Heart Disease Archive

Many people with gout are at increased risk for heart disease, possibly due to shared risk factors and the effects of chronic inflammation on the heart and blood vessels. Medication to treat gout, along with dietary changes and regular physical activity, can lower risks.

The most common problems detected with a stethoscope are conditions that affect one of your heart valves—usually the aortic valve or the mitral valve. While often harmless, these problems sometimes require monitoring and treatment.

Symptoms of atrial fibrillation include a fluttering, pounding sensation in the chest and a lightheaded, dizzy, or breathless feeling. But about a quarter of people with this disorder don’t notice any symptoms.

A major study linked high intake of sugary drinks like soda, fruit juices, and sports drinks during teen years and early adulthood with an increased risk of developing high blood pressure in middle age. Replacing sweet drinks with water, milk, or whole fruit may help offset some of those risks.

Doctors increasingly view erectile dysfunction as a potential early warning sign rather than just a sexual health issue. Research shows persistent erectile dysfunction is often tied to cardiovascular disease, and the two conditions share an array of risk factors.

An aortic dissection, a tear in the body’s largest artery, typically causes sudden, severe pain in the chest, back, or abdomen. This uncommon condition is most likely to occur in people with a thoracic aortic aneurysm, a bulge in the section of the aorta closest to the heart.

Cardiac amyloidosis is a rare heart condition that causes the walls of the heart to become thick, stiff, and unable to pump normally. Three FDA-approved medications for the most common form, ATTR-CM, slow disease progression and extend life.

Heart block is a slowdown or blockage of the electrical signals that travel from the upper to lower chambers of the heart. People with third-degree heart block (the most serious form) nearly always need a permanent pacemaker.

Foods that contain mainly saturated fat, such as beef tallow and butter, are less heart-healthy than those that contain mainly unsaturated fats, including olive oil and seed oils such as canola oil and soybean oil.

The DASH diet is a flexible, science-backed eating plan proven to lower blood pressure, while also reducing risks of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and cognitive decline. Emphasizing vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products, it’s a healthy way to eat that suits almost everyone.