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Women don’t fare as well as men when it comes to getting treatment for coronary artery disease. Social and cultural factors may help explain this discrepancy. Women tend to downplay their symptoms and delay seeking treatment. But health care providers may be contributing to this problem, too A major underlying issue may be the underrepresentation of women in clinical trials of heart-related conditions.
Long touted as beneficial for heart health, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) is more complicated than experts once thought. Some forms of HDL grab cholesterol from the bloodstream and other tissues and transport it to the liver, where it’s recycled or disposed, but other types are neutral or perform the opposite action. Most drugs that raise HDL don’t seem to prevent heart disease, and very high HDL levels may even be linked to a higher risk.
Too much or too little potassium can harm the heart. Diet, medications, and kidney function can affect the body’s potassium level. Dietary potassium helps keep blood pressure in a normal range, but most Americans don’t consume enough of this mineral. However, people taking medications that raise potassium levels—which includes certain drugs to treat high blood pressure and heart failure—should avoid salt substitutes made with potassium chloride.
People with high triglyceride levels may be candidates for icosapent ethyl (Vascepa), a drug made from highly purified fish oil. It lowers triglycerides and, when taken with a statin, lowers the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death from cardiac causes.
A 2022 study found that women are more likely than men to have “generalized” stroke symptoms such as weakness and confusion, in addition to classic signs such as speech or movement problems.
A 2022 study found that pregnant women who ate a diet rich in foods typical of a Mediterranean-style eating plan were significantly less likely to develop the potentially serious pregnancy complication pre-eclampsia.
People taking antidepressants may have many reasons for wanting to discontinue the drug. They may feel they no longer need the medication or decide they cannot tolerate side effects. A doctor should guide the process of tapering off antidepressants. The chance of depression recurrence is higher for people who take antidepressants long-term and stop abruptly. Withdrawal symptoms can make the tapering process uncomfortable, but it’s generally not dangerous.
Supervised exercise therapy (SET) for peripheral artery disease (PAD) requires pushing through pain while walking to improve blood flow through narrowed blood vessels in the legs. SET can work as effectively as surgical procedures to improve the calf pain and cramping of PAD. SET is a treadmill-based program overseen by clinicians at a health care facility. Home-based SET can work comparably at improving symptoms, but only if PAD patients walk at a faster pace and continue the regimen long-term.
Morning back and neck pain are often triggered by sleep position or poor choice of mattress or pillow. Certain sleep poses, especially stomach-down, can lead to pain by creating misalignment of the spine and other areas of the body. To prevent back and neck pain, people can switch sleep positions frequently, align all body areas when shifting positions, use firmer pillows, consider buying a new mattress, and place a foam wedge under the pelvis or between the legs while sleeping.
A 2022 study found that women with long COVID showed more symptoms than men, including shortness of breath and fatigue.