Heart disease

15% of common strokes occur in adolescents and young adults

A team of researcher including an Indian origin has suggested that 15 percent of the most common type of strokes occur in adolescents and young adults, and more young people are showing risk factors for such strokes.

Co-author neurologist Jose Biller of Loyola University Medical Center said that the impact of strokes in this age group is devastating to the adolescent or young adult, their families and society.

About 85 percent of all strokes are ischemic, meaning they are caused by blockages that block blood flow to the brain. And more young people have risk factors for ischemic strokes.

Those risks include high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, abnormal cholesterol levels, congenital heart disease and smoking.

Strokes in young people have a disproportionally large economic impact, because they can disable patients before their most productive years. And while coping with the shock of having a stroke, “younger survivors may be dealing with relationships, careers and raising children – issues that require additional awareness and resources,” the consensus report said.

Biller, one of the nation’s leading experts on stroke in young people, is second author of the consensus report. Biller is chair of the Department of Neurology of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. First author of the report is Aneesh Singhal, MD of Massachusetts General Hospital.

The study has been published in the journal Neurology.

 

How to keep your kidneys healthy

caring for your kidneys is very important because when it becomes damaged, the waste products and fluid get assembled in the body and can cause several illnesses leading to fatal conditions later in life.

Kidneys are essential in the urinary system and serve the body as a natural filter of the blood. They remove wastes and excess fluid thus cleansing your blood in your body. Kidneys maintain the balance of salt and minerals in your blood and help regulate blood pressure.

Taking care of your kidneys will help you to take care of the rest of your body. Kidneys are two small organs located at the rear of the abdominal cavity in the retroperitoneum performing several life-sustaining roles.

Therefore, caring for your kidneys is very important because when it becomes damaged, the waste products and fluid get assembled in the body and can cause several illnesses leading to fatal conditions later in life.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD), also known as chronic renal disease is dangerous and is characterised by a steady loss in renal function over time.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is classified into five stages with stage 1 being the mildest and usually causing few symptoms and stage 5 being a severe illness with poor life expectancy if untreated. The last stage is also called end stage renal disease (ESRD) or end stage renal failure (ESRF) where a patient needs dialysis or transplants to stay alive.
The most common causes of CKD are diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and a family history of kidney failure. Other risks include: obesity, autoimmune diseases, urinary tract infections and systemic infections.

The National Kidney Foundation of India, an NGO, ranked kidney diseases as third amongst life-threatening diseases (after Cancer and Cardiac ailments) in the country. It also estimates that 100 people in a million succumb to kidney ailments and around 90,000 kidney transplants are required annually in India.

Below are some tips to help you keep your kidneys healthy:

– Follow a healthy diet by choosing foods that are healthy for your heart such as fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy foods, etc.
– Do not smoke.
– Limit your alcohol intake.
– Exercise regularly.
– Maintain a healthy weight to avoid overweight.
– Reduce salt in your diet.
– Keep your blood pressure and cholesterol under control.
– Do not overuse over-the-counter painkillers or NSAIDs.
– Drink plenty of fluids/water
– Seek medical help or talk to your doctor if you think you are at risk of for CKD.

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/news/health/health-news/how-to-keep-your-kidneys-healthy_23698.html

BMI has no role in cardiovascular disease in a healthy woman

obese women have a window of opportunity to lose weight and avoid developing a metabolic disorder, which would increase their CVD risk.

Metabolically healthy women have same cardiovascular disease risk regardless of their having different BMIs, according to a study.

Dr Soren Skott Andersen and Dr Michelle Schmiegelow from Denmark findings in more than 260,000 subjects suggest that obese women have a window of opportunity to lose weight and avoid developing a metabolic disorder, which would increase their CVD risk.

The study used Danish national health databases and followed 261,489 women who had given birth during 2004-2009 with no prior history of cardiovascular disease. The women were divided into four categories according to their pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) and presence of metabolic disorders (present/not present). The women`s mean age was 31 years.

The women were followed for an average of 5 years following childbirth. Discharge diagnoses and data on cause of death were used to determine if the women had a heart attack, a stroke, or died.

The researchers found that being overweight ( BMI=25 kg/m2) but metabolically healthy was not associated with an increased risk of a heart attack, stroke or a combination of heart attack/stroke/death in comparison with normal weight, metabolically healthy women.

The investigators found that the metabolically unhealthy, overweight women had an almost 7-fold increased risk of heart attack and a 4-fold increased risk of stroke.