Viruses Can Spread When Jack Frost Nips at Your Nose

Saint Louis University Infectious Diseases Physicians Answers Flu Season Questions

 Newswise, November 23, 2015 -- A cure for the common cold isn’t in the crystal ball of an infectious diseases researcher and physician at Saint Louis University’s Center for Vaccine Development.

“There’s not likely to be a vaccine or cure developed because colds don’t kill people or make them seriously ill,” says Donald Kennedy, M.D., professor of internal medicine at Saint Louis University and a SLUCare infectious diseases expert.

“They don’t have a major impact on overall health or the economy because many people keep on working even if they have a cold.”

In addition, many strains of rhinovirus and coronavirus -– which are sources of respiratory infections -– also cause colds, so there is no one single virus to target.

“That helps explain the reason people can get repeated colds. They’re probably getting a different virus from the last one, a virus they’re not immune to,” Kennedy says. “You also can get two viruses at the same time, with overlapping symptoms.”

Not all respiratory infections are the same. Some have more debilitating symptoms and serious health consequences than others. Some are seasonal, others occur at any time of the year.

As anyone who has spent a vacation on the beach with the sniffles knows, colds can occur at any time of year. They know no season.

Seasonal influenza -– as the name implies -– is another matter, Kennedy says, typically occurring in the U.S. between October to February, for six to eight weeks. And as it infects 60 to 70 million people a year, influenza kills an estimated 40,000 U.S. residents each year. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, Saint Louis University’s Center for Vaccine Development conducts extensive research on influenza vaccines because protecting people from flu is a significant public health initiative.

So as patients get their annual influenza vaccines because flu season is around the corner, Kennedy answers questions about the invasion of the viruses that can make us feel miserable.

How can you tell the difference between the flu and a cold?

If you have to ask, you don’t have influenza, Kennedy says.

“A cold is just a runny nose. Typically, you don’t even cough,” Kennedy says. “You carry Kleenex and you blow your nose. Maybe you don’t feel perfect, but colds are not that big of a deal. Most people get a couple colds a year, and they last for about a week.”

Influenza is an entirely different story.

“If you get the real flu, you are achy, run a high fever and feel as if you can’t get out of bed. You won’t be able to come into work, and you shouldn’t want to transmit influenza to others,” Kennedy says.

“You could have fever, chills, muscle aches all over your body, fatigue, a cough, sore throat and a headache. And you could have a runny or stuffy nose, which you also get with a cold.”

Maybe you feel that you are able to function, yet more miserable than just having a stuffy nose. You might have parainfluenza, which is a respiratory virus with symptoms that include fever, runny nose, sore throat and cough.

Anyone can get parainfluenza, but it is most common in children, those with weakened immune systems or older adults. Parainfluenza can lead to bronchitis, croup and pneumonia.

“A flu shot won’t protect you from parainfluenza because it is a different virus than influenza,” Kennedy says.

Should I stay home?

Not if you have a cold. Wash your hands, bring your tissues and persevere, Kennedy says.

Absolutely, if you have influenza, Kennedy says. “We don’t want you transmitting the virus to others.”

Maybe, if you have parainfluenza or another type of respiratory infection. Let your symptoms guide you.

“Whether to stay home really is based on if you have a disease that is going to be communicable to others. If you have a fever of 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit, that’s usually significant for a systemic illness,” Kennedy says.

“But use your judgment. Your temperature fluctuates throughout the day, depending on when you take it. So there’s really no set number that is the magic ‘you’re sick’ indicator.”

Why does flu occur in winter?

“Nobody really knows,” Kennedy says. “It stands to reason that we are in closer contact indoors with each other in the winter, but we really don’t know.”

Influenza is transmitted in the air when someone coughs or sneezes and those droplets land in the mouths or noses of someone nearby. It also spreads the same way colds are transmitted –- through hand-to-hand contact. Someone who is infected touches his nose or mouth, touches someone else’s hand and that person touches her nose or mouth.

Why do some people seem to get sicker with upper respiratory infections than others?

Two things likely are at play, Kennedy says, dose and host.

“You’re more likely to get a bad case of flu sleeping next to someone who is coughing and sneezing all night rather than riding the bus for 15 minutes next to someone who has influenza. It’s the amount of virus that you’re exposed to,” Kennedy said.

“The host’s ability to fight this off also is relevant. Someone who has a compromised immune system -– who is fatigued, doesn’t eat right, is pregnant or has an underlying health problem -– is likely to get sicker as well.”

