue, lightheadedness, fainting, and chest tightness. Neither lifestyle nor medications can slow or reverse aortic stenosis. People born with a bicuspid aortic valve are at high risk, but most people with aortic stenosis have a normal appearing valve. The only treatment is to replace the damaged valve using open heart surgery or a less invasive, nonsurgical approach called transcatheter aortic valve implantation.

A 2023 study suggests that following a healthy vegan diet may improve cardiometabolic risk factors (such as LDL cholesterol and weight) more than eating even a healthy omnivorous diet.