Daily HIV Prevention Pill (PrEP): Why It’s Urged for Healthy People at Risk

The post How Daily HIV prevention pill urged for healthy people at risk? appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

1. Demographic Transformation – The World Is Aging Fast

A Demographic Shift in Motion

• In 2020, 1 in 11 people worldwide was aged ≥ 60; by 2030, that rises to 1 in 6, reaching 2.1 billion by 2050 — double the 2020 total (, ).
• The ≥ 80 population is set to triple by 2050, from ~143 million to ~426 million ().
• The proportion of people aged ≥ 65 nearly doubled between 1974 (5.5 %) and 2024 (10.3 %), and is projected to rise to ~20 % by 2074 ().

Super-Aging Societies Taking Shape

• Countries with > 20 % of the population aged 65+ (e.g., Japan, Italy, Germany, South Korea) are entering “super‑aging” demographic status .
• By 2067, South Korea’s senior population will be 46.5 %, outpacing Japan’s current aging rate ().

2. Economic Strain: From Labor to Pensions

Falling Support Ratios & Workforce Shortages

• The support ratio (working-age individuals per retiree) is falling globally — e.g., OECD: 7.2 (1970) → 3.0 (2010) → 2.1 (2050) ().
• In Japan, it dropped from 8.7 (1970) to 2.6 (2010) and is projected at 1.3 (2050) .
• Fewer workers supporting more retirees reduces productivity, increases labor costs, and drains tax revenues ().

Pension & Fiscal Pressures

• Global social security systems face rising demands:
  • U.S. Social Security projections show 2.5 workers per retiree by 2030, increasing financial stress ().
  • China’s retirement-age population projected to grow from 27% (2015) to 39% by 2050, with pension deficits ballooning .
• Public debt continues to rise sharply: e.g., Japan’s pension and healthcare costs were ~28 % of GDP by 2025 .

3. Healthcare Demand & Chronic Disease Burden

Rising Healthcare Utilization

• Aging populations escalate demand for healthcare services, chronic disease management, long-term care, and medication regimens ().
• Elderly patients require frequent hospital admissions, multiple comorbidities, and complex care integration.

Chronic Illnesses on the Rise

• In China, ~300 million people suffer chronic diseases — ~50 % are aged 65+ ().
• Conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, dementia become prevalent, increasing both demand and costs .

Escalating Healthcare Expenditures

• Per capita health spending increases steeply with age; combined with medical inflation, national health budgets are strained .
• The elderly often require specialized, high-cost treatments, such as dialysis, cancer therapies, and surgical interventions.

4. Social & Infrastructural Challenges

Workforce Participation & Retirement Age

• Governments are raising retirement ages and encouraging older citizens to work longer ().
• Innovations in workplace flexibility and anti-ageism policies can keep seniors productive and alleviate labor shortages.

Spatial Access to Care

• In rapidly aging societies (e.g., South Korea), older adults—especially in rural areas—face limited access to health services, necessitating novel solutions like mobile clinics (, ).

Social Welfare & Poverty

• In nations such as South Korea, over 40 % of the elderly live in poverty, due to insufficient savings and pension benefits .
• Family-based elder support models erode as households shrink, increasing the need for institutional care and elder-friendly social programs.

5. Strategic Opportunities: The “Silver Economy”

Healthy & Productive Aging

• An IMF study reported that individuals aged 70 in 2022 had cognitive functions akin to 53‑year‑olds in 2000, suggesting great potential for continued labor force participation ().
• Lifelong learning, digital skills, and wellness programs can keep older adults engaged, innovative, and economically active .

Gold in the Silver Economy

• Age-driven growth sectors—healthcare services, medical devices, adult learning, retirement housing, mobility aids—offer investment opportunities .
• With smarter policies, aging populations can become a net economic asset, providing new jobs and markets .

6. Policy & Healthcare Innovations

Public Health & Prevention

• Focus on preventive healthcare, chronic disease management, regular screenings, and health equity .
• Promote healthy lifestyles across lifespan to reduce long-term health costs.

Financial & Pension Reform

• Governments must consider:
  • Adjusting the official retirement age
  • Transitioning to sustainable pension models
  • Encouraging private retirement savings
  • Evaluating the benefits of controlled immigration to replenish labor pools ().

