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Risk of All-Cause Mortality, Recurrent Myocardial Infarction, and Heart Failure Hospitalization Associated With Smoking Status Following Myocardial Infarction With Left Ventricular Dysfunction 

These findings indicate that smoking cessation is beneficial after high-risk MI and highlight the importance of smoking cessation as a therapeutic target in patients with LV dysfunction after MI.

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• Quitting smoking helps after serious heart attack damage  

It's never too late for smokers to do their hearts good by kicking the habit -- even after a heart attack has left them with significant damage to the organ's main pumping chamber, a new study suggests.

Past studies have found that smokers who kick the habit after suffering a heart attack have a lower rate of repeat heart attacks and live longer than their counterparts who continue to smoke.

But little has been known about the benefits of quitting among heart attack patients left with a complication called left ventricular (LV) dysfunction -- where damage to the heart's main pumping chamber significantly reduces its blood-pumping efficiency.

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• Heart risk factors a growing problem in Mexico 

Large percentages of Mexican adults have risk factors for heart disease and stroke -- suggesting, researchers say, that without intervention, the nation's rate of cardiovascular disease will continue the climb it began several decades ago.

In a study of 20,000 Mexicans age 20 and older, researchers found that smoking and obesity were the most prevalent heart disease risk factors. One-third of men said they smoked, while half of women were found to have abdominal obesity (defined as having a waist size of about 35 inches for women, 40 inches for men). . . .

Smoking has become a substantial problem in Mexico, especially among men. And the younger population has the highest rates: Escobedo's team found that among men in their 20s, 38.5 percent said they smoked; that compared with 20 percent of men in their 60s.

According to the researchers, Mexico appears to be in between what are considered the second and third "stages" of the tobacco epidemic. The second stage is marked by an increase in a population's number of female smokers, plus a 50 percent or greater increase in the number of male smokers. In the third stage, those rates plateau and a slow dip begins in the rate of smoking among men.

So Mexico's smoking rates have yet to plateau.

According to Escobedo, public health efforts to prevent smoking, obesity and other heart risk factors among younger Mexicans are needed.

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High burden of cardiovascular disease risk factors in Mexico: An epidemic of ischemic heart disease that may be on its way? 

Conclusions

Cardiovascular risk factors are highly prevalent in the Mexican population, which seems to be between the second and third stages of the tobacco epidemic. The increased prevalence of risk factors clustering indicates the need for comprehensive integrated management of cardiovascular risk factors in Mexicans, with special emphasis on individuals at younger ages.

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Risk of Incident Cardiovascular Disease Among Users of Smokeless Tobacco in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study  

In conclusion, current use of smokeless tobacco was associated with increased risk of CVD incidence in ARIC cigarette nonsmokers. Current users of smokeless tobacco should be informed of its harm and advised to quit the practice. Current cigarette smokers should also be given sufficient information on safe, therapeutic methods of quitting which do not include switching to smokeless tobacco.

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Smokeless Tobacco Causes Heart Disease and Death 

Despite claims that smokeless tobacco and other nicotine administration products such as e-cigarettes [e-cigs] virtually eliminate the risks causes by smoking conventional tobacco cigarettes, a new study shows that smokers who switch from cigarettes to one of these substitutes still have a much higher risk of death than someone who gave up nicotine entirely, says Professor John Banzhaf, Executive Director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

The new study, due to be published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, concludes that "current use of smokeless tobacco at baseline was associated with 1.27-fold greater incidence of cardiovascular disease . . . than was nonuse, independently of demographic, socioeconomic, and lifestyle and other tobacco-related variables."

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Disparities in cardiovascular risk based more on socioeconomic status than race, ethnicity 

The researchers found that the lower the socioeconomic status, the higher the risk -- in all racial and ethnic groups. A large fraction of the difference in cardiovascular and diabetes risk could be linked to differences in lifestyle. For instance, there is more smoking, less physical activity and more obesity among the poor.

By contrast, the researchers found inconsistent racial and ethnic risk disparities in some --though not all -- socioeconomic strata. Non-Hispanic blacks and Mexican Americans born in the U.S., for example had higher risk, but Mexican Americans born in Mexico had lower risk.

This surprising finding could be explained by selection pressures in migration, according to Karlamangla.

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• Americans Cut Risk Of Heart Disease Death In Half, Prevention Is Key 

By smoking less, watching their cholesterol and lowering their high blood pressure, Americans halved their risk of dying from coronary heart disease over the past 20 years, a new study shows.

While treating existing heart disease also helped reduce mortality rates, preventing heart disease from occurring in the first place made the biggest dent by far. . . .

Using data from 1980 through 2000, researchers found that the biggest difference in death rates was due to primary prevention: reducing risk factors among healthy individuals. Smaller impact came from secondary prevention measures such as drugs or surgery for people with heart disease.

The study appears online and in the September issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

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• Smoking may worsen outcome of pregnancy complication 

A new study suggests that smokers who develop preeclampsia during pregnancy are at particular risk of suffering the complications associated with the disorder -- including preterm delivery, low birth weight and stillbirth.

The findings may not sound surprising. But they actually present something of a paradox, as past studies have linked smoking to a reduced risk of developing preeclampsia in the first place. . . .

