A link between HPV and heart attack in women

An intriguing new study finds a link between the human papillomavirus, or HPV, the common sexually transmitted infection is the cause of cervical cancer cervical most and an increased risk of heart attack and stroke in women.

Led by Dr. Kenichi Fujise the medical branch of the University of Texas at Galveston Texas, the study found that women who is controlled positive for any strain of HPV were 2.3 times more likely to have had a heart attack or a stroke than women which proved negative. The positive controlled women at high risk HPV strains, those known to cause cancer, had a higher risk of heart attack or stroke, 2.86 times higher than uninfected women.

The study includes 2 450 women, aged 20 to 59, who had attended the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2003 and 2006. The participants were tested for the HPV — 44,6% tested positive for any strain of HPV and 23.2% tested positive for a strain to high risk - and reported their status as heart disease. In total, 1 141 women had HPV. Sixty years said they had had a heart attack or stroke, and 39 of these women against HPV.

More: HPV-related oral cancer more than tobacco

Researchers have focused on HPV in the hope of finding a clue of why some people develop heart disease, even if they are pas of cardiovascular risk factors traditional such as hypertension, obesity or a history of smoking - about 20% of patients with heart disease. HPV appeared to be a plausible candidate as the virus interferes with the function of a gene called p53. The inactivation of the tumor suppressor gene contributes to various cancers, but previous research has shown that p53 regulates also the atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries; Disabling may also lead to inflammation and exacerbate the health of the artery.

Inactive HPV an another tumor suppressor gene called retinoblastoma protein, which regulates the growth of smooth muscle cells that line blood vessels, so interfering with its function could also affect blood flow and, therefore, risk of heart attack.

While the new findings are interesting, they show an association. They prove that HPV causes heart disease. It is possible, for example, that women with heart disease are prone to HPV infection, rather than vice versa, or that other underlying factors makes women vulnerable to both.

A study much more is required to make a link between HPV and cardiovascular risk can be definitively established. As the New York Times reported:

"We need to be careful," said Dr. [Lori] Mosca, Director of preventive cardiology at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, who did not participate in the study]. "We have to go and make more stringent types of research that could answer the question more definitely".

She said that many researchers are investigating possible links between cancer, infections and diseases of the heart, but that so far no infections had been established to cause diseases of the arteries.

Work of Dr. Fujise, said, "has the possibility, if it pan, also inform the public about the potential benefits of vaccination for HPV. But she added that the results were too preliminary to be used as evidence for immunization.

More: Government recommends Vaccination against HPV for boys

HPV is sexually more common transmissible infection in the United States, affecting at least half of all sexually active men and women at some point. In 50 years, 80% of sexually active women had HPV. Most people clear the infection on their own, but in a small minority of cases, the infection may persist and lead to cancer. The HPV vaccine, which protects against genital warts and cancer of the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, anus and throat, is recommended for both boys and girls aged 11 and 12.

If further study confirms the association between HPV and heart disease, it could help to shed valuable light on why people without the usual cardiac risk factors have heart attack anyway. Each year, 510,000 women have heart attacks in the United States, according to the American Heart Association. If the HPV is confirmed to play a role in heart risk, MSNBC reported, Fujise calculates that 4 321 women could have heart attacks each year due to HPV than other risk factors and that 1,618 women die each year from heart attack HPV.

The study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

More: A surprising link between bacteria and cancer of the colon

Meredith Melnick is a journalist in time. Find him on Twitter at @ MeredithCM. You can also continue the discussion on the time Facebook page and Twitter time @.

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Alcohol linked to better survival after heart attack

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n">(Reuters) - Women who drank anywhere from a few alcoholic drinks a month to more than three a week in the year leading up to a heart attack ended up living longer than women who never drank alcohol, according to a U.S. study.

The findings, which focused on more than 1,000 women and were published in the American Journal of Cardiology, add to mounting evidence that alcohol, regardless of the type of drink, can be good for the heart.

"One thing that was interesting was that we didn't see differences among different beverage types," said Joshua Rosenbloom, a student at Harvard Medical School who led the study.

"The most recent evidence suggests that it's the alcohol itself that's beneficial."

There was a similarly reduced risk of dying within the follow up period whether the women drank wine, beer or hard liquor, Rosenbloom and his colleagues found.

"One drink a day is a really good target, assuming that a person can be disciplined about that," said James O'Keefe, a cardiologist at St. Luke's Health System in Kansas City, Missouri, who was not involved in the study.

Researchers surveyed more than 1,200 women hospitalized for a heart attack. They asked questions about how many alcoholic drinks the women usually consumed, along with other health and lifestyle questions.

After at least 10 years of follow up, the team found that 44 out of every 100 women who had abstained from alcohol had died, while 25 out of every 100 light drinkers and 18 out of every 100 heavy drinkers had died.

