How Health Awareness Impacts Survival Rates
LOW HEALTH LITERACY INCREASES RISK OF MORTALITY
Researchers have found that heart failure (HF) outpatients with the lowest health literacy have the highest risk of mortality, regardless of specific cause of death. Heart failure is the inability of the heart to pump enough blood for bodily needs. Treatment for HF outpatients is primarily self-care, and compliance with guidelines. But data show a significant number of people have low health literacy, defined as being unable to obtain, process and understand basic health information needed to make health decisions.
Of 2,156 HF patients assessed, 262 or 17.5 percent had low health literacy scores.
After researchers allowed for a number of characteristics shared by low scorers, such as greater age and lower socioeconomic status, they still found an independent link between poor health awareness and higher mortality from any cause. Three brief questions were sufficient to identify HF patients with low health literacy, suggesting that quick screening and health education may reduce mortality among this group. This study was published in the April 27, 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association and is online at http://bit.ly/fL0BDo.
What Sodium Can Do For You
HIGH-SODIUM DIET LINKED TO ACUTE HEART FAILURE
For the first time, a study has found that, among heart failure patients who are capable of walking, those in the upper third of sodium intake experienced a 46 percent greater risk over three years, of developing acute decompensated heart failure, or ADHF. (ADHF occurs when a stable heart failure condition deteriorates as a result of an added stress such that the body can no longer compensate for its heart-related deficiencies.) The average sodium intakes for each third were 1.4gm, 2.4gm, and 3.8gm of sodium per day; the cumulative three-year rates of ADHF for these groups were 12, 15 and 46 percent for the low, medium and high sodium consumption groups, respectively.
The highest sodium group also exhibited a 39 percent greater chance of hospitalization for whatever reason, and 3.5 times the odds of dying. The study authors called for more stringent sodium intake guidelines than those currently recommended for heart failure patients. This study was released November 17, 2010 but will not be published until a future issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It is available to read online at http://bit.ly/cOxMvB.
Vitamin D May Boost Heart Failure Survival
A study has found that heart failure patients with reduced levels of vitamin D have lower rates of survival than patients with normal vitamin D levels.
As a result, researchers suggest that a low intake of vitamin D may be a factor in the development, and outcome, of heart failure. Vitamin D is produced by the skin when it is exposed to the natural ultra violet-B, or UV-B, radiation from the sun. Most tissues and cells have a vitamin D receptor; and evidence suggests vitamin D reduces the risks of several chronic illnesses such as common cancers, autoimmune diseases, kidney diseases, chronic infectious diseases, high blood pressure – and apparently, heart failure.
The study team described the evidence of a protective effect from vitamin D as “compelling,” and recommended that heart failure patients should be advised to take vitamin D supplements and eat oily fish or eggs. The study was presented August 31, 2010 at the annual congress of the European Society Cardiology. It has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Chocolate May Lower Heart Failure Risk in Women?
A nine-year study of 30,000 middle-aged and older Swedish women links moderate consumption of chocolate with a reduced risk of heart failure. Heart failure is the inability of the heart to supply sufficient blood flow to meet the body’s needs and occurs in about one percent of Americans over 65.
One to three servings of chocolate per month was found to lower risk by 26 percent compared to women who did not eat chocolate.
Similarly, the risk of heart failure was 32 percent lower among women consuming one to two servings a week; however, the risk for heart failure increased by 23 percent among those consuming one or more servings of chocolate daily; this may be due to high-calorie chocolate replacing more nutritious foods.
Previous studies have linked chocolate to reduced risk of high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease, possibly due to cocoa flavonoids. The researchers point out that these results apply only to the dark chocolate with at least 30 percent cocoa content commonly consumed in Sweden; most of the dark chocolate consumed in the U.S. has a15 percent cocoa content.
The full text of this study was released August 16, 2010 and will not be available until it is published in a future issue of the journal Circulation: Heart Failure.
Acupuncture Helps Heart Failure Patients
Acupuncture helps heart failure patients.
Although exercise can be beneficial to patients with heart failure, exercising is a problem because shortness of breath and fatigue – which make vigorous or longer-term exercise difficult – are, in themselves, symptoms of heart failure.
But acupuncture can increase exercise tolerance.
The needles do not increase heart function; but they appear to boost skeletal muscle strength and thus, increase the distance patients can walk. Although heart disease is seen as a pump problem, it also involves inflammation and an imbalance in nerve transmitter substances; acupuncture seems to bring these systems back into balance.
A study found that focusing on acupuncture points associated in Traditional Chinese Medicine with muscle strength and inflammation allowed patients to walk further and get more exercise. The study appeared in the June 15, 2010 issue of the journal Heart and can be read online with subscription to the journal here: http://bit.ly/dlgsR7.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea Increases Risk of Heart Failure
A study has found that men aged 40 to 70 who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have a higher risk of heart failure and coronary heart disease.
This link was not found in women or in men over 70.
Obstructive sleep apnea is a sleep disorder in which sleeping patients repeatedly stop breathing for at least 10 seconds. Heart failure occurs when the heart is weakened to the point that it cannot supply enough blood for the body’s need. Coronary heart disease is the inability of the blood vessels of the heart to supply sufficient blood to heart muscles.
A total of 1,927 men and 2,495 women free of heart problems were tested. Men – but not women – with significant OSA were found to have a 68 percent greater risk of coronary heart disease and were 58 percent more likely to develop heart failure.
If you suspect you might have OSA, talk to your health practitioner. A brief summary of this study was released July 12, 2010 and will appear in a future issue of the journal, Circulation. The full-text version is available online with a subscription to the journal
at: http://bit.ly/bwdrER.
What’s Your Salt Intake?
A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated that only ten percent of American adults manage to keep their dietary sodium intake below the maximum recommended daily intake level. That grim statistic is even worse in light of the sharp recent reduction in the recommended intake level from 2,300 mg daily – which was the level set in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans – to 1,500 mg, the maximum set in the 2010 version, which came out last week.
The new study was based on those former, much higher recommendations and adherence to the new guidelines would be even lower. Although found naturally in some foods, sodium is a key element in added salt. Excessive salt intake is linked to high blood pressure, which in turn is linked to increased risks for stroke, coronary heart disease, heart failure and kidney disease.
The new report was released June 25, 2010 and is available to read online at: http://bit.ly/aNqHYL.