For how we live.
In nearly 40,000 UK women, abnormal blood pressure six weeks after a hypertensive pregnancy roughly doubled later cardiovascular disease. A Dutch cohort shows pregnancy history sharpens risk prediction.
The phase 2 ROXAMI trial gave the oral HIF stabiliser roxadustat to 158 STEMI patients after stenting. Infarct size at 30 days was no smaller than with standard care. Later remodelling findings were exploratory.
A meta-analysis of 36 studies and 2.6 million women found iatrogenic menopause raised stroke and cardiovascular risk. The death-rate excess was confined to menopause before 45, with null estimates after.
A Korean cohort of 1.37 million women found more dementia after hypertensive pregnancies. The association did not survive adjustment for the vascular and metabolic conditions that followed.
ACHIEVE-4 found the non-peptide GLP-1 pill non-inferior to insulin glargine for major cardiac events over two years, with less severe hypoglycaemia but far more gastrointestinal upset. Lilly funded it.
In the phase 2 KRAKEN trial, muvalaplin lowered lipoprotein(a) by 47.6% to 85.8% over 12 weeks on an intact-particle assay. Eli Lilly funded it, and the trial was not built to measure heart attacks or strokes.
In the phase 3 LIBerate-HR trial, lerodalcibep lowered LDL cholesterol 56.2% more than placebo at 52 weeks on top of statins. It won approval in 2026; no outcome trial has yet reported.
Added to an SGLT2 inhibitor, the aldosterone-synthase inhibitor cut office systolic pressure 7.5 mm Hg and albuminuria about a quarter in 59 adults with CKD. Kidney function dipped slightly; the maker funded it.
In the phase 3 Bax24 trial, the aldosterone-synthase inhibitor cut 24-hour ambulatory systolic pressure 14.0 mm Hg more than placebo over 12 weeks. AstraZeneca funded it, and three patients developed high potassium.
The TRACK trial was stopped early for futility. The blood thinner failed to reduce a composite of cardiovascular events, while major bleeding rose by half. Bayer, which makes the drug, was a listed collaborator.
For people without coeliac disease, a large cohort found gluten intake was not linked to heart disease — and cutting it often means fewer whole grains, the foods tied to lower cardiovascular and mortality risk.
A brief swim of light-headedness on standing is usually orthostatic hypotension: a fall in blood pressure as gravity pulls blood to the legs. It is common, rises with age, and often traces to dehydration or medication.
Some heart attacks leave scar on an ECG or MRI but were never felt as one. In a long US cohort they made up more than 45% of heart attacks — and they still shortened survival.
In heart patients, randomised trials link influenza vaccination to fewer cardiovascular events and deaths. The effect is clearest in the highest-risk patients, and the largest trial stopped early.
Pooling 58 randomised trials, about 3.5g a day of oat beta-glucan lowered LDL cholesterol by 0.19 mmol/L. A separate meta-analysis of 28 trials found 0.25 mmol/L. Small per person, but consistent.
A 21,442-person trial of cocoa flavanol extract missed its main heart target. The blood-pressure effect is real but small — and nearly half of dark chocolate products exceeded a strict lead limit.
For a healthy adult an occasional can is unlikely to harm. But in a randomised trial, 32 ounces raised blood pressure and prolonged the heart's QT interval more than placebo — and paediatricians say no to children.
A short nap does not wreck most people's night sleep, and can help offset sleep debt. The evidence that gives pause is about long naps: naps of 60 minutes or more track with worse cardiovascular outcomes.
Eating more potassium lowers blood pressure in people who already have hypertension, and a large trial of potassium-enriched salt cut strokes and deaths — but the benefit is not for everyone.
Pooled trials show a genuine but small fall in blood pressure, around 2 mmHg. The bigger pitches — sleep, cramps, energy, anxiety — run ahead of the evidence.
No long-term trial has tested an all-meat diet. The best direct data is a self-reported survey where people felt better but ran markedly high LDL cholesterol — the signal that should give pause.
Two meta-analyses of dozens of randomised trials agree that about 3 grams a day of oat beta-glucan lowers LDL cholesterol by a small, real amount. The effect is genuine, modest, and dose-dependent.
The TRAVERSE trial cleared its cardiovascular safety in 5,246 high-risk men; the Testosterone Trials found a real but moderate sexual-function benefit. Guidelines reserve it for genuine, twice-confirmed deficiency.
Across 23 cohort studies and 441,199 people, large weight fluctuation was linked to a 41% higher risk of death. Whether the cycling itself does harm, or reflects who cycles, the data cannot fully separate.
Pooled randomised trials show caffeine pushes blood pressure up sharply in the hour after a dose. But when the caffeine arrives as coffee, and over weeks rather than minutes, the effect shrinks toward nothing.
