Heart Attack

Each year, about 1 million people in the United States have stents put in to treat clogged coronary arteries - a procedure some might not have needed, according to a recent study. Although stents relieve angina, they were found to be no more effective in eliminating the risks of heart attack, stroke or death than drug treatment alone. Americans want to believe that modern medicine is sophisticated and evidence-based, but this study underscores how little we know when we make most medical decisions.

When a man suffers a heart attack at a young age, klaxons sound and red flags flutter for his son. Pointing to a son's inherited risk of going down the same road, physicians probably will urge him to stay away from cigarettes, watch his weight and exercise regularly. And there's evidence that that advice prompts many men to take heed. But do alarm bells sound for the female child of a premature heart attack victim? Does she hear them? A study in the September issue of the American Heart Journal suggests the answers are no and no. The study establishes that although the daughters of families with premature heart disease are indeed at higher risk of developing heart disease themselves, they either are failing to get that message or not bothering to heed it. "Women seem to feel they have a get-out-of-jail-free card when it comes to heart disease," says Dr. Alexis Anvekar, California internist and American Heart Association spokeswoman.

For nearly two decades, the Rev. Frank M. Reid III has been the shepherd guiding one of the Baltimore area's largest and most influential congregations. Virtually every serious candidate for citywide and state office visits his church, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal -- and this year, at least two leading contenders for mayor are members. The Upton church plans to break ground on a Baltimore County location this year to accommodate the thousands who attend weekly services. Reid has even been immortalized on The Wire television series.

WASHINGTON -- Canadian researchers furnished the strongest evidence to date linking the popular diabetes drug Avandia to an increased risk of heart attack in a scientific study released yesterday. Compared with other diabetes pills, Avandia's use was associated with a 60 percent higher risk of heart failure, 40 percent higher risk of heart attack and 30 percent higher risk of death in patients 65 and older, the researchers found. "The risks associated with these drugs may outweigh the benefits, at least for older populations," said Dr. Lorraine L. Lipscombe, the lead author of the study and a researcher at a health research agency funded by the Ontario government.

Meridian Medical Technologies Inc. received approval yesterday to market in Europe its new device for detecting a heart attack, and said it hopes to launch human trials with the device later this year so it can seek Food and Drug Administration approval to market it in the United States.Columbia-based Meridian hopes its PRIME ECG device emerges as a new standard diagnostic for determining if a person is experiencing a heart attack, and might one day replace the electrocardiogram, which has been the standard of care for more than 50 years.

Dr. Paul M. Zoll, 87, a heart specialist whose research led to the pacemaker and the defibrillator devices that have helped millions of patients, died in Newton, Mass., Tuesday of respiratory arrest.Norman Reyes, 76, a Filipino-American radio broadcaster who was the voice of the resistance on the Bataan peninsula during the World War II battle there, died Thursday in San Pablo, Philippines. Reyes had been bedridden for several months after a stroke.Bartolome Carrasco, 80, a retired Roman Catholic archbishop who was one of Mexico's most dedicated champions of the poor and of Indian rights, died in Mexico City Thursday of liver complications related to diabetes.

Akio Morita,75, the entrepreneurwho co-founded Sony Corp. and helped give new meaning to the words "Made in Japan," died today in Tokyo, Kyodo news service reported.Ted Arison,75, the American-Israeli billionaire who founded Carnival Cruise Lines, died of a heart attack Friday in Jerusalem.Pub Date: 10/03/99

Basketball referee Wilbert T. Spivey collapsed and died yesterday at halftime of the Randallstown-Patterson boys game he was working at Coppin State College.Spivey, 43, had an apparent heart attack during the game, which was part of the third-annual Mayor's Basketball Academy tournament.Following courtside efforts by two athletic trainers and others to revive him, he was taken by ambulance to nearby Liberty Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.The game continued, and Randallstown, ranked No. 18 locally, won easily.

Lowell Fulson, 77, a blues singer who helped launch the careers of Ray Charles and B. B. King and whose 1954 hit "Reconsider Baby" was recorded by Elvis Presley, died Sunday in Long Beach, Calif., of kidney disease, diabetes and congestive heart failure.Adolfo Bioy Casares, 84, an Argentine writer known for his use of fantasy and his collaborations with literary giant Jorge Luis Borges, died Monday in Buenos Aires.William Wrigley, 66, the third-generation chief executive officer of the chewing gum company founded by his grandfather, died Monday in Chicago of complications from pneumonia.

King Hassan II, who ruled Morocco for 38 years, prolonging the life of a 300-year-old dynasty in an era when monarchies in Libya, Egypt, Iraq and Iran fell to socialist revolutions or the force of militant Islam, died yesterday in Rabat, Morocco. He was 70.The cause of death was a heart attack, Crown Prince Sidi Mohammed, the king's 36-year-old son and successor, announced. The king, who had been in fragile health since he was hospitalized in the United States four years ago for lung problems, had been admitted earlier in the day to a Rabat hospital for an acute lung infection, according to a palace statement.

