GenderBiology.net

Sleep Study Finds Important Gender Differences Among Heart Patients

SOURCE:  Newswise

DATE: June 4, 2013

EXCERPT:  "Many women get too little sleep, despite considerable evidence showing the importance of sleep to overall health. Now a new UC San Francisco study has discovered another reason why inadequate sleep may be harmful, especially to women and their hearts."  more

RELATED CITATION:

Prather  AA, Epel ES, Neylan TC, Whooley MA. Gender differences in the prospective associations of self-reported sleep quality with biomarkers of systemic inflammation and coagulation: Findings from the Heart and Soul Study. Journal of Psychiatric Research.  June 2013.


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Depression May Be Stroke Trigger in Women

SOURCE: Medpage Today

DATE: May 16, 2013

EXCERPT: "Depression appears to be a risk factor for stroke among middle-age women, even after accounting for other variables, an Australian study showed."  more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Jackson CA, Mishra GD. Depression and risk of stroke in midaged women: a prospective longitudinal study. Stroke. 2013 Jun;44(6):1555-60.


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Mayo Clinic Creates Institution-Wide Electronic Prolonged QT Interval Warning System

SOURCE:  Newswise

DATE: April 25, 2013

EXCERPT: "Using a one-of-a-kind computer-aided program, Mayo Clinic has developed and implemented a Mayo-wide electronic warning system to identify patients at risk of QT-related deaths from an abnormality in the heart’s electrical system. The system informs all physicians, regardless of their specialty or QT awareness, if their patient’s ECG activated the QT alarm. In addition, the researchers discovered that the death rate of patients whose 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) activated the QT alert was nearly four times greater than all other patients who had an ECG. The findings are published in the current issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

....

More than 100 U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved medications are known to prolong the QT interval and potentially trigger drug-induced LQTS and sudden death. For example, antidepressants can be tolerated well by a patient, but if the patient also is taking an antibiotic with QT-prolonging potential and has electrolyte abnormalities, “this could be a perfect QT storm and often the physician may not know that such a storm may be brewing,” says Dr. Ackerman, director of Mayo’s LQTS Clinic and Windland Smith Rice Cardiovascular Genomics Research Professor."  more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Haugaa KH, Bos JM, Tarrell RF, Morlan BW, Caraballo PJ, Ackerman MJ. Institution-wide QT alert system identifies patients with a high risk of mortality. Mayo Clin Proc. 2013 Apr;88(4):315-25.


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Angina? Heartache Is Same in Men and Women

SOURCE:  Medpage Today

DATE: April 8, 2013

EXCERPT:  "Contrary to widespread belief, symptoms of obstructive coronary artery disease are generally similar in men and women, researchers found." more

RELATED PUBMED LINKS:

Kreatsoulas C, Shannon HS, Giacomini M, Velianou JL, Anand SS. Reconstructing Angina: Cardiac Symptoms Are the Same in Women and Men. JAMA Intern Med. 2013 Apr 8:1-2. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.229. [Epub ahead of print] No abstract available.


Redberg RF. Debunking Atypical Chest Pain in Women Comment on "Reconstructing Angina: Cardiac Symptoms Are the Same in Women and Men". JAMA Intern Med. 2013 Apr 8:1.


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Sex-specific risk of cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline: pregnancy and menopause

SOURCE:  Biology of Sex Differences

(Journal)

DATE: March 28, 2013

EXCERPT: "Understanding the biology of sex differences is integral to 
personalized medicine. Cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline are two 
related conditions, with distinct sex differences in morbidity and clinical 
manifestations, response to treatments, and mortality. ...  Research into 
specific sex differences for these disease processes with attention to an 
individual’s sex chromosomal complement and hormonal status is important and 
timely."  more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Miller VM, Garovic VD, Kantarci K, Barnes JN, Jayachandran M, Mielke MM, 
Joyner MJ, Shuster LT, Rocca WA. Sex-specific risk of cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline: pregnancy and menopause. Biol Sex Differ. 2013 Mar 
28;4(1):6.

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librarian for assistance in accessing this article through library resources.

The Considerable Gender Differences In Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer, Liver Diseases, Osteoporosis, And Pharmacology

SOURCE:  Medical News Today

DATE: March 26, 2013

EXCERPT: "At the dawn of the third millennium medical researchers still know very little about gender-specific differences in illness, particularly when it comes to disease symptoms, influencing social and psychological factors, and the ramifications of these differences for treatment and prevention. Medical research conducted over the past 40 years has focused almost exclusively on male patients.

A new article titled "Gender medicine: a task for the third millennium" presents research on gender-related differences conducted by Giovannella Baggio of Padua University Hospital and her team."  more

RELATED LINK:

Baggio G, Corsini A, Floreani A, Giannini S, Zagonel V. Gender medicine: a task for the third millennium. Clin Chem Lab Med. 2013 Apr;51(4):713-27. doi: 10.1515/cclm-2012-0849.


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Exposure To DDT Linked To High Blood Pressure In Women

SOURCE:  Medical News Today

DATE:  March 13, 2013

EXCERPT:  "Babies in utero exposed to high levels of the pesticide DDT are three times more likely to develop hypertension in adulthood, a new study by the University of California Davis suggests."  more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

La Merrill M, Cirillo PM, Terry MB, Krigbaum NY, Flom JD, Cohn BA. Prenatal Exposure to the Pesticide DDT and Hypertension Diagnosed in Women before Age 50: A Longitudinal Birth Cohort Study. Environ Health Perspect. 2013 May;121(5):594-9.


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Gender Differences In Symptoms And Care Of Irregular Heartbeats

SOURCE:  Medical News Today

DATE: March 13, 2013

EXCERPT:  "Women with atrial fibrilation have more symptoms and lower quality of life than men with the same heart condition, according to an analysis of patients in a large national registry compiled by the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

The finding adds to a growing body of research that highlights gender disparities in how cardiovascular disease is managed, and serves as a caution to doctors to be alert to treatment decisions that might perpetuate the differences."  more

RELATED LINK:

Presented by Jonathan P. Piccini at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Sessions & Expo, 9-11 2013, San Francisco

Too Much Calcium May Be Harmful for Women

SOURCE:  MedPage Today

DATE: February 13, 2013

EXCERPT: "Women who have a high intake of daily calcium may be at an increased risk of death from all causes, from cardiovascular disease, and from ischemic heart disease, researchers reported."  more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Michaëlsson K, Melhus H, Warensjö Lemming E, Wolk A, Byberg L.  Long term calcium intake and rates of all cause and cardiovascular mortality: community based prospective longitudinal cohort study.  BMJ. 2013 Feb 12;346:f228.

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Risk Of Cardiovascular Death Doubled In Women With High Calcium Intake - High Risk Only In Those Taking Supplements

SOURCE:  Medical News Today

DATE: February 13, 2013

EXCERPT:  "High intakes of calcium (corresponding to diet and supplements) in women are associated with a higher risk of death from all causes, but cardiovascular disease in particular, compared with women with lower calcium intake, ...." more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Michaëlsson K, Melhus H, Warensjö Lemming E, Wolk A, Byberg L.  Long term calcium intake and rates of all cause and cardiovascular mortality: community based prospective longitudinal cohort study.  BMJ. 2013 Feb 12;346:f228.

*Note: if you do not have access to this journal, contact your local librarian for assistance in accessing this article through library resources.