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Facts About Heart Disease in Women

Do you know what causes cardiovascular disease in women? What about the survival rate? Or whether women of all ethnicities share the same risk?

The fact is: cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 killer of women, causing 1 in 3 deaths each year. That’s approximately one woman every minute!

But it doesn’t affect all women alike, and the warning signs for women aren’t the same in men. What’s more: These facts only begin to scratch the surface.

There are several misconceptions about heart disease in women, and they could be putting you at risk. The American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women movement advocates for more research and swifter action for women’s heart health for this very reason. In this section, we’ll arm you with the facts and dispel some myths – because the truth can no longer be ignored.

Drones and AEDs

Drones could soon be dropping off packages at customers' doors. But researchers in Sweden have drones in mind for a different, potentially lifesaving delivery: automated external defibrillators.

Using drones to carry AEDs to people who are in cardiac arrest could reduce the time between when patients go into cardiac arrest and when they receive the first shock from an AED, the researchers say.

The more time a person spends in cardiac arrest before being shocked with an AED, the lower the chance of survival. Shocking someone within three minutes gives them the best shot.

More than 350,000 cardiac arrests happen across the U.S. in places other than hospitals each year, according to the American Heart Association — and a person's chance of surviving is about 1 in 10. Drone-delivered AEDs beat ambulance trip times to the scenes of cardiac arrests, the researchers say in a letter published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Dr. Michael Kurz, an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Alabama-Birmingham and an American Heart Association volunteer, sees the potential for AED-carrying drones to help save lives. He says this is the first time he has seen published data on the use of drones to deliver AEDs.

"This is a really neat, innovative method to combat a problem that we have been struggling with for decades," says Kurz. "It's the same reason we have public access to defibrillation. Airports, casinos, large public venues have AEDs on the wall because presumably, it would take a while for EMS to get there. This is, like, public-access defibrillation on steroids, where we just bring the defibrillator to you."

The researchers used drones to deliver AEDs to places in a rural area of Sweden where people had gone into cardiac arrest between 2006 and 2014, says Stockholm-based Andreas Claesson, the letter's lead author as well as a paramedic and registered nurse.

In each of the 18 flights that the drones made, they beat the ambulance time. The median reduction in response time was about 16 1/2 minutes. And the median time from dispatch to drone launch was three seconds, while it took emergency medical services a median time of three minutes to hit the road.

Even though there wouldn't necessarily be a medical professional on-site when a drone bearing an AED arrives, dispatchers could coach people through the process of using it.

Andreas Claesson/Courtesy of FlyPulse

Claesson says the idea to use drones to drop off AEDs came from an analysis that showed some people in rural Sweden had to wait about half an hour for EMS to arrive on the scene of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest situation, leading to a survival rate was 0 percent, which he calls "catastrophic."

The team used geographic information system mapping to pinpoint locations that would be most effective for the test flights, Claesson says, and drafted predefined flight corridors that avoided flying over residents' homes until the drones were about to land in yards.

But more research needs to be done before we start seeing AED-laden drones touching down at cardiac arrest scenes. "We know nothing about bystander interaction," says Claesson.

One of his concerns: Sending an AED via drone means that there won't necessarily be a medical professional on-site.

The typical cardiac arrest patient is a 70-year-old man, he says, which means spouses — who may not be trained how to use an AED — would most likely be the ones using it in an emergency situation. But dispatchers could help coach people through the process of using an AED, Claesson says.

"We know that health care professional CPR is better than layman [CPR]. But we still believe that if we can deliver a defibrillator within five minutes, the proportion of people with shockable rhythms could be pretty high," Claesson says.

AEDs have simple enough instructions that allow just about anyone to figure out how to use them effectively, says Kurz, whose daughter has a congenital heart disease and is in fourth grade.

"They're fourth-graders, so there's a certain amount of corralling that has to occur, but yeah, they do great," Kurz says.He taught 400 of her classmates how to do CPR and use AEDs this year.

Are you as AED-capable as a fourth-grader? The Red Cross has a step-by-step guide to using an AED.

Claesson is planning a follow-up drone trial in Sweden next summer, when the local emergency medical services receive the most calls.

Kurz says future studies should go beyond analyzing response times and also examine patient survival rates.

"Now the idea of doing this in real life with real patients, when minutes matter, can be demonstrated."

