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New kidney ‘a blessing, a great gift’ for Mountain Top man

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Your view: Support high-quality pre-k funding

<p>It&#8217;s never too early to take a hard look at your heart health.</p><p>A new study released by the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine indicates that using the new pediatric blood pressure guidelines that were issued in 2017 would increase the number of children diagnosed with high blood pressure by about 8 percent. Drawing from the Bogalusa Heart Study, which has examined heart health in patients from childhood through adulthood since 1973, the new Tulane study showed that children who would have been diagnosed with hypertension under the new guidelines were indeed more likely to encounter heart problems as adults.</p><p>So, checking in on the state of your body&#8217;s circulatory system is recommended no matter your stage in life. Here are six questions to ask yourself when assessing your heart health:</p><p>1.) Have you had heart or vascular issues in the past (such as heart attack, stroke, artery disease/reduced blood flow or aneurysm)?</p><p>If you&#8217;ve experienced any of these issues personally, no matter how mild the case, you may be at risk for future, and possibly more severe, episodes. Work closely with your primary care physician and heart specialists to monitor your heart health.</p><p>2.) Have your parents, brothers, sisters or kids had heart or vascular issues in the past?</p><p>Lifestyle factors like diet, exercise and tobacco use can all contribute to heart disease, but heart and vascular issues can also be hereditary, and the impact of this variable can be significant. If anyone in your immediate family has experienced these or related issues, be sure that it&#8217;s noted in your medical record and ask your doctor about your risk level.</p><p>3.) Have you been told by a doctor that you have high blood pressure, or do you take medication to manage your blood pressure?</p><p>Over time, high blood pressure can damage arteries, which may become blocked, preventing blood flow to the heart muscle and possibly leading to heart attack. High blood pressure can also stress blood vessels, which may lead to the formation of clots or aneurysms (a ballooning in the vessel wall that may rupture), resulting in stroke if involving the brain.</p><p>4.) Have you been told by a doctor that you have high cholesterol, or do you take medications to manage your cholesterol?</p><p>High cholesterol can be associated with fatty deposits developing in blood vessels, ultimately affecting blood flow through the arteries. In some cases, those deposits can crack without warning and form a clot that results in heart attack or stroke. Improving diet, exercising more, quitting smoking and certain medications can all reduce high cholesterol.</p><p>5.) Do you have diabetes?</p><p>Studies have shown strong correlations between insulin resistance and high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity and lack of physical activity. These factors can contribute to the development of heart disease. Specifically, high blood sugar can lead to higher levels of dangerous cholesterol called very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) and can damage the lining of arteries.</p><p>6.) Do you currently or have you ever used tobacco products?</p><p>Smoking causes instant and long-term rise in blood pressure and heart rate. It reduces blood flow from the heart as well as the amount of oxygen that reaches the body&#8217;s tissues. Smoking also increases risk for blood clots, damages blood vessels and doubles risk of stroke &#8230; to say nothing about the risk of lung disease including cancer!</p><p>If you answered yes to any of these questions, it might be time to evaluate your heart health. There are several </p><p><a data-auth="NotApplicable" href="https://www.geisinger.org/sites/heart/cardiology-at-risk" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff;" target="_blank">https://www.geisinger.org/sites/heart/cardiology-at-risk</a>Heart Risk Assessment Tools Online that can help you in your discussions with your medical care team.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Alfred Casale</p><p>To Your Health</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Dr. Alfred Casale, a cardiothoracic surgeon, is associate chief medical officer for Geisinger and chair of the Geisinger Heart Institute. Readers may write to him via ae@www.timesleader.com.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

What’s your risk of heart disease?