Study: Epinephrine shot for cardiac arrest risky
(CBS News) - Although pop culture has shown time and time again that a shot of epinephrine (adrenaline) can help save the life of someone in cardiac arrest, researchers are now saying it may do more harm than good in the long run.
A new study, which will be published March 21 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, took a look at epinephrine use in people going into cardiac arrest before they arrived at the hospital. Data showed that patients who were given epinephrine were less likely to survive a month, and if they were to survive, were more likely to have neurological problems.
PICTURES: 12 simple ways to prevent a heart attack
PICTURES: 17 worst habits for your heart
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Dizzy when you stand up? Heart failure a risk
(CBS News) Ever feel lightheaded or dizzy from standing up too quickly? According to a new study, you might be more likely to suffer from heart failure.
That lightheaded rush some people experience when they go from lying or sitting to standing up is caused by a rapid drop in blood pressure, and is known as orthostatic hypotension.
For the study, researchers at the University of North Carolina tested blood pressures of more than 12,000 healthy adults when they were lying down and after they stood up. Orthostatic hypotension was defined by whether a person's systolic blood pressure (the number on top) fell by 20 points or more after standing up, or if the diastolic blood pressure (bottom number) fell by 10 points or more.
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Worked to death? 10 jobs that may hurt your heart
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Although most people don't think of heart disease as an occupational hazard, certain characteristics of your job may be upping your risk for heart attacks and other problems.
Some work-related factors - such as sitting long hours at a desk, stress, irregular work hours, and exposure to certain chemicals or pollution - could also harm your heart.
From our friends at Health.com, click through to see some jobs and job characteristics that could be upping your risk - and what to do about it.
More from Health.com: 10 heart attack risk factors
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Red meat every day raises risk of dying, study shows
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(CBS News) Eating a diet heavy in red meat has been tied to added risk for cancer, diabetes and heart disease. It shouldn't be surprising then that a new study found eating red meat every day appears to increase a person's chances of dying from a chronic disease by 12 percent.
PICTURES: 10 Ways Meat Can Make You Sick
For the study, published online in the March 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, Harvard researchers analyzed data from two dietary studies that tracked nearly 37,700 men and 83,600 women for 28 years.
The researchers found overall that there were 23,900 deaths, including 5,900 from heart disease and nearly 9,500 from cancer. When the researchers looked closely at dietary habits, red meat took the cake when it came to raising death risk.
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Study: Women's stroke risk reduced with daily drink
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(CBS News) More than 425,000 women suffer a stroke each year - that's about 55,000 more strokes than men suffer, according to the National Stroke Association. A new study says an alcoholic drink a day might be one way women can reduce their risk.
PICTURES: 14 "facts" about drinking: Are you misinformed?
For the study, researchers looked at data on nearly 84,000 women who were part of another study in which they had to provide information on their daily diets, lifestyle habits, and how much they drank. All the women had no evidence of cancer and heart disease when the study started, and were enrolled in the study for 26 years.
Continue »Surgeon General: Work needed to stop teen smoking
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(CBS/AP) Far too many teens smoke cigarettes, according to a new report from the U.S. Surgeon General, and more measures like increasing cigarette taxes and creating smoking bands are needed.
PICTURES: Teen smoking: 12 states with highest ratesPICTURES: Blowing smoke: Vintage ads of doctors endorsing tobacco
Nearly one in five high school-aged teens smokes, a rate that's down from earlier decades but the rate of decline has slowed, the report showed.
Continue »Kids with concussions can be affected year later
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(CBS/AP) CHICAGO - Children with even relatively mild concussions can have persistent attention and memory problems a year after their injuries, according to a study that helps identify which kids may be most at risk for lingering symptoms.
New technology could change how traumatic brain injuries are diagnosed
Concussions landing more kids in ER: What explains trend?
Soccer study ties "heading" to brain damage
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FDA adds diabetes, memory loss warnings to statins
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(CBS/AP) The Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it's making "important safety" changes" to warning labels on statin medications. The cholesterol-lowering drugs that are taken by tens of millions of Americans will carry new safety warnings about an increased risk for memory loss and diabetes among users.
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"We want health care professionals and patients to have the most current information on the risks of statins, but also to assure them that these medications continue to provide an important health benefit of lowering cholesterol," Dr. Mary Parks of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a written statement.
