Heart Medications Archive

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For years, doctors prescribed cholesterol-lowing statins based largely on cholesterol test results. The goal was to lower total cholesterol to under 200 mg/dL, and LDL (bad) cholesterol to under 100 mg/dL. But in late 2013, new guidelines on statin use issued by the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) proposed a major change to that strategy.

These guidelines shifted from a numbers-based approach to a risk-driven approach. Instead of aiming for a specific cholesterol value, doctors were urged to look at a person's entire cardiovascular risk profile when considering treatment. This is a reasonable approach that can help better define when to initiate drug therapy.

Using warfarin effectively is challenging—perhaps even more so than doctors have realized.

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For more than 60 years, warfarin has been a mainstay for people with atrial fibrillation. Used properly, warfarin may prevent as many as 60% of strokes related to this common heart rhythm disorder each year. But warfarin is notoriously tricky to manage because blood levels have to be kept within a narrow range to avoid side effects such as unwanted bleeding.

As a result, warfarin users must get frequent blood tests (see "What is an INR?") when they start the drug to fine-tune their dose. Once their INR values are consistently in the right range, most people scale back to testing every month or so. But a recent study suggests that people who take warfarin need to stay extra vigilant over the long term.

About 66% of adults over age 70 still take antihypertensive medication even though they now have low pressures, says a study from the University of Kent in the United Kingdom. Researchers say this exposes adults to medication side effects like dizziness and falls. 

The FDA is warning that over-the-counter antacids with aspirin in them can cause stomach bleeding in rare cases. 

A daily aspirin may help defend against heart disease, but it should still be used with caution.

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Aspirin tablets have been a staple of home medicine cabinets and first-aid kits for nearly 100 years. Long before that, people chewed willow tree bark, which contains aspirin-like compounds, to treat a variety of ailments. On top of being an excellent painkiller and fever reducer at its standard dosage, aspirin dramatically reduces the risks for a second heart attack and certain types of stroke when taken daily at a low (81-mg) dose. Research also suggests that aspirin might help limit the growth of colorectal cancer and possibly inhibit other cancers as well, but more research in this area is needed.

These benefits, coupled with the fact that aspirin is both cheap and relatively safe, have led the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) to recommend that even some healthy people take a daily aspirin to ward off future disease. But figuring out exactly who is likely to benefit most from this therapy is a more complex calculation, says Dr. Michael Gaziano, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

This old standby may not be your first choice for pain relief, but it still has an important role in disease prevention and first aid.

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We have a lot to thank aspirin for. It's cheap and plentiful. It does a good job of relieving pain and bringing down fevers. It has also been shown to reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, and colon cancer. It can even stop heart attacks and strokes in their tracks. In fact, if you're in your 50s or 60s, you may want to think about taking a low-dose aspirin every day.

After evaluating the results of scores of studies, in April 2016 the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended that women and men ages 50 through 69 who have a 10% risk of a heart attack or stroke in the next 10 years take 81 milligrams (mg) of aspirin daily. Under the previous recommendations—which, were different for men and women—daily low-dose aspirin was advised for women ages 60 through 79 who were at increased risk for cardiovascular events. The recommendation was revised to reflect a new method of calculating the risk of heart attack and stroke and of increased risk of bleeding in older people.

When older people start taking a new blood pressure drug or change the dose of their current drug, they may be more prone to a serious fall during the following two weeks. But this increased fall risk doesn’t seem to persist over the long term. 

Doctors may prescribe medications in hopes of helping a patient, but statistics show that at least half of all patients do not follow through with the treatment. Dr. Robert Schmerling explains why some people are choosing to skip taking medications and the possible results of not taking them.

Some people experience muscle aches or muscle cramps, but trying these tips may help.

About 10% to 20% of inidividuals who take statins report that they experience muscle pain or muscle cramps. 
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Statins, such as atorvastatin (Lipitor), simvastatin (Zocor), rosuvastatin (Crestor), and lovastatin (Mevacor), are commonly prescribed medications that lower "bad" LDL cholesterol and have been shown to help reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death.

About one in six strokes can be traced to atrial fibrillation. Doctors now have newer and better options to lessen this risk.

Close to one in 10 people ages 65 or older have atrial fibrillation (afib), the most common heart rhythm disorder. During a bout of afib, the usually rhythmic contractions of the heart's upper chambers (the atria) are replaced by an ineffectual quiver. While the symptoms, which include a racing heartbeat, dizziness, and shortness of breath, are troublesome for some people, the real threat lies in the increased risk of stroke that accompanies the condition.

When the heart takes on the afib rhythm, blood does not completely move out of the atria. Instead, it tends to pool and clot in a pouchlike extension in the upper left quadrant of the heart, called the left atrial appendage. If these clots break loose, they may travel to the brain and cause a blockage. This is known as an ischemic stroke.