US preventive guidance recommends against a resting or exercise ECG in symptom-free adults at low cardiovascular risk, and finds the evidence insufficient at higher risk. The tracing rarely changes treatment.
In people with no heart disease, aspirin's benefit was small or absent and bleeding rose across three large trials. US guidance now advises against starting it at 60 or older.
It is not a routine test for everyone — the USPSTF finds the evidence insufficient. Cardiology guidelines back it for one group: intermediate-risk adults weighing whether to start a statin.
A network meta-analysis of 118 trials and 31,195 men found every oral PDE5 inhibitor beat placebo, with tadalafil ranked most effective. Guidelines make the tablets, after a health check, the first-line choice.
ASPREE randomised 19,114 healthy older adults to low-dose aspirin or placebo. It made no difference to disability-free survival, and modestly raised deaths and major haemorrhage.
A 2024 trial randomised heart-risk patients to a dozen eggs a week or almost none. Over four months, blood cholesterol barely moved — echoing an earlier year-long trial in people with diabetes.
The warning that olive oil's low smoke point makes it unsafe to fry with is largely wrong. Oxidative stability, not smoke point, is what matters, and olive oil is among the more heat-resistant common oils.
A meta-analysis of four small trials found zilebesiran lowered office systolic pressure by 7.16 mmHg versus placebo, with wide confidence intervals, a hint the effect wanes by six months, and more hyperkalaemia.
Triglycerides are the lipid panel's fourth number, and most of what raises them is modifiable. Here is where the thresholds sit — and the point at which a very high level becomes a medical emergency.
Six months of dietitian sessions aimed at a high-fibre diet nudged diet quality but left estimated 10-year cardiovascular risk, HbA1c, cholesterol and blood pressure essentially unchanged versus standard care.
Meta-analyses found calcium pills raised heart-attack risk by around a quarter. A later review — funded by an osteoporosis foundation — found no such link. The disagreement is the story.
Colder days track with more heart attacks in nationwide data, and the sharpest signal is the day after heavy snowfall — a rise seen in men but not women, pointing to the shovel as much as the temperature.
The sugar alcohol in many 'keto' and sugar-free foods is generally recognised as safe. But newer studies tie high blood levels to cardiovascular events and show it makes platelets more prone to clotting.
Honey and table sugar are both free sugars with almost identical calories. Trials hint at small metabolic differences in honey's favour, but the certainty is low and honey is still added sugar to be limited.
Every low-dose CT for lung cancer also images the heart. A 323-scan study found an AI tool matched expert calcium scoring almost exactly — and separate data show why that number carries weight.
Obicetrapib cut Lp(a) by 37% in high-risk patients, a pooled analysis finds, alongside a similar drop in LDL. It reaches a lipid the costly new injectables target, if far less deeply.
A Mediterranean diet rich in extra-virgin olive oil cut cardiovascular events in a Spanish trial, and US cohorts link over half a tablespoon a day to less heart disease — the biggest signal in what it replaces.
Two trials found low-dose colchicine cut cardiovascular events, and the FDA approved it for heart risk in 2023. Then the largest trial found nothing, leaving the question genuinely unsettled.
In a tightly controlled feeding trial, swapping high-GI for low-GI carbohydrate inside a healthy diet did not improve insulin sensitivity, cholesterol or blood pressure. The wider evidence rates the GI case as weak.
The rise in chronic, low-grade inflammation with age is genuine, and researchers built a clock from it. The one large trial that lowered inflammation for a hard outcome treated heart disease, not ageing.
In the largest pooled cohort studies, the lowest-risk amount of sleep sits closer to seven hours, and both too little and too much track higher mortality. But the curve is a warning sign, not a prescription.
A randomised trial found the Portfolio diet cut LDL cholesterol by about 13%, and a large cohort study links closer adherence to lower cardiovascular risk. Its authors' industry funding belongs in the record.
One ultrasound scan for abdominal aortic aneurysm cuts AAA-related deaths in older men who ever smoked — but not all-cause mortality. The evidence is almost entirely about men, which is why the recommendation is too.
In UK Biobank participants tracked with wrist light sensors, high nighttime light exposure was tied to thickened, weaker heart muscle and 24–33% higher risks of heart attack, stroke and heart failure.
Out-of-office readings predict heart attacks and death better than a clinic measurement, and guidelines now require them to confirm hypertension — but only a validated upper-arm cuff counts.
Two controlled-feeding trials found a diet rich in fruit, vegetables and low-fat dairy lowered blood pressure, most in people who already had hypertension, and more still when sodium was cut.
Spain's PREDIMED trial is the strongest randomised evidence that a dietary pattern lowers cardiovascular events. In 2018 its authors withdrew it over flawed randomisation and reissued corrected results.
