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Cardiology experts divided on hidden killer high-risk plaque
More people are likely to be diagnosed with a condition that heightens the risk of heart attack and stroke, thanks to a controversial broadening of the definition...
Study links anti-depressants to higher risk of sudden cardiac death
Anti-depressants could increase the risk of sudden cardiac death up to five-fold, suggest Danish researchers, who found patients taking the medications for between one...
Australian man survives 100 days with artificial heart
An Australian man with heart failure has become the first person in the world to walk out of a hospital with a total artificial...
People with heart issues may play competitive sports, new guidance says
Athletes with cardiovascular abnormalities who were previously considered ineligible for competitive sports participation, may take part quite safely, new evidence indicates.
A joint scientific statement...
Maddening cough had an unexpected cause
Despite seeing multiple doctors and underdoing various treatments over the course of a year, an American woman’s hacking, persistent cough was never correctly diagnosed...
Study flags risks of taking seniors off blood thinners
Clinicians often worry about prescribing blood thinning medications to older patients because of concerns about falls and major bleeding, but research in England suggests...
Salt substitutes reduce recurrent stroke and death risk – Chinese study
The progression of evidence of linking high salt intake with cardiovascular conditions has leapfrogged, from studies showing a reduction in consumption associated with lower...
One in five – and more women – get infections after heart surgery
One in five older adults will develop an infection up to six months after heart surgery – and women, in particular, have a 60%...
Women have less chance of surviving cardiac arrest – Swiss study
A study in Switzerland has found that women are at a huge disadvantage when it comes to cardiac arrest, being less likely to be...
Why older patients need a different treatment for heart conditions
Old hearts are physiologically different, which calls for different treatment regimes for cardiovascular conditions for older people, with recent research indicating that some frequently...
Mitral clip implant first for Charlotte Maxeke Hospital
Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital has become the first government health facility in Gauteng to perform the MitraClip implant, a procedure designed to treat...
Carnivore diet leads to yellow nodules on man’s body
In an unusual case, a trio of American cardiologists, two at Tampa General Hospital and the third at the University of Texas MD Anderson...
Can you die of a broken heart?
Heartbreak – a common trope in fiction – is called takotsubo syndrome in the real world, but is relatively rare, accounting for only about...
AHA advisory supports endovascular thrombectomy for stroke treatment
Results of six recent trials of endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) for patients with large-core ischaemic stroke (LCIS) provide strong evidence for the benefit of this...
Swedish study links some HRT medicines to higher cardio risks
Researchers who analysed almost a million women in Sweden have found those taking certain HRT tablets suffered higher rates of heart complications and blood...
Pumps help human hearts to self-repair at higher rate – Swedish study
After severe heart failure, the ability of the heart to heal by forming new cells is very low. However, according to a recent study,...
Elective ops too soon after heart attack risky for seniors – US study
After a heart attack, ageing adults face double or triple the risk of life-threatening complications – like a debilitating stroke or another heart attack...
Virtual hearts a game-changer for cardiac surgery
Twice a week, scores of people gather at Boston Children’s Hospital in the US to plan the most difficult cardiac surgeries. They analyse three-dimensional,...
Risk of heart attacks, deaths, for three years after Covid – US study
A large study has suggested that Covid-19 could be a powerful risk factor for heart attacks and strokes for as long as three years...
GLP-1 drugs may protect brain health – US review
Drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic (semaglutide) and Zepbound (tirzepatide) may offer benefits that go beyond weight loss in people with type 2 diabetes or...
Heart defect risk for babies conceived through IVF – Swedish study
Babies conceived through certain fertility treatments, including in vitro fertilisation, are more likely to have major heart defects, although cases are still rare, researchers...
Omega-3 cuts aggression by nearly 30% – US meta-analysis
A recent meta-analysis suggests that omega-3, available as dietary supplements via fish oil capsules and thought to help with mental and physical well-being, could...
Alcohol consumption linked to rising cancer cases – US study
Adults under 50 have been developing breast cancer and colorectal cancer at increasingly higher rates over the past few decades, and alcohol use may...
MIND diet slows cognitive decline for women, black people – US study
Sticking to the MIND diet for 10 years produced a small but significant decrease in the risk of developing thinking, concentration and memory problems,...
Common medical practices that older patients should question
Some treatments and procedures become routine despite lacking strong evidence to show that they’re beneficial – and recent studies have called a few of...
Weekend sleep ‘catch-up’ may lower heart disease risk – Chinese study
Modern lifestyles mean many people are sleep-deprived on work or school days, and try to “catch-up” with compensatory sleep on weekends – which, shows...
Low-calorie sweetener raises blood clot risk – US study
A small study has found that the sugar substitute, erythritol, makes blood more susceptible to clotting, and may explain why it has been linked...
Children’s Cardiac Foundation of Africa saves its 100th life
The Children’s Cardiac Foundation of Africa (TCCFA), which since 2019 has been offering lifesaving procedures to South African and African children suffering from congenital...
Plant-based meat alternatives less risky for CVD, Canadian study confirms
Studies comparing the impact of plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs) and animal-based meats consistently suggest that the former improve cardiovascular risk factors – which appears...
Why major HIV and statins finding may not apply in South Africa
One of the biggest stories in HIV in the past year was that statins could help reduce cardiovascular disease in people with the virus....
Atrial fibrillation tied to higher risk of stroke and dementia
After examining data on more than 5m people from British GP practices, researchers from the University of Birmingham found that patients with a common...
SA heart groups urge stricter testing to prevent ASCVD
SA heart groups are calling for stricter low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) targets and lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) testing to be incorporated into routine practice for preventing...
New SAMRC chief aims to ‘restore trust in science’
Professor Ntobeko Ntusi, who takes over the hot seat at the South African Medical Research Council in July, may be soft-spoken but he is unafraid...
Rush of anger may trigger heart attack – US study
In efforts to dig deeper into a previously observed link between anger and heart attacks, researchers from Columbia University Irving Medical Centre, Yale School...
Pollution linked to stress, heart disease deaths – US study
A study in more than 3 000 US counties, involving more than 315m residents, has suggested that air pollution is linked with stress and...
AFib rising among younger people – US study
Atrial fibrillation (AFib) – an abnormal heart rhythm that affects the heart’s upper chambers and can increase the risk of stroke and heart failure...
FDA heart pump recall after link to deaths and injuries
A pair of heart devices linked to hundreds of injuries and at least 14 deaths has received the FDA’s most serious recall, the agency announced...
Call to re-assess growing burden of AF and its consequences
Heart failure, not stroke, is the most common complication of atrial fibrillation – which affects 37m people worldwide – say experts, calling for the...
No benefits from 'outdated' beta-blockers after heart attack
Swedish researchers have described as outdated the standard practice of prescribing beta-blockers after a heart attack to lessen the risk of a future cardiovascular...
Vaping raises heart failure risk – US study
Vaping may cause a “substantial” increase in the risk of heart failure, research has suggested, with scientists saying that more studies are linking the...