Heart Health Archive

Telehealth visits combined with home monitoring may be an effective way to help people reach and maintain their blood pressure goals, according to a 2025 study.

Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) creates a 3D image of the heart and its blood vessels, revealing both obstructive and nonobstructive plaque. Most heart attacks occur when smaller, nonobstructive plaques rupture and form a clot that triggers a heart attack. Used to assess people with stable angina, CCTA may prevent heart attacks by improving how cardiologists find and treat heart disease.

A 2025 studyfound that intermuscular fat-fat stored within muscle tissue-may increase a person's risk of heart disease.

TV medical dramas often portray treatments for heart attacks and cardiac arrest. While the timelines are often accelerated and certain aspects may be dramatized to engage viewers, the medical details are, for the most part, factual and authentic. Writers and producers routinely rely on health care experts - including Harvard doctors - to make sure the information is accurate. For people with heart disease, seeing how emergency physicians treat urgent conditions may show them what to expect.

A 2025 study found that in people who are overweight or obese, substituting standing and light walking in place of sitting may help improve blood levels of certain types of fats, including triglycerides and small, dense LDL cholesterol particles.

About 25% of people have a common heart variant called a patent foramen ovale (PFO), a flaplike opening between the heart's upper chambers. In people with the condition, venous blood can leak across the heart from the right atrium to the left atrium, bypassing the lungs. If that blood contains a clot, it can travel directly to the arteries that send blood throughout the body. A stroke can occur if that clot lodges in an artery supplying the brain. In people prone to blood clots, a PFO raises the risk of stroke and dementia.

With ticks thriving in a wider geographic range, appearing earlier and sticking around later, it's important to stay vigilant about protecting yourself against ticks that cause Lyme disease and other illnesses. Learn some steps you can take to avoid tick bites.

Long-term research found that higher consumption of butter increases mortality risk, while higher consumption of plant-based oil lowers it. And substituting certain plant oils for butter might help people live longer. What's a butter lover to do?

Using tobacco in cigars, pipes, or smokeless products such as snuff is associated with distinct heart-related risks.