Cardiovascular Disease Articles

New research suggests that a woman’s level of physical activity is a better sign than body weight of existing coronary artery disease and future heart problems. The study, which appeared in the September 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (2004; 292 [10], 1179–87), examined 906 women who had chest pain, suspected narrowing of the coronary arteries, o...

Although many women worry about their risk of getting breast cancer, heart disease is actually the leading killer of females in America. Not only does heart disease kill more women than men each year (Thom et al. 2006), but females who survive a cardiac event fare much worse than their male counterparts (Blomkalns et al. 2005). Yet many women and their physicians fail to recognize the toll that...

How long has it been since you’ve practiced your cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills? Recent findings show that the majority of people untrained in CPR, and even many trained emergency personnel, do not push with enough force. The research, detailed in the June issue of Cardiovascular Engineering, tested 104 adults untrained in CPR and 83 trained firefighters. Find...

The results of a new international study may support your efforts to design programs for clients who have experienced heart failure (and who have a doctor’s release). The “largest randomized clinical trial of exercise training ever performed” is now underway, involving 83 sites that will test 3,000 people to determine whether exercise is good for heart failure patients. <...

They say that 50 is the new 30, but that may not hold true for all your Baby Boomer clients. In fact, more than 50% of Americans 55 or older already have some degree of heart disease, according to the latest calculations from the American Heart Association (2006). Worse still, this percentage is expected to grow significantly in the future as the Baby Boomer generation nears retirement ag...

Leading cardiologists, including Dean Ornish, MD, have helped increase the popularity of yoga by touting its ability to assist in preventing and managing heart disease. Now investigators at the Center for the Study of Complementary and Alternative Therapies at the ...

A recent meta-analysis of research on different types of nuts indicates that almonds, pecans, peanuts and walnuts can lower cholesterol levels. This finding confirms the results of previous studies, which linked nuts to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and improved longevity. Appearing in the September 2005 issue of the Journal of Nutrition, the study reviewed ...

News stories are filled with incidents of cardiac arrest after earthquakes, fires and other traumatic events. What has puzzled researchers is that sometimes the victims do not have underlying heart disease. A recent study, published in Psychosomatic Medicine (2005; [67], 359–65), suggests that emotional stress may trigger unexplained, or what is referred to as “idiopath...

Gaining weight during childhood apparently takes a heavy toll on future heart health. According to a report in the November 23, 2004, issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, obesity that starts in childhood is a consistent predictor of an overdeveloped left ventricle of the heart in early adulthood. The researchers followed 467 children for an average o...

RESEARCH By Ralph La Forge, MS E x e rc i s e a s Medicine: Convincing Evidence Booth, F.W. et al. 2002. Waging war on physical inactivity: using modern molecular ammunition against an ancient enemy. Journal of Applied Physiology, 93, 3-30. Study. Exercise scientists from the University of Missouri at Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and East Carolina University in Gree...