eHealth Connection | Cooper University Hospital

High cholesterol is one of the major risk factors for heart disease. In fact, the higher your cholesterol level, the greater your risk for developing heart disease or having a heart attack or stroke.

In observance of National Cholesterol Education Month, the Cooper Heart Institute reminds you to keep your cholesterol levels in check.

The following information is offered to help you understand the importance of cholesterol testing, and how maintaining healthy cholesterol levels can protect your heart and arteries.
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If you’re like many women, you tend to think of heart disease as a condition that affects mostly men. But, the fact is, heart disease is the leading cause of death in women.

“While most women are aware that one out of every eight women will develop breast cancer, they are surprised to learn that heart disease strikes one out of every three women,” said Kathleen M. Heintz, D.O., clinical cardiologist at the Cooper Heart Institute.

“And, unfortunately,” added Cooper cardiologist Andrea M. Russo, M.D., “studies continue to show a tendency to ignore early warning signs and attribute them to stress or anxiety.”

Dr. Russo noted that, “With six female cardiologists on staff at Cooper, we are attuned to women’s unique needs. We listen to our patients, examine their risk factors, perform the necessary tests and get women the answers they need.” Read the full story

Go Red For Women, the American Heart Association’s (AHA) national public-awareness campaign, aims to help women learn that heart disease is their leading cause of death—a fact most women still do not take to heart.

Heart disease and stroke are the number 1 and number 3 killers of American and New Jersey women, respectively, with cardiovascular disease claiming the lives of more than 460,000 women every year.

In keeping with the AHA’s effort to help women learn to protect themselves against heart disease, physicians at the Cooper Heart Institute remind you that better food habits can help to reduce one of the major risk factors for heart attack—high blood cholesterol.

A good way to help lower your blood cholesterol level is to eat less saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol, and to control your weight. Cooper cardiologists offer these tips: Read the full story

If heart disease runs in your family, or if you’ve had any type of heart or vascular problem in the past, you might want to look into more detailed cholesterol testing to better determine which treatments might be best for you.

“When it comes to assessing risks for cardiovascular disease, it’s important to know that routine lipid (cholesterol) testing doesn’t always tell the complete story,” said Perry J. Weinstock, M.D., a cardiologist and board-certified lipidologist, who heads the division of cardiovascular disease at Cooper University Hospital.  Dr. Weinstock will be answering questions about lipids and statins during the May 21st Health eTalk.  To find out more or to ask a question, click here: www.cooperhealth.org/etalk. Read the full story

Did you know that heart disease affects women and men at equal rates, but research shows that women may be more likely than men to die after a heart attack?  Here is important information to help you understand the symptoms and to keep you healthy.

More women die from heart disease than from anything else. The higher incidence rate may be due to unrecognized and/or misdiagnosed symptoms of heart disease in women, which can be more difficult to detect than the symptoms of heart disease in men. As a result, women, and even some doctors, may fail to heed the warning signs associated with heart disease.

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Every year, hundreds of thousands of people in the United States have surgery, most without complication. Patients with a history of heart problems, however, need special consideration before they undergo surgical procedures.

“Heart disease is the most common cause of complications that occur in patients undergoing general surgery or major medical procedures,” said Fredric L. Ginsberg, M.D., a cardiologist at The Cooper Heart Institute. “Heart complications during surgery occur in 1 percent to 5 percent of all operations.” Read the full story