Summer 2016

Eric Barr nearly died as the result of three strokes from an infected valve replacement. A professor of acting, he wrote and starred in a one-man show about his experience.

There’s good evidence that keeping a food diary helps people lose weight. And apps make it easier than ever.

Heart problems come early and often for people with familial hypercholesterolemia. Early diagnosis and treatment make a big difference.

Dancer Lindsay Davis kept collapsing during ballet class. She didn’t know she had a congenital heart defect till it almost killed her. Now she wants to save others.

Heart disease was never something I worried about much. However, when my father died at 72 during open-heart surgery, I became less cavalier and much more concerned about my own potential for a heart attack.

Many people have high blood pressure (HBP) for years without knowing it. Generally, there are no symptoms, but when HBP goes untreated, it damages arteries and vital organs throughout your body. That’s why it is often called the “silent killer.”

In August 2013, Gabby woke in the middle of the night with severe heartburn and feeling like there was a huge weight on her shoulders. Much worse than symptoms she’d had the previous few weeks.

When you do occasionally indulge, there are things you can do to reduce the amount of saturated fat from the meat you eat.

Today’s children are more involved with screens than any previous generation, and many schools have eliminated recess and physical education. Getting kids away from their screens and moving their bodies can be challenging.

In a study presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2015, researchers reported that multiple short bursts of high-intensity exercise did more to improve some risk factors for some patients newly-diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes than did 30 minutes of sustained, lower-intensity exercise.

The AHA guidelines currently recommend a systolic pressure of less than 140 millimeters of mercury for most adults with high blood pressure. But doctors say new findings presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2015 support a steeper goal of 120.

Sex differences in type 2 diabetes affect cardiovascular disease risk.

Sugar-sweetened drinks linked to increased visceral fat.

When pharmacists and physicians work together, high blood pressure can be lowered for little cost.

Social and practical barriers keep heart failure patients from benefits of exercise therapy.

Heart failure patients are often hospitalized. This third installment in our series on heart failure looks at managing self-care to minimize just how often re-hospitalizations happen.