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Reducing heart risks in the wake of breast cancer treatment

Hormone therapy is a highly successful breast cancer treatment for women, but it can elevate cardiovascular risk. Women can reduce those risks by being vigilant about their heart health and working closely with their doctors. Women who have taken or are taking these medications as part of breast cancer treatment should focus on adopting a healthy lifestyle, exercising regularly, and keeping close tabs on their blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood sugar levels.

Look inside your heart

The traditional measures to gauge heart disease risk don’t always tell the whole story. Sometimes more medical information is needed. An increasingly used test to predict a person’s risk for heart attack or stroke is a coronary artery calcium scan. It measures the amount of calcified plaque in the heart’s arteries, high levels of which suggest higher overall plaque buildup. The number can determine if people should begin statin therapy and make additional lifestyle changes.

Screening for atrial fibrillation: An update

Atrial fibrillation (afib), an often-silent heart rhythm disorder, increases the risk of stroke. Early detection may enable people to start taking anti-clotting drugs to prevent a stroke. Current afib screening methods include asking people about afib symptoms and taking an electrocardiogram during routine check-ups. Wearable devices such as smart watches and fitness trackers can detect afib, but they aren’t yet accurate enough to be used for widespread screening.

Is your vision impaired? Tips to cope

Living with low or impaired vision comes with many challenges. Accessibility features on computer hardware and software, special devices, and adaptations to your home can help make daily life easier when living with a vision impairment.

What's the relationship between diabetes and dementia?

It has been known for many years that type 2 diabetes increases a person’s risk for stroke and heart disease, and more recent studies have shown that diabetes also increases risk of dementia. But new research examined the association between when a person first is diagnosed with diabetes and their risk of developing dementia later.

What exactly is a hernia?

A hernia is an area of weakness in the abdominal wall muscles that allows contents of the abdomen to push through the wall and form a pouch. A small hernia may follow a "watch and wait" approach, while a larger and more painful one often requires surgery to repair.

Which disease starts first?

Among atherosclerosis, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes, which are all related, cholesterol deposits start first.

Do I need to take my blood pressure in both arms?

Taking blood pressure readings in both arms can help reveal potential heart risks.

Pick up the pace for better walking with peripheral artery disease

A small, randomized trial published online April 6, 2021, by JAMA found that people who took part in a high-intensity walking program for one year covered more ground in six minutes than people who’d taken part in a low-intensity walking program.

Man's best friend — and medicine's too?

Scientists are studying whether medical detection dogs can sniff out and identify disease in humans, such as cancer, infection, and Parkinson’s disease. Dogs might be useful because their noses have 60 times the number of scent receptors as human noses; that might make dogs able to detect scents given off by bacteria or diseased human cells. But it’s hard to get solid evidence about the accuracy of medical detection dogs. Scientists are also studying whether technology can replicate the same kind of detection.

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