woman and Heart Disease

Heart disease is the number-one killer of women. Women who die suddenly from heart disease, 63 percent had no previous signs of disease.

Heart Disease Risks

Smoking
Smoking is the biggest risk factor for heart attacks in women, according to the American Heart Association?.

Physical inactivity
Being active reduces the risk of heart disease. There are several, easy, small, practical ways women can increase their activity level.

High blood pressure and cholesterol
Unhealthy blood pressure and/or blood cholesterol levels can lead to serious heart problems, such as heart attack and stroke. Make sure you have your blood pressure and cholesterol levels checked at your next doctor visit. If your numbers are high, talk to your doctor about how to lower them—and how frequently you need to have them checked.

Alcohol
If you drink alcohol, drink in moderation. Try to consume no more than two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women. Drinking more can increase the dangers of high blood pressure and obesity, which in turn can boost the threat of heart disease.

Obesity
According to the American Heart Association, people who have excess body fat are more likely to develop heart disease, even if they have no other risk factors. Excess weight increases the strain on the heart and influences blood pressure and blood cholesterol. Shedding as little as 10 to 20 pounds can help lower your heart disease risk.

Diet
In addition to staying trim, make sure you eat the right foods. A heart-healthy diet low in saturated fats and cholesterol can reduce your risk for a heart attack. Adding a fiber supplement also may help lower cholesterol when it’s part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol.

Stress
Try to take steps to reduce your stress level. Studies have shown that stress and how people deal with it can influence the likelihood of heart disease. When faced with stress, people tend to overeat, smoke, or drink more—escalating risk factors.

Blood Test to Detect Heart Disease?

A blood test that may identify those with heart disease is being tested by researchers at Duke University (North Carolina). Based on a set of genetic markers that indicate both the presence and the level of artery blockages, researchers are hopeful that this test will one day replace more expensive and time consuming preliminary testing, such as echocardiogram and exercise stress tests.

If a person having chest pain could be assessed for the presence and degree of coronary artery disease (CAD) based on a blood test, they could proceed directly on to catheterization and either stenting or bypass surgery. This kind of test could be very useful to assess a person acutely having chest pain who presents to the emergency room, or to streamline the assessment of a person at risk for heart disease who presents to their health care provider with symptoms suggesting heart disease.

Currently individuals who are suspected to have CAD undergo other tests first, because they are less invasive and less costly than going directly to catheterization. These tests also limit exposure to x-ray radiation. Insurance companies often require these preliminary tests to “prove” the presence of CAD before proceeding to the cath lab. Unfortunately these tests don’t always determine the presence or absence of CAD, resulting in cardiac catheterization anyway. This process is both time consuming for the patient, expensive to our health care system, and allows time for an untoward event to happen.

The researchers report that the current study, published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics, is based on a small number of participants and will need to be verified in a larger number of people before the blood test is approved for use. It is currently undergoing additional trials at 28 sites around the US, with a wide variety of study recipients.

Commenting on the study results, Dr. Sidney Smith, a UNC-Chapel Hill cardiologist, noted, “If these findings hold for this broad group of population, the test could prove to be a valuable supplement in our management and treatment of patients with coronary heart disease.”

Dr. Joe Falsone, an invasive cardiologist at Wake Heart & Vascular Associates, called the discovery “potentially exciting news,” and said “we could probably use this as a screening tool for patients we thought were at high risk.”

For more information about participating in clinical trials at Duke please see “Research at Duke Medicine.” ClinicalTrials.gov is a registry of federally and privately supported clinical trials conducted in the United States and around the world.

Take care.

Laurie

Emergency cardiac how to “protect life”?
     Recently, the British “Daily Telegraph” a detailed report of heart disease, ectopic pregnancy, deep vein thrombosis, retinal detachment, allergic shock that five kinds of the most vulnerable of acute onset of disease, and can teach you how to do the first time, “life insurance . “
     The main symptoms of heart attack and was accompanied by oppressive chest pain, chest tightness, and so on, this discomfort may spread to the shoulders, neck, jaw, arm or back. Accompanied by dizziness, vertigo, sweating, nausea and vomiting, difficulty in breathing. Read More »
What’s the link between smoking and heart disease?

Answer:

 

About 30% of all deaths from heart disease in the U.S. are directly related to cigarette smoking. Smoking is a major cause of atherosclerosis.

Among other things, the nicotine present in smoke causes:

  • Decreased oxygen to the heart.

  • Increased blood pressure and heart rate.

  • Increase in blood clotting.

  • Damage to cells that line coronary arteries and other blood vessels, triggering atherosclerosis and heart disease.

Angina may be fed stays in
       China is a big country manners, when he married, children, birthday, especially in the New Year and other festive day, but always put a banquet. Nearly a full house turned out en masse, then appetite, hearty drink and smoke, now you know that many of angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, or even exactly what occurred in this case.

So, why do they just eat cause angina pectoris? The main reasons are the following:

(1) Basic medical research shows that human meal there after the so-called “food specific dynamic effect”, ie, after each meal the body’s heat production, even in a calm state, strongly increased, meal more pronounced. This means that the human body are markedly increased after a meal increase metabolic oxygen demand of the heart, they have to work to meet the metabolic needs of body and thus, so that the load level of the heart also increased significantly.

(2) after a meal, the body to fully digest and absorb various nutrients, fed on one side of a large number of blood to the gastrointestinal tract, so that the relative decrease in blood supply to other organizations other hand, a significant increase in the secretion of digestive juices, thereby providing the effect on coronary arterial blood.

(3) food, especially the saturated fat meal rise in blood fat levels, blood viscosity increases, which increases blood flow, peripheral vascular resistance, cardiac overload, while the platelet aggregation induced thrombosis risk, slowly guided coronary blockage.

(4) In data, the meal so that more blood pressure decreased significantly, the original high blood pressure, blood pressure, and will continue until approximately 1 hour and returned to fasting levels when accompanied by a large number of drinking and blood pressure more sharply (13. meeting of the World Hypertension meeting, some scientists believe that sank in less than 5 hours after alcohol consumption blood pressure to normal levels) after recovery. If the blood pressure dropped suddenly and significantly, it will affect the coronary perfusion pressure.

(5) friends and family come together, emotions ran high, then the sympathetic nervous agitation, fast heart rate increased, so that oxygen consumption increases the heart muscle.

Briefly, coronary atherosclerosis, based on a combination of these factors that could increase to improve clotting of myocardial oxygen consumption, coronary blood flow reduction in the blood and trigger mechanisms of angina pectoris and even myocardial infarction.

Angina incentives – heat and humidity
      As we all know, in the cold winter, the onset of coronary heart disease high frequency. Then in the hot summer whether the onset of angina seldom do?

     In fact, the thermal environment is likely to cause angina, especially in hot and wet circumstances, the angina attack rate, as if winter was the peak value of the state. This is due to heat and humidity makes the heart rate increased rapidly, stroke output is reduced, combined with hot and humid environment can increase ventricular volume, causing an increase in myocardial oxygen consumption, so that myocardial ischemia and hypoxia, and induce angina.

   To this end, coronary heart disease in the hot summer months should pay attention to the following points.

First, exercise training should be conducted in the early morning cooler, avoid exercising in the hot sun. Thunderstorm prior to the arrival of the hot and humid in the circumstances, should pay attention to the appropriate state of rest or keep quiet.

Second, pay attention to summer cooling, the outdoor activities or work should be wearing a visor and supply thereafter, water, and prevent expansion of peripheral blood vessels, blood volume makes the lack of coronary blood flow reduction induced by myocardial ischemia and angina.

