Heart disease

EDITORS’ NOTE: This piece first appeared on NBCNEWS.com/THINK The health challenge recently faced by Sen. Bernie Sanders has brought two issues to the forefront of the 2020 presidential election. Should there be a disqualifying upper age limit to become president, and should an existing health issue preclude a candidate from running for president? As scientists Read more

February is American Heart Month, a significant time for me, both personally and professionally. My fascination with the heart started long before I entered medical school at Einstein. I was always interested in biological electricity, including the type that powers the heart’s steady beat. I chose cardiology as my career and focused my research on Read more

As I flip through the short stack of medical journals I’ve accumulated each week, I often ask myself whether the research studies I am reading would pass the “grandma test.” Could I explain these studies to my grandmother in a way she could understand? Would she think they were important? Physicians, patients­—all of us—are inundated Read more

If you’re interested in heart disease—and who over the age of 40 isn’t?—you may have read an excellent series of articles by reporter Gina Kolata recently published in the New York Times. If you haven’t seen it, the series includes pieces on blood pressure, stents, heart attack treatment and a new approach to aortic valve Read more

Editors’ Note: This post has been revised to include mention of BMJ’s Christmas edition that sometimes approaches serious topics in a lighthearted fashion. Perhaps you’ve seen some of the media coverage reporting that “an apple a day” would save as many lives as statins do, with fewer side effects. Or perhaps not—thankfully, this tongue-in-cheek “study” didn’t Read more