The state of your finances may affect more than your pocketbook.

So claims new research that suggests a loss of wealth is associated with an increased risk of heart problems, while a boost in finances is associated with a lower risk.

"Low wealth is a risk factor that can dynamically change over a person's life and can influence a person's cardiovascular health status," said stu...

People with type 2 diabetes face heightened risks for heart attack and stroke, as well as progressive kidney disease. But a new once-a-week injected drug called efpeglenatide could greatly reduce their odds for those outcomes, new research shows.

The clinical trial was conducted in over 28 nations and involved more than 4,000 patients with type 2 diabetes.

Over two years, patients ...

When someone suffers a stroke, doctors can often remove the culprit clot obstructing blood flow to the brain. Now, a new study sheds light on why those successful procedures do not always translate into a good outcome.

Researchers found that when clot retrieval takes more than one attempt, stroke patients are more likely to still have some degree of disability three months later.

An...

There is no such thing as healthy obesity, a Scottish study reports.

A normal metabolic profile doesn't mean an obese person is actually healthy, because he or she still has an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke and respiratory illness, University of Glasgow researchers explained.

"The term 'metabolically healthy obesity' should be avoided in clinical medicine as it i...

Hoping to eat your way to a healthier heart?

Diets rich in plant foods may beat low-fat eating regimens for cutting the risk of heart disease and stroke, a new study finds.

Saturated fat, the kind largely found in animal products, has long been viewed as the enemy of the heart, since it can raise "bad" LDL cholesterol.

In the new study, which tracked more than 5,100 Americans,...

Norman Mayer, 86, walks around with a computer chip in his chest and doesn't think a thing about it.

Doctors implanted a tiny heart monitor chip in Mayer's chest after he suffered a mini-stroke in late 2015, to track his heartbeat and potentially detect an irregular heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation (a-fib).

"You don't even know it's there," said Mayer, the sitting mayor of th...

Smoking cigarettes or using other tobacco products increases heart risks, but that doesn't stop some Americans with a history of heart problems, new research finds.

Many continue to smoke after having a heart attack, heart failure or stroke even though they are aware of the risk.

Nearly 30% of adults with a history of these heart problems smoked when a five-year study began in 2013....

Emergency care for heart attacks and strokes rebounded in Northern California after initially plummeting in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers say.

That's good news, suggesting that public health campaigns urging people to seek care if they had signs or symptoms of a stroke or heart attack were effective, according to the Kaiser Permanente researchers.

For the s...

COVID-19 patients are at increased risk for severe strokes, according to a new study that also found that the overall risk of stroke is higher in younger patients.

Researchers analyzed data from 432 COVID-19 patients in 17 countries who suffered strokes and found they were more likely to have large vessel occlusion (LVO) than stroke patients in the general population.

LVO strokes ar...

Expectant mothers' high blood pressure heightens kids' risk of stroke later in life, a Swedish study finds.

"Our findings indicate that hypertensive disorders during pregnancy are associated with increased risks of stroke and potentially heart disease in offspring up to the age of 41 years," said study author Fen Yang, a doctoral student at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

The stu...

Adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder, a common mental health condition known as OCD, may have more than triple the risk of having a stroke, according to a new report from Taiwanese researchers.

As to why, the study authors aren't sure.

The investigators speculate that other mental health problems suffered by OCD patients - "comorbidities" such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorde...

It's known that genetics and lifestyle can affect your heart health. Now, researchers say, your birth order and family size may also have an impact.

A new Swedish study found that first-born children had a lower risk of heart attacks and strokes than their younger brothers and sisters. But having many siblings was associated with...

Too much fat around your heart could increase your risk of heart failure, especially if you're a woman, researchers warn.

They looked at nearly 7,000 45- to 84-year-olds across the United States who had no evidence of heart disease on initial CT scans. Over more than 17 years of followup, nearly 400 developed heart failure.

High amounts of fat around the heart -- pericardial fat -- ...

A simple surgery may help lower the risk for strokes by more than a third in patients with atrial fibrillation, a common irregular heartbeat, a new trial finds.

The reduction in stroke risk is achieved by blocking the left atrial appendage, an unused, finger-like tissue that traps blood in the upper chamber of the heart and increases the risk of clots that can cause strokes, the researche...

Strokes are on the rise among people younger than 50, and new research suggests that packing on the pounds during the teen years is a big reason why.

The more overweight you were from ages 16 to 20, the greater your risk of having a stroke before age 50, the new study shows.

"Given ongoing trends of adolescents who are overweight and obese in the U.S., Israel and other Western count...

Neurological problems are occurring in a very high percentage of hospitalized COVID-19 patients -- and what's worse, those symptoms foretell a bad end for many sufferers, a new study finds.

About four out of five people sick enough to be hospitalized for COVID-19 suffer some sort of neurological problem, ranging from headache and a loss of sense of smell to confusion, delirium, stroke a...

Exposure to secondhand smoke may up your odds for heart failure, a new study warns.

Researchers analyzed nationwide survey data from more than 11,000 nonsmokers (average age: 48) who were followed from 1988 to 1994. Nearly 1 in 5 had lab test evidence of exposure to secondhand smoke.

Nonsmokers with recent exposure were 35% more likely to develop heart failure than those with none, ...

Prediabetes -- where blood sugar levels are high, but not high enough for a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes -- is not something you should dismiss.

It significantly increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and other serious heart problems, new research shows.

The findings highlight the need for health care providers and patients to prevent prediabetes, according to authors of the s...