Third, there is a history of angina pectoris in patients with preventable medication, such as propranolol, isosorbide dinitrate Danshen tablets and so on, if the travel required to carry nitroglycerin or amyl nitrite and other anti-angina drugs.

what is Angina caused by?
     The direct factors are likely to produce pain in the case of myocardial ischemia and anoxia in the accumulation of excess pyruvate phosphate metabolites such as lactic acid and other acidic substances; or similar material to stimulate the kinin peptide in the heart autonomic nerve transmission into the fiber endings by a ~ 5 thoracic sympathetic ganglia and the corresponding spinal cord segment transmitted to the brain to produce pain and feeling of this pain is reflected in the spinal cord and autonomic nervous to enter the same level as the distribution segment of the spinal nerves of the skin area that the sternum before the arms and after on both sides with the little finger, especially in the left side of the heart is not in anatomical position and multi-office has been suggested that ischemia in the region rich in nerve supply, abnormal coronary blood vessels can stretch or shrink pain impulse

To be mechanical stimulation to the heart does not cause pain, myocardial ischemia and hypoxia, but the pain is caused when the coronary blood flow and myocardial blood required contradiction between the coronary blood flow can not meet the needs of myocardial metabolism caused by a temporary rapid heart of ischemia and hypoxia that generate angina

The number of myocardial oxygen consumption by the myocardial contraction myocardial tension determined by the intensity and heart rate and therefore popular, “heart rate × systolic blood pressure” (ie, the double product), as indicators of myocardial oxygen consumption is estimated myocardial energy generation require large amounts of oxygen uptake for the myocardial cells of blood oxygen content of 65% to 75% while the uptake of the body while the others only 10% ~ 25% of the normal heart, therefore the absorption of oxygen in the blood is close to the maximum amount of oxygen required to increase further when more difficult from the uptake of oxygen in the blood is only be able to rely on to increase coronary blood flow to provide under normal circumstances, coronary circulation have great reserves of strength of the blood flow to the body’s physiological conditions with significant changes; the intense physical activities, expansion of coronary blood flow may be appropriate to break the 6 ~ 7-fold expansion of hypoxia also makes coronary artery blood flow 4 ~ 5 times Erzhi atherosclerotic coronary artery stenosis or occlusion of some branches when the weakening of its expansionary and reduced blood flow to the myocardium for the blood are relatively fixed, such as reduced myocardial blood supply to the heart usually able to cope with the needs of the rest can be asymptomatic if a sudden increase in cardiac load, such as left ventricular failure such as fatigue excited to myocardial tension increased (cardiac chamber volume to increase ventricular end-diastolic pressure increased) to increase myocardial contractility (systolic blood pressure increased ventricular pressure curve of the maximum pressure to increase the rate of change over time), and increased heart rate and fast Erzhi increased myocardial oxygen consumption increased demand for myocardial blood; or when the coronary artery spasm (eg, humoral regulation of excessive smoke or neurological disorder) is to further reduce coronary blood flow; or in a sudden decrease in blood flow circumstances (such as extreme shock, tachycardia, etc.); heart’s blood supply and demand will intensify the conflict between the heart’s blood supply gradually less severe anemia in patients with angina caused by myocardial blood flow while not reducing the case may be due to reduced blood oxygen-carrying red blood cells caused by insufficient Angina

In most cases, exertion-induced angina often the same “heart rate × systolic blood pressure” value occurs on the level of

What are the performance and how myocarditis diagnosed?
     Incidence of young adults are more often first, the performance of primary infection, such as viral fever were frequent vomiting, diarrhea, cough, sore throat and muscle aches, etc. Most of the viral infection 1-3 weeks after the symptoms of myocarditis, arrhythmias can cause palpitations as a result of ejection lowering the volume a sense of weakness involving the pericardium and the pleural membrane and chest when the chest pain of angina may also have similar performance in severe cardiac dysfunction common signs of sinus tachycardia is not parallel with the body temperature may also have sinus bradycardia and various community to expand cardiac arrhythmia accounted for 1/3-1/2 found severe myocarditis due to enlargement of the heart can cause mitral or tricuspid regurgitation or sternal apical systolic murmur left lower margin of myocardial damage may have heard of serious or diastolic heart failure period gallop first heart sound may weaken the merger pericarditis pericardial friction sound heard

Light can completely asymptomatic heart failure or sudden death in serious cases the performance gap based on the clinical manifestations can be divided into six types: ① asymptomatic type: 1-4 weeks after infection occurs S-T changes in ECG ② asymptomatic arrhythmia type: the performance of the types of arrhythmia ventricular premature beat ③ most common type of heart failure: the emergence of heart failure symptoms and signs of myocardial necrosis ④ Type: Clinical presentation was similar to a large myocardial infarction by ⑤ heart: Mitral and tricuspid valve area enlargement of the heart contraction in phase noise ⑥ sudden death type: sudden death without aura

