Increased diabetes risk for women on statins
POSTMENOPAUSAL women prescribed statins to lower their cholesterol have a higher risk of developing new-onset diabetes mellitus than women not taking statins, US research shows.
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CVD
The following articles have the tag CVD
Regular GP visits lower BP and weight
VISITING a GP every three months can help patients lose weight and lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, according to a new study.
Aspirin role in preventing CVD questioned
TAKING aspirin daily to reduce the chance of heart attack and stroke could do more harm than good, UK researchers say.
Pre-eclampsia: The CVD connection
Is pre-eclampsia a one-off event or a signal for future cardiac disease for mothers and children? Leigh Parry asks if we should monitor these groups more closely in later life.
Taking antihypertensives at night may optimise BP control
EVENING doses of anti-hypertensive drugs may be more effective in achieving adequate blood pressure control, experts believe. US reviewers said taking ACEI or ARB medications once daily, in the evening, significantly improved BP lowering during sleep and increased sleep-time relative BP decline compared to a morning regimen. They said taking anti-hypertensive medications in the evening might target renin-angiotensin-aldosterone (RAAS) system activation during nocturnal sleep. “Normalisation of the circadian BP pattern toward a more dipping pattern is hypothesised to result from the achievement of peak or near peak drug levels overnight around the time when the RAAS ...
Some comorbidity groupings worse for survival than others: study
ALTHOUGH it is not surprising that people with multiple comorbid disease combinations have worse mortality rates, Australian researchers have found certain combinations have more severe outcomes than others. Their study, of 2087 randomly selected participants aged 65 years or older, established a link between mortality and specific disease combinations. Cardiovascular disease and mental health problems (including mental disorder, depression or nervous breakdown) were both highly prevalent comorbidities, and associated with increased mortality, the study found. Diabetes, while one of the less common comorbid conditions, tended to have the greatest effect on mortality, the authors said. ...
Doubts over serum acid-CVD risk link
DOUBTS have been cast over previous reports that serum uric acid concentrations are an independently prognostic marker of cardiovascular disease (CVD) or all-cause mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes. An Australian observational study of 1268 patients with type 2 diabetes revealed serum uric acid levels more than 0.40 mmol/l were not an independent predictor of CVD or all-cause mortality when compared with concentrations of 0.28 mmol/l or less, after an average of 10 years. Previous studies had indicated a positive association between high serum uric acid concentrations and risk of CVD mortality. Professor Tim Davis, ...
Two million Australian women have CVD
CARDIOVASCULAR disease is far from a “man’s disease”, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has warned, with CVD responsible for more than one-third of all female deaths in 2006. A new report from the AIHW Women and heart disease: Cardiovascular profile of women in Australia , revealed that around 2 million Australian women have CVD. More than 90% of Australian women have at least one modifiable risk factor for CVD, and half of all women have two or three. “What is concerning is that many of these risk factors are already common among ...
CV risk equations are ‘inaccurate’ for elderly
OLDER patients would benefit from new cardiovascular disease [CVD] absolute risk calculators, Australian experts say, as current risk tools underestimate their risk of cardiovascular death. A recent study by a group of Australian cardiologists compared the predictive ability of three risk equations for absolute cardiovascular risk in 6083 hypertensive patients with an average age of 72. The results showed that the Framingham, Pocock and Dubbo cardiovascular risk equations were all, at best, “modest” predictors of risk of myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease, stroke or CVD morbidity or mortality in elderly patients with hypertension. The Framingham risk ...
Evidence for vit D to prevent CVD ‘insufficient’
VITAMIN D supplementation is becoming increasingly common among the general population but there is limited evidence that it reduces cardiovascular disease risk outside of high-risk groups. A US systematic review of 17 prospective and randomised studies examining the impact of vitamin D supplementation, calcium supplementation, or both, on the development of cardiovascular events, found vitamin D supplements at moderate to high doses might reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. However, this benefit was slight and statistically non-significant. Neither calcium supplemen-tation alone, nor a combination of vitamin D and calcium supplementation, significantly reduced CVD risk compared with placebo-based ...
Heartening new upside for positive thinking revealed
HAPPINESS and positivity may be associated with long-term cardiovascular protection, researchers have found. A study of 1739 Canadian adults found those with higher degrees of positivity were 22% less likely to experience an incident of ischaemic heart disease over a 10-year period than were those defined as less positive. The effect remained consistent after adjusting for confounders such as age, sex and other cardiovascular risk factors. Each patient’s level of positivity (positive affect) was determined at baseline by interviews with trained nurses, followed by ongoing self-reported and clinical assessment, measuring symptoms of depression, hostility, anxiety ...
Women significantly underestimate CVD risk
MANY women remain unaware that cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death among females, research reveals. A US survey of 2300 women found that although more women were aware that CVD was their leading cause of death than in the previous survey in 1997, almost half were not. And there were substantial misconceptions about what to take or what to do in an emergency. A substantial percentage of respondents also subscribed to unproven and ineffective preventive therapies, such as antioxidants, multivitamins and special vitamins (such as vitamin C), in the belief they were cardioprotective. ...
Studies back increased daily vitamin D intake
CURRENT recommendations for daily vitamin D intake are too low to improve physical wellbeing, and vitamin D deficiency is having adverse effects on cardiovascular health, findings from two studies suggest. US researchers found vitamin D levels below 80 nmol/L in premenopausal women tripled the risk of high systolic blood pressure in later life, and, in a separate study, researchers found patients with levels of 25 nmol/L had double the risk of cardiovascular (CVD) mortality. Both research groups said the current recommended dose of 400-800 IU per day was inadequate. Dr Peter Rohl, senior staff specialist in ...
New Aussie CV risk guidelines launched
GPs will soon have access to a new absolute cardiovascular risk assessment tool specifically designed for the Australian population. An online calculator has been developed in conjunction with comprehensive cardiovascular risk guidelines, prepared by the National Vascular Disease Prevention Alliance. Professor Andrew Tonkin, co-chair of the guideline writing committee and a cardiologist at Austin Health, said absolute cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment, using the Framingham-based risk equation, should be undertaken in all adults aged 45-74 years with no known CVD history. The guidelines also advise that all Indigenous Australians be assessed from the age of 35. ...