How the Road to Menopause Affects Your Heart

Cleveland HeartLab heart attack and stroke, inflammation, lifestyle habits, women's health

If you’re getting close to menopause, you’re probably not looking forward to annoying symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats. But you may not realize that there’s a bigger health concern: a higher risk for heart disease. Doctors have known for a while that the risk for heart attacks and strokes in women after menopause is greater than for women …

Heart Risks and Pregnancy

Cleveland HeartLab blood pressure, diabetes, heart attack and stroke, women's health

More and more, researchers are finding that pregnancy health and related factors in young women are connected to the future heart health of older women.  The latest review of 32 studies is the most powerful evidence yet. It is called an “umbrella study,” because it combines the results of many other review studies. Umbrella studies are considered among the highest …

A New Role for Statins: Lower Dementia Risk

CHL Marketing Dementia, memory problems, women's health

If you’re considering taking a “statin” drug—or you are on one already—you may have questions. These drugs are very good at lowering cholesterol and can reduce the risk of dying from heart disease. But there have been reports of memory problems with the medications. In 2012, the FDA updated its safety information for statins to include memory loss and confusion …

Young women, heart attacks and how to prevent them

Cleveland Heartlab blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, diet, exercise, heart attack and stroke, lifestyle habits, Stroke, women's health

Here’s some good news about heart disease, the number one killer of Americans:  the rate of heart attacks and strokes is dropping and has been for decades. That means you are less likely to develop these problems than in the past. But there’s bad news, too: heart attacks are striking more young people, particularly younger women. New research shows that …

Heart Disease and Menopause: Does the Risk Start Earlier?

Cleveland Heartlab heart attack and stroke, women's health

When it comes to menopause and heart disease risk, timing could be everything. Doctors have long known that women face a greater risk for heart disease after menopause, the cessation of menstrual periods. But reporting in the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville recently put a new timestamp on the process. The …

A Surprising Heart Disease Risk Factor for Women – Especially Younger Women

Cleveland Heartlab heart attack and stroke, inflammation, women's health

Women with endometriosis—the growth of uterine tissue outside the uterus—tend to focus their concerns on health problems such as debilitating pelvic pain and infertility. But new research suggests that women with the condition may also face another more deadly health threat: heart disease. Endometriosis, which strikes women of reproductive age, particularly in the later childbearing years, is characterized by the …

Many Young Women Don’t Know They’re at Risk Until a Heart Attack Occurs: Here’s Why and How to Protect Yourself

Cleveland Heartlab heart attack and stroke, lifestyle habits, women's health

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is on the rise among younger women, yet many of them are unaware of their risk until they actually suffer a heart attack, according to a Yale School of Public Health study published in the November issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC). Only 53 percent of the young heart attack survivors studied …

Hormone Replacement Therapy: Helpful or Harmful to Women’s Hearts?

Cleveland Heartlab heart attack and stroke, women's health

The cardiovascular effects of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) vary depending on the age at which women begin taking it after menopause, according to a new systematic review published in The Cochrane Library. The researchers analyzed 19 randomized clinical trials involving 40,410 women, with treatment times ranging from seven months to more than ten years. Overall, the review found that HRT …