Post by Admin on Dec 14, 2013 12:33:33 GMT -4
When it comes to heart testing, men may be overdoing it. In a new study, about 50 percent of healthy men had opted for an (EKG) without probable cause. Such tests can be unnecessary at best, and in some cases harmful, the study authors explain.
The researchers surveyed more than 8,000 people between 40 and 60 years old—all healthy and showing no symptoms of cardiovascular disease—to determine if they’d received any of nine heart-related screening tests in the last 5 years.
Of the nine cardiovascular screening tests, only three—blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose—are beneficial for even healthy men, says John Santa, M.D., M.P.H, director of the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center. And yet many of these perfectly healthy individuals had undergone at least one “unnecessary” test.
The others tests—including the EKG, artery ultrasound, and stress test—are too general or screen for very rare conditions. The results are more likely to mislead the patients than alert them of a real sickness, says Santa. While an extra test might seem harmless (minus its toll on your wallet), a false positive can mean a second round of potentially risky testing, which could expose a person to radiation, or surgery.
Sure, you’d want to know if it were a true positive. Unfortunately, these tests tend to be less accurate for low or normal risk patients. “Just because something is related to prevention and seems like a harmless test, doesn’t mean it is going to benefit you,” says Santa.
Blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose tests are enough to alert doctors of a potential problem. If you don’t have other symptoms or risk factors—you don’t need an EKG or other tests, Santa recommends.
Here’s what you should get (after age 20):
• Blood pressure: Every 3 years
•Cholesterol: Every 5 years
•Blood glucose, which screens for diabetes: Every 3 to 5 years
Find out what your risk is for heart disease using this Simple Calculator and try these 10 Habits for a Stronger Heart.
The smartest plan for attacking a heart attack is, of course, preventing one from ever happening. Choose three of the following strategies and make them a habit. The closer to the top, the more you reduce your risk of heart disease.
1. Convince Your Wife to Stop Smoking
Nonsmoking husbands of smoking wives face a 92 percent increase in their risk of heart attack. Breathing secondhand smoke boosts bad cholesterol levels, decreases good cholesterol, and increases your blood's tendency to clot.
2. Work Out for 30 Minutes, Four Times a Week
Middle-aged men who exercise vigorously for 2 or more hours cumulatively per week have 60 percent less risk of heart attack than inactive men do.
3. Lose 10 to 20 Pounds
If you're overweight, dropping 10 to 20 pounds lowers your risk of dying from a heart attack. A 10-year study found that overweight people had heart attacks 8.2 years earlier than normal-weight victims.
4. Drink Five Glasses of Water a Day
Men who drink that many 8-ounce glasses are 54 percent less likely to have a fatal heart attack than those who drink two or fewer. Researchers say the water dilutes the blood, making it less likely to clot.
5. Switch from Coffee to Tea
A recent study found that people who drink three cups of tea a day have half the risk of heart attack of those who don't drink tea at all. Potent antioxidants, called flavonoids, provide a protective effect.
6. Eat Salmon on Saturday, Tuna on Tuesday
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health say that eating fish at least twice a week lowers heart-disease risk by more than 30 percent. The magic ingredient is the omega-3 fatty acids.
7. Ask Your Doctor About Vitamin E and Aspirin
Men who take both cut the plaque in clogged arteries by more than 80 percent, according to a recent University of Pennsylvania study.
8. Eat a Cup of Total Corn Flakes for Breakfast
This cereal contains one of the highest concentrations of folate (675 micrograms) of any cereal. Taking in that much folic acid daily cuts your risk of cardiovascular disease by 13 percent, according to researchers.
9. Count to 10
Creating a 10-second buffer before reacting to a stressful situation may be enough to cool you down. Men who respond with anger are three times more likely to have heart disease and five times more likely to have a heart attack before turning 55.
10. Eat Watermelon
It contains about 40 percent more lycopene than is found in raw tomatoes, and a new study shows that your body absorbs it at higher levels due to the melon's high water content. Half a wedge can boost heart-disease prevention by 30 percent.
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