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A study by Kragholm
et al published in the NEJM reports
that bystander cardiopulmonary
resuscitation (CPR) or defibrillation in
patients with cardiac arrest offers benefits that persist for a year out from
the event.
The authors looked at data of 2855
patients in Denmark who were 30-day survivors of an out-of-hospital cardiac
arrest during the period from 2001 through 2012. Of those patients a total of 10.5% had brain
damage or were admitted to a nursing home and 9.7% died during the 1-year
follow-up period. During the study period, among the 2084 patients with cardiac
arrests who were not resuscitated by emergency medical services personnel (EMS)
the rate of bystander CPR increased from 66.7% to 80.6%, and the rate of defibrillation
increased from 2.1% to 16.8%.
Interestingly, the rate of brain damage or nursing home admission decreased
from 10.0% to 7.6%, and all-cause mortality decreased from 18.0% to 7.9%. The
risks of these outcomes were even lower among patients who received bystander
defibrillation as compared to no bystander resuscitation.
The authors concluded that patients on whom bystander CPR and
defibrillation was performed had significantly lower risks of brain damage or
nursing home admission and even death when compared to those who were not
resuscitated.
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Monday, June 5, 2017
Bystander Resuscitation Reduces Brain Damage and Death from Cardiac Arrest
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Increase in Amygdala’s activity worsens the risk for cardiovascular events.
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Increase
in Amygdala’s activity worsens the risk for cardiovascular events.
A study
by Tawakol et al published in Lancet
reports that individuals with increased activity in their amygdala are at
greater risk of heart disease and stroke.
Their study was conducted on 293 adults who were imaged with PET and
CT scans. The imaging studies recorded
increased activity in the brain, bone marrow, spleen and also inflammation in
the coronary arteries. Amygdala are nuclei located deep within the
temporal lobes of the brain. The
amygdala, which are part of the limbic system, have a primary role in functions
such as the processing of memory, decision making and emotions.
Amygdalar activity in 22 of the patients
was associated with a cardiovascular event during a mean follow up period of 3.7 years
(2.7-4.8). The
association between amygdalar activity and cardiovascular disease events seemed
to be mediated by increased bone-marrow activity and arterial inflammation.
The researchers concluded that emotional
stress is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The findings from their study provide an
understanding into the mechanism through which emotional stress can lead to
cardiovascular disease in human beings.
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