Issued by the National Weather Service

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT UNTIL 9AM EST WED ...ICY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH THE MORNING COMMUTE... SNOW AND ICE MELT FROM YESTERDAY HAS REFROZE OVERNIGHT. AS A RESULT, SLIPPERY CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE, PRIMARILY ON UNTREATED SURFACES. USE EXTRA CAUTION ON THE MORNING COMMUTE. TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO RISE ABOVE FREEZING AGAIN LATER THIS MORNING IN ALL BUT THE HIGHEST ELEVATIONS OF NORTHWESTERN NEW JERSEY AND NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA.

Might find a public-access automated external defibrillator (AED)

Of all the places you might find a public-access automated external defibrillator (AED), perhaps nowhere is it more critical than at a gym. A new study shows that having an AED available at fitness centers makes a significant impact on survival rates.

According to an article from the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, a study published in the European Heart Journal that looked at data collected over an 18-year period in 252 sports centers in Italy showed that:

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“Onsite AED use significantly reduced the time to first shock from 7.3 to 3.3 minutes...Neurologically intact survival was 93% for patients treated with an onsite AED compared to 9% without an AED.”

This reduction in response time is crucial for patient survival in a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) incident. Successful defibrillation is highly dependent on how quickly defibrillation occurs. For each minute in cardiac arrest, the chance of survival goes down by about 10%. After as few as 10 minutes, survival is unlikely.

For those unfamiliar with this lifesaving resource, an AED is a small, portable, com­puterized device that is relatively easy for anyone to operate. It automatically analyzes the heart rhythm, determines if a shock is needed and charges itself to be ready to defibrillate.

Or perhaps you’ve seen these devices in a community fitness center, at a hotel or in a restaurant, and have nervously wondered whether it’s really safe for a bystander to use one in an emergency. It is! AEDs cannot accidentally shock someone, it doesn’t take a medical degree to operate one and that moment of shocking the patient isn’t as frightening as the high-voltage drama you see on television shows. For more information, check out our blog post, Common Misconceptions About AEDs.

Winter is almost officially here in the U.S. and that means snow-covered roads

Winter is almost officially here in the U.S. and that means snow-covered roads and icy conditions. Today’s blog post looks at common winter driving mistakes your company’s drivers need to avoid.

Weather.com has a list of 14 mistakes all drivers need to avoid, including:

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• Skipping the routine maintenance. When the temperatures are ready to drop, change your wiper fluid from a 50/50 mixture of wiper fluid and water to all fluid (and carry an extra bottle of fluid in your vehicle). Add Anti-Freeze to Your Radiator and don’t skip your regularly scheduled oil and filter change
• Not testing your vehicle. Checking your battery, headlights and taillights and replacing windshield wiper blades should be part of your winter prep for personal and company vehicles.
• Not keep a winter driving kit in your vehicle. Shovels, blankets, flashlights, emergency snacks – they can be lifesavers.
• Not focusing on your winter driving skills. There’s a good chance your drivers are driving too fast, too Close to Other Cars and may need to brush up on their ice-handling skills.

Big rigs hauling heavy loads require even more winter driving skill. Fueloyal.com offers 15 tips for truckers, including:

• Don’t get complacent or overly confident
• Accelerate and brake more slowly
• Clear your windshield, mirrors and lights
• Always keep your tanks as full as possible
• Never drive tired, especially in bad weather

Prepare Your Workers for Winter Driving

Preparing to Weather Those Winter Storms Safely

Marijuana/Heart

In 28 states in this country, you can legally use marijuana for a range of health problems, including chronic pain, anxiety, and nausea. Smoking is the fastest way to feel the effects of marijuana, which is derived from the Cannabis sativa plant. Yet marijuana smoke contains many of the same toxins, irritants, and carcinogens found in cigarette smoke — a known contributor to heart disease as well as cancer.

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Marijuana cultivation and use dates back some 6,000 years. However, the cardiovascular and other health effects of cannabis aren't well studied. That's partly because under federal law, cannabis is a Schedule I substance, meaning it has "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse." That designation places numerous restrictions on researchers, making it difficult to carry out rigorous research on marijuana.

"As a result, everything we're told about what marijuana does or doesn't do should be viewed with a certain amount of caution. This holds equally true for the risks as well as the benefits," says Dr. Kenneth Mukamal, associate professor of medicine at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Pot and pain

Some of the strongest evidence supporting the medical use of marijuana is for managing chronic pain. Cannabinoid compounds (see "Cannabis 101") interact with receptors in nerve cells to slow down pain impulses and ease discomfort. Cannabinoids also have been shown to be effective in quelling nausea and vomiting. In addition, marijuana is a powerful appetite inducer. The combination of these attributes makes marijuana a therapeutic option for people coping with the side effects of chemotherapy and others who are in danger of unintended weight loss. However, in conditions where gaining extra weight might exacerbate existing health problems, such as diabetes, appetite stimulation would be counterproductive.

