![]() Vest says this is another area the team at Tufts Medical Center can make a huge difference in for patients. Medications for heart failure can be quite costly, and Dr. Within the last year or two, both dapagliflozin as will empagliflozin.” It’s quite remarkable, even in the non-diabetics. Udelson, “and they found very favorable effects in reducing progression to worsening heart failure and the risk of death. “Massive trials were then conducted using patients who already had heart failure, about half of whom were not diabetic,” said Dr. Empagliflozin (sold under the brand name Jardiance) and Dapagliflozin (sold under the brand name Farxiga) actually lowered the risk of heart attack and new onset of heart failure in patients with diabetes. Doctors were surprised at the results of two of the first diabetes meds to go through this new protocol. This caused the FDA to say that any new diabetes drugs would need to be put through a rigorous cardiovascular outcomes study to make sure the drug isn’t harmful. ![]() In 2008, there had been concern that some diabetes medications increased your risk of heart attack. In addition to maintaining a healthy weight, the AHA recommends you stop smoking, eat healthier, exercise, manage your blood pressure, control your cholesterol and reduce blood sugar levels. You can also look at the American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple Seven for other ways to cut your risk. For those with less weight to lose, even 5 or 10 pounds through diet and exercise can significantly improve our cardiac health.” “These studies show that the risk of heart failure development is about halved for the individuals who pursued surgical weight loss, showing that obesity is a modifiable factor and those who lose weight substantially lower their risk. “Five studies have compared adults with severe obesity who had bariatric surgery compared to patients with obesity who did not,” said Dr. Vest says we can all aim to maintain a normal-range weight throughout life. The good news is that there are very tangible things we can all do to help prevent heart disease associated with an unhealthy lifestyle. “Which is why seeing a cardiologist as soon as possible is recommended.” What can you do to prevent heart failure? “Ideally it takes an organized disease management program to do that, and those don’t necessarily exist everywhere, Dr. He adds that cardiac care is quite complex and treating heart failure involves managing at least 4 different medications and steadily increasing the dose over several weeks. “When you look at cardiology practices or hospitals and survey thousands of patients, you find the percentage of people on the right drugs, or the right doses of the right drugs, is much lower than it should be.” “The dissemination of drugs and devices aggressively treating patients in the community is suboptimal,” said Dr. However, there’s another issue that can be harder to pinpoint. Udelson adds that aging alone doesn’t mean you are destined to suffer from heart failure, but the likelihood does increase as we age. It’s simply a side effect of better medicine.” Dr. Years later they become heart failure patients. The other is that more people are surviving heart attacks and myocardial infraction episodes today than ever before. “The aging population is definitely one reason. James Udelson Chief of Cardiology at Tufts Medical Center. “There are two things I believe are behind the rising numbers of patients with heart failure,” said Dr. Lifestyle features such as consuming too much salt, smoking, abusing alcohol and drugs can increase your risk of heart failure, as does failing to adhere to prescription medications you may have been prescribed to help ward off heart failure. “There are also conditions which put people at particular risk including hypertension, diabetes and obesity, or having a genetic variant that is associated with cardiomyopathy in family members.” Amanda Vest, Director of Tufts Medical Center’s Cardiac Transplantation Program. “The very commonly quoted statistic is that for US adults aged 40, the subsequent lifetime risk of developing heart failure is 1 in 5,” said Dr. The World Heart Federation points to 4 main causes of heart failure: Heart failure is a complex syndrome which affects the pumping action of the heart muscle and results in an inability to maintain proper blood flow throughout your body. What is heart failure and what causes it? ![]() We will take a look at what’s to blame for this increase as well as what you can do to help decrease the odds that you will suffer from heart failure. Cardiologists have referred to heart failure as a “global pandemic” - it’s one that affects approximately 26 million people worldwide, and though there have been incredible advances in cardiac care over the last few decades, the number of cases continues to climb.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |