Heart Health Archive

Leadless pacemakers, which are no bigger than a multivitamin pill, are far less prone to complications that traditional pacemakers, which have long leads (wires). These wires may become infected, dislodged, frayed, or broken. Scar tissue or blood clots can form around the leads, which may hinder blood flow and cause pain and swelling. Thanks to recent advances, most people who need pacemakers may now be candidates for leadless devices. However, doctors have less experience with what happens with leadless pacemakers over the long term-and they cost two to three times as much as a traditional pacemaker.

What we eat plays an important role in health and quality of life - but is there a single best diet? One newer choice is the largely plant-based portfolio diet, which combines aspects of highly regarded eating patterns and focuses on foods proven to lower harmful blood lipids and enhance cardiovascular health.

Compared with people who eat out frequently, people who eat meals made at home tend to weigh less, have healthier cholesterol and blood sugar values, and are less likely to develop diabetes. Lack of time, not lack of skills, may be the biggest barrier. Tips for creating healthy, home-cooked meals include smart ways to stock a pantry, fridge, and freezer with legumes and whole grains. For example, people can use an electric pressure cooker to make a dozen or more half-cup servings of brown rice that can then be stored in the freezer. This technique, called batch cooking, can be used with dried beans as well as with flavor enhancers such as minced garlic and ginger.

In a 2024 study by Harvard researchers, people who reported feeling persistently lonely had a 56% higher risk of experiencing a stroke compared with people who did not report feelings of loneliness.

New research has found that Americans are now dying from heart failure at a higher rate than 25 years ago, making prevention more important than ever. The best strategy to lower one's risk from heart failure is to address its top underlying contributors: high blood pressure, abnormal blood lipid levels, and weight gain. Addressing these risk factors can also protect against developing coronary artery disease and diabetes, two of the main medical conditions that cause heart failure.

Following a Mediterranean eating pattern is linked to longer life-a finding at least partly explained by such heart-related improvements as decreases in body mass index, inflammation, triglyceride-rich lipoproteins, and insulin resistance.

Getting an electrocardiogram (ECG) prior to undergoing noncardiac surgery should be the exception rather than the rule. About half of surgeries are low-risk and pose very little danger for the heart. Asking about a person's symptoms during physical activity-for example, whether they can walk up a flight of stairs without feeling winded-is a better gauge of their risk than the findings from an ECG. But presurgical ECGs make sense for older, inactive people with heart disease. The results can reveal signs of reduced blood flow to the heart or an unstable electrical heart rhythm that may require treatment before surgery.

People with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are especially vulnerable to cardiovascular problems, including a 40% increased risk of heart attack. The amygdala, a brain structure involved in processing anxiety, fear, and stress, is overactive in people with PTSD. But these people also have decreased activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for regulating emotions and dampening the fear response. This brain activity imbalance triggers chronic activation of the body's "fight-or-flight" response. The resulting physiological changes appear to underlie the development of atherosclerosis.