John A. Macoviak is a retired specialist in cardiothoracic surgery and heart transplant surgeon living in California. Dr. John A. Macoviak blogs about advances in heart surgery methods as well as related research in the field.
Imagine if there was a way to find heart disease in just 20 seconds.
It’s now a reality, thanks to artificial intelligence says John A. Macoviak.
Created by University College London and Barts Heart Centre, which funded it, the computer tool reviews MRI scans with record efficiency. How efficient? It can read the scans about 40 times faster than doctors.
John A. Macoviak reports it takes about 13 minutes on average for specialists to examine MRIs, and the new tool enhances the precision of the scans as well. The British Heart Foundation called the AI tool revolutionary, and it will assist in analyzing the more than 1200,00 cardiac scans taken each year.
The tool is already being used in London and should expand soon to more than 40 sites. The study was published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance.
Study: U.S. Heart Disease Rates Vary Greatly by State
John A. Macoviak reports that heart disease remains the most common cause of death in the United States, and the country ranks No. 2 in heart disease deaths among 17 countries considered peers. About 361,000 Americans died of coronary heart disease in 2019.
Through examining Centers for Disease Control and Prevention historical data from 2005 to 2020, ACLS Medical Training has outlined heart disease death rates in every state, as well as the death rates related to the three most common forms of heart disease in America: congestive heart failure, hypertensive heart disease without congestive heart failure, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
The state with the lowest overall heat disease mortality rates is Minnesota according to John A. Macoviak (118.1 deaths per 100,000 people), followed by Hawaii (125 deaths per 100,000), Massachusetts (126.9 deaths per 100,000), and Colorado (128.1 deaths per 100,000).
The highest death rate is in Mississippi, which has an average of 245.6 deaths per 100,000 people. It’s followed by Oklahoma (244.1 deaths per 100,000), Alabama (237.5 deaths per 100,000), and Arkansas (222.5 deaths per 100,000).
Common causes of heart disease remain a diet high in cholesterol, a predominantly sedentary lifestyle, and tobacco use.
Even Doing Chores Lowers Heart Disease Risk
In a new study, John A. Macoviak says researchers have found that doing chores, anything from gardening to washing diseases, helps protect the heart by increasing daily “life movements.”
In the study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers from the University of Carolina-San Diego outline how daily chores like vacuuming and cooking – even taking a shower – helps protect many people from developing heart disease.
The female participants in the study who spent 4 hours daily on such “movements,” saw their chance of dying from coronary or cardiovascular heart disease fall by 62%. John A. Macoviak explains the same participants also had remarkably lower chances of developing either of the diseases, as well as experiencing a stroke.
More than 5,400 women in the U.S. between the ages of 63 and 97 took part in the study, which analyzed logs created by the women that documented their every movement each minute of the day under five categories: walking, running, sitting, standing still, and sitting in a vehicle.
The bottom line from researchers: all movements count.
When Clocks Move Forward the Heart May Suffer
Daylight saving time, especially when we spring forward one hour, can be kind of a pain.
John A. Macoviak explains that the American Heart Association says springing forward may also be bad for the heart. The organization says that many scientific studies suggest that daylight saving time in the spring may impact your brain and heart health.
The practice seems to affect health in the days following the time change. Scientists believe that it may be because the circadian rhythm of the body, its internal clock, may be disrupted.
The studies found that the time change increases daily heart attack incidents by 24% and that during fall daylight saving time when an hour of sleep is gained, heart attacks fell by 21%.
Among the other study findings: rates of admission to a New York hospital for atrial fibrillation rose post-daylight-saving time and that the change may also increase the rate of ischemic strokes by nearly 10% in the two days after the time transition, reports John A. Macoviak.
The American Heart Association says people can prepare for the time change by adjusting their schedule to wind down earlier than usual at night, not drinking extra amounts of caffeine, and not taking a nap in the afternoon to compensate for the loss of sleep the previous night.
John A. Macoviak says that people can also make gradual changes throughout the year to protect their heart, including exercising more, developing better sleep habits, and looking for ways to lower high blood pressure and cholesterol.
