Heart Disease & Stroke

Medical apps are getting pretty good at monitoring the heart. The question is what to do with that data.

You Can Monitor Your Heart With A Smartphone. But Should You?

5:00am October 15, 2016

by Erin Ross

Smartphones can be used to test for atrial fibrillation, a common heart condition that can cause strokes. But it's still not clear who should use this emerging technology.

The condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM, is inherited and can be a killer. But some of the genetic mutations once thought linked to the illness are actually harmless, geneticists say.

Study Of Sudden Cardiac Death Exposes Limits Of Genetic Testing

8:57pm August 17, 2016

by Richard Harris

Some genetic tests for a common cause of sudden heart failure can be wrong, researchers say, because the underlying science didn't take into account racial diversity.

A chronic shortage of donor hearts places doctors in an ethical dilemma.

Should Doctors Game The Transplant Wait List To Help Their Patients?

6:13pm July 24, 2016

by Matthew Movsesian

A cardiologist knows how to game the system to get his patients bumped up the list for a heart transplant by giving them care they don't need. Is that being a good doctor — or a moral failure?

Exercise physiologist Courtney Conners checks Mario Oikonomides' vital signs before his cardiac rehab workout at the University of Virginia Health System clinic.

Cardiac Rehab Saves Lives. So Why Don't More Heart Patients Sign Up?

10:39am July 18, 2016

by Julie Appleby

Research shows exercise-based cardiac rehab programs help heart patients heal faster and live longer. But fewer than a third take part. Time and cost are the main barriers, doctors and patients say.

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Linda Johns, lower row center, in the first moments of her heart attack. She's with fellow authors Kristen Kittscher, Kirby Larson, Suzanne Selfors, Sara Nickerson and Jennifer Longo at Queen Anne Book Company in Seattle.

Guess Which Woman Is Having A Heart Attack (Hint: You Can't)

5:00am June 04, 2016

by Linda Johns

Linda Johns was in the midst of a presentation at a Seattle bookstore when she suddenly felt intense flulike symptoms. But it wasn't flu. It was a heart attack, a type that hits healthy young women.

Tracy Solomon Clark didn't realize that the shortness of breath and dizziness she felt at age 44 was actually serious heart disease.

Hidden Heart Disease Is The Top Health Threat For U.S. Women

7:07am May 30, 2016

by Patti Neighmond

Many women and even doctors underestimate a woman's heart attack risk, research shows, as they focus on weight and breast health instead. Tiny damaged arteries in the heart may not show up in scans.

What's Good For The Heart Is Good For The Brain

5:38pm May 02, 2016

by Patti Neighmond

Choosing a heart-healthy lifestyle can help protect your brain as you age, research suggests. And it's not just memory skills that benefit. Problem-solving abilities and judgment are preserved, too.

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The pressure is a little high. Now what?

Health & Safety

Why It's Getting Harder To Decide When To Treat High Blood Pressure

10:11am April 13, 2016

by Harlan Krumholz

Decisions about high blood pressure have gotten thornier over the past couple of years. There's no consensus on when to start treatment with drugs. The latest evidence adds to the confusion.

One version of the Fitbit, a popular fitness tracker.

A Fitbit Saved His Life? Well, Maybe

4:56pm April 11, 2016

by Alison Kodjak

A man shows up in the emergency room with a speedy, irregular heartbeat, but can't say when it first went awry. No problem. The ER doctors just checked the phone records of his fitness tracker.

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Fatty plaque (shown here in yellow) blocks about 60 percent of this coronary artery's width. The increasing thickness of artery walls is just one factor that can increase vulnerability to a heart attack or stroke.

Possible Heart Benefits Of Taking Estrogen Get Another Look

8:05pm March 30, 2016

by Rae Ellen Bichell

Evidence has ping-ponged over the decades on the effects of hormone therapy on a woman's arteries. The latest study suggests a brief stint on hormones might be helpful — if given at the right time.

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