Heart Health Archive

Long touted as beneficial for heart health, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) is more complicated than experts once thought. Some forms of HDL grab cholesterol from the bloodstream and other tissues and transport it to the liver, where it's recycled or disposed, but other types are neutral or perform the opposite action. Most drugs that raise HDL don't seem to prevent heart disease, and very high HDL levels may even be linked to a higher risk.

Women don't fare as well as men when it comes to getting treatment for coronary artery disease. Social and cultural factors may help explain this discrepancy. Women tend to downplay their symptoms and delay seeking treatment. But health care providers may be contributing to this problem, too A major underlying issue may be the underrepresentation of women in clinical trials of heart-related conditions.

Cardiovascular conditions can increase a person's risk of falling. Such falls are usually related to a lack of blood flow to the brain that causes a person to faint. The most common cause is orthostatic hypotension, but severe aortic stenosis and the heart rhythm disorder known as atrial fibrillation can also cause a person to faint. Other falls may result from cerebral microvascular disease, a type of blood vessel damage in the brain that develops over time.

Too much or too little potassium can harm the heart. Diet, medications, and kidney function can affect the body's potassium level. Dietary potassium helps keep blood pressure in a normal range, but most Americans don't consume enough of this mineral. However, people taking medications that raise potassium levels—which includes certain drugs to treat high blood pressure and heart failure—should avoid salt substitutes made with potassium chloride.

For some people, the effects of the influenza (flu) virus can lead to a heart attack or cardiac arrest (sudden death). These people typically have reduced blood flow to the heart due to atherosclerosis (narrowed arteries). Because the flu can cause blood oxygen levels to drop to dangerously low levels, it can further reduce the supply of oxygen to the heart, causing a heart attack or cardiac arrest. Fortunately, getting an annual flu shot is associated with reduced risks of a heart attack and related cardiac events.

An estimated two million people in the United States with cardiovascular disease currently use or have used marijuana. Converging (yet limited) evidence suggests the drug may be harmful to the heart. Marijuana can cause the heart to beat faster and blood pressure to rise. Heart attack risk also appears to rise in the hour after smoking marijuana, and the drug has also been linked to an increased likelihood of atrial fibrillation and stroke.

Most people with heart failure (or those at high risk for it) need several medications to treat their symptoms. New guidelines from the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association have added another drug class to the treatment list: a group of diabetes drugs called sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors. SGLT-2 inhibitors offer multiple benefits, such as helping to reduce swelling, lowering high blood pressure, assisting with weight loss, reducing complications associated with heart failure, and preventing hospitalization.

Seven factors appear to account for most first heart attacks in people ages 55 and younger: diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, current smoking, family history of early heart attack, low household income, and high cholesterol.

For people with heart disease, a Mediterranean diet prevents future heart problems better than a low-fat diet.

Grief, fear, conflict, or other negative emotions can lead to an unusual type of heart attack, commonly known as broken heart syndrome. Rarely, positive emotions can also trigger the problem—and this "happy heart syndrome" may be more prevalent among men.