Statins May Hamper Workout Results THURSDAY, May 23 (HealthDay News) -- Statins are proven drugs taken by millions to lower their cholesterol, but the medications also could hamper heart patients' ability to improve their cardiovascular health through exercise, researchers say. A small group of overweight or obese people were unable to make any significant fitness gains while taking a 40 milligram daily dose of simvastatin, while another group not on the drug but undergoing the same exercise regimen did...

Common Supplement May Help Patients Fight Heart Failure FRIDAY, May 24 (HealthDay News) -- Regular doses of the dietary supplement Coenzyme Q10 cut in half the death rate of patients suffering from advanced heart failure, in a randomized double-blind trial. Researchers also reported a significant decrease in the number of hospitalizations for heart failure patients being treated with Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). About 14 percent of patients taking the supplement suffered from a major cardiovascular event that ...

Monday Best Time for Hospitalization With Heart Failure, Study Says FRIDAY, May 24 (HealthDay News) -- Patients hospitalized for heart failure appear to have better odds of survival if they're admitted on Mondays or in the morning, a new study finds. Death rates and length of stay are highest among heart failure patients admitted in January, on Fridays and overnight, according to the researchers, who are scheduled to present their findings Saturday in Portugal at the annual meeting of the Heart Failure ...

COPD May Be Over-Diagnosed Among Uninsured WEDNESDAY, May 22 (HealthDay News) -- Roughly four in 10 uninsured patients who have been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) actually do not have the lung disease, a small new study suggests. At issue: Faulty diagnoses were made based on an evaluation of symptoms, rather than by means of the so-called "gold standard" disease test known as spirometry, which shows how well a patient's lungs are working by measuring the amount of air they ...

Could Statins Raise Diabetes Risk? THURSDAY, May 23 (HealthDay News) -- Certain statins -- the widely used cholesterol-lowering drugs -- may increase your chances of developing type 2 diabetes, a new study suggests. The risk was greatest for patients taking atorvastatin (brand name Lipitor), rosuvastatin (Crestor) and simvastatin (Zocor), the study said. Focusing on almost 500,000 Ontario residents, researchers in Canada found that the overall odds of developing diabetes were low in patients prescribed ...

Underactive Thyroid and Heart Failure a Bad Combination: Study WEDNESDAY, May 22 (HealthDay News) -- People with heart failure are more likely to experience poorer health from having a thyroid gland that is even mildly underactive, according to a new study. And among black patients, the researchers found an increased risk of death linked to the condition, which is known as hypothyroidism. "This study is the first to show that African-Americans who have hypothyroidism face a greater risk of death than pa...

Antidepressants May Be Helpful for Some Heart Patients: Study TUESDAY, May 21 (HealthDay News) -- Use of the antidepressant Lexapro appears to help prevent a potentially serious stress-related heart condition, a new study finds. The condition is known as known as "mental stress-induced myocardial ischemia." Although people with this condition may not develop noticeable symptoms, their heart muscle is not receiving adequate blood supply, according to researchers from Duke University School of Medicine in...

Age, Other Illnesses May Make Prostate Cancer Treatment Unnecessary TUESDAY, May 21 (HealthDay News) -- Aggressive treatment for prostate cancer may not be warranted for many older patients with underlying medical conditions, a new study finds. Treatments for prostate cancer, such as surgery, radiation and radioactive seed implants, can cause serious side effects, such as erectile dysfunction, urinary incontinence and bowel problems, explained researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (...

COPD Patients May Do Fine With Shorter Course of Steroids TUESDAY, May 21 (HealthDay News) -- Less is more when it comes to steroid therapy for patients having severe bouts of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to Swiss investigators. Five days of glucocorticoid treatment with prednisone to treat COPD flare-ups was as good as the standard 14 days, but with fewer chances for adverse side effects, they said. "We wanted to show that a shorter period of treatment was not less effective ...

Study: Older Whooping Cough Vaccine More Effective MONDAY, May 20 (HealthDay News) -- The older vaccine for whooping cough that was phased out in the late 1990s is more effective than the current version of the vaccine, a new study contends. Teenagers who received four shots with the older vaccine -- called whole-cell vaccine -- before they were 2 years old were significantly less likely to become infected with whooping cough during a recent outbreak in California, compared to children who received all ...