A new study from the University of Adelaide shows the parents of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are more likely to have some form of cardiovascular disease. PCOS is a hormonal disorder affecting about 10% of women of reproductive age. It is one of the most common endocrine disorders in women and a leading cause of infertility. The study shows mothers of women with PCOS are more likely to have any form of cardiovascular disease, and almost twice as likely to have high blood pressure, than mothers of other women...

Differences in regional hospital readmission rates for heart failure are more closely tied to the availability of care and socioeconomics than to hospital performance or patients' degree of illness, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Quality of Care & Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2012. U.S. regional readmission ...

There are discrepancies between the recommendations for the management of cardiovascular risk factors and their implementation in clinical practice. In the latest issue of Deutsches Arzteblatt International, Christof Prugger and his fellow authors present the results of the EUROASPIRE I, II and III surveys in the Munster region of Germany ...

Patients with mitral regurgitation, a type of valvular heart disease common in the elderly, are living longer after surgery, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Surgery that replaces or repairs the mitral valve remains the definitive therapy for symptomatic mitral regurgitation, but ...

Hospitals that perform expensive, invasive cardiovascular procedures on a disproportionate number of patients are more costly for all heart failure patients, including those treated with noninvasive methods, according to a new Yale study. Most heart failure patients are cared for without the use of invasive procedures like cardiac catheterization, notes ...

New research from the University at Buffalo suggests that cardiologists may have a new way to identify patients who are at the highest risk of sudden cardiac arrest, and the most likely to benefit from receiving an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD). ICDs are used to prevent sudden cardiac arrest in ...

A traditional treatment for heart failure appears to be equally protective in preventing death or hospitalization among African-American patients, as compared to white patients, according to a study at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) are standard heart failure treatments. However, ...

Cardiac catheterization - an invasive diagnostic procedure that allows doctors to see the vessels and arteries leading to the heart and its chambers - is performed thousands of times in the United States each year and, in some cases, can be the best method to diagnose heart problems. Still, the ...