A new risk marker for heart diseases

By Sharon See | Posted: 30 July 2011

SINGAPORE: Obesity, high cholesterol and smoking are some well-known factors that can lead to heart disease.

But there is another measure that can push a group of seemingly-healthy people into the high risk category.

Doctors said C-Reactive Protein (CRP) levels can be a more accurate indicator of possible heart diseases.

A screening test that measures CRP in blood can be a more accurate indicator, say doctors.

While such screening tests are not for everyone, those above the age of 40 who go for regular screening may benefit most.

Associate Professor Tai E Shyong, Senior Consultant & Head, Endocrinology, National University Hospital, said: "The Singapore recommendation is that everybody above the age of 40 should have a cholesterol measure, should have a blood pressure measure, should have a blood sugar measure.

"Then you can combine all these information to a score that tells you the chances of having a heart attack the next ten years is five per cent, 15 per cent, 20 per cent. That's the first thing you have to do. You got to do a risk assessment. What we're saying is that those people who're high risk, they need treatment.

"Those people at low risk probably don't need a drug, so there's no decision to be made. It's specifically the people who are in between 10 and 20 per cent. If you measure CRP, and the CRP is high, you might be a little bit more aggressive with drug therapy."

Cholesterol drugs or statins may now be prescribed for those at moderate risk but a high CRP.

Currently, doctors prescribe such drugs known as statins to those with heart disease or who are at high risk.

Studies by European researchers suggests their risk of stroke and heart attack can be cut by about 50 per cent.

However, there are side effects to statins, such as headache, muscle pain, abdominal pain, weakness and nausea.

For this reason, Associate Professor Tai said it is not cost effective for low risk individuals to take statins to lower the risk of heart disease as the side effects may outweigh the benefits.

But he added the best prevention is still to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

"One of the things that is important to remember is that lifestyle modification can bring down CRP. In fact, one of the most effective ways to do it is to lose weight. The other thing that's important is that, if you smoke, you got to stop smoking."

- CNA/fa


Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
A new risk marker for heart diseases

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Stress and Health - two extremes of the scale

Image via WikipediaWhen you are overly stressed, you are low-down unhealthy... so this study finds.

Read on...
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Posted by Staff on Feb 23rd, 2011

A new study by the University of Pittsburgh concludes, people’s emotional response may affect how their body reacts to stress.

To reach that conclusion, researchers had participants in the study make a video recorded speech in a laboratory in front of a panel of judges.

The physical responses of the individuals were monitored during the speech, then they were later asked about the emotions they were feeling while making their speech.

Individuals who reported experiencing high levels of anger and anxiety after delivering their speech had greater increases in interleukin-6, compared to the participants who reportedly remained relatively calm. Interleukin-6 is a marker of inflammation.

The researchers said, these findings may explain why some people who experience high levels of stress also experience chronic health problems.

The findings of the study is published in the February issue of Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

Taken from eCanadanow.com; source article is below:
New Study Concludes High Stress Levels Linked To Chronic Health Issues

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Two hours of TV-watching boosts heart risk

And I thought that TV is bad only for kids?
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Posted: 11 January 2011

WASHINGTON: People who spend more than two hours per day of leisure time watching television or sitting in front of a screen face double the risk of heart disease and higher risk of dying, said a study on Monday.

Researchers said the effect was seen regardless of how much people exercised, indicating that how we choose to spend our free time away from work has a huge impact on our overall health.

"It is all a matter of habit. Many of us have learned to go back home, turn the TV set on and sit down for several hours - it's convenient and easy to do," said Emmanuel Stamatakis, expert in epidemiology and public health at University College London.

"But doing so is bad for the heart and our health in general," said Stamatakis, who along with the other study authors is advocating public health guidelines to warn of the risks of being inactive during non-work hours.

Such warnings are urgent, "especially as a majority of working age adults spend long periods being inactive while commuting or being slouched over a desk or computer," said the study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Researchers studied data from 4,512 adults who took part in the Scottish Health Survey of households.

The information on screen time came from self-reported data about TV or DVD watching, leisure time computer use and playing video games.

When scientists compared people who reported spending less than two hours a day in front of screen-based entertainment to those who spent four or more hours per day, they found a 48 percent higher risk of death from any cause.

In those spending just two or more hours per day in front of screen after work, they also found a 125 percent higher risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack.

"These associations were independent of traditional risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, BMI (body mass index), social class, as well as exercise," the study noted.

However researchers were able to make associations between the levels of inflammation and cholesterol in sedentary people.

"One fourth of the association between screen time and cardiovascular events was explained collectively by C-reactive protein (CRP), body mass index, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol," said the study.

CRP, an indicator of low-grade inflammation, was about twice as high in people who spent more than four hours of free time daily in front of a screen compared to people who spent less than two hours a day.

Stamatakis said he intends to continue to study how prolonged sitting impacts human health and how lifestyle changes could be advocated to reduce the amount of time people spend inactive.

- AFP/de


Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below: Two hours of TV-watching boosts heart risk

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