Energy drinks may raise blood pressure and interfere with the heart’s electrical system, increasing the risk of sudden cardiac death, a meta-analysis found.
CHD risk factors
Azithromycin (Zithromax or Zmax) – Risk of Potentially Fatal Heart Rhythms
ISSUE: FDA is warning the public that azithromycin (Zithromax or Zmax) can cause abnormal changes in the electrical activity of the heart that may lead to a potentially fatal irregular heart rhythm. Patients at particular risk for developing this condition include those with known risk factors such as existing QT interval prolongation, low blood levels of potassium or magnesium, a slower than normal heart rate, or use of certain drugs used to treat abnormal heart rhythms, or arrhythmias. FDA has issued a Drug Safety Communication today as a result of our review of a study by medical researchers as well as another study by a manufacturer of the drug that assessed the potential for azithromycin to cause abnormal changes in the electrical activity of the heart.
PTSD Ups Risk for Developing CVD, DM
Patients diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder are more likely to develop insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome compared with those that are not diagnosed with the disorder, increasing their risk for developing cardiovascular disease or diabetes.
Ebrahimi and colleagues utilized VA electronic medical data to identify the incidence of insulin resistance (defined as triglyceride over HDL cholesterol ratio ≥3.8) and metabolic syndrome in 207,954 patients (mean age 60 years; 14.93% men).
via Patients with PTSD at risk for developing CVD, diabetes | Endocrinology.
High Cholesterol and Complementary Health Practices | NCCAM
According to the 2007 National Health Interview Survey, high blood cholesterol is one of the top 10 conditions prompting use of complementary health practices among adults. This issue provides information on “what the science says” about the effectiveness and safety of several dietary supplements reportedly used by people with high cholesterol, including red yeast rice, flaxseed and flaxseed oil, and garlic.
High Cholesterol and Complementary Health Practices | NCCAM.
I’ll take a statin please.
Cardio Risk Factors Predict Early Death
Among individuals ages 12 to 39, central obesity, smoking, and hyperglycemia at a single assessment were associated with premature death from any cause within the next 12 to 18 years (relative hazards 1.86 to 3.81), according to Sharon Saydah, PhD, of the CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation in Atlanta, and colleagues.
PLOS Medicine: Erectile Dysfunction Severity as a Risk Marker for Cardiovascular Disease Hospitalisation and All-Cause Mortality: A Prospective Cohort Study
What Did the Researchers Do and Find?
The researchers used information from the established 45 and Up Study, a large cohort study that includes 123,775 men aged 45 and over, selected at random from the general population of New South Wales, a large region of Australia. A total of 95,038 men were included in this analysis. The male participants completed a postal questionnaire that included a question on erectile functioning, which allowed the researchers to define erectile dysfunction as none, mild, moderate, or severe. Using information captured in the New South Wales Admitted Patient Data Collection—a complete record of all public and private hospital admissions, including the reasons for admission and the clinical diagnosis—and the government death register, the researchers were able to determine health outcomes of all study participants. They then used a statistical model to estimate hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease events for different levels of erectile dysfunction.
The researchers found that the rates of severe erectile dysfunction among study participants were 2.2% for men aged 45–54 years, 6.8% for men aged 55–64 years, 20.2% for men aged 65–74 years, 50.0% for men aged 75–84 years, and 75.4% for men aged 85 years and over. During the study period, the researchers recorded 7,855 hospital admissions related to cardiovascular disease and 2,304 deaths. The researchers found that among men without previous cardiovascular disease, those with severe erectile dysfunction were more likely to develop ischemic heart disease (risk 1.60), heart failure (risk 8.00), peripheral vascular disease (risk 1.92), and other causes of cardiovascular disease (risk 1.26) than men without erectile dysfunction. The risks of heart attacks and heart conduction problems were also increased (1.66 and 6.62, respectively). Furthermore, the combined risk of all cardiovascular disease outcomes was 1.35, and the overall risk of death was also higher (risk 1.93) in these men. The researchers found that these increased risks were similar in men with erectile dysfunction who had previously been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease.
Citation: Banks E, Joshy G, Abhayaratna WP, Kritharides L, Macdonald PS, et al. (2013) Erectile Dysfunction Severity as a Risk Marker for Cardiovascular Disease Hospitalisation and All-Cause Mortality: A Prospective Cohort Study. PLoS Med 10(1): e1001372. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001372
Copyright: © 2013 Banks et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Vitamin D Level Predicts Death in CABG
Patients with vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency, defined by levels of 25(OH)D, had significantly higher 90-day mortality after CABG than those who had sufficient levels of the vitamin (OR 5.24 and OR 4.61, respectively), Takuhiro Moromizato, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and colleagues reported during an oral session at the Society of Critical Care Medicine meeting.
The study was limited by its observational design, which can’t prove causality, and by the potential for selection bias and unmeasured confounders.
Berries Ward Off MI in Women
Women whose anthocyanin intake was in the highest quintile had a 32% decrease in risk of MI during 18 years of follow-up (HR 0.68, 95% CI 0.49 to 0.96, P=0.03), according to Eric B. Rimm, ScD, of Harvard University, and colleagues.
Depressed Heart Patients Have Worse Outcomes
As seen in previous studies, patients with elevated depressive symptoms had a higher risk of MI or all-cause death through about 4 years of follow-up, after accounting for demographics, education, income, and body mass index HR 1.41, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.72, according to Siqin Ye, MD, of Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues.
Omega 3s May Be No Help Against Stroke, MI
Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation does not appear to reduce the risk of cardiovascular or cerebrovascular events, a study has found.
Note that the lack of a significant effect of omega-3 supplementation is consistent with the majority of the large studies on the topic.
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