Age-Friendly Infrastructure

• Develop elder-ready cities with transit, accessible buildings, and rural health outreach .
• Promote technology-driven care: telehealth, AI diagnostics, mobile health services, home-based monitoring .

Workplace & Social Integration

• Implement flexible work options, continuous training, and age-diverse hiring practices .
• Support seniors through financial literacy, digital inclusion, and social engagement programs.

7. Global Cooperation & Long-Term Vision

Cross-Country Collaboration

• Aging is a global phenomenon; policies, data, and best practices must be shared internationally via platforms like WHO, UNFPA, and IMF .
• Middle- and low‑income countries should leapfrog by integrating aging into development strategies early.

Resilience Planning

• Build integrated age-care systems that cover health, social support, and economic well-being.
• Incorporate climate and disaster resilience—hot weather disproportionately affects the elderly .

Conclusion: Navigating the Aging Planet

The world is entering an era where aging populations are among our greatest global challenges—but also one ripe with opportunity. Today’s demographic transition offers a unique moment to reshape healthcare, labor, and social systems for better outcomes.

By embracing new care models, promoting healthy longevity, and reforming economic systems, nations can turn the aging tide from burden to an engine of sustainable growth.

Would you like a graphical summary, country-by-country deep dive, or an executive PowerPoint deck based on this report?

The post Global risks posed by an aging population appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

A new post-hoc analysis from Novo Nordisk of their SUSTAIN 6 and PIONEER 6 studies into semaglutide is looking to help ‘individualise’ treatment for diabetes patients by better predicting their cardiovascular lifetime risk. We spoke to lead study investigator, Utrecht University’s Dr Jan Westerink, to find out how he sees the results being used in daily practice.

The heightened risk of cardiovascular disease remains a pressing concern for type-2 diabetes patients, and one that many healthcare systems have not quite got a handle on yet.

Dr Jan Westerink, assistant professor of internal medicine, University Medical Center, Utrecht, believes that one issue is that the guidelines for addressing cardiovascular risk are too rigid, and don’t take into account each patient’s individual circumstance.

“People always say that patients and doctors should share decision making and discuss treatments with one another, but in reality, most of us just follow the guidelines.

“The problem is, if you have a high risk of cardiovascular disease, the guidelines might suggest that you are given statins and told to take them for the next 50 years, with no discussion at all.”

But Dr Westerink believes there needs to be more room for nuance and an understanding of lifetime risk.

“If you start taking a diabetes treatment with cardiovascular benefits whilst you’re relatively young, you will benefit more than a person who started taking it in their 70s.

“It’s like starting a savings account; if you start young then the benefits will be a lot greater than if you started at a higher age.”

But current guidelines do not always take into account this type of reasoning.

Applying a new model

To help understand the lifetime risk of developing CVD and how diabetes drugs like semaglutide can affect this for individual patients, Novo Nordisk conducted a post-hoc analysis by applying the Diabetes Lifetime-perspective prediction (DIAL) of cardiovascular risk model to data from two of Novo Nordisk’s phase 3 trials into semaglutide – SUSTAIN 6 and PIONEER 6.

This model was specifically developed for use in people with type 2 diabetes for lifetime risk prediction of cardiovascular events as well as the years free from cardiovascular disease gained from an intervention.

It was based on data from 389,366 people with type 2 diabetes in the Swedish National Diabetes Registry and externally validated across multiple geographical regions.

Prediction models like this are recommended to help prediction and prevention of cardiovascular disease by leading cardiology associations, including the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

“As a lifetime risk model, it estimates your life expectancy without cardiovascular disease, whilst also taking into account that you have a risk of dying from other causes,” Westerink, who was lead investigator of the analysis, says.

The two studies included 6,480 people with type 2 diabetes with high cardiovascular risk aged between 50-90 years.

The analysis showed that the addition of semaglutide to standard of care may extend life without a cardiovascular event, such as heart attack or stroke, in people with type 2 diabetes and high cardiovascular risk for up to 3 years, with the average being 18 months.

The results also showed a 20% risk reduction in ten-year risk of experiencing cardiovascular events for participants receiving semaglutide compared to standard of care alone.

