Occupational therapy is proving to be one of the most important ways to avoid readmission to hospital. This was the finding of a study recently published in the journal Medical Care Research and Review which found readmission rates for heart patients were lower in hospitals that invested more in...
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Atrial fibrillation is a complex condition in that its causes vary from person to person, impacting its underlying mechanisms, what triggers episodes and which treatments are effective in each individual. In addition, afib can be difficult to diagnose because it is often episodic nature and in some...
A pocket hematoma is a pooling of blood around a device such as a pacemaker or implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) following the implant procedure. Research led by the Ottawa Heart Institute has found that patients who experience a clinically significant pocket hematoma (CSH) are...
Being a patient at the Heart Institute can be unsettling—but it’s also safe. There is trained staff that will help with whatever patients need. Medication is brought when it’s time to take it and food meets the requirements for a heart-healthy diet. When it’s time to leave, though, it’s another...
Being a patient can be confusing and overwhelming. There can be a lot of new information to absorb at a time when patients are not feeling their best. Decisions are often necessary and the implications of those choices may not be clear. Recovery can involve following detailed instructions or making...
After Hope Sarfi had bypass surgery last year, she had good support from family and friends. They helped her out where they could, some learned about her condition and they listened to her concerns—everything you could want from those closest to you. But she felt something was missing. That...
Heart failure is an insidious disease. Its symptoms can be vague—including shortness of breath, swelling of the ankles and fatigue. Too often, patients and family doctors miss the warning signs entirely, explained Peter Liu, MD, Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President of Research at the...
It takes time and nurturing to grow a top-flight hospital. The University of Ottawa Heart Institute, which began largely as an extension of the Ottawa Civic Hospital when its doors first opened in 1976, has matured to become Canada’s foremost cardiovascular centre. Superior expertise in surgical...
Hospitalization for pneumonia is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in middle-aged and older adults with no history of heart disease, according to a study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Presenting his findings at the University of...
As many as one in eight people don’t know they have prediabetes and are on the path to developing diabetes. Of Canadian adults, that is nearly 3.5 million people. Both prediabetes and diabetes are important contributors to heart disease. The findings, published recently in the American Journal of...
The health benefits of regular physical activity are well documented and hard to overstate, but too often they are left out of the doctor–patient conversation. In December 2015, JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, published the Viewpoint “ Making Physical Activity Counseling a...
Despite major advances in technology and treatment over the past several decades, cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of death in the world. In fact, cardiovascular illness has continued to increase at an epidemic rate globally despite a general reduction in age-related mortality over...
One thing we know about women’s hearts is that they are different. Gender differences have been identified in the recognition, treatment and recovery from heart disease related illness, but there are anatomical differences that can affect a woman’s recovery from cardiac surgery. One post-surgical...
The American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association have named the RAFT trial among the top 10 research advances in heart disease in 2010. Led by the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, RAFT showed cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is effective in reducing the risk for death...
Few health challenges are as well-publicized as high blood pressure, a topic that has become all too familiar, appearing everywhere from the daily news to medical conferences. And being so familiar, it is easy to overlook the fact that most of this attention has been devoted to a problem that stems...
Blood Test Identifies Those at Risk for Heart Attack Knowing an individual’s specific risk of heart attack could significantly impact his or her medical care as well as willingness to adopt a healthier lifestyle. A blood test now available in the United States has been shown to do just that. The...
To coincide with coverage of the Canadian Women’s Heart Health Summit, this edition of “Rapids Beats” is dedicated to news related to women and heart disease. Why Women Are Less Likely to Receive Statin Therapy Statin drugs, which lower cholesterol, are equally effective in men and women at...
As commentaries on radiation go, Peter Parker likely summed it up best: “With great power comes great responsibility.” Although no one at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute has had to deal with the complications of acquiring superpowers from a radioactive spider, the staff is profoundly aware...
The 9p21 risk variant is the strongest known common genetic risk factor for heart disease in Caucasians and Asians. Beginning with the discovery of 9p21 in 2007, studies have consistently shown that having one copy of a genetic variation in 9p21 increases a person’s risk of heart disease by 15 to 20...
Roughly half of our risk of getting heart disease is due to our genetics. The other half is due to age, lifestyle and other environmental factors. Of the genetic half, some of the risk comes from rare genetic variants that have a big impact on a person’s individual risk. Some comes from the additive...