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February is American Heart Month
February 6, 2021
February is American Heart Month. It's a time to raise awareness of cardiovascular health.
The annual effort by the American Heart Association
also comes at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly not been kind to our hearts.
For example, a recent survey by The Harris Poll
on behalf of the American Psychological Association
shows that U.S. adults are reporting the highest stress levels since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you have underlying heart issues, contracting COVID-19 is especially dangerous. In fact -- even for healthy individuals -- the virus may directly invade or inflame the heart muscle and potentially cause damage through lack of oxygen levels, according to doctors at Harvard Medical School.
And unfortunately, local health care professionals are seeing another side effect of the virus among the cardiovascular community.
New data from the American Heart Association shows more than 1 in 4 adults – about 28% – experiencing a heart attack or stroke would rather stay at home than risk getting infected with covid-19 at the hospital. The survey also shows adults who are at risk for cardiovascular disease or stroke are more worried about covid-19 than having a heart attack or stroke.
Dr. Carl Horton, a cardiologist for Texas Health Cleburne and Texas Health Physicians Group, said heart attacks and strokes don’t stop for COVID-19. He said heart attack and stroke symptoms are always urgent and the hospital is still the safest place to be.
“They should not delay or worry about contracting COVID-19 in the hospital or emergency room. You're still more likely to die of a heart attack instead of COVID,” he said. “In the cardiology field, we have a saying called ‘time is muscle’. So if you wait in going to the hospital when you have an acute event,
then you can suffer sudden death at home or suffer severe congestive heart failure and lose a lot of heart muscle.”
There's good reason why Horton says you should take your heart seriously, especially for women:
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the No. 1 killer of women, claiming the lives of one in three women. It claims more women’s lives than all forms of cancer combined.
Women, especially Black people and Hispanics, are disproportionally impacted by heart disease and stroke.
CVD kills one woman about every 80 seconds.
New data suggests younger generations of women, Gen Z and Millennials, are less likely to be aware of their greatest health threat, including knowing the warning signs of heart attacks and strokes.
Cardiovascular disease is the no. 1 killer of new moms.
Pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. are rising at an alarming rate — and cardiovascular disease is the leading cause.
More younger women than men are having heart attacks.
Doctors said awareness is critical. Starting at age 20, women should consider getting screening for cardiovascular diseases and learn about their family health history.
According to the American Heart Association, 80% of cardiac events can be prevented through education and lifestyle changes such as moving more, eating smart and managing blood pressure.
“With COVID, sometimes people eat more because they’re at home. Most patients that I’ve seen have gained anywhere between five and 15 pounds I would say since Covid started,” said Horton. “The food that we take in, it plays a bigger role in our health than a lot of people realize.”
Experts say it’s also important to know your numbers.
Discuss the following personal health numbers with your doctor to help determine risk for heart disease:
Total Cholesterol
HDL (good) cholesterol
Blood pressure
Blood Sugar
Body Mass Index (BMI)
Data shows around 90% of women have one or more of those risk factors for developing heart disease.
To show support for these issues and to encourage women to be aware of the risk factors for heart issues, people are encouraged to wear red this Friday for National Wear Red Day.
Source: NBCDFW
Ed Wesolowski collapsed at a Duquesne women’s basketball game in January. Then, the Duquesne basketball medical staff jumped into action to save Wesolowski's life.
" GMA " shares an exclusive story for American Heart Month about a groundbreaking procedure that involves open heart surgery on a baby while he was being born.
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ABC News ' Dr. Tara Narula shares why knowing your numbers is key to preventing heart disease, the leading cause of death in the U.S.
By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter MONDAY, July 1, 2024 ( HealthDay News ) -- People who eat more ultra-processed foods are more likely to suffer an early death, particularly from heart disease or diabetes, a new study warns. Older adults who consume higher amounts of ultra-processed foods are about 10% more likely to die than those who eat less processed foods, over an average 23-year follow-up. In particular, soft drinks and highly processed meats like hot dogs, sausages and deli cold cuts are “most strongly associated with mortality risk,” said researcher Erikka Loftfield, an investigator with the National Cancer Institute (NCI). “Eating a diet low in these foods is already recommended for disease prevention and health promotion,” Loftfield added in an NCI news release. Ultra-processed foods are made mostly from substances extracted from whole foods, like saturated fats, starches and added sugars. These products also contain a wide variety of additives to make them more tasty, attractive and shelf-stable, including colors, emulsifiers, flavors and stabilizers. Examples include packaged baked goods, sugary cereals, ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat products and deli meat. For this study, researchers analyzed data from more than 540,000 people ages 50 to 71 regarding their eating habits and their health. The data was gathered in the mid-1990s; more than half of the participants have subsequently died. Even after accounting for other health risk factors, researchers found that people who consumed the highest levels of ultra-processed food were more likely to die early than people who ate the least. Ultra-processed food specifically increased the risk of death related to heart disease or diabetes, but not cancer. “Our study results support a larger body of literature, including both observational and experimental studies, which indicate that ultra-processed food intake adversely impacts health and longevity,” Loftfield said. “However, there is still a lot that we don’t know, including what aspects of ultra-processed foods pose potential health risks,” Loftfield added. Researchers presented the findings at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition in Chicago. Such research should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. SOURCE: American Society for Nutrition, news release, June 30, 2024
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Exercise capacity is one of the most important markers of cardiovascular health, and now a local study is focused on improving the evaluation heart function. Dr. Christos Mihos, with Mount Sinai Medical Center’s Heart Institute, is overseeing a study called “FIT-TWIST” to closely monitor the effects of a standard cardiac rehab program on patients who’ve had heart attacks. “The heart is a muscle, just like any other muscle in our body. It’s the most complex muscle in our body and it moves in very intricate ways -- let’s say three dimensional ways -- and what we’re doing with this study is we’re saying, ‘OK, you’ve had a heart attack.’ We do an echocardiogram, which is just a basic ultrasound of the heart, but we apply very advanced modalities called speckle tracking and that allows us to visualize that three dimensional motions that we’re talking about,” Mihos said. The goal is to tailor physical therapy to each individual patient. The study was funded by the Florida Heart Research Foundation.