Some Elderly Heart Failure Patients Get Little Help From Meds, Study Finds

(HealthDay News) -- Elderly people suffering from a type of heart disease called diastolic heart failure do not seem to benefit from the commonly prescribed heart failure drugs, researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles report.

As the population in the United States ages, more elderly people are being treated for heart failure. But even though they make up the majority of those treated for the disease, little is known about the effectiveness of treatment, researchers say.

"We really don't have many data on heart failure patients above the age of 80," said lead researcher Dr. Ernst R. Schwarz, medical director of the Cardiac Support Program and co-director of the Heart Transplant Program at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute.

In their study, the researchers looked at elderly people with diastolic dysfunction. In this condition, the systolic function of the heart is normal. "That means their pump function is normal, but their relaxation is impaired," Schwarz explained. Read more...

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Coffee, Sex, Smog Can All Trigger Heart Attack, Study Finds

(HealthDay News) -- A major analysis of data on potential triggers for heart attacks finds that many of the substances and activities Americans indulge in every day -- coffee, alcohol, sex, even breathing -- can all help spur an attack.

Because so many people are exposed to dirty air, air pollution while stuck in traffic topped the list of potential heart attack triggers, with the researchers pegging 7.4 percent of heart attacks to roadway smog.

But coffee was also linked to 5 percent of attacks, booze to another 5 percent, and pot smoking to just under 1 percent, the European researchers found.

Among everyday activities, exerting yourself physically was linked to 6.2 percent of heart attacks, indulging in a heavy meal was estimated to trigger 2.7 percent, and sex was linked to 2.2 percent.

The researchers stressed that the risk for heart attack from any one of these factors to a particular person at any given time is extremely small. But spread out over the population, they can add up. Read more...

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Judging When Alcohol's Effects Wear Off Not Easy, Study Finds

(HealthDay News) -- The way that alcohol impairs reasoning and problem-solving abilities may explain why some people feel they're fit to drive even though they're drunk, researchers say.

The study looked at how cognitive abilities, which affect thinking skills, are affected during both rising and declining levels of blood alcohol concentration (BAC). BAC is a measurement used to determine intoxication, usually for legal or medical purposes.

In the laboratory, participants consumed alcoholic drinks over an eight-hour period to bring their BAC up to 0.10 percent and then waited for their levels to return to a normal BAC.

As their BAC levels rose and then fell during the experiment, the participants were asked to describe their feelings of drunkenness and they were assessed on their ability to navigate a hidden maze learning task on a computer. Read more...

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