Is there anything you can do to make a cold go away?

Not really. Drink a lot of fluids and treat your symptoms. The infection will run its course in about a week.

If you have the flu, you may shorten its duration by 24 hours if you call your doctor at the first sign of symptoms to get a prescription for Tamiflu or Relenza, which are antiviral medications.

“These drugs reduce symptoms slightly but only if they are taken early,” Kennedy says. “And you have to be careful not to overuse them because the virus can become resistant to the medicine.”

Is there a silver lining in getting the flu?

“If you get the flu this year, the chance of getting it next year is less likely because you boosted your immunity,” Kennedy says.

And if you really hate the possibility of getting the flu, get vaccinated. It’s the one thing you can do to reduce your odds of being laid up for days with influenza, he says.

Established in 1836, Saint Louis University School of Medicine has the distinction of awarding the first medical degree west of the Mississippi River. The school educates physicians and biomedical scientists, conducts medical research, and provides health care on a local, national and international level.

Research at the school seeks new cures and treatments in five key areas: infectious disease, liver disease, cancer, heart/lung disease, and aging and brain disorders.

SLUCare Physician Group is the academic medical practice of Saint Louis University, with more than 500 health care providers and 1,200 staff members in hospitals and medical offices throughout the St. Louis region. SLUCare physicians are among the most highly trained in their fields -— more than 50 specialties in all -— and are national and international experts, renowned for research and innovations in medicine.

College Studies May Reduce Risk of Dementia for Older Adults, Research Finds

Going back to school could boost cognitive capacity

Newswise, November 19, 2015 — Older adults who take college courses may increase their cognitive capacity and possibly reduce their risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

An Australian study called the Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project recruited 359 participants ages 50 to 79 who took a series of cognitive tests before completing at least a year of full-time or part-time study at the University of Tasmania.

Participants were reassessed annually for three years following their studies. More than 90 percent of the participants displayed a significant increase in cognitive capacity, compared with 56 percent in a control group of 100 participants who didn’t take any college courses.

“The study findings are exciting because they demonstrate that it’s never too late to take action to maximize the cognitive capacity of your brain,” said lead researcher Megan Lenehan, PhD.

“We plan to follow these participants as they age to see if college studies could help delay the onset or reduce the debilitating effects of dementia.”

Previous studies have examined how exercise, brain games and an active social life may boost cognitive capacity and possibly stem cognitive decline associated with aging. This study is the first to examine similar positive effects from college courses taken by older adults, said Lenehan, of the University of Tasmania.

The study participants, who were screened to exclude people who had dementia, completed a baseline series of tests to measure cognitive capacity, or an individual’s ability to use brain networks efficiently in areas such as memory, information processing, decision making and planning.

The participants in the college studies group took a wide range of courses, including history, psychology, philosophy and fine art. Most of the students took courses on campus, but some completed online classes.

The researchers suspect that campus study may provide greater benefits in boosting cognitive capacity because of social interaction with professors and fellow students, but the study didn’t analyze any differences between on-campus or online courses.

The participants completed the same cognitive tests each year during the four-year study, with 92 percent of the college-studies group displaying a significant increase in cognitive capacity, while the remaining 8 percent generally maintained their cognitive capacity.

For the control group, 56 percent displayed a significant increase in cognitive capacity, while 44 percent had no change. The participants’ age, gender, feelings of well-being or level of social connectedness didn’t affect the find .

Prior research has shown that college study earlier in life may increase cognitive capacity, and it appears the same may be true for older adults, Lenehan said.

“It is possible that any mentally stimulating activity later in life may also enhance cognitive capacity, such as other adult-education classes or programs to increase social interaction,” she said.

The control group was significantly older than the college studies group, but there were no significant differences in baseline cognitive capacity scores, the study noted.

The researchers also didn’t find any correlation between age and cognitive capacity scores at any point during the study. Some participants in the control group may have been doing crossword puzzles or other mentally stimulating activities that boosted their cognitive capacity, Lenehan said.

The participants who took college classes volunteered for the study so they probably had a greater interest in continuing education that the general senior population, the journal article noted.

The study was too short to reveal any long-term effects so the researchers plan to follow the participants as they age to provide additional evidence of whether college studies may reduce the risk or delay the onset of dementia.

Stony Brook Docs Says Small Steps May Help When Dealing with a Growing Diabetes Problem

Newswise, November 16, 2015 —– There are currently 29 million Americans living with diabetes and the World Health Organization predicts that by 2050 one in every three people will have this disease.

