Triglycerides: The Risk Factor Nobody Talks About Apr 01 09:44pm With all the news and consumer advertising about the dangers of high cholesterol, many people forget another major threat to heart health: triglycerides. A recent survey of 2,000 patients found that just 13 percent of them knew the triglyceride goals... Read more

More People Cleared for Heart Transplants Mar 29 09:28pm Even though the supply of hearts available for transplantation remains well below the demand, an international panel recently expanded the eligibility criteria for determining which people might receive the life-saving surgery. Heart transplants are... Read more

Lipoprotein (a): Another Heart Attack Risk Factor Mar 28 05:58am You've surely heard a lot about the risks of high levels of LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol and low levels of HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol in the blood. But you probably haven't heard about lipoprotein (a)-abbreviated... Read more

Sulfonylureas May Increase Heart Disease Risk Mar 25 09:52pm People with diabetes are already at very high risk for cardiovascular disease, and this risk may be even greater for those with type 2 diabetes who take sulfonylureas, a medication that increases the pancreas's output of insulin. Observational... Read more

Cardiovascular Event Risk Rises Sharply with More Atherosclerosis Mar 24 10:51am Doctors with patients at risk for heart disease have been eagerly awaiting the results of The REACH (Resource Utilization Among Congestive Heart failure patients) study, which examined many features of atherosclerotic disease in nearly 70,000... Read more

Monitoring Your Coumadin Treatment from Home Mar 22 02:21am If you are being treated with the anticoagulant coumadin (Warfarin) for a heart condition like atrial fibrillation, you need to make frequent trips to a lab to be sure that your prothrombin time is in the right range. The advent of new and accurate... Read more

Ever Had Rheumatic Fever? Pay Attention to This Mar 18 11:06pm What happened to a close relative of mine (let's call her Lucy) prompts me to urge anyone who had rheumatic fever as a child to seek an evaluation by a cardiologist. Lucy was in her mid-50s and feeling fine. One morning, while working at her job... Read more

Don't Be Taken in by No-Flush Niacin Mar 16 10:23am Now that statins have proven to be so effective in lowering blood levels of harmful LDL cholesterol, more and more attention is being directed at raising levels of protective HDL cholesterol. Vitamin B3, or niacin, is the most effective drug for... Read more

Women and Heart Disease, Part 2: Know the Latest Recs Mar 14 01:38pm What do I like best about the 2007 update of the American Heart Association’s guidelines for women? For years, the National Cholesterol Education Program has promoted use of the Framingham risk score as the best way to assess a woman’s risk of... Read more

Women and Heart Disease, Part 1: Aspirin Confusion Mar 08 11:27pm The 2007 update of the American Heart Association's guidelines for women has led to some confusion regarding the use of aspirin. My wife read the following statement in an article about the new guidelines in our local newspaper: "The... Read more