With semaglutide, the average number of years during which participants did not experience a cardiovascular event was extended by 7-35 months across all age groups (50 – 90 years), with the greatest benefit seen in people aged between 50 -65 years and with high cardiovascular risk.

The team then took the MACE hazard ratio from the trial cohort – 0.76 – and applied it to patient-level lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease events derived from the DIAL model. From that, they were able to calculate the return on investment from lifetime use of semaglutide for individual patients.

For example, for a specific patient, a 61-year old man with type 2 diabetes and a history of cardiovascular disease, the DIAL model showed that adding semaglutide to standard of care reduced the 10-year risk of having a cardiovascular event by 21% and provided almost two-and-a-half years (29 months) free of cardiovascular events.

“What we found is that, as expected, if you have a large population and you calculate absolute benefits in all those individual patients and you make a histogram, you can see that they have a very wide distribution,” says Dr Westerink.

“Although there’s an average hazard ratio of 0.76 and a 20% risk reduction when looking at every patient, not everybody’s got to benefit to the same extent.”

“By using the results of the analysis on individual patient cases, we can show that with the use of semaglutide added to standard of care, some patients will have less than one year’s worth of benefits, and some patients will have more than two years. The mean benefit there would be 1.7 years, but it’s very different for each individual patient.”

Logical treatment

Dr Westerink hopes that insights like this could lead to recommendations for diabetes treatment becoming more personalised, based on each individual patient’s lifetime risk.

He adds that the most important aspect of this approach is its simplicity and logic.

“I’ve never met anybody who doesn’t understand the concept when they hear it,” he says. “The only problem at the moment is that it’s not what doctors are taught to do. Everybody feels that they shouldn’t give older patients certain kinds of drugs, or that they shouldn’t just tell young people to improve their lifestyle and not medicate them at all. In reality, we know that’s not really how it’s supposed to work, and that’s what makes this approach so logical.”

Dr Westerink hopes that eventually this approach will be included in international guidelines, although he acknowledges that changing practice will take “a different way of thinking” from doctors. For example, they might be required to do more in-depth interviews with patients to be able to accurately predict risk.

Westerink adds that individualising treatment in this way could ultimately lead to higher adherence.

“It lets the patient take the lead in their own treatment and lets them know exactly why they are taking a drug,” he says.

The post Towards a new understanding of cardiovascular risk in diabetes appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

Living with diabetes is not easy. It is an existence of a lifetime of pills, jabs and dietary restrictions. Yet the disease is ruthless and continues to increase in severity and complications.

New Delhi: Diabetes and obesity are chronic progressive diseases that are on the rise all over the world. India has the dubious distinction of being the diabetes capital of the world with more than 50 million people who suffer from diabetes. There is evidence to suggest a strong association between obesity and development of type 2 diabetes and back in 1970’s the term “diabesity” was coined to address these two twin diseases together. 

In the last 30 years, India has experienced unprecedented economic growth. There has been a surge in the consumption of high-calorie convenience and junk foods as well as an increasing tendency to be sedentary. Today we eat a lot more and exercise a lot less. Additionally, we are genetically prone to have a higher body fat percentage as compared to the western population. Indians typically have greater fat deposition around their bellies (visceral fat) which makes them more prone to developing diabetes even at lower weight and body mass index. 

Both obesity and type 2 diabetes are linked to insulin resistance. Type 2 diabetes results as a combination of less insulin production from the pancreas and increased insulin resistance. Individuals who have more visceral fat (fat around the belly area) tend to be more insulin resistant. With rapidly rising rates of obesity in India, it is predicted that the number of patients suffering from diabetes will rise to 87 million by the end of 2030.  Diabetes further leads to micro and macrovascular complications. Longstanding diabetes leads to side effects on eyes (retinopathy), nerves (neuropathy), kidneys (nephropathy) and leads to increased risk for heart disease eventually. 

Living with diabetes is not easy. It is an existence of a lifetime of pills, jabs and dietary restrictions. Yet the disease is ruthless and continues to increase in severity and complications over a period of years. Weight management is an integral part of the management of type 2 diabetes. Patients who suffer from type 2 diabetes tend to lose weight slower than those who do not have diabetes. Unfortunately, losing weight can be a frustrating exercise and most patients tend to get demotivated after multiple unsuccessful attempts. 