Recent data shows that pre-diabetes, a condition that puts you at great risk for developing diabetes, exists in 37 percent of the population— meaning that nearly 50 percent of Americans are dealing with the risks and implications of diabetes.

With those devastating statistics— and with November being National Diabetes Month— it is an increasingly important time to raise awareness about this disease as it reaches epidemic proportions.

Endocrinologist and diabetes expert Joshua D. Miller, MD, MPH, takes a unique approach with his patients, advocating for small, achievable changes that can make a big difference.

“I always start off by giving my patients the facts,” says Dr. Miller. “The number of Americans with diabetes is astounding and I think shocking to most people. The second thing I tell them is that diabetes affects nearly every system in the body and every other disease.”

Dr. Miller says that it is important to be proactive with self-management when it comes to diabetes and that making lifestyle changes to either prevent diabetes from developing or to better control an existing condition is key.

“I encourage patients to focus on small, achievable changes to improve quality of life,” says Dr. Miller. “I help patients identify ways to make seemingly insurmountable tasks such as weight loss and physical activity become more manageable.”

And for his patients that do not exercise, Dr. Miller encourages them to take a brisk walk around the block – starting with just once or twice a week. “These small steps help because they are doable. Even the smallest changes can make a difference in a person’s health. ”

Studies show that people have better success achieving goals when they have a partner on board, which also adds a level of accountability.

“When I consult with a patient with diabetes, I also emphasize the problem-solving nature of self-management and ask them to work with me and their other doctors, on achievable, shared goals that both physician and patient can get behind,” says Dr. Miller.

“At Stony Brook, we have looked into novel approaches to secondary prevention, education and outreach for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes including one-on-one nutrition counseling available; supporting self-managed diabetes care for patients hospitalized for other conditions; and creating diabetes discharge tools,” says Dr. Miller.

Learning about your disease and available treatment for it is another step. “It's important for patients and their loved ones to have informative conversations about the various medication and lifestyle options with their doctors to help identify the best treatment with the greatest chances of success,” says Dr. Miller.

“The number of new medications available to treat type 2 diabetes including newer insulins for people with both major types of the disease is growing exponentially. Endocrinologists are recognizing more and more that treatment for patients with diabetes should be individualized as each patient is unique.”

Stony Brook Medicine has made diabetes a priority and have taken the lead in population health initiatives in Suffolk County to overhaul the management of chronic conditions in the Medicaid population.

On the fourth Monday of the month, Stony Brook holds free seminars in the hospital’s cafeteria on all kinds of topics— from the latest research to the best approaches to individualized self-management.

“If someone is concerned about their risk for diabetes, I would tell them to have a conversation with their doctor and ask about screening,” says Dr. Miller. “Then start making small changes, every little bit helps.”

About Stony Brook University Hospital:

Stony Brook University Hospital (SBUH) is Long Island’s premier academic medical center. With 603 beds, SBUH serves as the region’s only tertiary care center and Regional Trauma Center, and is home to the Stony Brook University Heart Institute, Stony Brook University Cancer Center, Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, Stony Brook University Neurosciences Institute, and Stony Brook University Digestive Disorders Institute. SBUH also encompasses Suffolk County’s only Level 4 Regional Perinatal Center, state-designated AIDS Center, state-designated Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program, state-designated Burn Center, the Christopher Pendergast ALS Center of Excellence, and Kidney Transplant Center. It is home of the nation’s first Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center. To learn more, visit www.stonybrookmedicine.edu.

Barriers to Health Care Increase Disease, Death Risk for Rural Elderly

Newswise, November 16, 2015 - A new study of adults ages 85 or older has found that rural residents have significantly higher levels of chronic disease, take more medications, and die several years earlier than their urban counterparts.

The findings were just published in The Journal of Rural Health by researchers from Oregon State University and the Oregon Health & Science University.

The research confirms some of the special challenges facing older populations in rural or remote areas, who often have less access to physicians, long distances to travel for care, sometimes a lower socioeconomic and educational level, and other issues. 

It also reflects health problems that might have been reduced if they were treated earlier or more aggressively, researchers say.

Data from several different study groups found that rural residents measured significantly higher on the Modified Cumulative Illness Rating Scale, with about an 18 percent higher disease burden.

"It's been known for some time that health care is harder to access in rural areas, and this helps us better understand the extent of the problem," said Leah Goeres, a postdoctoral scholar who led the research at the Oregon State University/Oregon Health & Science University College of Pharmacy.

