Dementia and Alzheimer’s overtake heart disease as biggest killer : ft

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Dementia and Alzheimer's overtake heart disease as biggest killer

Dementia and Alzheimer's overtake heart disease as biggest killer

An ageing population means dementia and Alzheimer's disease became the biggest causes of death in England and Wales in 2015, according to the Office for National Statistics.Just under 62,000 people died of the two diseases, the ONS said, accounting for 11.6 per cent of all deaths.The mortality rate for the illnesses has more than doubled over the past five years.Ischemic heart disease used to be the leading cause of death overall and still is for men.


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Scientists discover link between genetic mutation and rare heart muscle disease

Scientists discover link between genetic mutation and rare heart muscle disease

A strong association between a genetic mutation and a rare kind of heart muscle disease has been discovered by researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.The finding, published this week in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, could improve understanding of the disease and lead to new treatments."There are many kinds of cardiomyopathies that can lead to heart failure so this is a serious problem," said Teisha J. Rowland, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Luisa Mestroni, MD, and Matthew R. G. Taylor, MD, PhD, at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and first author of the study.The Mestroni and Taylor lab sequenced nearly 5,000 genes in 335 patients with a family history of heart muscle disease, looking for mutations that could cause a variety of cardiomyopathies.


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People over 40 should take statins regardless of heart disease

People over 40 should take statins regardless of heart disease

Even people with no history of heart disease should consider taking statins.That is the sweeping new recommendation released by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force on Sunday.The new guidelines greatly widen the recommended pool of patients for the cholesterol-reducing drugs to anyone over 40 with one of these risk factors: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes or a smoking habit."People with no signs, symptoms, or history of cardiovascular disease can still be at risk for having a heart attack or stroke," said task force member Dr. Douglas K. Owens in a statement.