What are the performance of coronary heart disease and how to diagnose
A clinical-like syndrome:

According to their clinical coronary heart disease-like disease can be divided into five types:

1 angina type: performance as a sternum pressing a sense of nausea after the swelling sense of anxiety associated with significant sustained 3-5 minutes often diverge to the left arm shoulder lower jaw and throat can also radiate into the back of his right arm. Sometimes involving these areas After the area without affecting the breastbone. forcefully emotional catch cold meal such as increase in myocardial oxygen consumption under attack is called angina pectoris with nitroglycerin for rest and ease the sometimes atypical angina pectoris can be expressed as gas-tight syncope Weakness belch, especially in the elderly according to the frequency and severity of attacks are divided into stable angina and unstable angina. stable angina refers to the onset of angina pectoris in January over parts of the frequency of their seizure severity continued to time to onset of labor-inducing size can ease the pain of nitroglycerin dosage is basically stable unstable angina refers to the original stable angina attack frequency increase in the duration of the severity or new onset of exertional angina pectoris ( occurred within 1 month) or when the onset of resting angina with unstable angina pectoris is a precursor of acute myocardial infarction is why, once discovered should be immediately to the hospital.

Type 2 myocardial infarction: infarction often occurs about a week before the prodromal symptoms such as resting and mild physical activity during the onset of angina pectoris with obvious discomfort and fatigue infarction presenting with persistent severe oppressive sense of boredom or even a knife-like plug After the pain in the sternum often affect the entire chest to the left as the most important part of the patient can extend his left arm caused by radiation down the left side of the wrist ulnar palm and fingers, tingling and some patients may be radiation to the upper jaw to the left shoulder and neck pain-based site location consistent with previous angina pain, but continued much longer with more emphasis on rest and nitroglycerin does not relieve the performance of upper abdominal pain is sometimes easy to be confused with abdominal disease, irritability accompanied by low-heat, and cold sweat, nausea, sweating vomiting, dizziness, palpitations very weak sense of difficulty in breathing for 30 minutes or more near-death for several hours often find this situation should seek medical attention immediately

How the early detection of coronary artery disease?

Coronary heart disease is the common diseases and frequently-occurring disease in the elderly in this age group phase of the people in their daily lives if the following conditions must be promptly for medical treatment early detection of coronary artery disease

(1) fatigue or mental stress or after sternum when precordial Mentong or contraction-like pain in left shoulder and left upper arm to the radiation lasting 3-5 minutes after the break on their own remission

(2) physical activity, chest tightness, palpitation and shortness of breath when at rest on their own remission

(3) The emergence and exercise-related leg pain such as headache, toothache

(4) eat too much cold or watching a movie thriller palpitations chest pain who

(5) night of sleep to feel chest tightness, low pillow suffocating pillow lying side require a high comfort persons; sleeping supine position during the day when a sudden chest pain or palpitations shortness of breath requiring immediate sit or stand can be reduced by

(6) sexual life or forceful defecation flustered when shortness of breath or chest pains, chest discomfort

(7) heard the noise they were chest tightness caused by flustered

(8) recurring pulse arrhythmia of unknown causes too fast or too slow heart rate were

For the early detection of coronary heart disease over 40 years of age who regularly do the following test:

If the test results are not normal or have other risk factors for susceptibility to coronary heart disease should be one or more times every five years for blood cholesterol tests

Blood pressure checks every year to make a

A year to make a blood glucose testing

If it is a high risk of coronary heart disease should ask the doctor to see if you need to receive ECG if you need further examination will be arranged for a doctor to do an exercise test to measure a fixed pin in the foot car or foot treadmill ECG machine