Weight management must be done as per the grade of obesity to be effective. While diet and lifestyle modification are the cornerstones for all weight loss programs, they work best for patients who are over-weight (BMI= 23.5 – 27.5 Kg/m2) or suffer from grade 1 obesity (BMI= 27.5 – 32.5 Kg/m2). For patients who suffer from grade 2 or 3 obesity (BMI ≥ 32.5 Kg/m2) along with type 2 diabetes, bariatric/metabolic surgery is an effective weight-loss option. Bariatric/metabolic surgery not only leads to weight loss but also leads to remission of type 2 diabetes in many patients. The level of improvement in blood sugar control after bariatric/metabolic surgery depends on the duration of diabetes, age of the patient, body mass index, pancreatic function and whether the patient is on insulin. Generally, it is seen that patients with lesser duration of diabetes and good pancreatic function achieve blood sugar control within days or months of surgery. The need for intake of diabetic medications also goes down drastically after bariatric/metabolic surgery. The onset of diabetes-related micro and macrovascular complications is also delayed, thus adding more healthy years to a patient’s life. Bariatric and metabolic surgery were included as a part of the treatment algorithm of type 2 diabetes by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in 2009.

In conclusion, obesity and type 2 diabetes are closely related. Weight management is an important part of diabetes management. Bariatric/metabolic surgery has emerged as an effective treatment options treatment of type 2 diabetes in patients suffering from grade 2 and 3 obesity.

The post Obesity risk factor for type 2 diabetes: Here is why maintaining a healthy weight is important appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

Obesity and race are additive, multiplicative mediators or confounders influencing COVID-19 outcomes among American adults, and the disparities have substantial implications for medical and public health responses, according to a speaker.

“Due to the complexity of the relationship between COVID-19, obesity and race/ethnicity, studies show conflicting results with regard to the reasons behind the greater morbidity and mortality noted in communities of color in the U.S.,” Fatima Cody Stanford, MD, MPH, MPA, FAAP, FACP, FAHA, FTOS, an obesity medicine physician scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, told Healio. “Almost 8 months into this pandemic, we have learned that there is no clear answer as to why these disparities exist. However, it does appear that better health at baseline lends itself to the best outcomes with COVID-19. We need more studies to ascertain this relationship.”

Disproportionate outcomes

There is still much to be learned about the pathophysiology of COVID-19, but it has become clear that Black Americans are disproportionately affected by the novel coronavirus and are far more likely to experience its more severe outcomes, including ICU admission, mechanical ventilation and death, Stanford said during an online presentation at ObesityWeek Interactive.

“When we look at the pandemic’s racial disparity … COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 people, we can see that Black Americans share a large burden,” Stanford said during the presentation. “I can tell you, talking to my parents who lost ten of their friends to this pandemic, my best friend who lost her father, and my mentee who is an internal medicine physician and has lost both parents, that this is indeed real.”

In a study published in June in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers showed that among 3,481 patients with COVID-19, Black adults were nearly twice as likely to be hospitalized as their white counterparts, with an OR of 1.96 after adjustments for multiple variables (95% CI, 1.62-2.37). Obesity, as well as residence in a low-income area, were also associated with increased odds for hospital admission in the study, Stanford said.

In another analysis published in Clinical Infectious Diseases in August, researchers demonstrated that Hispanic men and women with COVID-19 were significantly more likely to be admitted to the ICU and require mechanical ventilation compared with Black and white adults, Stanford said.

A ‘complex relationship’

The inflammatory state that typically accompanies obesity is associated with several disease processes, including impaired adipogenesis, oxidative stress and insulin resistance, Stanford said. Those processes can lead to metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Stress — including post-traumatic stress disorder and depression — acts through the brain to further affect eating and exercise behaviors, Stanford said.

“It is important for us to recognize that these are intertwined,” Stanford said.

Adding to the burden, a person’s economic status, underlying health conditions and actual pathophysiological differences in inflammation may lead to the health disparities observed among underrepresented adults, Stanford said.

The additive effects create perfect storm for worse COVID-19 outcomes, she said.

