Results of a randomized trial of folic acid and B-vitamins in secondary prevention of cardiovascular events in women did not support their use as preventive agents against cardiovascular disease in women with established vascular disease or those at high risk.
The Framingham Heart Study revolutionized how physicians approach cardiovascular disease (CVD) and placed prevention at the forefront of cardiology.
Researchers today presented data showing that ACTOS (pioglitazone HCl) halted the progression of atherosclerosis as measured by carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in patients with type 2 diabetes. Results from the clinical trial, CHICAGO (Carotid intima-media thickness in Atherosclerosis using pioglitazone), are part of a late-breaker presentation at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2006, coincidentally being held in Chicago, and coincide with an early online issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
A drug commonly used to increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin may slow the progression of cardiovascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a study at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.
People who are depressed have an increased risk of dying from heart failure, and a new study by Duke University Medical Center researchers may help explain why.
The science of cancer prevention has advanced to the point where researchers now say they can detect ?cancer genes? in the breath of smokers, and can test the presence of two proteins in men they say will predict development of prostate cancer a decade in advance. All of these novel findings need much more examination, of course, but scientists at the American Association for Cancer Research?s Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting, say these examples illustrate how it is becoming increasingly possible to use genes and their protein products to help predict and diagnose cancer, as well as choose therapy that offers the most potential for a good result. These researchers will also discuss a test that can pick out patients who have pancreatic cancer – an advance that offers hope the disease can be treated at earlier stages than it is now – and how several unique genes can predict which prostate cancer or lung cancer patients will develop aggressive tumors that need additional treatment. Cancer is a disease of genes, they say, so genes can be employed as a crystal ball to thwart the disease.
Loren F. Hiratzka, M.D., Cincinnati, received the American Heart Association?s 2006 Chairman?s Award, which honors excellence in volunteer service, at Sunday?s Opening Session.
Rising costs and coming demographic changes threaten the quality and future of health care in the United States and other developed countries.
That women with heart disease generally have worse outcomes than men is well known, but recent research is turning up some unusual and possibly very important new risk factors. Low testosterone levels, ?on-pump? bypass grafts, increased anxiety and under-treatment in secondary prevention may each have an independent, negative impact on women?s outcomes.
Genetic factors are poised to take a leading role in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.