Coronary angiography is the surest method of diagnosis of coronary heart disease

3 silent myocardial ischemic: Many patients have a wide range of coronary artery occlusion did not feel that some patients who had angina pectoris or even myocardial infarction angina when some patients did not feel that the occurrence of sudden cardiac death in heart attack routine physical examination found that before being discovered. some patients with ischemic ECG manifestations because the arrhythmia occurred or because the exercise test positive for coronary angiography being done only to find that such patients are sudden cardiac death and myocardial infarction and angina patients the opportunity to, like it should be Note that usually the heart of the health-care

4 heart failure and arrhythmia type: some patients with angina pectoris after the original lesion due to extensive myocardial fibrosis in a wide range gradually reduced to the disappearance of angina heart failure have occurred in the performance such as air-tight edema, fatigue, etc. There are a variety of arrhythmias manifested as palpitations. There are some patients with angina pectoris has never directly expressed as heart failure and arrhythmias

5 sudden death type: that due to coronary heart disease caused by unpredictable sudden death in patients with acute onset of symptoms occurred within 6 hours after cardiac arrest due to mainly due to myocardial ischemia caused by abnormal electrophysiological activity lead to serious arrhythmia

2. Signs:

In general no clear positive signs of early heavy can determined to expand the sector to the left under the first heart sound can be heard when the weakened with arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation with heart failure, and premature beats when the two can be heard under the lungs and wet rales can be heard and the apical gallop, etc.

Children with congenital heart disease the “perpetrators”
     Infection. Women in the first 3 months of pregnancy, especially pregnant 3 weeks -8 weeks, as were virus infection, fetal prone to cardiovascular malformations. Where rubella virus is the major cause fetal congenital heart disease culprit. In addition, influenza, mumps, Coxsackie virus, herpes virus, such as congenital heart disease in children tend to be the “perpetrators.”
小儿先心病的“作案者”
    Babies born in China each year there are about 7 ‰ to 11 ‰ for congenital cardiovascular abnormalities, to the family and society a huge burden of misery and deep. According to modern medical study found that can cause fetal cardiac malformations has the following seven kinds of risk factors:

  △ a family history of congenital heart disease. Brothers and sisters suffering from congenital heart disease at the same time, parents and children suffering from congenital heart disease at the same time the situation was quite rare, and it is very similar to the nature of their disease. If the first child born to mothers who suffer from congenital heart disease, the possibility of a second child ill about 2%; if two consecutive fetal congenital heart disease who Jie Wei, regeneration of infants with congenital heart disease may be increased to 10%. If the mothers suffering from congenital heart disease, the second-generation risk of suffering from the first disease was 10%.

△ pregnant women with diabetes and those without the treatment and control of disease, can cause the risk of fetal congenital heart disease was 2%, if the disease control stability during early pregnancy, then the risk is reduced.

△ contact with pregnant women in early pregnancy teratogenic drugs, such as lithium, phenytoin, or steroids, can lead to fetal congenital heart disease prevalence rate of 2%.

△ early pregnancy were exposed to radioactive substances, such as X-rays, isotopes such as overexposure.

△ virus infection. Women in the first 3 months of pregnancy, especially pregnant 3 weeks -8 weeks, as were virus infection, fetal prone to cardiovascular malformations. Where rubella virus is the major cause fetal congenital heart disease culprit. In addition, influenza, mumps, Coxsackie virus, herpes virus, such as congenital heart disease in children tend to be the “perpetrators.”

△ next of kin marriages. Next of kin marriage is to make the occurrence of fetal teratogenic risk factor for congenital heart disease.

△ bad habits. Pregnant women hobby “puff” or a husband-smoking, wife “passive smoking” can enable fetal malformation or congenital heart disease occur in children. The incidence of infants with congenital heart disease, infants born to smoking mothers are twice as non-smoking mothers. Husband and wife “drunken intercourse pregnancy”, fetal chromosome abnormalities will, gave birth to babies suffering from alcoholism, disease, most associated with cardiovascular abnormalities.

Early detection of children with congenital heart disease is essential for prenatal and postnatal care. 20 weeks -28 weeks of pregnancy, the use of cardiac ultrasound scanner aspect can be clearly identified whether the fetal heart “defect.” In addition, whether the fetus can be found in ascites or edema, etc., thus speculated that the fetus is suffering from heart malformations.