“We need to be cognizant of the fact the people who are disproportionately impacted are those that have less power to deal with these issues,” Stanford said. “Better chronic disease management, particularly surrounding obesity, which has borne itself out to be one of the major risk factors for COVID-19, is necessary for the treatment of obesity across the age spectrum, particularly in those communities that look like mine.”

Stanford said the COVID-19 story “has not yet been completely written.”

“There is still a lot for us to learn as we conduct research that will hopefully go beyond this jump to publish,” Stanford said. “We can make an impact. We know that issues related to structural racism and related to the history of this country have made it that certain groups are disproportionately impacted by chronic and acute diseases like COVID-19.”

The post ‘This is indeed real’: Race, obesity drive risk for poor outcomes, death in COVID-19 appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

The post Following a keto diet could weaken your bones and increase your risk of injury appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

Severely obese mothers with diabetes had an increased overall risk for their offspring to have psychiatric disorders, according to new research.

If a mother had severe obesity and insulin-treated pregestational diabetes, type 2 diabetes, or gestational diabetes, their offspring was at an estimated 128%, 54%, or 18% increased risk to be diagnosed with an ICD-10 F code.

Ida A. K. Nilsson, PhD, and a team of investigators examined more than 647,000 births to learn the associations of different types of maternal diabetes—with and without obesity—with psychiatric disorders in their offspring. The investigators found that the risk was highest for women exposed to insulin-treated pregestational diabetes.

Nilsson, from the molecular medicine and surgery department at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, and colleagues included all pregnancies which ended in live births in Finland between January 2004-December 2014. Data were collected from the Drugs and Pregnancy database. Primary and secondary diagnoses of psychiatric disorders for offspring and mothers were obtained from the Finnish Care Registers for Health Care (HILMO).

The investigators categorized maternal body mass index (BMI) as severely obese (>35); moderately obese (>30 to <35); overweight (>25 to <30); and normal weight (>18.5 to <25). Pregestational BMI for mothers was severely obese for 3.7%; moderately obese for 7.7%; overweight for 20.7%; and normal weight for 59.2% of births.

Among the 647,099 births studied, 105,966 fetuses (16.3%) were exposed in utero to maternal diabetes, 4000 (.62%) to insulin-treated pregestational diabetes—3880 with insulin purchase also during pregnancy— 3724 (.57%) to type 2 diabetes without insulin, and 98,242 to gestational diabetes not treated with insulin.

There were statistically significant interactions between maternal prepregnancy BMI and maternal diabetes with offspring have any psychiatric diagnosis (insulin-treated pregestational diabetes, P <.001; type 2 diabetes, P <.001; gestational diabetes, P = .007). Maternal diabetes, in addition to obesity, added an increased risk for offspring to receive a psychiatric diagnosis—effect size larger in the insulin-treated pregestational diabetes first, then type 2, and then gestational diabetes.

Insulin-treated pregestational diabetes (HR, 2.71; 95% CI, 2.03-3.61), type 2 diabetes (HR, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.61-2.37), and gestational diabetes (HR, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.50-1.72) were associated with an estimated 128%, 54%, and 18% increased risk for their offspring to receive any ICD-10 F code diagnosis for mothers with severe obesity compared to mothers with only severe obesity (HR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.33-1.54).

If a mother had severe obesity and insulin-treated pregestational diabetes it was associated with offspring mood disorders (HR, 8.03; 95% CI, 3.32-19.43) and intellectual disability (HR, 3.64; 95% CI, 1.63-8.14). There was no association with offspring anxiety disorders.

The children of severely obese mothers with type 2 diabetes had higher risks of mood disorders (HR, 3.61; 95% CI, 2.09-6.25), anxiety disorders (HR, 2.15; 95% CI, 1.35-3.42) and intellectual disabilities (HR, 2.00; 95% CI, 1.03-3.85) than the offspring of normal-weight mothers without diabetes. Those born to mothers with severe obesity and type 2 diabetes were also at increased risk of specific developmental disorders (HR, 2.29; 95% CI, 1.81-2.91), ASD (HR, 2.28; 95% CI, 1.18-4.41), ADHD or conduct disorders (HR, 3.21; 95% CI, 2.20-4.70), and other behavioral and emotional disorders (HR, 1.65; 95% CI, 1.10-2.46) compared to children born to healthy mothers.