This translated to about a 35 percent lower chance of dying during the follow up period for women who drank, compared to those who didn't.

In an earlier study including men and women, O'Keefe found that people who continued to drink moderately after having a heart attack had better health than those who abstained.

"You don't need to assume that people need to stop drinking once they develop heart disease," he said.

"The problem is that alcohol is a slippery slope, and while we know that a little bit is good for us, a lot of it is really bad." SOURCE: bit.ly/uU3Eor

(Reporting from New York by Kerry Grens at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies)

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Insomnia May Boost Heart Attack Risk

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People who struggle with insomnia appear to be more prone to heart attacks than those who typically get a good night's sleep, a large Norwegian study has found.

In the study, published Monday in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, researchers conducted a comprehensive health survey of more than 52,000 adults, which included questions about sleep quality. Over the next 11 years, roughly 5% of the participants had a heart attack for the first time.

Compared to solid sleepers, those who had trouble falling or staying asleep nearly every night were 45% and 30% more likely to have a heart attack, respectively, even after the researchers took into account age, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and other factors that can contribute to heart disease. People who reported feeling tired or unrefreshed after waking up at least two mornings per week were also at greater risk.

LIST: The Worst Habits for Your Heart

"Cardiologists do not talk regularly about sleep issues with their patients," says lead researcher Dr. Lars Erik Laugsand, an internist in the public health department of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, in Trondheim. Although he and his coauthors suggest that these conversations may be helpful for assessing heart disease risk, Dr. Laugsand says that further research will be needed to determine how insomnia might affect heart health, and whether treating sleep problems can actually prevent heart attacks.

Cardiologist Suzanne Steinbaum, who directs the Women and Heart Disease program at Lenox Hill Hospital, in New York City, agrees that more research in this area is needed, but she says she already discusses sleep issues with her patients. Stress reduction is a key to preventing heart attacks, she says, and lowering stress is all but impossible if you're not getting enough sleep.

"We don't know how significant the sleep disturbance must be, or how long it must persist for it to become significant for heart disease," Steinbaum says. "But it is safe to say that there is some correlation."

LIST: Surprising Heart Attack Risks

Stress, depression and other psychological problems often overlap with sleep difficulties. Dr. Laugsand and his colleagues did factor depression and anxiety symptoms into their analysis, but neither condition had a substantial impact on the results. Other factors involving metabolism or blood-vessel health — such as inflammation — may be involved in the apparent link between insomnia and heart disease, the study notes.

Insomnia is the most common sleep problem in the United States. Roughly one-third of Americans experience occasional symptoms, and nearly 10% say they have chronic insomnia, according to the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research. Insomnia tends to occur more frequently with age, and some studies suggest it may be more prevalent in women.

Although insomnia is common, adequate and lasting treatment for it is not, says Susan Zafarlotfi, clinical director of the Institute for Sleep-Wake Disorders at Hackensack University, in Hackensack, N.J. "Clinicians often simply medicate their patients, but that is not the way to do it," she says. "Pharmacology is only for the short term. They need to get at the depth of the problem."

LIST: 7 Tips for the Best Sleep Ever

Previous research has reported a higher risk of heart attack among people with insomnia, but the new study is among the largest of its kind. It should be an eye-opener for cardiologists as well as for neurologists and doctors of all kinds, Zafarlotfi says, adding that future research is likely to strengthen the link between insomnia, heart disease, and related conditions such as stroke. "They have to ask their patients about sleep," she says. "Sleep has to be a big part of working with patients."

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Study: Traffic Pollution May Boost Your Risk of Heart Attack

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Exposure to high levels of traffic pollution may boost your risk of heart attack, according to a new study published on BMJ.com.

But the study found that the risk was transient, lasting one to six hours, and that rather than increasing overall risk of heart attack, exposure to pollution appeared to precipitate cardiac events in people who were already at higher-than-average risk.

Researchers in epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine analyzed data on 79,288 patients who had a heart attack between 2003 and 2006 in 15 urban areas of England and Wales. To determine patients' exposure to ambient air pollution, the team compared the recorded hour of each heart attack with regional air pollution information from the U.K. National Air Quality Archive. That data offered information about pollutant particles, ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide levels.

After controlling for environmental factors like air temperature, humidity and viral infection rates, along with social factors like holidays and day of the week, the researchers found that exposure to high levels of certain components of air pollution — pollutant particles and nitrogen dioxide, which are a byproduct of car traffic — was associated with a greater risk of heart attack. The heavier the traffic pollution, the higher the risk of heart attack.

The researchers looked at heart attack risk for 72 hours after exposure to pollution, but found that the risk remained elevated for only six hours. The findings are in line with previous research that has also found air pollution to have an immediate, negative impact on heart health.