"Many physicians do the best they can in rural areas given the challenges they face," Goeres said.

"But there are fewer physicians, fewer specialists, a higher caseload. Doctors have less support staff and patients have less public transportation. A patient sometimes might need to wait months to see a doctor, and have to drive significant distances. Adverse effects can increase from taking multiple medications.

"These are real barriers to choice and access, and they affect the quality of care that's available."

Also worth noting, Goeres said, is that especially in very old populations, illness can lead to more illness and quickly spiral out of control. A patient in an urban setting might receive prompt treatment for a mild ulcer, whereas the same person in a rural setting might have to wait while the condition worsens and may even lead to cancer.

"It's of particular concern that rural older adults start with more disease burden, which significantly increased over the next five years, but the average number of medications they used decreased over the same time period," said David Lee, an assistant professor in the OSU College of Pharmacy who oversaw the research.

"This may be due to difficulty accessing health care, leading to more disease burden over time, yet less use of medications," Lee said. "The opposite trends are seen in urban older adults."

This research was done in Oregon with three cohorts of older adults, one rural and two urban, and 296 people altogether. It was supported by the Oregon Alzheimer's Disease Tax Checkoff Fund and the National Institutes of Health.

The findings of the new study include:

• The rural population of Oregon contains a greater proportion of older adults than the urban population.
• The use of many medications can be especially risky for people in their 80s and 90s, leading to a concern called "polypharmacy" when a person takes five or more medications.
• Rural participants were found to use an average of 5.5 medications, compared to 3.7 for urban participants.
• At baseline measurements, valuable medications to aid bone mineralization were often used less in rural populations, but pain-killing opioids were used more often.
• Medication use for high blood pressure went up significantly over time for rural populations, but not urban ones, in which their use had already been higher.
• The rate of disease accumulation was significant in the rural cohort, and negligible in their urban counterparts.
• The median survival time of the rural cohort was 3.5 years, compared to 7.1 years for the urban older adults.
• Risk factors of chronic diseases were low education, poor socioeconomic status, a history of chronic disease, being female, and older age. These factors are associated with a typical rural population.
• Living with someone, and/or having a large social network are protective factors against chronic disease, and may be more common in an urban or suburban population.
• Both urban and rural residents used a large number of over-the-counter agents, including vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements.

Increased access to health care, health education, increased supervision from clinicians, and better management of both prescription and over-the-counter medications could all be of value in helping rural residents to live longer and healthier livers, the researchers said in their conclusion.

Melanoma’s Genetic Trajectories Are Charted in New Study

Study Confirms ‘Intermediate’ Disease Stage Between Benign Moles and Malignancy

Newswise, November 13, 2015 — An international team of scientists led by UC San Francisco researchers has mapped out the genetic trajectories taken by melanoma as it evolves from early skin lesions, known as precursors, to malignant skin cancer, which can be lethal when it invades other tissues in the body.

By tracing the genetic changes that take place over time in the development of the disease, the research reaffirms the role of sun exposure in the emergence of precursor lesions, such as the common moles known as nevi, but also suggests that continued ultraviolet radiation (UV) damage to benign precursor lesions may push them on a path toward malignancy.

More significantly, the study provides new evidence that genetic and cellular characteristics of skin lesions that are neither clearly benign moles nor malignant melanoma place them in a distinctive intermediate category, the existence of which has been hotly debated among dermatologists and pathologists.

“What happens to patients now is totally unstandardized,” said Boris Bastian, MD, PhD, the Gerson and Barbara Bass Bakar Distinguished Professor of Cancer Research at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (HDFCCC), and senior author of the new study. “Some doctors consider these ‘intermediate’ types of lesions to be entirely benign, or shave off only part of the lesion and leave some behind. But others treat it as an early melanoma. This work should open the door to understanding how risky these lesions are and when they should be completely removed.”

When a melanoma is diagnosed, its precursor lesion is sometimes still present on the skin adjacent to the cancer. As reported in the November 12, 2015 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, the research team took advantage of this unique feature of the disease to identify the genetic differences between precursors and melanoma.

Led by A. Hunter Shain, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Bastian laboratory and HDFCCC member, the scientists gathered skin samples containing both precursor lesions and melanoma that had been obtained from 37 patients, and they then sequenced 293 cancer-causing genes in 150 distinct areas micro-dissected from those samples.

In a clever study design, to determine how genetic analysis would align with standard techniques used in melanoma diagnosis, each of these 150 areas was independently examined through microscopes by eight pathologists 

specializing in skin disease. 

