Heart Medications
The development of these medications have helped dramatically decrease death rates from cardiovascular disease in the United States and other developed countries.
Heart Medications Articles
For 50 years, warfarin was the only choice for people who needed to take an oral anticoagulant (blood thinner). New drugs called direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are just as effective as warfarin in preventing strokes in people with atrial fibrillation and normal heart valves.
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New diabetes medications can help individuals at high risk for a stroke or heart attack. The benefit is primarily for people who have had a heart attack or stroke in the past or are at very high risk because of other factors. While these medications can benefit some individuals, they do have a number of side effects, are costly, and are not recommended for most people with diabetes.
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Angina pectoris is often defined as chest pain due to an inadequate supply of oxygen to the heart muscle. But most people describe the feeling as a sense of heaviness or pressure. It can also cause discomfort in the neck, jaw, and shoulders. Anything that increases blood flow to the heart, including exercise or periods of intense emotion, can trigger angina. Unstable angina (which is a medical emergency) occurs during rest or slight exertion. A number of medications can help ease angina.
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People who take beta blockers (which lower the heart rate and blood pressure) may not be able to reach their target heart rate during exercise. Instead, they can use the perceived exertion scale to assess how hard they’re exercising.
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People living in the West South Central states (such as Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana) are much less likely to be prescribed a high-intensity statin after a heart attack than people living in New England.
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New guidelines for managing atrial fibrillation (afib) now advise most people to take novel oral anticoagulant drugs rather than warfarin to prevent a stroke. Aspirin is no longer recommended for stroke prevention for afib. Another change highlights the benefits of weight loss, which can reduce afib episodes and keep the condition from worsening. The guidelines also more strongly recommend a procedure called ablation (which destroys faulty electric pathways in the heart) for people with afib symptoms who also have systolic heart failure.
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An experimental nasal spray shows promise for quickly treating an abnormally fast heart rhythm known as supraventricular tachycardia.
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Aspirin therapy can help prevent a second heart attack and stroke, but for otherwise healthy older men, its use depends on their 10-year risk for a heart attack or stroke as determined by their doctor.
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Taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) routinely over a long time period can increase the risk of heart disease. Although this danger is greatest in people with heart disease, it’s also present in people without any signs of the disease. A large study suggested that the prescription-only drug celecoxib might be less risky than two other widely used over-the-counter drugs, ibuprofen and naproxen. But limitations in the study created some uncertainty about the findings. People who take any NSAID should always take the lowest possible dose for the shortest possible time.
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In a large, long-term clinical trial, people taking the diuretic chlorthalidone had significantly fewer hip fractures than those taking the calcium-channel blocker amlodipine or the ACE inhibitor lisinopril.
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