Thursday February 4, 2010
Tomorrow, don't forget to don on your favorite red apparel - it's National Wear Red Day! Being diagnosed with heart disease can be a devastating point in anyone's life that requires many lifestyle adjustments. It can also be deadly. Heart disease is now the #1 cause of deaths in women - it even exceeds breast cancer!
National Wear Red Day is a day used to remind the women in our lives - mothers, sisters, wives, and friends - that they, too, can get heart disease and die from it. Additionally, it reminds women to take measures to prevent against heart disease. High cholesterol is the most modifiable risk factor for heart disease. There are no symptoms for it, so how do you know you even have it?
Get it checked. And don't forget to put on your red tie, red shoes, or your favorite red outfit to promote such a worry cause.
Here are some ways you can help protect yourself against high cholesterol:
Photo credit: ©2007, American Heart Association. Also known as the Heart Fund.
Tuesday February 2, 2010
Did you know that heart disease accounts for more deaths in the United States than any other health condition? In light of American Heart Month, everyone should be aware of their risks for heart disease, as well as ways to prevent it.
High cholesterol is one of the most modifiable risk factors for heart disease. By addressing your cholesterol, you are one step closer towards lowering your risk for having a heart attack or stroke down the road. Keeping your cholesterol levels in check isn't too hard to do, and it begins with knowing your risks -- as well as making a few changes in your lifestyle. Here's how to get started:
Tuesday January 26, 2010
When you think someone who may have high cholesterol, who do you think of ? It may be somebody older, and perhaps slightly overweight. However, a new study released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) suggests that high cholesterol can strike even younger. According to the CDC, in a statement released yesterday, a little over 20% of teenagers aged 12 to 19 years have abnormal cholesterol levels.
The results were generated from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) over a 7 year period (1999 - 2006), which examines health and nutritional habits within the United States population. The majority of high cholesterol and/or triglyceride levels were noted in obese and overweight teens.
You can read more about this study on the CDC website.
Tuesday January 19, 2010
Researchers at the University of Michigan Medical School are taking a new spin on treating high cholesterol in the prevention of heart disease. Rather than administering and dosing statins according to the widely-recommended National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) guidelines, they are using a more individually-tailored dosing regimen - with good results.
This study, which included roughly 4500 participants, used two methods in dosing statins: a "target-to-treat" approach, which closely followed the NCEP guidelines and a "tailored" approach, which dosed statins based upon overall risk of cardiovascular disease. The researchers found that the "tailored" approach to dosing statins not only reduced a patient's risk of suffering from a cardiovascular event (such as a heart attack or stroke) - this regimen also improved quality of life.
The "tailored" treatment approach does appear promising, especially since it addresses modifying risk factors such as smoking, diet, and family history in its decision to administer and dose statins. While cholesterol-lowering medications are important in reducing your risk of heart disease if you have a family history of heart attacks and high cholesterol, other very important risk factors - such as high blood pressure, diabetes, poor diet, and smoking - should also be addressed and treated. More studies would be needed, however, especially if this new method is going to be implemented into the guidelines anytime in the future.
This study was published in the January 19th issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