The pathologists assigned each area to four main categories ranging from “benign” to “invasive melanoma” based on their judgments of how far the cells in each area had progressed toward malignancy.

Intriguingly, in all of the 13 areas that were unanimously assessed as benign by the pathologists, the researchers found only a single pathogenic mutation, one called BRAF V600E, which has long been associated with melanoma. Based on these data, this single alteration in the BRAF gene appears to be sufficient for the formation of a nevus, the term for a common mole that can sometimes progress to melanoma.

Likewise, there was quite good agreement among the pathologists regarding invasive melanomas, which on genetic analysis were found to contain a large number of point mutations—alterations of a single genetic “letter”—affecting many genes, as well as a significant number of copy-number alterations, in which sizeable segments of the genome containing genes are either deleted or duplicated.

As expected, most disagreement among the pathologists was seen in their assessments of non-invasive melanomas (known as “in situ” melanomas) and so-called intermediate lesions, which were sub-classified as “probably benign” or “probably malignant.”

But the genetics of these lesions presented a clearer picture: in most cases, BRAF mutations, most often the V600E mutation seen in the benign lesions, were accompanied by additional pathogenic mutations, but not the full set observed in invasive melanoma. 

In particular, many BRAF mutations in the intermediate lesions were accompanied by mutations in a gene known as TERT. The TERT gene helps to set the limits of cell division, and the gene has been implicated in a number of types of cancer.

Moreover, while the researchers found more point mutations in intermediate lesions than in benign moles, there were far fewer point mutations in intermediate lesions than in invasive melanomas, and copy-number alterations were rare.

“There’s good agreement between the pathologists’ assessments at the extremes of the spectrum, but less so with intermediate lesions,” said Shain. 

“On a genetic level, however, this work clearly shows that there are intermediate lesions. These things really exist—it’s not a binary situation.”

Mutations caused by UV damage have a distinctive genetic “signature,” and in another significant finding, the researchers observed this signature in cancer-causing genes at every stage of melanoma progression.

“A lot of melanomas have been sequenced at this point, and while it’s clear they carry UV-induced mutations, no one knew when they occurred,” Bastian said.

 “This study shows that they occur in benign moles, in the melanoma that arises from these moles, and in intermediate lesions. UV both initiates and causes the progression of melanoma, so exposing even benign moles to the sun is dangerous.”

According to Shain, the new study’s findings on UV-induced mutations provides additional grounding to well-documented aspects of melanoma epidemiology.

“Kids who are in the sunlight more tend to have a greater number of benign moles, and if they continue to stay in the sunlight, those moles are more likely to progress to melanoma,” Shain said.

 “This study shows that UV-radiation-induced mutations start to accumulate before a benign mole forms, and that UV-radiation-induced mutations continue to drive the progression of some benign and intermediate lesions towards melanoma. So exposing even benign moles to UV is not without risk.”

In addition to Bastian and Shain, UCSF researchers participating in the study included Iwei Yeh, MD, PhD, assistant professor of dermatology; Eric Talevich, PhD, programmer and analyst in the department of pathology; Alexander Gagnon, BA, a former research assistant in the Department of Pathology and Department of Dermatology, now at Genia Technologies in Oakland, Calif.; Jeffrey North, MD, assistant professor of dermatology and pathology; Laura Pincus, MD, assistant professor of dermatology and pathology; and Beth Ruben, MD, professor of clinical dermatology and pathology. 

They were joined by colleagues from the Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio; Orlando Health, in Florida; University Hospital of Zurich, in Switzerland; Dorset County Hospital, in Dorchester, England; and St. John’s Institute of Dermatology, in London, England. 

The work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Gerson and Barbara Bass Bakar Distinguished Professorship in Cancer Research.

UC San Francisco (UCSF) is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care.

 It includes top-ranked graduate schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy, a graduate division with nationally renowned programs in basic, biomedical, translational and population sciences, as well as a preeminent biomedical research enterprise and two top-ranked hospitals, UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco.

Orchestra Helps Boost Confidence and Mood for Those with Dementia

Newswise, November 11, 2015 — A special orchestra for people with dementia has helped boost their confidence and mood, according to a new research project.

The orchestra group has been set up by the Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) in Dorset to create a sense of community among participants and also includes professional musicians, carers and students.

A screening of performances from the BUDI Orchestra will be showcased at an event as part of the annual Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) Festival of Social Science.