Although the overall heart risk of air pollution is short-lived and likely most dangerous to those who are already at risk of heart attack, there's still good reason to reduce traffic pollution as much as possible. "Given other evidence that exposure to air pollution increases overall mortality and morbidity, the case for stringent controls on pollutant levels remains strong," wrote epidemiologists Prof. Richard Edwards and Dr. Simon Hales from the University of Otago in New Zealand in an editorial accompanying the study.

Meredith Melnick is a reporter at TIME. Find her on Twitter at @MeredithCM. You can also continue the discussion on TIME's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.

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Eyelid marks warn of heart attack

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16 September 2011 Last updated at 00:18 GMT By James Gallagher Health reporter, BBC News Xanthelasmata are mostly made up of cholesterol Yellow markings on the eyelids are a sign of increased risk of heart attack and other illnesses, say researchers in Denmark.

A study published on the BMJ website showed patients with xanthelasmata were 48% more likely to have a heart attack.

Xanthelasmata, which are mostly made up of cholesterol, could be a sign of other fatty build-ups in the body.

Cardiologists said the findings could be used by doctors to help diagnose at-risk patients.

The research team at the Herlev Hospital in Denmark started following 12,745 people in the 1970s.

At the start of the study, 4.4% of patients had xanthelasmata.

Yellow alert

Thirty three years later, 1,872 had had a heart attack, 3,699 had developed heart disease and 8,507 had died - and the data showed that those with the yellow markings around the eyes were at greatest risk.

Those with the markings were 48% more likely to have a heart attack, 39% more likely to have developed heart disease and 14% more likely to have died during the study.

The authors believe patients with xanthelasmata may be more likely to deposit cholesterol around the body.

A build up of fatty material in the walls of arteries - known as atherosclerosis - leads to stroke and heart attack.

For both men and women in several age groups, the data said there was a one in five chance of developing heart disease in the next decade if the patient had xanthelasmata.

The authors said such patients were "generally considered to be at high risk" and should have "lifestyle changes and treatment to reduce [bad] cholesterol."

However they warned that: "Today, most people with xanthelasmata are seen by dermatologists, when they want their xanthelasmata removed for cosmetic reasons.

"Some of these people may not have been managed according to their increased risk of cardiovascular disease."

A review of the study, by US cardiologists Antonio Fernandez and Paul Thompson, concluded that: "Xanthelasmata could be used by general clinicians to help identify people at higher risk of cardiovascular disease."

Judy O'Sullivan, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "There are many different techniques to predict someone's risk of developing heart disease in the future, none of which are perfect. The most important thing is that any one of these techniques is used in the first place."

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Eyelid marks warn of heart attack

AppId is over the quota
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16 September 2011 Last updated at 00:18 GMT By James Gallagher Health reporter, BBC News Xanthelasmata are mostly made up of cholesterol Yellow markings on the eyelids are a sign of increased risk of heart attack and other illnesses, say researchers in Denmark.

A study published on the BMJ website showed patients with xanthelasmata were 48% more likely to have a heart attack.

Xanthelasmata, which are mostly made up of cholesterol, could be a sign of other fatty build-ups in the body.

Cardiologists said the findings could be used by doctors to help diagnose at-risk patients.

The research team at the Herlev Hospital in Denmark started following 12,745 people in the 1970s.

At the start of the study, 4.4% of patients had xanthelasmata.

Yellow alert

Thirty three years later, 1,872 had had a heart attack, 3,699 had developed heart disease and 8,507 had died - and the data showed that those with the yellow markings around the eyes were at greatest risk.

Those with the markings were 48% more likely to have a heart attack, 39% more likely to have developed heart disease and 14% more likely to have died during the study.

The authors believe patients with xanthelasmata may be more likely to deposit cholesterol around the body.

A build up of fatty material in the walls of arteries - known as atherosclerosis - leads to stroke and heart attack.

For both men and women in several age groups, the data said there was a one in five chance of developing heart disease in the next decade if the patient had xanthelasmata.

The authors said such patients were "generally considered to be at high risk" and should have "lifestyle changes and treatment to reduce [bad] cholesterol."

However they warned that: "Today, most people with xanthelasmata are seen by dermatologists, when they want their xanthelasmata removed for cosmetic reasons.

"Some of these people may not have been managed according to their increased risk of cardiovascular disease."

A review of the study, by US cardiologists Antonio Fernandez and Paul Thompson, concluded that: "Xanthelasmata could be used by general clinicians to help identify people at higher risk of cardiovascular disease."

Judy O'Sullivan, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "There are many different techniques to predict someone's risk of developing heart disease in the future, none of which are perfect. The most important thing is that any one of these techniques is used in the first place."

View the original article here

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