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Current News
The American Heart Association has provided the following links to keep you aware of current cardiovascular disease and stroke related research and information. These links will be updated often.
(Last updated October 19, 2004.)
Step on it! Fast walking after stroke improves mobility .....
According to a recent study, stroke survivors who walked fast in a rehabilitation program improved their overall walking ability. “This could make a difference in a stroke patient’s ability to walk fast enough to cross the street on time or go shopping,” said lead author Anouk Lamontagne, Ph.D., P.T. “Before rehabilitation, most of our discharged patients stayed indoors and only walked a few steps at a time.” Researchers cautioned that fast walking may not be recommended for survivors with other co-existing diseases such as heart disease or exercise-exacerbated muscle or joint pain The study was published in the Oct. 8 issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. Find
out more.
Heart disease risk factors rooted in childhood .....
Lifestyle factors that increase the risk of heart disease in adults begin to take hold in childhood, and possibly even before birth, according to two recent studies. Collectively, the findings suggest a need to start heart disease prevention efforts early in life, rather than after risk factors have become well established. “The impact of these data may be far reaching,” said lead author Sarah de Ferranti, M.D., M.P.H. The study was published in the Oct. 12 issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. Find
out more.
Simple blood test for kidney function predicts heart attack death .....
A biomarker called cystatin C, which measures kidney function, predicts which people are less likely to survive a heart attack, according to research published in the Oct. 12 issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. In the study, patients with the highest levels of cystatin C in their blood after they had a type of heart attack called non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (ACS), had “a more than 55 percent cumulative probability of death versus about a 7 percent probability of death among patients with lowest levels of cystatin C,” said lead author Tomas Jernberg, M.D., Ph.D. Find
out more.
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