Heart Health Archive

This reversible heart condition — which often mimics a heart attack — is being recognized with increasing frequency.

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The term "broken heart" usually conjures up the sad ending of a love affair. In fact, the death of a spouse is a commonly cited trigger for broken-heart syndrome — a temporary weakening of the heart that causes symptoms similar to a heart attack. Also known as stress cardiomyopathy, the condition usually results from severe physical or emotional stress, though sometimes there is no identifiable trigger. Although rare, it's now being recognized much more often than in the past.

"Stress cardiomyopathy was not on anyone's radar screen 25 years ago," says Patrick O'Gara, a cardiologist at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital. Japanese doctors who first described the condition in the early 1990s called it takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Why? During an episode, the heart takes on an unusual shape that resembles a tako-tsubo (octopus pot), a traditional clay vessel a fisherman uses to trap an octopus.

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This versatile vegetable should be a standby in crisper drawers. Not only is broccoli readily available in grocery stores, it keeps well and can be prepared in a variety of ways. As a side dish, you can eat it raw (for instance, used like cabbage in coleslaw), or steamed, sautéed, or roasted. But broccoli also can play a starring role in dinnertime dishes such as soups, stir-fries, pastas, and casseroles. When choosing broccoli, look for firm stems and tightly packed florets that are deep green or have a slightly purplish hue.

Nutritional info: Broccoli is high in vitamin A and folate (vitamin B9), as well as vitamins C and K. It's also a good source of potassium and dietary fiber, and a half-cup serving has just 15 calories.

Research we're watching

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The more a middle-aged or older woman walks or does other exercise, the lower her risk of developing heart failure, a new study suggests. Heart failure — which means the heart is too weak or too stiff to pump enough blood through the body — affects some 5.7 million Americans.

Researchers tracked the exercise habits and heart health of more than 137,000 women who were ages 50 to 79 when the study began. After an average follow-up of 14 years, women who got at least some physical activity were 11% less likely to develop heart failure than those who didn't exercise at all — and those with the highest levels of physical activity were 35% less likely to develop heart failure.

Research we're watching

Going home the same day after having an angioplasty not only is safe, it may save the health care system an average of more than $5,000 per person, a new study reports.

Every year, some 600,000 people in the United States undergo coronary angioplasty, a minimally invasive procedure to open a narrowed heart artery. About half are so-called elective angioplasties, which are done on people with predictable but worrisome chest pain (stable angina).

Research we're watching

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A small study found that babies conceived using assisted reproductive technology (ART) may be more likely to have high blood pressure as teenagers than those conceived naturally.

Close to 2% of babies born in the United States are conceived using ART, most commonly by in vitro fertilization, in which sperm and egg are mixed in a lab dish. In 2012, researchers found that healthy kids born via ART were more likely than their peers to have signs of premature aging of their blood vessels.

If you're addicted to sweet, bubbly beverages, diet sodas are a better choice than sugary ones. But try switching to healthier options.

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Despite the abundance of added sugar in America's food supply, our love affair with sugary drinks has been waning over the past decade or so.

"In adults, we've seen a 25% drop in the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, and I think this trend will continue, given the heightened awareness of the harmful effects of excess sugar," says Dr. Frank Hu, chair of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Sugary drinks (such as sodas, sports drinks, and lemonade) are the biggest source of added sugar in the American diet and are widely considered to be among the main drivers of the obesity epidemic. A high-sugar diet also has been linked to increasing rates of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes, all of which contribute to heart disease.

Ask the doctor

Q. My doctor wants to measure my ejection fraction. What does that mean, and what should I expect?

A. With every heartbeat, your heart contracts and relaxes. During the contraction, the heart's main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, ejects blood out to the rest of the body. When your heart relaxes, the ventricle refills with blood. The ejection fraction is the percentage of blood leaving the chamber each time it contracts.

Treating sleep apnea — a condition closely linked to cardiovascular problems — can be challenging.

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Loud, explosive snoring is a hallmark of obstructive sleep apnea, which affects up to 25% of men and 10% of women. This nighttime breathing problem often disrupts sleep, leaving people tired and irritable during the day. But sleep apnea also can boost blood pressure and may increase the risk of clogged heart arteries, heart rhythm disorders, heart failure, and stroke.

The gold standard treatment, called positive airway pressure or PAP — which uses a bedside machine that provides a stream of air through a face mask — is very effective. But it's a tough sell for many people, who find the device challenging to use consistently. Because of difficulty tolerating the device, some people don't use their PAP machine every single night, while others remove it halfway through the night. However, troubleshooting some common issues with PAP may help (see "Tips for using a PAP machine").

Although no longer routine, this test is still a common, safe way to assess people with heart disease symptoms.

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That chest discomfort you felt during your evening walk disappeared once you got back home. But a week later, you're carrying a laundry basket upstairs and the pain returns, although only briefly. It's time to call your doctor to discuss these symptoms — and possibly undergo an evaluation for coronary disease.

One test you may need is an exercise stress test, also called a treadmill test. As recently as a decade or so ago, doctors ordered these tests as part of a routine check-up in middle-aged and older men, regardless of their symptoms. Today, they're done mainly in people with symptoms that suggest heart disease, says Dr. Hicham Skali, a cardiologist at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital. "In general, that means stable angina, which refers to chest pain that occurs in predictable patterns during exercise or other exertion," he says. Angina occurs when the heart muscle isn't getting enough blood, which is more likely during physical activity.