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Russert Death Has Americans Questioning Their Health

Cardiologists busier than usual as 'Russert Effect' sets in

June 18, 2008

• Russert Death Has Americans Questioning Their Health • Many Cardiac Patients Don't Know Heart Attack Symptoms • Women Less Likely to Spot Heart Attack Warning Signs • Worst Time to Have a Heart Attack? • Children Face Increased Heart Risks • Heart Attack Victim Hounded For $5 Co-Pay • Heart, Stroke Death Rates Show Steady Decline • High Heart Attack, Stroke Risk in Aspirin-Resistant Patients • Calcium Supplements May Increase Older Women's Heart Risk • Hospitals Slow to Start Defibrillation • Heart Attack Symptoms May Differ in Women • Winter is Prime Time for Heart Attacks • Men More Likely To Change Unhealthy Habits Than Women • Study Evaluates U.S. News Hospital Ratings • Study: Obese Heart Attack Patients More Likely to Survive • Long-Term Aspirin Use May Reduce Heart-Related Deaths in Women • New Guidelines on Women's Lifetime Heart Risk • Women's Heart Risk Factors Need Updating • Midday Napping May Reduce Heart-Attack Risk • Women's Heart Disease Often Goes Undetected • MRI May Provide Early Warning Of Heart Attack • A Good Night's Sleep Essential to Heart Health • Simple Blood Test Might Warn Heart Attack & Stroke Victims • Cutting Job Stress Cuts Heart Risk • Hospitals Vow to Improve Heart Attack Response Time • Older Painkillers May Increase Heart Attack Risk • tudy Finds Aspirin Still Tops in Heart Attack & Stroke Prevention --- • More Health News ...

The unexpected death of TV journalist Tim Russert last week has sent a shock wave through the American public that has already been felt in doctors' waiting rooms. People who have assumed they are in good health are having second thoughts, and are seeking medical reassurance.

"I am starting to get calls from patients and families," Dr. Christopher Cannon, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, told ABC News. "They want to avoid a similar outcome."

Russert, who collapsed and died Friday of sudden cardiac arrest, appeared to be in better condition than the average person. He was being treated for high cholesterol, but his cholesterol levels were under control. In April he had received good marks on a stress test.

But an autopsy revealed an enlarged heart and a plaque deposit in an artery, which ruptured, leading to his fatal heart attack. How could there not be any warning signs?

In fact, there may have been, researchers say. While Russert was active and in good health, his doctor notes that he carried excess weight in his mid-section. Increasingly, doctors see that as an unhealthy sign.

For example, a 2007 study showed that adding several inches to the waist — even if body weight still falls within a normal range — markedly increases the risk of unhealthy plaque build-up in the arteries of the heart and the rest of the body.

The research, conducted at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, appeared in the August 21, 2007, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC).

According to the study, the relationship of the waist measurement to the hip measurement was much more closely tied to early, hidden signs of heart disease than other common measures of obesity, such as body mass index (BMI) or the waist circumference alone.

In other words, we may obsess about unsightly cellulite on our hips, but it's the pot belly we ought to worry about.

"In our thirties and forties, we often gain three to four inches in the midsection," said James A. de Lemos, M.D., F.A.C.C., a professor of medicine and director of the Coronary Care Unit at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

"It's a day-to-day, meal-to-meal battle, but it's worth fighting. Even a small pot belly puts us at higher risk when compared to a flat tummy."

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