In 408,039 UK Biobank participants, carrying loss-of-function variants in both LPA and PCSK9 was tied to markedly lower coronary disease risk than either alone — a genetic case for combination therapy.
A prospective, quasi-experimental study links the air-quality gains after China's 2013 Clean Air Act to an average 6.6-percentage-point reduction in predicted cardiovascular risk.
In 2.5 million Swedish births followed to adulthood, mothers' early-pregnancy obesity was linked to a stepwise rise in offspring cardiovascular disease, though sibling analyses temper the size.
Applying the 2025 AHA/ACC guideline to a Nigerian survey sharply raised the share classified hypertensive versus older criteria, widening the gap between diagnosis and treatment capacity.
In 7,530 people from two long-running cohorts, central sleep apnea with high oxygen overshoot carried elevated cardiovascular risk. The same apnea with low overshoot did not.
The REACT study imaged people aged 18 to 70 with no known cardiovascular disease. Atherosclerosis was already present in some people in their twenties, and it was usually in the legs, not the heart.
A Chinese cohort found serum PCBs associated with a higher calculated 10-year cardiovascular risk. The longitudinal results did not survive correction for multiple testing, and no events were counted.
A first-in-human trial of Kylo-11 reports 97% reduction at 48 weeks after a single dose. A lepodisiran analysis reports near-total clearance of the oxidised phospholipids Lp(a) carries.
WHO and ILO estimate about 17% of workers face hazardous noise. Their review of whether it causes heart disease found only low-certainty signals — one for heart-attack incidence, little for stroke or blood pressure.
A trial of an anti-inflammatory antibody cut cardiovascular events without changing lipids. A genetic study of 194,418 people found the inflammation marker everyone measures is not itself causal.
Leisure exercise reliably protects the heart. Physical activity done for a living shows mixed or even adverse associations — and some meta-analyses find higher mortality in men with the most physically demanding jobs.
In the phase 3 Launch-HTN trial, adults already on two to five drugs fell 9.1 mm Hg further on lorundrostat than placebo — the second aldosterone-synthase inhibitor to post positive data after baxdrostat.
The IARC calls night shift work probably carcinogenic. A 2026 meta-analysis of nurses shows why 'probably' is careful: the breast cancer signal appears only after decades, and shrinks to nothing once bias is corrected.
A case-crossover study of 29,604 arrests over a decade found risk lowest around the 86th temperature percentile and higher at both local extremes, with the cold tail slightly larger.
A meta-analysis of 45 cohorts found risk rising steadily with every 10 beats per minute. A study of 92,457 wearable users found one person's normal can differ from another's by 70 beats.
A Cochrane review of 11 trials found flight stockings sharply cut silent deep-vein clots. But across nearly 2,900 passengers, the trials recorded no pulmonary embolism, death, or symptomatic clot at all.
Genetic and trial evidence establishes LDL as causal for atherosclerosis. The same kinds of evidence, applied to HDL, found that raising it does not lower heart attack risk.
American guidelines call 130/80 stage 1 hypertension. European ones call the same reading elevated blood pressure and not yet disease. The measurement did not change. The label did.
Both morning and evening chronotypes showed elevated risk against the middle ground, and the effect nearly doubled in people who also had sleep apnea.
In the phase 3 CORALreef AddOn head-to-head, enlicitide dropped LDL cholesterol 64.6% at day 56 — far past ezetimibe, bempedoic acid, or the two combined.
In 377 patients, hypoxic burden — a metric combining how often, how deep, and how long oxygen drops — tracked with abnormal nighttime blood pressure patterns where conventional measures didn't.
A Qatar Biobank analysis derived local cut-points and found WHO's standard numbers misclassified more than half of men and nearly half of women in the sample.
A 20-point rise in apnea severity tracked with about three times more blood pressure increase in adults with a BMI of 20 than in those with a BMI of 30, flipping a common assumption.
In an industry-funded, open-label trial of 3,048 patients with heart disease, targeting LDL below 55 rather than 70 mg/dL lowered a composite of cardiovascular events over three years.
In 30,446 Malmö residents followed for decades, each step up in soot exposure was tied to 15% higher cardiovascular mortality — a stronger, steadier signal than total fine particles or traffic gases.
Researchers deliberately withdrew CPAP for three nights to simulate untreated sleep apnea, then tested propranolol against placebo. It slowed the heart-rate surges tied to apnea events, at the price of lighter sleep.
A UK Biobank analysis finds high step counts do not offset short sleep. A US cohort finds one-minute bursts matter. And in older adults, most step-count differences vanish after adjusting for age and sex.
Carriers of loss-of-function MC4R mutations had lower LDL and triglycerides than UK Biobank controls of similar adiposity, and lower cardiovascular risk. The brain sets body weight and lipids separately.