Heart attacks: Fewer women feel chest pain, more die
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(CBS) Women are more likely than men to die from heart attacks. That provocative claim is one of several gender differences found in a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
PICTURES: 9 surprising heart attack risks
The study looked at 1.4 million patients who had experienced a heart attack between 1994 and 2006 to investigate the relationship between age and gender and heart attacks, specifically symptoms and death rates. Data revealed 14.6 percent of women hospitalized with a heart attack died, compared with 10.3 percent of men.
Continue »Valentine's Day: 7 ways to harm your health
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Stem cells reduce heart attack damage, study shows
In a small study involving 25 volunteers, stem cell recipients had their heart attack scars reduced most dramatically - on average, 50 percent - and damaged muscle replaced by new healthy heart tissue.
/ CBS News(CBS) A new study offers an effective way to mend a broken heart: Stem cells.
PICTURES: 7 heart-healthy foods
The study looked at patients with damaged hearts from myocardial infarctions, or heart attacks, and found stem cells reduced the amount of scarring and helped hearts regrow healthy muscle.
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National Wear Red Day for heart disease in women
Actress Elizabeth Banks makes an appearance to promote the national "Go Red For Women" campaign, in support of heart disease awareness, at Macy's Herald Square on Friday, Feb. 3, 2012 in New York.
/ AP(CBS) It's National Wear Red Day, the American Heart Association's campaign to spread awareness for heart disease in women, their number one killer. Are you wearing red today?
PICTURES: 17 worst habits for your heart
An estimated one in four women dies from heart disease in the U.S., according to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. That's more deaths from heart disease than the next four causes of death combined, says the AHA.
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Dropped heart patient leaves hospital after transplant
Erika Hernandez, 28, gives a thumbs up from inside an ambulance after being discharged from the hospital where she had a heart transplant in Mexico City, Tuesday Jan. 24, 2012.
/ AP(CBS/AP) A heart made headlines earlier this month when it was dropped on the ground while being transported to the hospital for a transplant. Where's the heart now? Beating healthily in the body of a 28-year-old hair stylist.
Dr. Jaime Saldivar says Erika Hernandez doesn't yet know that her new heart survived a stumble. When a medic tripped after exiting the helicopter, the plastic-wrapped heart tumbled out of a water cooler and onto the street. The medic immediately returned the heart to the cooler and brought it to the hospital, which was just moments away. The surgery was successful.
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Words with Friends helps couple save man's life
Georgie and Simon Fletcher of Queensland, Australia. Georgie shared Simon's symptoms with Beth Legler of Blue Springs, Mo., during a game of Words with Friends.
/ KCTV(CBS) Words with Friends, the online word game, provided a lifeline for one man living on the opposite side of the world.
Beth Legler, of Blue Springs, Missouri, began playing Words with Friends more than two years ago on her cell phone, reports KCTV CBS 5 in Kansas City. That's when she met an Australian couple named Georgie and Simon Fletcher of Queensland, Australia.
One day during a game, Georgie told Beth that Simon was feeling under the weather, so Beth asked her to describe his symptoms, since Beth's own husband, Larry, was a doctor.
When hearing that Simon was experiencing fatigue so severe that he couldn't walk to his mailbox and burning in the back of his throat, reports MSNBC, Dr. Legler had some words of advice for his wife's online friends: get to a doctor immediately.
Legler thought Simon was experiencing angina, a condition that occurs when your heart doesn't get enough oxygen-rich blood. That causes pressure or squeezing in the chest, but could cause pain elsewhere in the body like in the shoulders, arms, neck, or back. What usually causes angina? Heart disease.
Simon was reluctant but went to the doctor, and as it turns out, Dr. Legler was right: Simon had a 99 percent blockage in his artery and was on death's door.
Simon had two stents implanted through emergency surgery, and has recovered. "I owe Larry everything," Simon told KCTV. "I'm really lucky to be here."
Said Beth, "It's been a wonderful experience to have had made some great friends and know that Simon is well because of a word game."
Heart disease, or coronary artery disease, occurs when the heart's arteries become clogged or narrowed from plaque buildup, obstructing blood flow to the brain and other parts of the body. Known as atherosclerosis, clogged arteries increase the odds of suffering a heart attack or stroke.
WebMD has more on heart disease.
Medics drop heart on way to hospital (VIDEO)
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(CBS) In urgent medical situations, there's always a risk that frenzied professionals may drop the ball. When rushing to a Mexico City hospital for a transplant, some medics did just that - by dropping a human heart.
For the life-saving operation, a helicopter was used to deliver the heart in "a rapid, precision maneuver," Mexico City police told the Associated Press.
But after exiting the chopper, a medic stumbled, and the plastic-wrapped heart tumbled out of a cooler and onto the street.
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