Cardiovascular effects

One of the few things scientists know for sure about marijuana and cardiovascular health is that people with established heart disease who are under stress develop chest pain more quickly if they have been smoking marijuana than they would have otherwise. This is because of complex effects cannabinoids have on the cardiovascular system, including raising resting heart rate, dilating blood vessels, and making the heart pump harder. Research suggests that the risk of heart attack is several times higher in the hour after smoking marijuana than it would be normally. While this does not pose a significant threat to people who have minimal cardiovascular risk, it should be a red flag for anyone with a history of heart disease. Although the evidence is weaker, there are also links to a higher risk of atrial fibrillation or ischemic stroke immediately following marijuana use. Consistent with these links, studies by Dr. Mukamal and colleagues also suggest that marijuana smoking may increase the long-term death rate among heart attack survivors.

Questions remain

Most of the evidence linking marijuana to heart attack and stroke is based on reports from people who smoked it. So it's hard to separate the effects of cannabinoid compounds on the cardiovascular system from the hazards posed by the irritants and carcinogens contained in the smoke. Because cannabis smoke is known to cause airway inflammation, wheezing, and chest tightness, people with lung diseases should not smoke it. Other people who should just say no to marijuana include those who may be vulnerable to developing schizophrenia or addiction.

Studies have shown that there is almost no chance that you will hurt the person

Studies have shown that there is almost no chance that you will hurt the person. While it is rare that a rib will be broken during CPR, doctors are able to repair broken ribs, but they cannot repair death. Is this the same as a heart attack? ... Remember, time is heart muscle.

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There is very little data in this area however you are highly unlikely to do harm. One study has shown that patients who were defibrillated and had immediate CPR for 2 minutes after the shock, regardless of whether a pulse was present or not, were no more likely to have complications. In addition, it is recommended in paediatric resuscitation and common practice in critical care settings for CPR to be given to patients who have a slow heart rate. NO adverse effects have been reported. Based on the available evidence, it appears that the fear of doing harm by giving chest compressions to some who has no signs of life, but has a beating heart, is unfounded.

The guidelines now recommend that full CPR be given to all those requiring resuscitation. What about victims who may not be breathing but have a pulse?

To determine the need for only rescue breathing you would need to be able to check for a pulse. There is reasonable evidence that rescuers are no more likely to be able to correctly determine if a pulse is present than simply tossing a coin. Accordingly Resuscitation councils all around the world removed the pulse check in 2000. Epidemiological data would suggest that the vast majority of victims requiring resuscitation will be in cardiac arrest – thus requiring full CPR. Furthermore only about half of the victims requiring CPR get any resuscitation before an ambulance arrives. Thus it was considered of greater benefit overall that anyone who is not responsive and not breathing normally should be given CPR rather than not receiving any compressions because the rescuer thought the victim had a pulse. This is very much the case as there is no reliable way for the rescuer to detect a pulse. COMPRESSIONS ARE VITAL.

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weather (code blue)

Activation of Code Blue

During the winter initiative months, generally starting Dec and ending the end of March, OHS in consultation with DBH will call a Code Blue when winter conditions pose a threat of serious harm or death to homeless individuals without shelter. DBH will consult with the OCC.

A Code Blue will be called when the National Weather Bureau predicts a wind chill temperature of 20 degrees Fahrenheit or below or precipitation with temperatures below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. In the event that the weather report lacks clarity or specificity, OHS/DBH will seek clarification from the On-Duty Meteorologist at the National Weather Bureau.

When such weather conditions are expected, OHS and DBH, after receiving the official weather prediction, will concur. DBH will contact the OCC to notify them in advance of the expected Code Blue. OHS will contact Municipal Radio to notify them that a Code Blue has been designated. Municipal Radio will then notify those on the Code Blue Contact List. The OCC will notify outreach staff of building openings for Code Blue and will direct that word be spread to homeless individuals on the street. The first priority will continue to be the use of outreach-designated resources for the homeless, including Somerset and Our Brother’s Place. If necessary, police stations and/or other public buildings may also be made available for homeless persons during Code Blue conditions.

A Code Blue will be deactivated when OHS declares an end to the weather emergency based on information from the National Weather Service that indicates the severe weather conditions no longer exist. OHS will initiate notification process

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