Heart Disease

Does a stroke affect the heart?

Submitted by Wooster Communi... on Tue, 05/01/2012 - 9:16am

Q. Does a stroke affect the heart? A. Not directly. The heart uses blood vessels just like the brain, but some heart conditions can cause small clots to form possibly traveling to the brain. A stroke or “Brain Attack” is a type of vascular disease that affects the arteries leading to and within the brain. A stroke occurs when an artery that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain bursts or (more commonly) becomes blocked by a clot. When that happens, part of the brain cannot get the oxygen and nutrients it needs, so it starts to die.

Written By: 
Jo Ann Panno, RNB, BSN, CCRN, MSN, CNS
Critical Care Nurse Specialist

Weigh Your Health

Submitted by Jason Blanda on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 4:47pm

In the United States, overweight and obesity among all groups—particularly children and adolescents—have greatly increased over the past quarter century. Excess weight has become an epidemic, causing serious health problems for millions of people.

Obesity is the accumulation of excessive body fat. It is defined by a measure called “body mass index” or BMI. BMI is calculated using this equation: BMI = your weight in pounds divided by your height in inches squared, multiplied by 703.

Written By: 
Jianming Han, MD, PhD
Wooster Family Medicine