Sister to Sister

A year after kicking the habit, smokers' arteries showed signs of reversing a problem that can set the stage for heart disease, according to the first big study to test this.
Heart disease - Health - Smoking cessation - Conditions and Diseases - Cardiovascular Disorders

If you have a heart-zapping defibrillator implanted in your chest but now are dying of something else, when do you have it turned off?
Defibrillation - Heart - Health - Hospice - United States

Key results from a landmark federal study are in, and the results are disappointing for diabetics: Adding drugs to drive blood pressure and blood-fats lower than current targets did not prevent heart problems, and in some cases caused harmful side effects.


Heart disease - Blood pressure - Diabetes mellitus - Health - Conditions and Diseases

Many Americans with leaky heart valves soon might be able to get them fixed without open-heart surgery. A study showed that a tiny clip implanted through an artery was safer and nearly as effective as surgery, doctors reported Sunday.
Surgery - Heart valve - Cardiac surgery - Health - Conditions and Diseases

Stock market slides may hurt more than your savings. New research suggests they might prompt heart attacks.
Stock market - Investing - Business - Stocks and Bonds - Equities

Stock market slides may hurt more than your savings. New research suggests they might prompt heart attacks.


Stock market - Investing - Business - Stocks and Bonds - Equities

The Food and Drug Administration is adding its strongest warning to the label for Plavix after reports that some patients cannot process the blood thinning drug.
Food & Drug Administration - Clopidogrel - Blood - Health - United States

People with occasional spikes in their blood pressure could be at higher risk of having a stroke than those with regularly high blood pressure, new studies said Friday.
Stroke - Blood pressure - Health - Hypertension - Conditions and Diseases

A troublingly high number of U.S. patients who are given angiograms to check for heart disease turn out not to have a significant problem, according to the latest study to suggest Americans get an excess of medical tests.


Heart disease - United States - Health - Conditions and Diseases - Cardiovascular Disorders

Several of the nearly 100 young U.S. athletes who die suddenly and unexpectedly during sports every year could be saved through more effective screening for heart problems.
Sport - Heart disease - United States - Health - Conditions and Diseases

Poll results, congressional head counts and federal deficits aren't the only numbers President Barack Obama has to worry about. Now, he's trying to walk off a marginally high cholesterol count.

Barack Obama - President of the United States - United States - Politics - Candidates

A big study finds that people with narrowed neck arteries that could lead to a stroke can be safely treated with a less drastic option than the surgery done now.


Surgery - Stent - Medical device - United States - Medicine

A woman's risk of heart disease and stroke in middle-age and beyond may be associated with the number of children she gives birth to, a large study of Swedish women hints.
Heart disease - Stroke - Health - Conditions and Diseases - Cardiovascular Disorders

GlaxoSmithKline said Wednesday a Senate report criticizing its handling of heart risks with its diabetes drug Avandia "mischaracterizes and distorts" the company's record.
GlaxoSmithKline - Diabetes mellitus - Health - Diabetes - Conditions and Diseases

Newer CT technology that can capture an image of a beating heart in a single beat may offer one way of reducing a patient's exposure to excess radiation, U.S. researchers said.
United States - Radiation - Technology - Environment - Health Physics and Radiological Health

A critical new report declares high blood pressure in the U.S. to be a neglected disease — a term that usually describes mysterious tropical illnesses, not a well-known plague of rich countries.

Blood pressure - Health - United States - Hypertension - Conditions and Diseases

NYT: U.S. government reports concluded that hundreds of people taking Avandia suffered heart attacks and heart failure, but some said the drug should remain available.

Diabetes mellitus - Heart failure - Health - Conditions and Diseases - Heart disease

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Using an automated defibrillator - a device that figures out whether to shock the chests of patients whose hearts have stopped beating - in a moving ambulance may not be a good idea, Korean researchers found in studies of pigs and mannequins.
Defibrillation - Mannequin - Ambulance - NEW YORK - United States

You've heard it before: to avoid a heart attack don't smoke, eat right and exercise. But it also may help to be happy, a new study says.

Myocardial infarction - Heart - Health - Heart disease - Conditions and Diseases