The orchestra was initially set up in partnership with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) with a repertoire ranging from Ravel’s Bolero to Henry Mancini’s Moon River.

Rehearsals have demonstrated a positive effect on all participants who have also learned new skills and rediscovered old ones.

“Music touches everyone in some way, either by listening or playing – and the BUDI Orchestra has been a life-enhancing project which has benefited everyone,” says Professor Anthea Innes, Head of BUDI.

“Performing and showcasing skills of those with dementia creates a well-deserved opportunity for them to demonstrate their abilities and to challenge the negative public perceptions that surround the diagnostic label of ‘dementia’.

Working together to produce a collaborative output is a powerful way to bring out the best in people - not just in terms of their musical skills, but their communication skills, friendships, care and support for one another.”

Around 850,000 people in the UK currently live with dementia, a figure which is estimated to double by 2050. Dorset has one of the oldest populations in England, so many people in the local community can relate to the challenges caused by the condition.

The arts are being used increasingly to support health and wellbeing, both in healthcare settings and in the community for people with dementia and their families. 

Research has already shown that arts activities, especially music, can reawaken and exercise the brain.

The BUDI Orchestra, funded by Dorset County Council, is one of BUDI’s numerous ongoing creative projects to demonstrate that people with dementia can have fun while learning.

A total of eight people with dementia and seven carers were involved in a course of eight weekly two-hour sessions led by Andy Baker, a former BSO community musician and double bass player. They were also supported by two additional professional musicians, Bournemouth University students and staff volunteers.

Previous workshops with the orchestra have identified that most of the people with dementia learned a new skill and the sessions were highly enjoyed by all who took part.

One of the participants was Jack, a professional bass player who was forced by eye cancer and dementia to leave his bands. His wife also joined BUDI and played the violin for the first time since school.

Both found that the orchestra helped overcome feelings of loneliness, and Jack’s confidence returned as a result of being part of the sessions.

The project has also highlighted that the musicians’ and volunteers’ preconceptions of music learning were positively challenged as a result of their experiences with the BUDI Orchestra.

Professor Innes and her research team have produced a guide in collaboration with the professional musicians for those interested in setting up their own community-based music group.

Dr Michelle Heward, also from BUDI, says: “Our creative projects show that it is possible for people with dementia to take part, learn something new and have fun, all at the same time.”

Extra Holiday Stress Could Be Rough on a Woman’s Heart

Newswise, November 11, 2015 — Many women put a lot pressure on themselves to make the holidays perfect for everyone. Everything from cooking to buying presents to organizing family gatherings can add a lot of unnecessary stress that can damage their hearts.

“We have seen more than a few cases of stress-induced cardiomyopathy around the holidays,” said Dr. Karla Kurrelmeyer, a cardiologist with Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center.

“This occurs when women are under great amounts of stress for a short period of time and that stress is compounded with another traumatic event such as a death in the family, a car accident, loss of money, etc. If it is ignored it can be fatal.”

Stress-induced cardiomyopathy is a weakening of the left ventricle, the heart’s main pumping chamber.

It is brought on by the release of stress hormones that shock the heart, causing changes in the heart muscles that then cause the left ventricle to not work properly. The vast majority of people who are affected by this condition are women in the late 50s to mid-70s.

“Someone experiencing this condition might develop chest pains or shortness of breath after severe stress, either emotional or physical,” Kurrelmeyer said.

“In most cases, it is treated with medication such as beta blockers or ACE inhibitors. It’s important to have an echocardiogram as soon as possible if you are experiencing any symptoms.”

A spike in blood pressure is also seen a lot around the holidays. Kurrelmeyer says many women end up in the ER with chest pains or palpitations and, in the most severe cases, can suffer a stroke.

If a woman has a history of high blood pressure it’s important to monitor it closely, especially during those times when the stress level rises.
Heart problems in women are not usually as recognizable as they are in men.

Some of the symptoms for women include:
• Extreme weakness, anxiety, or shortness of breath.
• Discomfort, pressure, heaviness or pain in the chest, arm, below the breastbone or in the middle of the back.
• Sweating, nausea, vomiting, dizziness.
• Fullness, indigestion, a tightness in the throat area.
• Rapid or irregular heartbeats.

“It’s important to take time for yourself during the holiday season and do things that will help relieve your stress,” Kurrelmeyer said. “Exercise, either walking or running, yoga, meditation, a nice walk with a loved one, whatever it takes, make it happen. The holidays should be a joyous time spent with family and friends at home, not with doctors in an emergency room.”

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