Cardio Buzz

Drawing a map of genes might help us predict who will get sick and when we will get sick of heart disease or cancer. And we have seen Angelina Jolie, the famous actress, going for a preventive mastectomy because she had a faulty gene for breast cancer. But Is it the inevitable destiny, or can we change it? Do genes decide who will have heart disease? Who is to be blamed for heart disease? The genes we inherit, or the environment where we grow and live?Can your good genes protect you from your unhealthy lifestyle? Can a good lifestyle buffer our faulty genes?Watch it 🎦 on YouTube Read 📖it on LinkedIn ReferencesCirculation. 2022;145:808–818. DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121.053730https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121.053730

With all its health benefits, cheap, and with few side effects, Aspirin is in every house. Aspirin reduces mortality in acute myocardial infarction. It is intuitive to use it for prevention, not only for treatment. Some studies supported that practice.But in the 21st century, we realize that aspirin is a gastric irritant and can cause bleeding. We got better pain killers and more potent platelet inhibitors, and we started questioning aspirin's protective effect compared to other drugs. So what’s the truth about Aspirin? Should people above 40 with no heart or vascular disease take Aspirin to prevent heart attacks and strokes or not? LinkedIn articleYouTube VideoAspirin Use to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement.” JAMA 327, no. 16 (April 26, 2022): 1577–84. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2022.4983https://www.cvriskcalculator.comhttps://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation-topics

The new heart failure guidelines were released this month. Last week, we summarized staging, classification, and diagnostic workup points. You can find the contents of the first part as an audio in the last week of cardio buzz or on the Cardio Buzz Youtube channel.This week we will summarize the management of heart failure. Bring in your coffee because, again, this article will be rich in information and will need all our attention.Guidelines Full Text 👉 https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001063Cardio Buzz on YouTube 👉 https://www.youtube.com/c/DrHussienheart-talks/featuredCardio Buzz on LinkedIn 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/weekly-cardiology-buzz-6923878426843971584/

The AHA, ACC, and HFSA have all joined efforts and just released the latest guidelines on heart failure. If you are a clinician, a nurse, or a healthcare provider involved in the care of patients with HF then these guidelines are for you. The full text comes in a big document of 138 pages. I will summarize the main points here over two episodes. The first episode will be on staging, classification, clinical assessment, and diagnostic workup. The second episode will describe the basics of treatment. So bring in your coffee because the episode will be rich in information and will need all our attention.https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001063

Sleep is the single most effective way to reset our brain and body health each day. Sleep is a foundational element of human biology and is a requirement for life. We spend roughly one-third of our lives asleep.
A famous quote is, “Happiness is nothing more than getting enough sleep”.
Sleep disturbance is a common condition in modern society, with evidence showing that people sleep on average 1.5 hr less than a century ago. one-third of the general population suffers from sleep-related problems
And now, we better understand the relationship between poor sleep and poor health, especially cardiovascular health. Just a couple of months ago, the American heart association added Sleep to the essential pillars of cardiovascular health.
And in this episode, we will discuss sleep and heart health, what is good sleep, what is bad sleep, what’s the risk of poor sleep, and we will end up with some advice on how to improve your sleep for a stronger heart.
First, is there a relationship between the number of hours slept and CV health?
Yes, we have clear data on this relationship
Sleeping for less than six hours is associated with a 70% increase in mortality
Sleeping 5 hr or less per night had a 2.3-fold greater risk of AMI
Sleeping for less than four hours is associated with a 2.8 times increase in mortality
Sleeping for nine hours or more was also associated with a 70% increase in mortality
The ideal duration of sleep is between seven hours and eight hours because this has been associated with the best survival.
During normal, healthy sleep, blood pressure drops by around 10-20%. This is known as nocturnal dipping, and research highlights its role in cardiovascular health. When we sleep, the blood pressure comes down, and the heart rate also goes down. This helps to unload the circulatory system and give rest to the heart.
Poor sleep, whether from a lack of sleep or sleep disruptions, is associated with non-dipping, meaning that a person’s blood pressure doesn’t go down at night. Studies have found that elevated nighttime blood pressure is related to overall hypertension (high blood pressure). Not only hypertension but sleep disruption is also associated with an increased risk of diabetes, coronary atherosclerosis, and myocardial infarction. Add to that obesity risk; we can remember that we are more likely to feel hungry when we don’t get enough sleep. All these conditions are increased with sleeping less than six hours or with sleeping more than nine hours. It is a U-shaped relation.
We've understood the impact of sleep quantity on health, but what is the impact of poor sleep quality on health?
We also know that difficulty falling asleep, nightmares, easily awakening from sleep, use of sleeping pills, and walking up tired are markers of poor sleep.
Poor sleep quality was associated with subclinical cardiovascular disease and increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Sleep apnea, where there is airway obstruction resulting in loud snoring and apnea, is a well-established risk for resistant hypertension, heart failure, coronary disease, and atrial fibrillation.
What’s the mechanism linking sleep and poor cardiometabolic health?
There are several potential mechanisms. Data show that a lack of sleep may increase sympathetic nervous system activity the next day; sleep deprivation also results in an inflammatory state and in increased salt intake, elevated cortisol levels, and insulin resistance. These changes all culminate in poor cardiometabolic health resulting in a cascade or a package of cardiovascular diseases.
How to improve your sleep?
First: Identify your ideal sleep duration
The general rule is 7-8 hours of daily sleep. But because this may vary, you can measure your own needed sleep hours this way... Try to get into bed at the time where you fall asleep within about 15 minutes, and wake up without an alarm clock, feeling rested, and having enough energy to carry you through the day. On average, the amount of sleep you get this way is probably the right amount of sleep for you.
The American heart association elected to add sleep duration as an eighth metric to the formal definition of CVH.
Metric: Average hours of sleep per night Scoring: Points Level
100 7–