(Press-News.org) The risk of heart attack or stroke is increased in the 30 days after a partner's death.
Bereavement is recognized as a risk factor for death and is associated with cardiovascular events.
The authors compared the rate of myocardial infarction (MI, heart attack) or stroke in older patients (n=30,447, 60 to 89 years of age) whose partner died to that of individuals (n=83,588) whose partners were still alive during the same period.
Fifty patients (0.16 percent) experienced MI or stroke within 30 days of their partner's death compared with 67 (0.08 percent) of controls. The increased risk of MI or stroke in bereaved men and women lessened after 30 days.
"We have described a marked increase in cardiovascular risk in the month after spousal bereavement, which seems likely to be the result of adverse physiological responses associated with acute grief. A better understanding of psychosocial factors associated with acute cardiovascular events may provide opportunities for prevention and improved clinical care."
INFORMATION:
(JAMA Intern Med. Published online February 24, 2014. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.14558. Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com.)
Author: Iain M. Carey, M.Sc., Ph.D., of St. George's University of London, and colleagues.
Editor's Note: This study was supported by the Dunhill Medical Trust. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
Death of partner associated with increased risk of heart attack, stroke
2014-02-24
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Panel recommends listing depression as a risk for heart disease
2014-02-24
AUDIO:
A panel of experts that includes researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is recommending depression now be officially included as a risk factor for serious heart...
Click here for more information.
An extensive review of scientific literature indicates that depression should be added to the list of risk factors associated with heart disease. Others include obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and smoking.
A 12-person panel of experts that ...
Now in 3-D: Video of virus-sized particle trying to enter cell
2014-02-24
VIDEO:
"Kiss and run " on the cell surface. This 3-D movie shows actual footage of a virus-like particle (red dot) approaching a cell (green with reddish brown nucleus), as captured by...
Click here for more information.
Tiny and swift, viruses are hard to capture on video. Now researchers at Princeton University have achieved an unprecedented look at a virus-like particle as it tries to break into and infect a cell. The technique they developed could help scientists ...
Preventive oophorectomy reduces risk of death by 77 percent for women with BRCA mutation
2014-02-24
TORONTO, ON, February 24, 2014 —Women who carry a BRCA gene mutation and opt for a preventive oophorectomy, or ovary removal surgery, have a 77 per cent lower risk of death than those who do not, according to a new study led by Women's College Hospital's Amy Finch and Dr. Steven Narod.
Research has long shown that preventive oophorectomy reduces the risks of ovarian and breast cancers in women with a BRCA gene mutation, but the best age for women to have the surgery and its impact on mortality has not been well studied. The findings by Finch and colleagues, published ...
Study shows preventive ovarian surgery in BRCA1 mutation carriers should be performed early
2014-02-24
The findings of a large international prospective study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology suggest for the first time that women with BRCA1 mutations should have preventive ovarian surgery (prophylactic oophorectomy) by age 35, as waiting until a later age appears to increase the risk of ovarian cancer before or at the time of the preventive surgery. Women with a BRCA2 mutation, however, do not appear to be at an increased risk by age 35, suggesting they may delay this procedure until later. Moreover, women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations who had this surgery ...
JCI online ahead of print table of contents for Feb. 24, 2014
2014-02-24
Clinical trial assesses anti-FGF23 for treating X-linked hypophosphatemia
X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH) is a heritable form of rickets that results from mutations in the gene encoding the phosphate regulating endopeptidase (PHEX). Unlike diet-associated forms of rickets, XLH cannot be ameliorated by vitamin D ingestion. XLH patients have increased serum levels of FGF23, which decreases both inorganic phosphate (Pi) and the activated form of vitamin D. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Thomas Carpenter and colleagues at Yale University evaluated ...
Seed dispersal gets a test in carved-out 'habitat corridors'
2014-02-24
MADISON, Wis. — Field ecologists go to great lengths to get data: radio collars and automatic video cameras are only two of their creative techniques for documenting the natural world. So when a group of ecologists set out to see how wind moves seeds through isolated patches of habitat carved into a longleaf pine plantation in South Carolina, they twisted colored yarn to create mock seeds that would drift with the wind much like native seeds.
The "seeds" were dusted with fluorescent powder and inserted into custom-made boxes mounted on poles, then released as the scientists ...
Better livestock diets to combat climate change and improve food security
2014-02-24
Livestock production is responsible for 12% of human-related greenhouse gas emissions, primarily coming from land use change and deforestation caused by expansion of agriculture, as well as methane released by the animals themselves, with a lesser amount coming from manure management and feed production.
“There is a lot of discussion about reduction of meat in the diets as a way to reduce emissions,” says IIASA researcher Petr Havlík, who led the study “But our results show that targeting the production side of agriculture is a much more efficient way to reduce greenhouse ...
Marine algae can sense the rainbow
2014-02-24
A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has shown for the first time that several types of aquatic algae can detect orange, green and blue light.
Land plants have receptors to detect light on the red and far red of the spectrum, which are the common wavelengths in the air. These plants sense the light to move and grow as their environment changes, for example when another plant shades them from the sun. But in the ocean, the water absorbs red wavelengths, instead reflecting colours such as blue and green. As part of the study, a team of ...
A paper diagnostic for cancer
2014-02-24
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Cancer rates in developing nations have climbed sharply in recent years, and now account for 70 percent of cancer mortality worldwide. Early detection has been proven to improve outcomes, but screening approaches such as mammograms and colonoscopy, used in the developed world, are too costly to be implemented in settings with little medical infrastructure.
To address this gap, MIT engineers have developed a simple, cheap, paper test that could improve diagnosis rates and help people get treated earlier. The diagnostic, which works much like a pregnancy ...
Species conservation poised to benefit from DNA advances
2014-02-24
A biologist at the University of York is part of an international team which has shown that advanced DNA sequencing technologies can be used to accurately measure the levels of inbreeding in wild animal populations.
The research by senior author Dr Kanchon Dasmahapatra, of the Department of Biology at York, and led by Dr Joseph Hoffman, of the Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, Germany, may help efforts to conserve rare species.
Laboratory studies show that inbreeding reduces fitness. However, studying the impact of inbreeding in wild populations has ...