Overall, 34,892 offspring (5.39%) had a psychiatric disorder diagnosed during the study period (before the age of 11 years old). Psychiatric disorders included mood disorders (.31%); anxiety disorders (.73%); specific development disorders (2.77%); ADHD or conduct disorders (.81%); or other behavioral and emotional disorders.

Of the mothers without diabetes, higher prepregnancy BMI (moderate and severe obesity) was linked to an increased risk of any ICD-10 F code diagnosis among their offspring (moderate obesity, HR, 1.3 [95% CI, 1.24-1.36]; severe obesity, HR, 1.43 [95% CI, 1.33-1.54]), compared to those with BMI < 25. Specifically, the offspring had an increased risk of anxiety disorders (moderate obesity, HR, 1.31 [95% CI, 1.16-1.49]; severe obesity, HR, 1.41 [95% CI, 1.15-1.72]), intellectual disabilities (moderate obesity, HR, 1.56 [95% CI, 1.32-1.84]; severe obesity, HR, 1.40 [95% CI, 1.06-1.86], and ADHD or conduct disorders (moderate obesity, HR, 1.43 [95% CI, 1.26-1.61]; severe obesity, HR, 1.87 [95% CI, 1.58-2.23]).

Those offspring were also at an increased risk to being diagnosed with specific developmental disorders (moderate obesity, HR, 1.46 [95% CI, 1.37-1.55]; severe obesity, HR, 1.67 [95% CI, 1.26-1.61]).

Nearly 13,500 children (2.07%) purchased psychotropic medication, including antipsychotics and hypnotics or anxiolytics, antidepressants, and stimulants.

Additional research with longer follow-up on offspring and exploration of biological mechanisms are needed, the investigators concluded.

The post Diabetes, Severe Obesity Increases Risk of Offspring Psychiatric Disorders appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

Stress is a normal psychological and physical response to the day-to-day demands of life.  Human body reacts to stress by releasing hormones that increase the blood pressure by increasing your heartbeat and narrowing down your blood vessels, make the brain more alert, cause rapid breathing and tightening of the muscles. Acute stress, the short-term stress goes away quickly, and helps you manage a dangerous or exciting situation. However, chronic stress lasts for a longer period of time, may be weeks or months and makes the body stay alert, even in the absence of an acute cause. Over time, it builds up and exerts an adverse impact on health, and leads to problems associated with blood pressure, heart, immunity, mental health, etc.

Reacting to stress in unhealthy ways such as smoking, overeating or eating unhealthy food, drinking too much of alcohol, and social isolation can increase your risk of developing high blood pressure. Though long-term high blood pressure is associated with heart, blood vessels and kidney problems, frequent temporary spikes in blood pressure can harm your health in a similar way as long-term hypertension. It has been established that relieving stress can lower your blood pressure. In today’s fast-paced world it is important to master stress management as it can be a life-saver. It would help to develop healthy behavior changes that would positively impact your blood pressure and overall health.

Indians have been estimated to consume almost double the recommended intake of salt as evident from a study conducted by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). The estimated average salt consumption among Indians is approximately 11 grams per day which is almost double the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended upper intake limit of 5 grams per day. This predisposes Indians to a high risk of developing various cardiovascular disorders including hypertension or high blood pressure. Different kinds of chutneys, pickles, papads and snacks are innate to different states of India.

However, the high amount of salt used for preparation and seasoning of these food items is a matter of concern. Though low sodium salts such as rock salt, pink salt and black salt were native to India, and make a healthy option however, the gradual shift from these native forms to the modern refined table salt has added an unhealthy factor to the diet. The refined table salt is stripped of all the minerals is thus under-nutritious with the only benefit of Iodine that is added during its processing. Owing to its high sodium content, the table salt on intake expands the extracellular fluid volume and increases cardiac output. A high sodium intake also stresses the kidney by excreting more water and less toxic waste.

Substantial clinical evidence demonstrates positive effect of salt intake on the blood pressure. Opting for low salt and low sodium food options, limiting intake of canned and processed foods can help in significantly lowering down the sodium intake. Considering the health benefits to delay or prevent the incidence of hypertension in normotensive people, as well as positive impact on blood pressure lowering in hypertensive people, the efforts to restrict the salt intake is worthwhile and we should strive to achieve it.

