Heart Health Archive

A calcium score is a good indicator of how much plaque is inside the heart's arteries. Treatments can replace cholesterol in plaque with scar tissue, which contains calcium and produces a higher calcium score, but this stabilized plaque lowers heart attack risk.

Every year, an estimated 600,000 people in the United States develop a blood clot deep inside the leg, known as deep-vein thrombosis. These clots usually develop in the lower leg, thigh, or pelvis but occasionally the arm. The affected area may be tender or painful, swollen, red or discolored, and warm to the touch. If a clot breaks free and travels to a lung, it can cause a pulmonary embolism. Symptoms of a pulmonary embolism include difficulty breathing that happens suddenly, a fast or irregular heartbeat, coughing up blood, and chest pain or discomfort, which usually worsens with a deep breath or coughing.

New guidelines for managing atrial fibrillation focus on lifestyle habits to prevent and control the disorder. One recommendation is for people to limit alcohol to one drink per day, or ideally less. Another is for people who are overweight or obese to lose weight, either by striving for a body mass index no greater than 27 or by shedding at least 10% of their body weight. The guidelines also suggest that people get three to four hours of exercise per week. And people with afib who snore should consider getting tested for sleep apnea.

Certain foods, such as beans, oats and whole grains, fatty fish, and fruits and vegetables that are high in fiber, can lower "bad" LDL cholesterol.

About a third of healthy people-and about 60% of people with high blood pressure-are salt sensitive, meaning they have an exaggerated response to dietary sodium. But an estimated one in 10 people may have inverse salt sensitivity: their blood pressure goes up when they eat less salt. Understanding the genetic basis of these differences may one day improve the treatment of blood pressure.

A long-term study published in 2023 found that watching lots of television during young adulthood was linked to increased rates of obesity and other factors that raise heart disease risk in midlife.

Treatments for angina include medications to lower LDL cholesterol to very low levels to help reduce artery-narrowing plaque. Drugs that slow the heart rate and widen arteries can improve symptoms.

Clinical trials are under way using gene therapy to treat inherited cardiovascular conditions, including familial hypercholesterolemia (one form of abnormally high cholesterol), hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (a type of heart muscle disease), and transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (a form of heart failure resulting from amyloid deposits). But challenges remain in developing and delivering these therapies.

Replacing just five minutes of sitting with moderate-to-vigorous physical activity may lead to tangible improvements in cardiovascular health. Adding longer, more intense bouts of exercise can reap greater rewards. But even modest changes such as replacing sitting with standing may lead to positive changes in health parameters, including improvements in body mass index, waist circumference, cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar levels.