Heart Disease

Government scientists have abruptly halted a landmark study of hormone therapy for post-menopausal women, saying it increased rather than lowered the risk of heart disease and stroke and raised the chance of breast cancer. Although the chances of a woman developing these diseases remained small, five years on the combination estrogen-progestin therapy raised the risk of stroke by 41 percent, heart attack by 29 percent, cardiovascular disease by 22 percent and breast cancer by 26 percent.

We know that ozone pollutes the air, seeps into the lungs and prompts health alerts that keep people indoors. Now add this to your ozone worry list - your body creates ozone, and it may cause heart disease. California researchers say the same ozone formed by the body's immune system to fight off infections in the bloodstream - a function discovered a year ago - may contribute to atherosclerois, a major killer. Although breathing ozone may hurt your respiratory system, it isn't damaging your arteries, according to researchers from the Scripps Research Institute in LaJolla.

Orioles manager Davey Johnson, suffering from an irregular heartbeat, checked into St. Joseph Medical Center yesterday and missed last night's game, but he is expected to return to his duties tonight.Johnson fell because of dizziness at his home yesterday morning and went to the Heart Institute at St. Joseph shortly thereafter for a series of tests that revealed a case of atrial fibrillation -- essentially the same problem that bothered Orioles pitcher David Wells in spring training, according to team doctor William Goldiner.

Two-thirds of primary care doctors in the Baltimore area don't know the sometimes subtle symptoms of heart disease in women, according to a new Gallup survey to be released today. . Only a third of the physicians correctly identified some of the most significant signs of heart disease in women, such as chronic fatigue, dizziness and nausea. The survey, commissioned by Union Memorial Hospital, found that about 80 percent of doctors cited crushing chest pain as a major warning sign, for example, when this symptom is more common in men. Across the country, the lack of awareness among physicians of the gender differences in heart disease has devastating consequences.

NEW YORK - Women who took aspirin and vitamin E in separate studies of cancer and heart disease prevention experienced no benefits, while a third analysis revealed that aspirin might lower the risk of prostate cancer in men, researchers will report today. In the scientific papers published in two journals, a key theme, on first blush, seems to be aspirin's stark differences between the genders. But scientists downplayed that difference yesterday and underscored that much remains to be learned about cancer prevention - and aspirin dosage.

The Upper Chesapeake Cardiovascular Institute launched a heart disease awareness campaign yesterday to alert women of Harford County to the dangers of heart disease. Women's Heart Plus, a program intended to raise awareness of the risks and symptoms of heart disease in women, came about after women in Harford County were surveyed about their knowledge of heart disease and the institute realized how many were uninformed on the subject, said Kim Lovett, spokeswoman for Upper Chesapeake Health System.

CROSSROADS, South Africa - In this black township just east of Cape Town, no one doubts that AIDS has caused a health crisis. Every weekend, families go to cemeteries to bury victims of the disease. But at Crossroads Community Health Center, health workers are witnessing the first signs of what might be the nation's next health tragedy: heart disease. Each month, more men and women line up outside the clinic's iron gates seeking treatment for high blood pressure, one of the major risk factors leading to strokes and heart attacks.

In its zeal to fight cancer, Maryland may be failing to combat two other diseases that, together with cancer, account for the majority of all deaths in the state, a research team contends.Dr. Stephen Havas, an epidemiologist with the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said in a 15-page report that heart disease, cancer and stroke together account for 60 percent of the state's deaths -- with heart disease far outstripping cancer as the leading killer."Deaths from these three diseases are occurring at a higher rate in Maryland than elsewhere in the United States," Dr. Havas said.

Blacks in the United States are more likely than whites to die of heart disease -- and at a younger age -- and yet no one can say precisely why. Although earlier diagnosis and improved treatment have contributed to an overall decline in U.S. death rates from cardiovascular illnesses during the past 30 years, blacks haven't shared in those improvements. They continue to suffer high rates of potentially fatal cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and stroke. Black men are twice as likely as white men to die of heart disease before their 65th birthday.

Casting fresh doubt on a widely held dietary belief, a new study of low-carbohydrate diets found that eating higher amounts of fat doesn't increase cardiac risk. The report in today's New England Journal of Medicine also found that consuming higher amounts of vegetable fat greatly reduced the chance of heart disease. The findings mean "you don't have to restrict everything to lose weight or reduce your risk for heart disease," said Kathleen Rigol, a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association who was not connected with the study.