If making healthy lifestyle changes doesn't lower a patient's slightly high blood pressure within six months, doctors should then consider prescribing medication, a new American Heart Association scientific statement advises.

The recommendation is for people with untreated stage 1 high blood pressure (130-139/80-89 mm Hg) who have a low risk of a heart attack or stroke within 10 years. Lo...

Stroke recovery tends to be worse among Americans in poorer neighborhoods than those in wealthier neighborhoods, a new study finds.

"People in less advantaged neighborhoods were more likely to have more disability, lower quality of life and more symptoms of depression than people in more advantaged neighborhoods," said study author Lynda Lisabeth, from the University of Michigan in Ann Ar...

Vitamin D deficiency among Black people may be a risk factor for heart disease, a new, small study suggests.

Black adults are more prone to heart disease than whites, and lack of vitamin D -- the so-called sunshine vitamin -- might be one reason. People with darker skin make less vitamin D than those with lighter skin, especially when they live in areas where exposure to sunlight is low,...

Having preeclampsia during pregnancy significantly increases a woman's future risk of stroke, researchers say.

Preeclampsia happens when a woman with previously normal blood pressure suddenly develops high blood pressure, protein in her urine or other problems after 20 weeks into pregnancy. The condition occurs in about one in 25 pregnancies in the United States, according to the U.S. C...

If hormones are part of your treatment for breast or prostate cancer, your heart health should be closely monitored, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement.

Hormonal therapies for breast and prostate cancer increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, the authors noted. This increased risk is greater in patients who already have two or more heart risk factors...

Black and Hispanic survivors of a bleeding stroke are more likely than white survivors to have changes in small blood vessels in the brain that increase the risk of another bleeding stroke, researchers say.

'Bleeding' strokes, also called hemorrhagic stroke, comprise about 13% of all strokes. They occur when an artery in the brain leaks or ruptures.

"While Black and Hispanic bleedin...

People who suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI) have a significantly higher risk for stroke for years afterward, U.K. researchers say.

Previous studies have linked brain injury with a long-term risk of neurological diseases including dementia, Parkinson's and epilepsy, and it's been suggested that it's also an independent risk factor for stroke.

This new review of 18 studies from f...

Among COVID-19 patients in intensive care units (ICUs), 2% suffer a stroke, a new study finds.

Of the two types of stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, which is caused by bleeding in the brain, was linked to a higher risk of death than ischemic stroke, which is caused by a blood clot in the brain. Data on just under 2,700 patients was used for the study.

"For people with severe COVID-19 requ...

While U.S. federal government experts probe potential risks of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, what do you need to know if you have had the one-dose COVID shot or hope to get it?

Experts at the American Heart Association (AHA) describe what to look out for.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration paused administration of the J&J (Ja...

'Bleeding' stroke patients with COVID-19 are more than twice as likely to die as those without COVID-19, new research shows.

For the study, a research team from the University of Utah analyzed data from 568 hospitals in the United States. They compared a control group of more than 23,300 patients without COVID-19 who suffered a bleeding (hemorrhagic) stroke to 771 COVID-19 patients who ha...

Going for a brisk walk after a long day at work may be better for your heart than getting all of your exercise on the job.

New research suggests that while current health guidelines indicate that leisure-time activity and physical activity at work are created equally when it comes to heart health benefits, this may not be the case after all.

Leisure-time exercise -- whether it be ta...

Doctors are seeing such cases around the world: About a third of COVID-19 patients go on to develop "long-haul" neurological or psychiatric conditions months after being infected, new research shows.

The findings suggest a link between COVID-19 and a higher risk for later mental health and neurological disorders, researchers report.

The new analysis of data from more than 236,000 ...

Once Black Americans reach age 40, their blood pressure often begins a rapid climb, putting them at significantly higher risk of stroke than their white counterparts, a new study warns.

Middle-aged Black people have roughly four times the stroke risk faced by white Americans, according to the analysis of data from nearly 5,100 patients.

"High blood pressure is the single most import...

U.S. surgery patients have a high rate of smoking, which could be one reason why some wind up on the operating table, researchers say.

A look at nearly 329,000 Michigan residents who had common surgical procedures between 2012 and 2019 found that nearly a quarter had smoked in the past year. In comparison, just over 14% of U.S. adults smoked in 2019.

The highest rates of smoking wer...

A new study adds to mounting evidence that COVID patients have an added risk of stroke.

Researchers analyzed data on more than 20,000 U.S. adults hospitalized with COVID-19 between January and November 2020. The analysis found that their risk of stroke was higher than for patients with other types of infections, including flu.

"These findings suggest that COVID-19 may increase the r...

Time is never more precious than in the minutes after a stroke. Now, research is confirming that a "mobile stroke unit" can rush aid to patients quickly, potentially saving lives.

"Patients who are treated early benefit from a complete reversal of stroke symptoms and avoidance of disability," said lead study author Dr. James Grotta. He is director of stroke research at the Clinical Instit...

For people hoping to prevent the heart rhythm disorder known as "a-fib," new research shows that taking vitamin D or fish oil supplements won't help.

A-fib, also known as atrial fibrillation, affects more than 33 million people worldwide and is the most common type of abnormal heart rhythm. It can cause symptoms that affect a person's quality of life, result in blood clots that can cause ...

Black Americans who live in rural areas are two to three times more likely to die from diabetes and high blood pressure compared with white rural folks, and this gap hasn't changed much over the last 20 years, new research shows.

The study spanned from 1999 through 2018, and will be published as a research letter in the March 23 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiolo...