Cardiovascular disease

Posted on Cardiovascular disease

Fatherhood’s Hidden Heart Health Toll

Cardiovascular health in older age was worse for fathers compared to nonfathers
Cardiovascular health in older age was worse for fathers compared to nonfathers.
  • Among fathers, heart health was worse for men who became fathers under the age of 25
  • First U.S. multiethnic longitudinal study to analyze cardiovascular health outcomes of fathers
  • Results differed by race and ethnicity subgroups 
  • The age-adjusted rate of death for Black fathers was lower than for nonfathers
  • ‘Fatherhood may be protective for Black men’

CHICAGO — Heart disease is the leading cause of death among men, and being a father may put men at an even greater risk of poor heart health later in life, reports a new study from scientists at Northwestern University and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

The study of 2,814 men between the ages of 45 and 84 found that cardiovascular health in older age was worse for fathers compared to nonfathers. Study participants’ heart health was rated based on their diet, physical activity, smoking habits, weight, blood pressure, and blood lipids and glucose levels.

“The changes in heart health we found suggest that the added responsibility of childcare and the stress of transitioning to fatherhood may make it difficult for men to maintain a healthy lifestyle, such as a healthy diet and exercise,” said corresponding author Dr John James Parker.

“We really need to study fathers as a unique population and track men’s health outcomes as they become fathers. Cardiovascular health is especially important since the health behaviours and factors are all modifiable.” 

Fathers have worse heart health but lower death rates

Despite fathers in the study having worse heart health in older age, the study found they actually have lower rates of death than nonfathers. Parker said this conflicting association could be because fathers may have a more robust social support system, and social connectedness has been linked with lower mortality. 

“Fathers may also be more likely to have someone as their future caretaker (i.e., their children) to help them attend medical appointments and manage medications and treatments as they age,” Parker said. “We also found that fathers had lower rates of depressive symptoms than nonfathers, so mental health may be contributing to the lower age-adjusted death rates in fathers.”

The study included men who self-identified as Black, Chinese, Hispanic or White, and the age-adjusted rate of death for all Black fathers was lower than for Black nonfathers, the only racial and ethnic subgroup with this association. 

“Fatherhood may be protective for Black men,” Parker said. “Maybe becoming a father helps promote a healthy lifestyle for Black men. Studying this association further could have important public health implications.”

Previous studies that evaluated fatherhood, cardiovascular health, cardiovascular disease and mortality have not included racially and ethnically diverse populations and lacked comprehensive cardiovascular health evaluation. This study is novel because it included men from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). 

This study also examined the influence of the age men transition to fatherhood on heart health and disease outcomes. Interestingly, men who became at younger ages (25 years old and younger) — especially Black and Hispanic men — had worse heart health and high death rates and may benefit from focused clinical and public health attention. 

“If you’re under 25, you may be less financially stable, your brain may be less mature, and, especially for racial and ethnic minorities, you may have lower-paying jobs with fewer benefits and limited leave policies,” Parker said. “All of this can make it harder to focus on your health. There are a lot of public health interventions for young mothers, but no one has ever really looked at young fathers in this way.” 

‘A father’s health has a major influence on their family’

Since most men in the U.S. are fathers, identifying some of the explanations for the associations among health, disease and fatherhood could have important health implications for men, especially for men of color, the scientists said. 

“A lot of times we focus on the health of mothers and children, and we don’t even think of fathers, but their health has a major influence on their family,” said Parker, citing previous research that found higher obesity rates among partners if their spouse was obese. “To improve the health of families, we need to consider the multi-directional relationship among mothers, fathers, other caregivers and children.” 

The study also found a higher smoking rate among fathers, which Parker said is surprising because other studies have shown many fathers quit smoking when they have kids. 

“This study looked at older fathers, so it’s possible men might quit smoking when they become fathers but then later, maybe they become more stressed and take up the habit again,” Parker said. “Either way, we should look at what’s happening with smoking rates because smoking is a leading cause of preventative death and if a father is smoking it will influence their families as well.”

Posted on Cardiovascular disease, Children's health, Exercise

A sedentary lifestyle puts strain on young hearts.

Sedentary lifestyle puts strain on young hearts

A sedentary lifestyle puts strain on young hearts CREDIT University of Jyväskylä.

According to a recent Finnish study, high levels of sedentary behaviour and physical inactivity from childhood strain the heart in adolescence. High cardiac workload predicts heart failure and other heart diseases. In light of the findings, increasing moderate and vigorous physical activity from childhood onwards is particularly important in preventing heart diseases.

In a collaborative study by the Faculty of Sport Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä and the Institute of Biomedicine at the University of Eastern Finland, sedentary behaviour and physical activity were followed from childhood to adolescence for eight years. The study showed that adolescents accumulating high levels of sedentary behaviour and low levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity from childhood onwards had a higher cardiac workload in adolescence. Cardiac workload was particularly high in adolescents, who accumulated low vigorous physical activity levels. 

In addition, high levels of sedentary behaviour and low levels of physical activity were associated with a higher total body fat percentage. Body fat percentage partly explained the associations between sedentary behaviour, physical activity, and cardiac workload. Light physical activity was not associated with cardiac workload. 

The results emphasise the importance of increasing physical activity, especially moderate and vigorous activity, reducing sedentary behaviour, and preventing overweight from childhood to prevent heart diseases. 