The post Salt and stress tied to risk of hypertension appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

The post Car Exhaust May Up High Blood Pressure Risk in Pregnant Women appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

OAKLAND, Calif. — Both numbers in a blood pressure reading — the “upper” systolic and the “lower” diastolic — independently predicted the risk of heart attack or stroke in a very large Kaiser Permanente study that included more than 36 million blood pressure readings from more than 1 million people. The study, which was published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, runs counter to decades of previous research indicating that high systolic blood pressure is more likely than diastolic pressure to result in adverse outcomes.

“This research brings a large amount of data to bear on a basic question, and it gives such a clear answer,” said lead author Alexander C. Flint, MD, Kaiser Permanente stroke specialist and adjunct researcher with the Division of Research. “Every way you slice the data, the systolic and diastolic pressures are both important.”

The current retrospective study is “the largest by far of its kind,” Dr. Flint said, reviewing 36 million blood pressure readings taken during outpatient visits between 2007 and 2016, from 1.3 million adult Kaiser Permanente members in Northern California.

Systolic pressure — the upper number in a blood pressure reading — measures how hard the heart pumps blood into arteries. Diastolic pressure — the bottom number — indicates the pressure on the arteries when the heart rests between beats.

Decades of research have shown that high systolic blood pressure is more likely to result in adverse outcomes. As a result, cardiology guidelines and risk estimation tools focus on the upper number, with some experts arguing that the diastolic number might reasonably be ignored, Flint said.

After adjusting the data for possible confounding factors, the researchers found that while systolic pressure has a greater impact, both systolic and diastolic pressures strongly influenced the risk of heart attack or stroke, regardless of the definition used for high blood pressure (140/90 mm Hg versus 130/80 mm Hg).

Dr. Flint said the finding that systolic and diastolic hypertension have similar impacts on risk at the lower threshold of 130/80 provides independent support for recent changes that were made in the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association guidelines, which recommended tighter blood pressure control in higher risk patients with hypertension. The results are also in keeping with findings from the National Institutes of Health’s Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial, known as SPRINT.

“Controversy has long persisted about whether systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, or both contribute to cardiovascular risk,” said senior author Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, executive director of Interventional Cardiovascular Services at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “This analysis using a very large amount of longitudinal data convincingly demonstrates that both are important, and it shows that in people who are otherwise generally healthy, lower blood pressure numbers are better.”

The post New study finds both components of blood pressure predict heart attack, stroke risk appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

New European research has found that exposure to air pollution and living in apartment blocks is linked with an increased risk of hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, which could also increase the risk of conditions such as heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.

Carried out by researchers at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences and Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania, the new study looked at 1,354 participants living in private houses or multi-story houses in Kaunas City, the second largest city of Lithuania with a population of around 280,000.

The researchers measured the participants’ exposure to particulate matter (PM10), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which are particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter that can penetrate deeply into the respiratory tract, and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

The team also investigated whether there was a link between participants’ distance to green spaces and major roads with the development of high blood pressure and some components of metabolic syndrome, a collection of conditions which together can increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

These components included a high triglyceride level, a type of fat found in the blood, reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, also known as the “good” cholesterol, higher blood glucose, and obesity.

The findings, published in the Journal of Public Health, showed that air pollution levels above the median appear to be associated with a higher risk of reduced high density lipoprotein, dubbed the “good” cholesterol.

Living closer than 200m to a major road and therefore being exposed to traffic pollution was also associated with reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol as well as high blood pressure and a higher triglyceride level. However, the negative impact of traffic air pollutants was observed only in the participants who lived in multi-storey apartment buildings, not in private houses.

On the other hand, the greenness, size, and type of open public spaces were found to be inversely related to the risk factors assessed, with the researchers emphasizing that natural green spaces could have a positive impact on cardiovascular health.

“Our research results enable us to say that we should regulate as much as possible the living space for one person in multifamily houses, improve the noise insulation of apartments, and promote the development of green spaces in multifamily houses,” said the study’s lead author, Agne Brazien.

The post Air pollution may increase the risk of developing high blood pressure: study appeared first on MyMedicPlus.