A reader of our Picture of Health blog asked recently how to distinguish the symptoms of heartburn from the symptoms of a heart attack. It turns out to be harder than you might think. Dr. Richard A. Desi, a gastroenterologist at the Institute for Digestive Health and Liver Disease at Baltimore's Mercy Medical Center, discussed how to tell the difference. "That's actually not a very easy question," Desi said. "It's a difficult question for patients and for doctors." One key, he said, is to look for what are considered the classic symptoms of each.

JODY POWELL Carter press secretary Jody Powell, who was White House press secretary and among the closest and most trusted advisers to President Jimmy Carter, died Monday of a heart attack. Powell, a member of the so-called Georgia Mafia that descended on Washington after Carter was elected president, died at his home near Cambridge on Maryland's Eastern Shore, said Jack Nelson, a retired reporter and close friend of Powell. He was 65. Nelson said Powell had been working with firewood with a helper who briefly stepped away.

'Mindful eating' can help keep you slim A new study explains why yoga helps practitioners stay slim: People who engage in the traditional form of exercise are more in tune with their bodies in general, including at meal times. Mindful eating helps people to stop eating once they are full, even if delicious food remains on their plates. They try not to let tempting advertisements lure them to food; they avoid eating while they are distracted by a TV show or other diversion; and they don't eat to distract themselves from emotions like stress or sadness.

When Food Network Magazine named the Heart Attack on a Plate sandwich at Mother's Federal Hill Grille as the ultimate burger in Maryland, I had to try it. The magazine's June/July issue, now on newsstands, picked 50 favorite burgers, one in each of the 50 states. After all, almost every American eats burgers, including two guys at the top of the nation's food chain, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. The other day, these two leaders of the free world scooted out of the White House to chow down on burgers for lunch at Ray's Hell-Burger in Arlington, Va. Ray's was the magazine's top burger joint for the state of Virginia.

Shoveling snow can be hard on the heart. Especially for the sedentary, doctors say, tackling heavy snow with only a shovel and determination can put a potentially fatal strain on the heart. Every winter, Americans in snowy states drop in their tracks or wind up in emergency rooms - their hearts stopped, damaged or in pain after sudden and unaccustomed exertion in the cold. There are no national statistics on shoveling deaths. But a 1993 study in The New England Journal of Medicine looked at 1,228 heart-attack victims and found that out-of-shape people increased their risk of a heart attack by a hundredfold when they shoveled snow.

R ichard Sher, who announced his departure from WJZ this week after 33 years of reporting and anchoring, says he isn't completely done with the news biz. I'm not sure he was ever completely in it. Among the "many accomplishments" listed on his new Web site, www.richardsher.tv: "talking a suicidal man off a ledge at the University of Maryland Medical Center; negotiating for more than 10 hours with a hostage taker, eventually arranging for the safe release of the man's hostage; and receiving the first civilian lifesaving award ever presented by the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, for helping a man suffering from a heart attack find his way to an emergency room, all the while giving the man nitro glycerin and driving the man's car."

It started as an argument between a 16-year-old and her grandmother over photos hanging on the girl's bedroom wall. But when 69-year-old Eunice Taylor died of a heart attack moments after being held down by her wrists on a bed by her granddaughter, it became murder, police and prosecutors say. Jabreria Handy, who lived with her grandparents in Northeast Baltimore, turned herself in Friday - four days after her 17th birthday - and was charged as an...

NEW ORLEANS - In results from an eagerly anticipated study that could greatly change the treatment of cardiovascular disease, researchers have found that statin drugs - now given to millions of people with high cholesterol - can halve the risk of heart attack and stroke in seemingly healthy patients as well. The study of nearly 18,000 people with normal cholesterol found that the drugs lowered the risk of death from heart disease by 20 percent, suggesting that millions more people should be put on a daily regimen.

Living in some of Baltimore's poorest and most violent neighborhoods can significantly increase your risk of heart attack or stroke, according to a study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In the worst areas, the hazard is on a par with being a regular smoker. The results confirm the suspicions of a small group of urban researchers who in recent years have come to believe that impoverished environments can seriously damage health, even for people not directly touched by violence or who do not have unhealthy eating and lifestyle habits.

People who have spent most of their lives smoking may derive health benefits within five years of quitting - drastically reducing their chance of dying from a heart attack, stroke or lung cancer, according to a study published today. In just five years, quitters reduced their added risk of dying of a heart attack by 47 percent and of lung cancer by 21 percent. Over time, their risk declined to the level of nonsmokers. The message: There is hope for even the most inveterate smokers. "Many people think there's just nothing they can do," said Stacey A. Kenfield, an epidemiologist with the Harvard School of Public Health.