“Youth spend nine to ten hours a day being sedentary,” says Dr Eero Haapala from the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä, “and only one in ten adolescents accumulated 60 minutes of daily moderate to vigorous physical activity. These are worrying figures.” 

“High levels of daily moderate to vigorous physical activity should be a normal part of childhood and adolescence as it improves heart health, but also general well-being,” Haapala emphasises. 

Posted on Cardiovascular disease

Deadly heart attacks are more common on a Monday. 

Serious heart attacks are more likely to happen at the start of the working week than at any other time, according to new research presented today at the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) conference in Manchester.  

Doctors at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland analysed data of 10,528 patients across the island of Ireland (7,112 in the Republic of Ireland, 3,416 in Northern Ireland) admitted to hospital between 2013 and 2018 with the most serious type of heart attack. This is known as an ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and occurs when a major coronary artery is completely blocked.  

The researchers found a spike in rates of STEMI heart attacks at the start of the working week, with rates highest on a Monday. There were also higher rates of STEMI than expected on a Sunday. 

Scientists have so far been unable to fully explain why this “Blue Monday” phenomenon occurs. Previous studies suggesting that heart attacks are more likely on a Monday have highlighted an association with circadian rhythm – the body’s sleep or wake cycle. 

There are over 30,000 hospital admissions due to STEMI each year in the UK. It requires emergency assessment and treatment to minimise damage to the heart, and this is normally performed with emergency angioplasty – a procedure to re-open the blocked coronary artery.  

Cardiologist Dr Jack Laffan, who led the research at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, said: “We’ve found a strong statistical correlation between the start of the working week and the incidence of STEMI. This has been described before but remains a curiosity. The cause is likely multifactorial, however, based on what we know from previous studies, it is reasonable to presume a circadian element.” 

Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said: “Someone is admitted to hospital due to a life-threatening heart attack every five minutes in the UK, so it’s vital that research continues to shed light on how and why heart attacks happen.   

“This study adds to evidence around the timing of particularly serious heart attacks, but we now need to unpick what it is about certain days of the week that makes them more likely.  Doing so could help doctors better understand this deadly condition so we can save more lives in future.” 

Posted on Cardiovascular disease, Insomnia, Mental health

Frequent visits to green spaces linked to lower use of certain prescription meds

Lower use of drugs for depression, anxiety, insomnia, high blood pressure, and asthma in city dwellers. Findings independent of income and educational attainment


Frequent visits to urban green spaces, such as parks and community gardens in Finland, rather than the amount, or views of them from home, may be linked to lower use of certain prescription meds, suggests research published online in Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

The observed associations between frequent green space visits and lower use of drugs for depression, anxiety, insomnia, high blood pressure, and asthma were not dependent on socio-economic position.

Exposure to natural environments is thought to be good for health, but the evidence is inconsistent, say the researchers.

They wanted to determine if the amount of residential green and blue space (bodies of water), frequency of green space visits, and views of green and blue spaces from home might be separately associated with certain prescription meds.

They chose prescription meds as a proxy for ill health and those for anxiety and insomnia, depression, high blood pressure, and asthma, mainly because they are used to treat common and potentially severe health issues.

They drew on the responses of 16,000 randomly selected residents of Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa, to the Helsinki Capital Region Environmental Health Survey in 2015-16. These three cities make up the largest urban area in Finland. 

The survey gathered information on how city dwellers, aged at least 25, experience residential green and blue spaces within a 1 km radius of their homes.

Respondents were also asked to report their use of prescribed meds—drugs for anxiety, insomnia, and depression, collectively known as psychotropic drugs; high blood pressure and asthma drugs—if applicable, for periods ranging from within the past week up to more than a year ago or never.

They were also asked how often they spent time, or exercised outdoors, in green spaces, during May and September, with options ranging from never to 5 or more times a week. 

And they were asked whether they could see green or blue spaces from any of their windows at home, and, if so, how often they took in these views, with options ranging from seldom to often.

Green areas were forests, gardens, parks, castle parks, cemeteries, zoos, herbaceous vegetation associations such as natural grassland and moors, and wetlands. Blue areas were defined as seas, lakes, and rivers.

Potentially influential factors were also considered, including health behaviours, outdoor air pollution and noise, household income and educational attainment.

The final analysis included approximately 6000 participants who provided complete information.

This showed that the amount of residential green and blue spaces, or views of them from home, weren’t associated with prescription meds for mental health, insomnia, high blood pressure or asthma.

But the frequency of green space visits was. Compared with less than one weekly visit, visiting 3-4 times weekly was associated with 33% lower odds of using mental health meds, 36% lower odds of using blood pressure meds, and 26% lower odds of using asthma meds. 

The equivalent figures for visiting at least five times a week were 22%, 41%, and 24% lower.

These observed associations were weakened when weight (BMI) was factored in, particularly for asthma meds, as obesity is a known risk factor for asthma, point out the researchers. 

The effects of visiting green spaces were also stronger among those reporting the lowest annual household income ( below €30, 000). But overall, the associations found didn’t depend on household income and educational attainment.

This is an observational study, so we can’t establish cause and effect. No information was available on illness severity, and better health may enable a person to spend more time outdoors.

Finland has high forest cover, while Finnish cities are relatively green, making it easy for those willing to use green spaces to access them with minimal effort, they add. 

But they conclude: “Mounting scientific evidence supporting the health benefits of nature exposure is likely to increase the supply of high-quality green spaces in urban environments and promote their active use. This might be one way to improve health and welfare in cities.”