But these latest findings, reported in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, suggest that once preeclampsia develops, smoking exacerbates the risk of complications, according to Elizabeth Miller and colleagues at the Ottawa Hospital in Canada.

Using a database with information on more than 300,000 births between 2004 and 2006, the researchers found that women who smoked during pregnancy had a slightly lower rate of preeclampsia -- 1.2 percent, versus 1.5 percent among non-smokers.

But among women with preeclampsia, smokers were more likely to have serious complications.

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• Call to control tobacco by law  

Cardiovascular specialists from throughout the Caribbean gathered at the Ritz-Carlton, Montego Bay, from July 21 to 24 for the 25th Annual Caribbean Cardiology Conference.

Subsequent to a presentation entitled Cessation Of Smoking by Dr Knox Hagley, chairman of the Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control, the Caribbean Cardiac Society (CCS) reaffirmed its commitment to safeguarding public health from the harmful effects of smoking.

The CCS issued an appeal for regional governments to enact comprehensive tobacco control legislation to safeguard the health and development of CARICOM nationals. . . .

The CCS commends regional governments that have signed and ratified the FCTC and applauds Trinidad and Tobago for being the first Caribbean state to enact tobacco control legislation.

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Study ties abnormal cells in blood to lung cancer 

A novel approach detects genetically abnormal cells in the blood of non-small cell lung cancer patients that match abnormalities found in tumor cells and increase in number with the severity of the disease, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

Lung cancer patients in the study also had many times the number of these circulating abnormal cells than study volunteers in a closely matched control group.

"We suspect additional research will show that these circulating abnormal cells are circulating non-small cell lung cancer cells," said study corresponding author Ruth Katz, M.D., professor in MD Anderson's Department of Pathology. "Blood tests for these circulating tumor cells could be used to diagnose lung cancer earlier, monitor response to therapy and detect residual disease in patients after treatment."

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Scientists, HIV Advocates Call for Better Methods to Evaluate the Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in Persons with HIV  

At the same time that medical science has nearly eliminated AIDS deaths in patients treated for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), two international meetings of HIV/AIDS scientists and patient advocates find major shortcomings in the design and analysis of studies used to assess cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in people with HIV with significant implications for improving medical care.

Among the deficiencies cited are inconsistent standards for data analyses, lack of transparency in publishing research findings and often conflicting data about the nature and extent of increased CVD risk in HIV patients.

The meetings, convened in Washington and Vienna by the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research, produced an in-depth assessment of the state of research on CVD risk in the HIV population and offered an action plan for improving how studies assessing CVD risk are conducted, analyzed and published. . . .

"For now, every HIV patient should be considered at risk for cardiovascular disease," said Dr. Jur Strobos, deputy director of the Forum. "We must focus on controlling traditional risk factors, such as smoking, excess weight, hypertension, diabetes, illicit drug use and high blood cholesterol levels. Of key concern is reducing the high prevalence of smoking in people with HIV, which some studies estimate is as high as 50 percent in the HIV patient population."

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• Lipidology - Impact of smoking, drinking on non-HDL cholesterol is modified by age 

The influence of smoking and drinking on non-high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels is most pronounced in middle-aged and elderly individuals, study findings show.

Ichiro Wakabayashi (Hyogo College of Medicine, Japan) and Klaus Groschner (Karl-Franzens-University, Austria) and colleagues investigated interactions among habitual cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and lipid levels in a large cohort of Japanese men. . . .

The study revealed that mean adjusted serum non-HDL cholesterol levels were significantly higher in heavy smokers than in light smokers among men aged 40 years and above. In younger men, non-HDL cholesterol levels did not differ according to smoking status.

In nonsmokers, non-HDL levels were significantly lower in drinkers than in non-drinkers among men aged 30 years and above. Again, this difference was not seen in younger men.

Finally, in smokers, the difference in non-HDL cholesterol levels between drinkers and non-drinkers tended to increase with increasing age. This difference was also greater in smokers than in non-smokers.

In their paper, which is published in Metabolism Clinical and Experimental, Wakabayashi et al present a diagram summarizing their findings and highlighting the fact that increased non-HDL cholesterol is "a potent predictor of atherosclerotic diseases."

They conclude: "Non-HDL cholesterol was higher and HDL cholesterol was lower in smokers than in nonsmokers, while non-HDL cholesterol was lower and HDL cholesterol was higher in drinkers than in non-drinkers.

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• VIDEO: Smoker takes diseased heart to parliament 

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Smith: Support workplace smoking ban in Springfield 

On Monday evening during the Springfield City Council meeting, a local comprehensive smoke-free workplace ordinance will be introduced. The American Heart Association of Missouri would like to share why the implementation of that ordinance could reduce the number of heart attacks in the Springfield community.

Secondhand smoke causes blood platelets to coagulate, or become sticky, thereby impeding the life-sustaining flow of blood throughout the body. As a result, even after brief exposure to secondhand smoke, an individual's risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke can significantly increase. In fact, an estimated 35,000 nonsmokers die from coronary heart disease each year as a direct result of exposure to secondhand smoke.

A growing number of peer-reviewed studies have found that heart attack rates decline significantly after implementation of strong smoke-free laws.

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